It's time for some #AlternativeFacts. Trump is not President, Obama is allowed to have a third term, and that Simpsons episode from 20 years ago remains a funny satirical portrait of an alternative future America.
And in this lovely, lovely world, we can safely ignore politics and take our children to visit one of Melbourne's historic houses.
Our original intention was to visit Como House, and then take the little punt across to Herring Island. And after I talked up both to the kids and got them all excited* about going, I did the very basic internet research I should have done first and found that Como House wasn't open. (It seems to be open on weekends again now, so we will go another time).
So, on this particular day (last Saturday), we visited Rippon Lea instead. (Read on to see some pretty pictures and experience the charm of Rippon Lea).
Showing posts with label doing stuff with your kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doing stuff with your kids. Show all posts
Jan 27, 2017
Nov 5, 2016
Halloween Party 2016
I don't blog much these days. But you didn't think I could ignore Halloween did you? A quick search on the word 'Halloween' on my blog turns up 22 posts (?!), including this one (2015), my first one (2012) and my Halloween poem - so it's no secret I love Halloween.
Jun 12, 2016
The Art of Leisure
I just came across a post in my Facebook feed called The Lost Art of Leisure, which I didn't have time to read but which I have bookmarked for later. I think I know what it says though, and the title struck a chord with me.
Nov 2, 2015
Halloween keen
As I've mentioned before, I love Halloween.
My formative trick or treating experiences in Los Angeles as a child were fantastic, and the whole thing was just so much fun. So I have been gung ho ever since it looked as if Halloween might take off here.
It hasn't. It probably won't. Too many people don't like it. It's a bit of a shame, as it's such easy, harmless fun.
From a good strong start three years ago, Halloween has sputtered out a bit in our suburb; last night I got three trick or treaters and one of those groups was a kid from two streets away who knows I do Halloween and probably headed straight here when she left her house.
As always, I massively over-catered with a deep casserole ("cauldron") and a fruit bowl full of lollies from which our kids and their friends ended up doing massively well.
However, always hopeful, I manned our front door and dipped only occasionally (i.e., quite often) into my overflowing cauldron to munch on jelly eyeballs and Milky Ways.
My kids were originally meant to meet at a friend's place for trick or treating but the parents had to cancel, so everyone met at our place instead. While I tried not to eat all the good lollies the other three mums walked the streets with our gang of zombies, witches, skeletons, gypsies, grim reaper/Scream ghost and Batgirl.
The kids had a great time roaming the streets and knocking on doors. Most of those doors didn't open, but those that did were (as always) friendly and most had candy or treats.
Once plastic buckets were full, they all came back to our house. After a big bowl of potato wedges and cold drinks the kids played outside and we mums all sat down with a glass of wine. It was a fantastic evening and if I end up hosting a Halloween party at my place every year, I will be very satisfied.
Or... maybe I will set up a light show, some dry ice and a Vincent Price soundtrack to attract more trick or treaters?
My formative trick or treating experiences in Los Angeles as a child were fantastic, and the whole thing was just so much fun. So I have been gung ho ever since it looked as if Halloween might take off here.
It hasn't. It probably won't. Too many people don't like it. It's a bit of a shame, as it's such easy, harmless fun.
From a good strong start three years ago, Halloween has sputtered out a bit in our suburb; last night I got three trick or treaters and one of those groups was a kid from two streets away who knows I do Halloween and probably headed straight here when she left her house.
As always, I massively over-catered with a deep casserole ("cauldron") and a fruit bowl full of lollies from which our kids and their friends ended up doing massively well.
The kids and I had decorated the house and attached balloons and skulls to the fence and lamppost to attract the roaming hoardes... to little avail.
At one point I saw some kids hesitate at the end of our street, and I almost opened the door and called out to them. Then I remembered that would be weird.
However, always hopeful, I manned our front door and dipped only occasionally (i.e., quite often) into my overflowing cauldron to munch on jelly eyeballs and Milky Ways.
My kids were originally meant to meet at a friend's place for trick or treating but the parents had to cancel, so everyone met at our place instead. While I tried not to eat all the good lollies the other three mums walked the streets with our gang of zombies, witches, skeletons, gypsies, grim reaper/Scream ghost and Batgirl.
 |
The kids had a great time roaming the streets and knocking on doors. Most of those doors didn't open, but those that did were (as always) friendly and most had candy or treats.
