Diary of our Summer

I have really treasured these summer school holidays for a number of reasons. Number one being that Miss M is off to school very soon! So I've been wanting to make the most of this time with her (especially the days that Little Man is at Child Care and it's just the two of us).

As always, I love to share these little snippets of our daily life and beautiful city here on the blog. We did so much and has a great variety of things to see and do over the five weeks (as well as Christmas and Little Man's birthday of course!).

I seriously cannot believe we are nearly at the beginning of her school journey. She really is so excited and I'll be sure to share how it all goes over the next few weeks. School also means that on the days I'm not working, I'll get some special time with the Little Man to take him to Kindergym, Play group, swimming and the Library.

So here's just some of the summer holiday activities that we got up to!

Kid and Hub

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Adelaide's BEST Nature Playgrounds

The October school holidays fall at such a beautiful time of year. The weather is just perfect to get outside and experience our natural world. Gorgeous nature playgrounds and spaces are popping up all over Adelaide and are becoming increasingly popular as our communities are seeing the value in getting kids climbing trees, taking responsible risks, getting dirty and connecting with their environments.

So as you start thinking about how you're going to fill the next two weeks - schedule in some time to visit some of Adelaide's best nature playgrounds.

Glenelg Foreshore

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That time we went to Sydney {and survived Little Man's first flight}

Hello friends!
We have just got home from our first 'family-of-four' holiday. We enjoyed 4 days in gorgeous Sydney, more specifically Darling Harbour. It was crazy busy with the kids, trying to juggle everything and keep everyone happy - but we made it and the fun times far outweighed the tantrums and grizzles ;)

There was so much fun stuff for kids to do over there that I couldn't keep it all to myself and had to share a few highlights and snapshots of our trip!

The kids are checking out the view

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What We Got Up to in the Holidays

When people ask how my school holidays were, I say "I feel like I can breathe again". It has been a really hectic term, and a big adjustment going back to work. The kids have still being going to Child Care (for a shorter day) and I've been able to catch up on everything that needed to be done, and just BREATHE. Enjoy time on my own, a quiet house to myself, and getting reacquainted with the blog. On my first day the floors were vacuumed and mops, every dish washed and put away (not just left sitting in the dish rack) and every item of clothing washed, dried, folded and put away (which never happens all at the same time).

I felt like I could breathe again. In my own home, I could breathe again.

You may have read this article I wrote a while back, explaining why I still sent Miss M to child care last year when I was home with Little Man, and a lot of the same reasons apply now during the school holidays. I completely understand that it wouldn't be the choice that everyone would make, but for me, it saved my sanity.

I felt like I could breathe again.

But, we have had awesome fun in the school holidays together as a family! There was so much fun stuff happening and so I wanted to do a quick wrap up to share what we did with you.

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Nature Play at it's BEST {Wild Imagination}

This post is sponsored by Wild Imagination. All opinions are my own.

It was a few weeks ago now that Miss M, some friends and I attended Wild Imagination - a nature play event in the Adelaide parklands. A unique vacation care program like no other, which also opened up for "family days" to cater for the under school aged children to come along with their parents. We were not disappointed! It was absolutely amazing and I could not fault it at all. It was the actual BEST.

Miss M and her friends were kept busy with the huge variety of activities for three hours! No waiting in lines with plenty of nature play experiences to do. It was really well organised and staff were always nearby to help and guide where required. I cannot express how awesome it is that an organisation is embracing nature play whole heartedly. Wild Imagination's mission is to encourage our children to get back into nature play and experience all it has to offer. All the things that we used to do when we were kids before anyone had an iPad addiction.

Miss M's first time on a tyre swing. 

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Teacher Types Top Tips for Back to School

Not long to go now and the kids and teachers across the country will be getting back into school mode ready for another big year of learning! (Did you see my best back to school products post last week? You still have time to order some of these goodies!). Seems that some states go back earlier than others do... hmmm. Anyone know why they do this? We here in SA are back on the 30th of Jan :)

I've teamed up with a fabulous group of Aussie parenting bloggers to bring you the Aussie back to school blog hop! 11 awesome articles on a variety of back to school topics - we've got you covered (all links will be at the end of this post). Be sure to check them out and show them some love :)

As for me, I'm giving you my TOP TIPS for heading back to school

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Ready Made Busy Bags {From Flying Sprout}

Yay welcome to my first product review for 2017!

