weekend wanderings

On Saturday afternoon we took the little ones to bushland park.

They love wandering along the bush trails, climbing the hill to get to the tower, exploring the muddy dam banks and playing on the playground.

We did one of the longer walks, and although Jacinta needed a little help, and Isaac demanded a couple of rest stops, they both did really well. It is a lovely relaxing place to wander around, and it feels as though you are in the middle of no where, when in fact we are only minutes from home. Its also a bit of a treat for the kids to spend time with Craig on a Saturday afternoon during Football season. Today instead of spending the whole day at Football, he came home early just to spend some time with them, which was lovely (there was also an ulterior motive though, the grand prix qualifying session was on later in the afternoon!)

Sunday the whole family took a little road trip to the Barossa Valley. We checked out Whispering Wall, the Herbig Family tree, some playgrounds, had take away for lunch in a reserve at Tanunda, choose a treat each from the lolly shop and even went through the car wash (the kids think its a real treat to do that!). Guess what - we were home just in time for Craig to watch the Grand prix (are you sensing a pattern here LOL, nem and their sport - rolls eyes!)

I remembered about a minute after we left that the camera was still sitting on the kitchen bench, Craig did offer to go back for it, but I decided I could live without it - wish I went back, there were so many great photo ops! Oh well, I took some dodgy snaps on my phone to remember the day by instead.

Its a nice change to be spending so much time outside lately. I must admit, I'm more of an inside girl. Some people seem to naturally gravitate outside. They take their meals out, have a coffee in the fresh air, even take the computer outside with them. I need to do this more. The little ones tend to follow my lead, and are only outside when I am. They can be in the middle of play and will come back in as soon as I do. I only need to be outside and they will stay there, they don't usually need me to be facilitating their play, and I do tend to avoid that unless invited. That would be the early childhood teacher in me. I love to watch what they do when they are unhindered by adult expectations and interruptions to their play. Sure I provide materials and the occasional suggestion, but left to their own imaginations children's natural play is a magical thing to watch.