Once plastic buckets were full, they all came back to our house. After a big bowl of potato wedges and cold drinks the kids played outside and we mums all sat down with a glass of wine. It was a fantastic evening and if I end up hosting a Halloween party at my place every year, I will be very satisfied.
Or... maybe I will set up a light show, some dry ice and a Vincent Price soundtrack to attract more trick or treaters?
 |
| What - too much? |
Sep 28, 2014
Sunday Selections: Phillip Island
I think it's about time I did another Sunday Selections post.
Sunday Selections is a weekly meme hosted by River at Drifting Through Life.
The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River somewhere in your post
3. leave a comment on River's post and visit some of the others who have posted and commented
You may recall my car was written off in an accident about a month ago. Well, two weeks ago, we bought our replacement: a 2010 Honda CR-V. We were on the hunt for a RAV4, but fell in love with this one instead and bought it the day we saw it. We got it at a fair price, which is to say market value. We're not good at price negotiation, but we bought it from a dealer and I do believe they always sell you at the price they intended anyway. At least these days with online markets and so much information about used car values and shopping out there, the prices are fair.
It comes with a hefty loan of course, but I do love my new car.
So last weekend, Y had a rare full day and night off work and we decided to take the car for a spin to Phillip Island.
We hadn't been there in years, though once upon a time Y and I used to drive down there quite often.
We had lunch at a pizza cafe in Cowes, then drove round to the Nobbies to see the seal centre, and to the penguin area to watch the parade.
You can't take photos of the penguin parade, so I don't have any pictures of that, unfortunately. But there is an app you can download with lots of pictures and information in it, which is very good. There are also some great pictures at the Phillip Island site here.
So these photos are all of The Nobbies, looking out over the sea or to Seal Rocks.
All a bit samey, but lovely anyway.
The kids loved the whole place but especially, of course, the penguins. It is truly fantastic, and quite moving too, to see the little penguins tumble out of the waves, huddle hesitantly at the beach under the soft lights, and then make their (surprisingly fast) waddling trek up the dunes to their burrows.
The best part is walking back up the boardwalks and passing the little penguins on the way. Some of them zoom straight to their burrows, some take their time and seem to enjoy the commune with other penguins on the way. Some sit and stare up at the people staring down at them. A pair we saw obviously had gone the wrong way, or too far, and were waddling back towards the beach, looking around them and making little sounds and conferring with each other as they went, looking just like a couple who has forgotten where they parked their car.
They were still wandering around, not seemingly distressed and still stopping occasionally to trade low squawks with others heading up from the beach, when we finally left. It's such a treat of a thing to see - you just want to stay there all night.
But evenutally we made our way back to the carpark, and made the trip home, the kids happily snoozing in the back, Y relaxing in the passenger seat, and me enjoying the quiet drive home in the dark, in my awesome new car! (Last time I go on about it, I promise - but I had owned my last car for 9 years).
This Sunday, a less relaxing fate awaits. When Y gets home from work this afternoon, we are stupidly, regretfully, unbelievably... taking the kids to the Royal Melbourne Show. Ugh!
Sep 14, 2014
The strange world of competitive calisthenics
If you are a female who grew up in Australia, chances are at some stage you tried your hand at Calisthenics.
I have dim memories of doing calisthenics for a very short time, and very clear memories of my mother's annoyance at being told off by a team official for having sewn sequins in the wrong way on a pink headpiece. In those days when "all" mothers were home (and the rest were assumed to be), mothers were given patterns and had to sew all the costumes themselves.
These days, thankfully, this is not expected at most clubs, though the costumes are still made by someone. In our case, it's the mother of the calisthenics coach, who has made all the approximately one million costumes used by the team.
Calisthenics, for non-Australian readers, is a competitive team sport that combines elements of floor exercises, ballet, rhythmic gymnastics and marching. It requires concentration, balance, control, flexibility, strength and rhythm. It's practiced in the competitive sense only in Australia, and is currently 100% female (so I learned from Wikipedia).
My daughter M has been doing calisthenics for about six months. She does it because her friends do it, and I'm happy with it because it is very cheap for a kids' sport, it fits in perfectly with A's weekly karate lessons (which are NOT cheap), and because M is a little accident prone and the balance and co-ordination can only help her.
