Th
e annual lego exhibition in the city was on again.. Since the Royal Exhibition Building is next to the museum, we visited the discovery centre first. We looked at the taxidermied birds and snakes in particular. Alex recognised one of the live snakes and we got talking to a staff member that showed us bird wings. Afterwards we went to the park nearby before Daniel and I headed back home on the train whilst Vio and Alex went to see the lego. They weren’t there for that long, Alex is not *that* into lego and rarely plays with it at home or asks to buy it. But it’s nice to see some of the amazing collections.
We had a big week coming so chose to have a quiet Sunday. We visited Vio’s parents, went to the skate park, played chess, played in the garden, and watched Paw patrol and Clone Wars. We’ve been watching the whole series as Alex really enjoyed Rebels.
The fastest car in the world was the intrigue of the next day so we looked it up and ended up watching a Top Gear episode of a Bugatti Vehron versus a Eurofighter. It was pretty cool! We headed to an ‘insects and reptiles’ information session after that. The kids got to hold everything – including a stick insect, carpet python, bearded dragon, blue tongue lizard and green tree frog. Afterwards we went to the nearby children’s nature playground. We didn’t stay for long due to parking restrictions, so headed up for some car racing!
A museum trip with coop, we were very late – we’d had a bad morning and as a result I’m going to let go of the punctuality issues I have! If the kids can’t or won’t get ready, with my help of course, then it’s not worth the effect on our relationship. This is a reminder to me that overscheduling is an issue for us. But we like to get out so much! And often prefer being out to being home. Anyway, once we got to the museum, Alex was happy to see his friends and I had to remind him that he couldn’t run around. A staff member spoke to him about it too. We went around the dinosaur exhibit with friends, then the bugs. Afterwards we headed for a play outside where the kids were much more settled. They joined together to build a giant lego tower, played skipping games, some quoits and chasing. That evening the kids enjoyed time outside with Vio, and then Alex and I read this platypus book we’d been given to keep by the library which Alex was really happy about!
We celebrated a long time friend’s 5th birthday at their house with games and treats. At home the kids played with their scooters outside whilst Vio continued working on the chicken coop. We stopped to look at the clouds to make shapes, as we did so we saw a shooting star! It was very exciting 🙂
More school holiday activities – the first was ‘Wacky Wheels’ at the lego education centre. We went with a friend. Alex was worried about it before we got there, but really enjoyed it. They had 3 tasks to do. The first was a tap and release car, the second was a car with steering and the last one was a pull back and go car. Alex took the opportunity to make his long! They had a sheet to copy diagrams from and a bit mat to drive on afterwards and put buildings on it with giant lego blocks. Afterwards, we enjoyed some lunch and splashing at a new park in Docklands. We then took up a few unexpected opportunities on the walk back to the car – a free bounce on jumping castles, getting a dwarf to paint and some escalator exercise! Alex wanted to stop by KMart on the way home for a lego avengers kit. They didn’t have it so we looked it up online and discovered he didn’t have enough. He worked out that he was $60 short after I told him the cost! We painted the dwarves, and the kids covered me in paint too!
A visit to the NGV with co-op friends. We saw the cats exhibition and participated in some of the craft activities. Alex was more interested in helping his friend Jaxson than doing stuff himself. We had originally gone to the city to be a part of Tangle at the Arts Centre, but the activity was outside and it was pouring! So we headed to Birrarung Marr, kids in raincoats and they had a blast – Alex declared it the best day ever! They came down the slides like torpedoes!
Vio came home with some milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies. I remembered they’re poisonous and looked it up, this led Alex and I to discuss the lifecycle and understand why monarch butterflies are poisonous – it’s from living off of the milkweed plant as caterpillars! They taste foul and so predators have learned not to eat them. As long as the kids don’t eat them, it’ll be interesting to watch!