Daniel really wanted to go to the zoo but I had to convince Alex! Daniel has his own agenda now so it will become more about balancing both of their needs and less about him tagging along. I knew Alex would love it, it’s a transitioning thing! First off we went for a walk in the native area. We had hoped to see the orange bellied parrots but we didn’t. We did see koalas, emus and kangaroos though. We went on the bus of course. Alex asks so many questions – he really listens to the ranger talks and I love how every time you join the tour you get a different take on things – always odd bits of information that really appeals to Alex. Daniel loves the African safari – his favourite animals are giraffe and zebra. We didn’t walk around the zoo this time but instead headed in to Ranger Kids – the kids love to be vets and helicopter pilots in there.
We visited IMAX to see ‘A beautiful planet’. It’s a collection of videos and images taken from the International Space Station. Alex had a lot of questions. i was really pleased that the movie included the impact of humans on the Earth as Alex only hears it from me otherwise! The following day I pursued this at home with some websites such as WWF and read about the effects of humans on Australia. Alex is particularly interested in animals. We did a little quiz to assess our own impact – I think it was a little over his head, but it was an introduction that we’ll build upon.
After IMAX we went to the park for a big runaround, followed by a trip to the museum. We looked at the bugs – stick insects and ants mostly – we bought an ant enclosure recently. It was a cheap one though and a bit of a fail! We went to other parts of the museum too, but mostly because Alex wanted to follow his friends – I don’t like going to the museum with other people! The kids enjoyed ‘Little Lon’ and played in the houses for a while.
At home this week I got Minecraft for Alex on PC. I set up the laptop for him. he found it hard to control and reverted to his iPad after a short time. We also got out the glitter glues that Daniel got for his birthday and made some art. The kids used ALL OF IT! The canaries have finished their nest and Sunny has laid an egg. Daniel wanted to make treasure for his painted treasure chest and sowe cut up lots of foam,foil etc to make treasure! We had lots of fun whilst Vio and Alex played football.
We stopped off at a park whilst out grocery shopping (the kids hate running errands!) Alex wanted to play basketball, and a younger boy joined him. Alex was great with him, the child’s guardian commented on how kind he was being. unfortunately the kindness didn’t extend quite so well to Daniel!
We headed to hays paddock to meet some friends that we haven’t seen since we left co-op. I’ve had Hays Paddock on my list of places to go for a while and it wasn’t as great as I’d hoped! But the kids had a good long play with their friends – at one point they were putting food on each other to see if the pigeons would eat off of them!
Regarding sports this week, Alex has attended Little Athletics training and events day (Alex got a PB in 100m and did a huge throw in shot put) and karate. I forgot Alex’s gi so he had to train without. At the end of the session, Soke was asking another boy about how much training he was now doing and listed them all. The other boy hesitated in response, but Alex jumped in with “it’s 4 doubles and a single which makes 9”. Now the other kid is 2 years older an schooled. i’m sure he hesitated at being quizzed – but Alex doesn’t have that. Soke’s expression showed he was impressed by Alex’s quick response.