M is in a 7-10 year-old Sub Juniors team (known as "Subbies"). This weekend marked the end of the 2014 competitions with the Victorian State Titles. 8 Sub Junior teams competed in 10 events, and I will not shy from admitting it was a LOOOONG day.
It was also my day for helping out in the dressing rooms as a rostered mum, along with two others. Though I initially thought I had drawn the short straw being rostered to the biggest competition that went from 9am to 3.30pm, in fact it was the best, because (a) better than sitting in the audience watching every team perform every event for all those hours and (b) with so many teams there was plenty of time between each event so it was easy to get the girls get ready in time. Plus, being the last comp, the girls all knew the drill and mostly dressed themselves anyway. My chief duty was hanging up costumes in the girls' dress bags after each change.
I will insert a short plea here, if you are the parent of a calisthenics competitor, please do use an easy-access dress bag, and you know what? Don't bind all the coat hangers together with a rubber band. That is seriously annoying, and no one is going to steal your coat hangers.
Anyway, it was kind of fun, or at least a different way to spend 6 hours. As with every comp, we got up at 6 in the morning to do M's leg tan and then her hair. The hair takes the longest, needing to be gelled and scraped into a high bun, attach a "wiglet" and secure it all with a thousand hair pins. Makeup is minimal in our club, just foundation, then at the comp the coaches add eye liner and pink lipstick.
As we don't have a car right now, my friend MN (mother of M's friend V in the same team) drove us all there and back. She had done two girls' hair because N the mother of the other friend G, can't do it, so N made us all large cafe-quality coffees to drink in the car. Quite a good way to start the day when it has to be started that early.
The comp venue was a lovely theatre attached to a college, and it was a beautiful sunny day, so the constant walking back and forth between dressing room and theatre (via the outside), was no strain.
I spent my free time either watching some of the events, sitting outside in the sun or chatting with others in the foyer.
The events were Marching, Clubs, Rods, Free Exercises, Aesthetics and Song and Dance.
My favourite event is Marching, followed by Free Exercises. My least favourite is Song and Dance, which is like cabaret for kids.
I like the Marching because M's team does an AWESOME routine with quite complicated choreography to a rousing Irish tune, and it's great to watch.
Free Exercises is where you see the backbends, leg lifts, splits, headstands and cartwheels. Some of the girls who have been doing calisthenics for years are amazing in this event. It's quite incredible what they can do. It's like a mixture of pilates and cheerleading.
Club swinging is difficult but frankly a little boring to watch. I shouldn't say that, because our team placed first in the Clubs event yesterday. But, it's not my favourite thing.
Rods: think, baton twirling. It's also difficult, and looks good when done well.
The Aesthetics is very pretty. All the girls wear long floaty dresses and do graceful slow dances to beautiful music. Unfortunately our team's song was 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2, which has always, and I mean ALWAYS made me cry. It's so freaking sad!!!
Fortunately, watching this song performed over 4 rehearsals and 4 competitions, finally got me to the point (about a week ago I guess) where I could safely sit through it without my nose turning red and my eyes blinking furiously, so by the day of the last competition I was fine.
My daughter was SO beautiful up on stage, standing apart from the team in her very own spotlight, in her long blue dress, her hair piled up on her head over her beautiful long neck, and making the kind of graceful, controlled movements of which I could hardly believe she was capable.
Taking photos at competitions is strictly verboten, but here is a snippet of M at her first rehearsal:
I still find Calisthenics a somewhat weird activity. I'm not really sure how much M actually likes it, or whether she will continue. She doesn't hate it, and she has improved her flexibility and balance since she started, and she gets to spend more time with her friends. Plus it's a cheap activity and other than having to help out backstage for one competition every year, it's no hassle for the parents. So for all that I'm happy with it.
I have dim memories of doing calisthenics for a very short time, and very clear memories of my mother's annoyance at being told off by a team official for having sewn sequins in the wrong way on a pink headpiece. In those days when "all" mothers were home (and the rest were assumed to be), mothers were given patterns and had to sew all the costumes themselves.
These days, thankfully, this is not expected at most clubs, though the costumes are still made by someone. In our case, it's the mother of the calisthenics coach, who has made all the approximately one million costumes used by the team.
Calisthenics, for non-Australian readers, is a competitive team sport that combines elements of floor exercises, ballet, rhythmic gymnastics and marching. It requires concentration, balance, control, flexibility, strength and rhythm. It's practiced in the competitive sense only in Australia, and is currently 100% female (so I learned from Wikipedia).