Busy bags can be a life saver when you're out and about or travelling - and I love to make my own (sometimes rather haphazardly thrown together). But if you'd like someone else to do that for you (who also has a teaching background I might add) then look no further than Bianca from Flying Sprout.

So Miss M got busy testing them out - and I got to thinking about how they could be easily adapted to suit children of various ages and abilities with a few simple alterations.

*Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review
*Not sponsored

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Keeping up with the Kid's Learning During the Holidays

You might not even be contemplating or thinking about this yet (in which case please save, bookmark or pin this post for later in January). On the other hand you may be fresh out of a parent teacher interview or you've read your child's report and want to know how you can keep up with their learning during the long summer holiday break. (You'd be surprised at how many parents would ask me for 'activity books' and worksheets to be sent home with their child during the last week of Term 4). 

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That Time Miss M and I Went to Melbourne

If you had 24 hours in Melbourne, with a three year old, how would you spend them? I asked my Aussie Parenting blogger friends and here were a few suggestions...(of course with Melbourne your plans are always weather dependent).

• The Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden - Adventure, Baby!
• Teddy Bear Health Check at the Zoo - Mamma Knows West
• Art VO Docklands - Mamma Knows East
• Royal Melbourne Zoo - Animal Encounters - Kid Bucket List
• and a heap of ideas here - The Melbourne Bucket List - Kid Bucket List

Miss M and I ventured off on a girls weekend to visit some friends in Melbourne. She's been once before (read about it here - oh my how things have changed), but was too young to remember. From chatting to friends, 3 seems to be the turning point when children become somewhat easier to travel with. So here's just a quick recap of how we spent our 24 hours!

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Road Trip with A Toddler {One Year Later}

One year ago (almost to the day) we went on a road trip to Mount Gambier (South Australia) to spend time with family. This year we went again because my very clever brick laying brother built himself a house and got himself engaged to a great girl - so we decided to go while it's (relatively) easy before baby number 2 arrives.

I wrote about our previous trip last year... It was interesting to read back over these posts and compare what was different this time - most notable being our level of relaxation and not stressing about every little thing, but then again Miss M is a whole year older and there's a huge difference between one and a half and two and a half. So anyway, here's the previous posts from last year...

Road Trip with a Toddler - The Before

Road Trip with a Toddler - The After

So some main differences between then and now is that Miss M no longer naps - so we couldn't rely on her having a sleep for a chunk of the drive, and no more dummies and bottles to worry about! She packed her own backpack of toys, teddies and books (not all practical for the car, but for her to play with once we got there). Surprisingly this book is still one of her favourites, and keeps her busy for ages, so it came along again! She actually 'reads' books now to herself which is a bonus!

Minimal mess snacks were again a must - sandwiches, biscuits, muesli bars, water etc... and of course foolproof games and episodes of Ben & Holly and Peppa Pig on the iPhone. We made a deal with her that if she was playing games it was ok to hold, but for watching episodes we put it in the headrest.

A major difference this time was the toilet factor! She's been toilet trained for a couple of months now - but it was something we always had to keep in mind... No accidents luckily! My pregnant bladder needed frequent stops as well ;) Speaking of which...another struggle this trip was my 33 week belly in the way! Turning around to the back of the car or retrieving items from the floor was not easy let me tell you!

Miss M was old enough this time to teach her I spy, so that was fun, she loved it when she guessed it right (we did the colour version rather than the starting letter eg. "I spy with my little eye something the colour green" and gave her specific hints whether it was inside or outside of the car.)

On both trips (there and back) we stopped at the Morning Loaf Bakery in Keith (about 3 hours from Adelaide and 2 hours from Mt Gambier) and is one of the states best known country bakeries. We liked the kids play room so much it was the perfect place to stop both times.

Morning Loaf Bakery - Keith

We had a fantastic time in the Mount including;

• The Blue Lake
• The Valley Lakes playground
• A spot of shopping on the main street
• Chilling out at my brother's new place
• A great meal at the South Eastern Hotel (which had an awesome kids playground - we couldn't get Miss M out!)
• and Miss M's highlight of the trip - the jumping pillow at the Blue Lake Tourist Park
• plus some great quiet time back at our accommodation.

