s l o w day

Our grand plans to participate in the Greenway Day of Action dissipated this morning. After several hours of half heartedly attempting to leave the house, it was decided that a slow day was the order of the day. I've been solo-parenting for over a week and with the end in sight, a case of the wearies finally hit me. It hasn't helped that I have been reading until the wee hours every. single. night. A 993 page fantasy novel (I know! I'm blushing!) the size of a brick, that I simply can't put down. We haven't spent the whole day at home for days and days anyway. It was lovely. Slow, relaxing, full of very little.

Bubbles and Lego...

Some sun soaking for the canine among us....

And long moments lost in thought...

More Spring, oh yeah!

Today we went to one of my favourite places in all of Sydney. I chanced across it many years ago on a leisurely bike ride and have returned many times since. It's Wendy Whiteley's secret garden* in Lavender Bay. My photos do not do this place any justice. It is divine. And hardly anyone realises it's there. I have been raving about this place to many friends of late - something about this very spring weather we've enjoyed this week has me all itching to be outside in beautiful surroundings.

Today we met some friends there, who'd never been before. I'm so pleased they found it worth the difficult parking and trickiness in locating the park (it's not sign posted or marked on any maps and it's rather difficult to find it when you've never been before).

Four boys in one little tree. The poor tree.

Staircases like this wind all over the garden, little paths criss-crossing back and forth, shady secret corners, vines, gigantic fig trees...too gorgeous!

Walking back to the train station, Dexter gave me a short rest from pushing the stroller.

Look, Hugo's mate Max just happened to be wearing his Campos shirt today too. Hugo thought that was pretty cool.

Ahhh, spring! We hope to brave the dreaded cycle 'ramp' at the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge next time and ride to Lavender Bay. I've done it before on the Xtracycle - but being extra long/heavy and requiring us to unload and send the kids down the stairs without me being able to hold little hands, well it's not easy. I wasn't feeling up to the challenge today so we took the train. But I regretted it all day - this weather is FAR too perfect for riding to leave the bike at home and sit inside a stinky train carriage!

*go on, click and have a read. She really is an amazing women. It'll make you appreciate it even more when you visit.

Bike wanderings - today our wheels took us to SPRING!

I know it doesn't technically begin for another week or so but it sure felt like Spring today. I wore my birkinstock's for the first time in months and, wait for it, bare legs. No stockings, no long pants. Just sandals on my feet and a dress. Ok, and a cardy...it wasn't that balmy.

We cycled to a new-to-my-boys playground where we met friends and the boys played hard for a few hours. Then on the way home the kids were excited by the sight of these flowers. We stopped and rolled around in them for a while. The afternoon traffic was thickening on the roads around us but of course that didn't bother us. The pedestrian/cycle bridge over South Dowling gave us a wonderful view of the gridlock we weren't stuck in.

Today's route was almost exclusively cycle paths. Gorgeous, park-side, open space cycling on a marvellous mild day with the sun on my toes for the first time in months. Oh, how I love cycling. Have I mentioned that before?!

His own style!

(photo by Cass)

My talented friend snapped this photo of Hugo rocking out in her backyard the other day. Don't you love his outfit? Self-dressed for gymnastics class (and no rain nor a puddle in sight by the way). He asks each week - are these good nastics clothes mum?

I've been enjoying seeing how this little one chooses to dress himself lately. He's in the thick of a dressing up stage. The dress ups are pulled out every single day. Though sometimes all he wants are a few accessories as you can see below. He ran around with that beanie pulled right down over his face for hours!

This get-up was necessary for a walk to the shops. I asked what/who he was dressing up as and he said - I'm a Struction [construction] Super Hero!

We attended a friends birthday party on the weekend and both kids were keen to get in the spirit of the fairy theme. Hugo insisted on wearing my shirt as a dress with some glittery fabric from his dress up box for wings pinned to his back.

And then at the party he donned these necklaces which were very cleverly tied to all the helium balloons to stop them flying away outside.

Sometimes, without going near the dress ups, he'll put together an ensemble which I reckon is too cool for school! And yes, he is still wearing and loving his waistcoats.

I know, I'm his mother, I supposed to gush over my children. Even the everyday stuff like what clothes they pick out of their drawers. Even when those drawers are filled by me so there's nothing inside which offends my tastes. But come on - the kid does have a certain style! I love it.

Bike wanderings - graffiti tour of our 'hood

I bring you today's Bike Wanderings - Newtown Graffiti.

I didn't mention it, but during our Questecon adventure I managed to injure my back in a classic twist and lift move (while lifting a certain 3 yr old). So, after 2 trips to my wonderful chiropractor and and a full 10 days off my bike today we finally got back out on the Xtracycle.

For a while now we've been talking about doing a graffiti/street art tour of our local neighbourhood. There's certainly plenty of it around these parts! Here's some that caught Dexter and Hugo's attention today....

Pedestrian tunnel beneath the railway line

We hear a train!

It's too noisy for Hugo.

A spot of drilling for Dex.

An oldy now, I remember when this was painted, way back when!

And one we'd never seen before. (Above is a detail from the wall below).

Questecon!

I finally got some more use out of my bike roof rack last week and took my Xtracycle to Canberra. Doesn't she look cool up there on the roof?!

Here's the obligatory timer shot at the beginning of our mini cycling adventure, and yes, my camera is resting on a bin lid. You've got to work with what you've got huh?!

We took off towards the centre of Canberra for our destination. (Can you see parliament house in the background? Just to prove we were in fact in Canberra folks!)

Over the bridge and left on King Edward Terrace to...

Questecon! Is there any other reason to go to Canberra, really?!

We signed up for a years membership due basically to the fact that our powerhouse museum membership recently expired and membership to either gets you into either so even if we don't get back to Canberra, we'll continue our very regular visits to the PHM.

We easily filled our entire day here. The kids loved it. (Phew! I'd talked it up quite a bit). We went back again the next day for a few hours before our big drive home.

I know there are many, many cool places to visit and things to do in Canberra which one day I hope to do with the kids. But for now, Questecon is absolutely perfect. We'd hoped to go to Cockington Green too but the weather turned foul. Next trip!

Thanks to our lovely Canberra hosts J and D for having us :)

Knots!

A few weeks ago Dexter taught himself how to tie a knot. He practised on the drawstring of his pants. Quickly moved onto some thick cord from his lacing animals. For a week or so every visit to the playground saw Dexter tying and weaving long grass, slowly honing his knot tying skills. One day a week or two ago, he proudly announced he no longer needed me to tie off the end of the thread when he does his embroidery now. And then, the piece de resistance, he figured out how to tie a balloon.

Well! For him, this was a moment of total and utter joy, the sense of accomplishment he felt was so delightful to witness. And for me - can I say it's up there with the first time he learnt to push himself on the swing. Or turn the tap on by himself. Brilliant! Much like pushing kids on the swing, tying balloons isn't exactly my ideal pastime. These boys go through a packet of balloons every week. They use them in their experiments, in crafting, filled with water for bombing the backyard...whatever they can think of. I am interrupted a hundred times a day to please mum, can you just tie this one last one?! What a relief to be finally stood down from my duty as official tier of knots! (Though, I am still the master of UNtying knots for the time being. A duty I often find myself doing in the laundry as I load the washing machine nowadays - because while sitting in the car, or sitting in a cafe or watching telly, he continues to absentmindedly experiment with this knot tying business on his pant's drawstrings. Hmmm).