My daughter M has been doing calisthenics for about six months. She does it because her friends do it, and I'm happy with it because it is very cheap for a kids' sport, it fits in perfectly with A's weekly karate lessons (which are NOT cheap), and because M is a little accident prone and the balance and co-ordination can only help her.
M is in a 7-10 year-old Sub Juniors team (known as "Subbies"). This weekend marked the end of the 2014 competitions with the Victorian State Titles. 8 Sub Junior teams competed in 10 events, and I will not shy from admitting it was a LOOOONG day.
It was also my day for helping out in the dressing rooms as a rostered mum, along with two others. Though I initially thought I had drawn the short straw being rostered to the biggest competition that went from 9am to 3.30pm, in fact it was the best, because (a) better than sitting in the audience watching every team perform every event for all those hours and (b) with so many teams there was plenty of time between each event so it was easy to get the girls get ready in time. Plus, being the last comp, the girls all knew the drill and mostly dressed themselves anyway. My chief duty was hanging up costumes in the girls' dress bags after each change.
I will insert a short plea here, if you are the parent of a calisthenics competitor, please do use an easy-access dress bag, and you know what? Don't bind all the coat hangers together with a rubber band. That is seriously annoying, and no one is going to steal your coat hangers.
Anyway, it was kind of fun, or at least a different way to spend 6 hours. As with every comp, we got up at 6 in the morning to do M's leg tan and then her hair. The hair takes the longest, needing to be gelled and scraped into a high bun, attach a "wiglet" and secure it all with a thousand hair pins. Makeup is minimal in our club, just foundation, then at the comp the coaches add eye liner and pink lipstick.
As we don't have a car right now, my friend MN (mother of M's friend V in the same team) drove us all there and back. She had done two girls' hair because N the mother of the other friend G, can't do it, so N made us all large cafe-quality coffees to drink in the car. Quite a good way to start the day when it has to be started that early.
The comp venue was a lovely theatre attached to a college, and it was a beautiful sunny day, so the constant walking back and forth between dressing room and theatre (via the outside), was no strain.
I spent my free time either watching some of the events, sitting outside in the sun or chatting with others in the foyer.
The events were Marching, Clubs, Rods, Free Exercises, Aesthetics and Song and Dance.
My favourite event is Marching, followed by Free Exercises. My least favourite is Song and Dance, which is like cabaret for kids.
I like the Marching because M's team does an AWESOME routine with quite complicated choreography to a rousing Irish tune, and it's great to watch.
Free Exercises is where you see the backbends, leg lifts, splits, headstands and cartwheels. Some of the girls who have been doing calisthenics for years are amazing in this event. It's quite incredible what they can do. It's like a mixture of pilates and cheerleading.
Club swinging is difficult but frankly a little boring to watch. I shouldn't say that, because our team placed first in the Clubs event yesterday. But, it's not my favourite thing.
Rods: think, baton twirling. It's also difficult, and looks good when done well.
The Aesthetics is very pretty. All the girls wear long floaty dresses and do graceful slow dances to beautiful music. Unfortunately our team's song was 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2, which has always, and I mean ALWAYS made me cry. It's so freaking sad!!!
My daughter was SO beautiful up on stage, standing apart from the team in her very own spotlight, in her long blue dress, her hair piled up on her head over her beautiful long neck, and making the kind of graceful, controlled movements of which I could hardly believe she was capable.
Taking photos at competitions is strictly verboten, but here is a snippet of M at her first rehearsal:
I still find Calisthenics a somewhat weird activity. I'm not really sure how much M actually likes it, or whether she will continue. She doesn't hate it, and she has improved her flexibility and balance since she started, and she gets to spend more time with her friends. Plus it's a cheap activity and other than having to help out backstage for one competition every year, it's no hassle for the parents. So for all that I'm happy with it.
What is/was your favourite/least favourite kids' activity?
Aug 6, 2014
Old Tech
Last Christmas one of the things we gave the kids was our old iPod Nanos. I wiped all the music, loaded heaps of the kids' favourite songs, and bought $10 headsets from Kmart to replace the old Apple earbuds.
It was their favourite gift and they still love them, and use them every day.
Recently they've got into playing 'spy games' so last weekend I handed over all our other old gadgets for their toy boxes.