The Blue Lake

Awesome playground at the Valley Lakes

There was this moment on the trip, when all three of us were sitting around the table having ice creams. And all of a sudden it hit me - we are like a real little family! Miss M is like a little person now, a person who you have conversations with, share special moments, and she's so much easier and more compliant, it doesn't feel like hard work all - the - time. She can do what we do and enjoy those special holiday treats. We were making her childhood memories and it was happening right in front of me!

Well I think that's it for family travel for us for quite some time...I can't even imagine doing a trip with a toddler and a baby! Have you attempted it before? How did you survive?

Lauren x

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So much for families to do on the Fleurieu

Last weekend our family spent a glorious weekend in Goolwa/Victor Harbor only an hour drive from Adelaide. The weather was smiling on us and for the first time in 2.5 years, it felt like this weekend away was enjoyable for all. Our last few holidays have left us thinking to ourselves "Why did we do this?!?!", "Never again!".

We stayed at the Goolwa Camping/Tourist Park and Miss M would have been quite content to stay there for the whole weekend. Now there's a bit of a story to share with this photo...

Late last year we went to Mount Gambier and stayed at the Blue Lake Caravan Park...the highlight of this trip in Miss M's eyes was the jumping pillow. From this trip onwards whenever I would ask her what her favourite part of the day was she would reply "jump jump!" referring to the jumping pillow at Mount Gambier. So imagine her delight when we pulled into the Goolwa Tourist Park and saw one just the same! We weren't expecting it at all but it certainly made her day. And this time she was that bit older and more confident.

The Tourist Park also had a heated pool/spa, sandpit and playground for the kids. It was awesome - we'll definitely be back again.

Miss M and her dolly 'Lily' enjoying the playground

So here's a bit of a list of fun things to do if you're planning to visit Goolwa - known as the town where the Murray meets the sea.

Goolwa Beach - this photo was taken in 2010 when we got our puppy Archer

• Ride the Cockle Train or Steam Ranger from Goolwa to Victor Harbor
• Visit the Micro Brewery
• Check out the markets on a Sunday morning.
• Enjoy the best of the beach at the river (The Aqua Caf is a great spot over looking the river, and so is Hector's on the Wharf. Whistle Stop is another favourite restaurant of mine). 
• Ride the Oscar W along the river
• Visit Hindmarsh Island (including Narnu Farm)
• I always like to stop at the Art Worx Art Gallery.
• They're also building a Nature Playspace which sounds amazing! It's an excuse for us to go again to check it out that's for sure.

The river view from our table at Aqua Caf

The thing I love about staying in Goolwa is that it's about 5 minute drive away to the next seaside town Middleton (the Middleton Beach Huts are a very popular place to stay - so insta-worthy!). Another 10 minutes and you arrive at Pt Elliot (Horseshoe Bay is pretty much my favourite beach in SA), and then you're almost in Victor.

Hubby at Horsehoe Bay

Victor Harbor is a much bigger town than Goolwa - you'll find a McDonalds, KFC and many more shops. We happened to visit on the day of the Rock'n'Roll festival so it was really busy and there was lots happening!

• I really wanted to take Miss M on the Horse Drawn Tram across to Granite Island and she really liked it. Under 3s are free, and hubby and I were $9 each return.
• There are some fantastic kids playgrounds in and around Victor.
• South Australian Whale Centre is great for families and school groups.
• Greenhills Adventure Park is sadly closing in May 2016 - so if you'd like to go and revisit your childhood memories do it before it's too late!
• We had a great lunch at Cafe Bavaria, even though it was super busy with the Rock'n'Roll festival but they took good care of us and the food came out quickly. The Anchorage is another favourite of ours.
• I also stumbled upon the most beautiful kids/baby store on the main street called Eco Child - you can shop online too if you like organic & natural baby products/clothing and wooden toys. 

On the horse drawn tram across to Granite Island

On Granite Island

Eco Child - Victor Harbor

For more information - visit http://fleurieupeninsula.com.au/

And have you read these previous posts on Teacher Types?
A Family Day out at Semaphore
The Big Rocking Horse - A South Australian Icon.

We're planning to make the most of what SA has to offer for the next few months before our family of 3 becomes a family of 4 and holidays are going to get that bit more complicated... Carrickalinga, our family shack at the river and Mount Gambier again to visit my brother are all on the agenda. Oh and this weekend I'm a bridesmaid in my dear friend's wedding in the beautiful Barossa Valley! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Insta for lots of updates on what we're up to!

Lauren

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