23rd February 2011

Over the weekend a woman from my sewing class gave me 5 bags of toys her grandson was throwing out and while some were broken there were many that were in good condition.  So a trip to Ikea was needed to purchase some new tubs to help sort out the new toys.  We needed tubs for Superheroes, transformers, toy guns, dinosaurs and teenage mutant ninja turtles.   Henry's main goal at Ikea is to get to the end where the hotdogs are and kept telling me to look out for the hotdog sign. 

After Ikea we stopped for a play at the park at Bray Bay Reserve.  Again we went after lunch and the park was pretty empty so Henry and Freya had the freedom to go on everything.  However they kept going on this spinning piece of equipment which after hotdogs and icecream I was sure someone was going to vomit! 

We then headed to the library to find a book to read at playgroup and pick up a book for my bookgroup 'The Finkler Question'.

16th February 2011

Today I had to go to Parramatta to register a new business name, Paperwork Friend.  We went about 11am and then  had a wander around the shopping centre, well we checked out the toy store so not much looking on my part.  We then had some lunch, cheese & bacon rolls & a gingerbread man for Henry and Freya and 2 sushi rolls for me (I have lost weight this week so I tried not to ruin a good thing with a greasy lunch).  

After lunch we headed to Parramatta Park, which is between Westmead Hospital and Parramatta Football stadium.  I wasn't really sure what we would find but it is a very pretty park and we found a playground with parking very close,  Strangely though there were loads of pigeons.  Henry made me laugh at everything he said in the first five minutes :

• While looking through a telescope - "Mum, look at me, I am sailing the 7 seas"
• "Look at that beautiful stream" - A pretty stagnet part of the river
• "I didn't know pigeons could fly"  - Yes Henry they are birds
• "There are lots of flying things here today"  - Again yes there were a variety of birds, pigeons, crows, ducks, big beak birds.

I think the movie 'The Birds' was written by someone with a child like Henry.  The photo on the swing is him making sure a pigeon doesn't attack him.  Do pigeons attack people???
Freya looks like she has grown again and the photo of her climbing the spiderweb shows how much bigger she is; looking more like a preschooler.

9th February 2011

Today we went to Lollipops playland.  We had planned to do an outdoor activity but the weather turned quite dark and overcast.

http://www.lollipopsplayland.com.au/

Again we went after lunch after doing some jobs in the morning plus fitting in some exercise for Mummy (I am really sore today!).  There were only 4 other families there so we pretty much had the run of the place.  Henry and Freya ran, climbed and jumped for the next 2 hours in the ball pits, jumping castles, climbing frames.  Also a milestone day because I was able to read and watch them play.  I am reading Eat, Pray, Love which has lots of short chapters so easy to read without being too distracting.

2nd February 2011

Today was our first Wednesday outing and we went to Sydney Olympic International Aquatic Centre.

http://www.aquaticcentre.com.au/

We went after lunch to avoid the crowds as it was a 35 degree day.  It was still pretty busy and a little hard sometimes having to hold Freya with her flotation backpack and Henry who only wants to wear goggles but is still learning to swim.  We had a fun time going through the rapids.  The water playground was a bit frightening for Henry and Freya because of all the water splashing down.  We did make it down one slide and thankfully missed the huge bucket tipping over which I didn't know about!  Freya enjoyed watching the bucket tip over but didn't want to be anywhere near it.

The centre is huge and driving around the Olympic park is really beautiful.  When the weather cools down we might head to one of the parks.