They now enhance their games with my old Motorola Razr flip-phone, Y's tiny silver Nokia, a hand-held voice recorder and my high school scientific calculator (which is still a good calculator!).
Oh, and Y's first mobile phone, the massive and heavy Philips Fizz.
The phones are their favourites, and they were mystified by the voice recorder and the portable tape deck. The voice recorder was purchased years ago while I was doing a teaching course, to record interviews and record myself teaching classes.
"How does it work?" asked the kids as I handed it to them.
"Easy," I said. You open it here, see, and load in a blank cassette..."
"What's a cassette?"
"Uh... you know, those plastic things that they used in the old days to play music?" They looked at me blankly and I realised they've probably never seen one. "Never mind."
So I went on the hunt for some blank cassettes, so they could record things.
Not too long ago (I think), you could still get them at supermarkets. No longer. JB Hi Fi don't seem to have them. An online search brings up a few online stores that sell them, but nothing else. Then the other day, I dropped into our local Quickie Mart for milk and found some very dusty TDK 90 minute cassettes on the hardware shelf. Who would have guessed twenty years ago, that you would eventually be able to buy the coveted TDK 90-minute cassette tapes for $2.90 each?
It was their favourite gift and they still love them, and use them every day.
Recently they've got into playing 'spy games' so last weekend I handed over all our other old gadgets for their toy boxes.
They now enhance their games with my old Motorola Razr flip-phone, Y's tiny silver Nokia, a hand-held voice recorder and my high school scientific calculator (which is still a good calculator!).
 |
| "What is this, a phone for ants?" |
 |
| Hello, old friend |
 |
| State of the art! |
 |
| Circa 1986. Note my restraint not making it say HELLO or BOOBS |
Oh, and Y's first mobile phone, the massive and heavy Philips Fizz.
 |
| Ha ha ha ha ha! |
The phones are their favourites, and they were mystified by the voice recorder and the portable tape deck. The voice recorder was purchased years ago while I was doing a teaching course, to record interviews and record myself teaching classes.
"How does it work?" asked the kids as I handed it to them.
"Easy," I said. You open it here, see, and load in a blank cassette..."
"What's a cassette?"
"Uh... you know, those plastic things that they used in the old days to play music?" They looked at me blankly and I realised they've probably never seen one. "Never mind."
So I went on the hunt for some blank cassettes, so they could record things.
Not too long ago (I think), you could still get them at supermarkets. No longer. JB Hi Fi don't seem to have them. An online search brings up a few online stores that sell them, but nothing else. Then the other day, I dropped into our local Quickie Mart for milk and found some very dusty TDK 90 minute cassettes on the hardware shelf. Who would have guessed twenty years ago, that you would eventually be able to buy the coveted TDK 90-minute cassette tapes for $2.90 each?
Do you still use any of these old gadgets?
Jun 21, 2014
Mum Jokes
One good thing about having kids with a man whose first language is not English, is that I get to do all the Dad Jokes.
Lame parental jokes - chiefly dumb puns - are an important part of the childhood experience and I have no wish to deprive my children.
I offer the golden oldies, handed down from generation to generation, such as: "Did you have a good TRIP?" when one of my kids stumbles while walking, and "Oh no, you PEA'D on the table!" when they lose a pea from their dinner plate.
I do that whole "I haven't seen you since LAST YEAR!" thing on the morning of January 1st. That's after doing "Well I guess I won't see you now till NEXT YEAR!" when I kiss them goodnight on December 31st.
I offer the obvious play-on-words jokes whenever the opportunity arises, such as, when my daughter told me she had to take the class roll to the school office: "Well I hope you didn't eat any of it on the way! EAT? ROLL? Get it?"
I make up dumb knock-knock jokes, such as:
And I am always ready with an "original" pun, such as when M pretended to hide behind the Times Tables poster:
"Well, you can COUNT on M to find a good hiding spot!" and:
"She'll probably hide there lots of TIMES!" and:
"She's really turned the TABLES on us!"
The best thing is that my kids are just the right age for these jokes. They actually think they are funny, and every time I do one, as long as I REALLY exaggerate the pun and then pull a joke face or say "Get it?" there will be a tiny pause for comprehension to settle and then "Ha! I get it! Good one!" and peals of laughter.
It feels GREAT to be a comic genius!
Lame parental jokes - chiefly dumb puns - are an important part of the childhood experience and I have no wish to deprive my children.
I offer the golden oldies, handed down from generation to generation, such as: "Did you have a good TRIP?" when one of my kids stumbles while walking, and "Oh no, you PEA'D on the table!" when they lose a pea from their dinner plate.
I do that whole "I haven't seen you since LAST YEAR!" thing on the morning of January 1st. That's after doing "Well I guess I won't see you now till NEXT YEAR!" when I kiss them goodnight on December 31st.
I offer the obvious play-on-words jokes whenever the opportunity arises, such as, when my daughter told me she had to take the class roll to the school office: "Well I hope you didn't eat any of it on the way! EAT? ROLL? Get it?"
I make up dumb knock-knock jokes, such as:
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Harry
Harry who?
Harry up and get ready!
And I am always ready with an "original" pun, such as when M pretended to hide behind the Times Tables poster:
"Well, you can COUNT on M to find a good hiding spot!" and:
"She'll probably hide there lots of TIMES!" and:
"She's really turned the TABLES on us!"
The best thing is that my kids are just the right age for these jokes. They actually think they are funny, and every time I do one, as long as I REALLY exaggerate the pun and then pull a joke face or say "Get it?" there will be a tiny pause for comprehension to settle and then "Ha! I get it! Good one!" and peals of laughter.
It feels GREAT to be a comic genius!
 |
| AKARAKINGDOMS/FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Do/Did you do dumb jokes with kids?
May 4, 2014
Sunday Selections #170
It's time for Sunday Selections!
Sunday Selections is a weekly meme hosted by River at Drifting Through Life.
The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River somewhere in your post
3. leave a comment on River's post and visit some of the others who have posted and commented: for example:
Andrew at High Riser
Gillie at Random Thoughts From Abroad
This week I have photos from ... today!
The kids were determined to go to the park today - with a picnic - despite the weather.
I packed some snacks and off we went.
The park looked like this:
When we arrived, it was raining hard, so we ate lunch in the car, the kids in the front pretending to be spies on a mission driving a car and me in the back pretending not to listen.
When the rain stopped - or more accurately, slowed down for a bit - we got out and the kids got a good half hour playing on the equipment before the rain came back. They even had a swing by sitting on their jackets.
I walked around the park a few times, as I've decided to do every park visit now, instead of sitting on a bench.
Then we went to the supermarket to buy cake ingredients, and home to make chocolate cupcakes.
M. is into googling and baking at the moment, and this is a recipe she found herself. It is from Taste, and is here. It is very easy, and makes quite a rich cake. The ganache on top is very rich though, and I would leave it off next time.
Instead of milk, the liquid in these comes from three eggs (instead of the usual two), and melted chocolate-and-water.
My favourite mixing bowl with the handle and pouring spout is not great for sitting on top of a saucepan to melt chocolate, but it works.
These photos are actually of the ganache-making stage later:
These photos are actually of the ganache-making stage later:
I had to double-check the recipe because the oven temperature is only 160 degrees (normal for cakes is 180) and cooking time is only 20 minutes. But sure enough, it was right - the cakes cooked to perfection and rose nicely too.
The icing - sorry, ganache - on top is made from more dark chocolate, melted with sour cream. It is a bit too bitter for my taste, and very rich. Also, the recipe makes a huge amount of it. I made two thirds the amount the recipe called for, and even after applying it generously to the cakes, had more than half of it left over. As none of us liked the ganache that much, that went in the bin.
But the cakes were certainly easy and came up a treat.
What else to do on a rainy day?
The kids surprised me by pulling out an old toy from the cupboard, one they haven't played with since they were little. Because even Big Kids can play with Little Kid toys, after all.
Feb 24, 2014
Breaking the magician's code
The kids are eight and are into magic tricks at the moment.
Do you want to see a magic trick M. showed me?
Here it is:
Pick a card, any card.
I picked this one:
Then I had to put it back in the deck (without M seeing it of course), and M. mixed up the cards.
"Okay," she said dramatically.
"Is THIS your card?!"
How did she do it?
Ta-da!
Oct 6, 2013
Sunday Selections #140 - Werribee Open Range Zoo
It's time for Sunday Selections!
This is a weekly meme started by Kim of FrogPondsRock as a way to showcase some of the many photos we all take, but don't get around to showing on our blogs. Sunday Selections is now hosted by River at Drifting Through Life.
This week, I've got a few snaps taken today at Werribee Zoo.
For the last day of the school holidays, we visited the Werribee Open Range Zoo, where I had never been.
After driving for approximately twelve hours we arrived at the lush foresty oasis of Werribee Park, which contains the zoo. I'm only being facetious about the length of the drive; the zoo environment and landscaping really are beautiful. It's spacious and not crowded, and really well planned. The carpark is right outside the entrance, and we were able to park literally a few steps from the front gate. As we walked in, a staff member ushered us from the short line to a second entrance where we sailed right in.
The highlight, of course, is the "safari bus tour" through the open range section, where you drive past bison, camels, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, rhinos and gazelles, all looking a little odd camped out on green Melbourne paddocks, I have to say. But it is impressive, and fun.
The first animals came up on our right. "Look!" I said to M. next to me, "Buffalo!"
Right on cue our driver's voice-over said, "Now people will keep on calling these buffalo, but they are bison." Oh yes. I knew that. Which also reminded me of a joke my grandparents brought back with them years ago from a tour guide in Canada:
Moving right along...
Mongolian wild horses, on the "steppes" of "Mongolia". A guy on a tractor drives behind them and helpfully rounds them up to gallop closer to the safari bus.
With some cute touches for the kids:
As this little guy sat looking around, there was a furious multi-meerkat copulation party going on in the box underneath him.
After all this, we were all thoroughly tired out, so we skipped the 'Australian Journey' section and headed home.
A great day.
This is a weekly meme started by Kim of FrogPondsRock as a way to showcase some of the many photos we all take, but don't get around to showing on our blogs. Sunday Selections is now hosted by River at Drifting Through Life.
The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River somewhere in your post
3. leave a comment on River's post and visit some of the others who have posted and commented
This week, I've got a few snaps taken today at Werribee Zoo.
For the last day of the school holidays, we visited the Werribee Open Range Zoo, where I had never been.
After driving for approximately twelve hours we arrived at the lush foresty oasis of Werribee Park, which contains the zoo. I'm only being facetious about the length of the drive; the zoo environment and landscaping really are beautiful. It's spacious and not crowded, and really well planned. The carpark is right outside the entrance, and we were able to park literally a few steps from the front gate. As we walked in, a staff member ushered us from the short line to a second entrance where we sailed right in.
A shot of the lake:
Bird's nest:
The highlight, of course, is the "safari bus tour" through the open range section, where you drive past bison, camels, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, rhinos and gazelles, all looking a little odd camped out on green Melbourne paddocks, I have to say. But it is impressive, and fun.
The first animals came up on our right. "Look!" I said to M. next to me, "Buffalo!"
Right on cue our driver's voice-over said, "Now people will keep on calling these buffalo, but they are bison." Oh yes. I knew that. Which also reminded me of a joke my grandparents brought back with them years ago from a tour guide in Canada:
Q. What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
A. Well, a buffalo's a large herbivorous animal, and a bison's what Australians wash their hands in.
Moving right along...
Mongolian wild horses, on the "steppes" of "Mongolia". A guy on a tractor drives behind them and helpfully rounds them up to gallop closer to the safari bus.
Leaving Mongolia, we head to the "African savannah":
I'm going to admit it, I was disappointed the lions are not in the open range section.
But it's not Kruger Park, after all.
We saw the lions, cheetahs, gorillas, velvet monkeys, hippos and meerkats in their enclosures. The enclosures are great, and you get to see everything very close.
Unlike the Melbourne Zoo, this one isn't crowded (or wasn't today), and it was really nice to walk around and stare at animals unimpeded.
The landscaping is beautiful too.
With some cute touches for the kids:
There are also lots of re-created ranger huts with old equipment in them, re-purposed crates and trucks for playing on, and a fantastic little jungle adventure path through bush, with things to step on, swaying mini bridges to cross, and animal sounds being piped through tall grass all around.
The kids' favourite animals were the monkeys and meerkats, which were inquisitive and friendly.
As this little guy sat looking around, there was a furious multi-meerkat copulation party going on in the box underneath him.
I couldn't get a good shot of the lions - this is a bit grainy because I've zoomed and cropped it:
It was surprising to read of the hunting dogs that they live in harmonious, affectionate groups; only one pair breeds and all the dogs rear the young.
After all this, we were all thoroughly tired out, so we skipped the 'Australian Journey' section and headed home.
A great day.
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