A Short Outing.
We went away for 3 nights, staying in a cabin at the Marysville caravan park. The kids are quite exhausted now, but seemed to have a lot of fun.
Although I had a list of possible activities for while we were in the area, as well as plenty of games, drawing materials, books etc to keep people occupied, they all proved largely unnecessary.
Monday on arrival, after settling in to our cabin and the kids giving it the tick of approval, we ventured out to explore the park. Conditions were cold and wet, but the kids were pleased with the small playground there and took some persuading to look further afield.
Next we found the large playground over the road, most noteworthy feature being the Archimedes Screw water play feature. Thus it was dubbed "The Water Park", we eventually had to drag them back toward home because it was starting to rain again.
The other main play feature for our stay was the jumping pillow at the caravan park, which the kids found on Tuesday along with a couple of friends very near their own age. They would happily spend 90 minutes at a time jumping around on it and generally playing with other kids at the park.
Between that and playgrounds, they had little interest in doing much else (except watching Pokemon DVDs in the cabin).
The larger playground was part of a park that included a lot of features, including a nearby oval which David & Mr7 eventually played some cricket on while Ms4 sang to herself on the swing, and an engine of some description that they were keen to play on. They climbed, spun on the roundabout, inspected the pond, but always returned to the water.
We had brought Mr7's scooter and Ms4's bicycle with us. We pulled those out on the first morning and encouraged them to ride around a bit. After much practice Ms4 is becoming more confident pedaling the bike by herself, but still struggled with applying the foot brakes, and tends to panic on a downhill slope which makes the task even harder.
On Tuesday evening we shared another family's fire pit and the kids rode their vehicles around in the dark until bedtime. Of such things are childhood memories made.
We did drag them to a few places, with Mr7 complaining bitterly, then enjoying himself thoroughly once we got there.
There was a visit to Steavenson's Falls, which were looking quite good after all the rain. Mr7 wanted to take the 30 minute walk up to the top, but it was getting late in the day so we agreed if he really wanted to do it we would come back before heading home.
And indeed, this morning before we left we were back at the falls in much sunnier and warmer weather. The plan had been for Ms4 to stay at the playground with David while I took Mr7 on the walk, but at the last minute she insisted she wanted to come with us. So, David and Mr7 strode briskly to the top of the hill, while Ms4 clutched my hand tight and we made our way up with a few rest stops on the way.
To her credit, she made it up and back with minimal complaints. We discussed snakes and all the reasons she shouldn't be too afraid of them (there was a sign at the start of the path warning of snakes), saw a very small lizard on a rock she rested on, touched fluffy wattle flowers, and spotted a butterfly and several small birds.
By the time we got back she had decided she deserved some chocolate for being so good and brave on the walk. We improvised a picnic lunch from our remaining food supplies, and as it happened there was chocolate in her future.
On Wednesday, after lots of bouncing and saying goodbye to the Tuesday friends, playground time and lunch at the bakery, we made our way to the Sculpture Garden. Again, despite initial protests the kids quickly became enthused about spotting all the sculptures and had a great time.
Later we checked out the Lolly Shop. A very nostalgic place for the adults, and exciting for the kids. I gave them a very small shopping basket and let them choose a few items to buy, while David and I managed to restrain ourselves to a couple of things each as well.
The main other stop of note was the nearby supermarket. They had some plush toys in there, Ms4 spent all her money on a plush unicorn that she seems to love dearly. Mr7 also decided to buy a bear, mostly so that he could train it like a pokemon in their games. He's a bit keen on pokemon at the moment.
After our hike to the top of the waterfall, our last stop on the way home was the Yarra Glen Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. There we closely inspected the chocolate making process, indulged in amazing ice-creams and sorbets, then David and I went shopping for chocolate.
Permitted to select one thing each, Ms4 quickly opted for the 1m bar of chocolate, but Mr7 eventually decided he just wanted a Hot Chocolate mug.
Then it was back home, all of us quite worn out.
Although I had a list of possible activities for while we were in the area, as well as plenty of games, drawing materials, books etc to keep people occupied, they all proved largely unnecessary.
Monday on arrival, after settling in to our cabin and the kids giving it the tick of approval, we ventured out to explore the park. Conditions were cold and wet, but the kids were pleased with the small playground there and took some persuading to look further afield.
Next we found the large playground over the road, most noteworthy feature being the Archimedes Screw water play feature. Thus it was dubbed "The Water Park", we eventually had to drag them back toward home because it was starting to rain again.
The other main play feature for our stay was the jumping pillow at the caravan park, which the kids found on Tuesday along with a couple of friends very near their own age. They would happily spend 90 minutes at a time jumping around on it and generally playing with other kids at the park.
Between that and playgrounds, they had little interest in doing much else (except watching Pokemon DVDs in the cabin).
The larger playground was part of a park that included a lot of features, including a nearby oval which David & Mr7 eventually played some cricket on while Ms4 sang to herself on the swing, and an engine of some description that they were keen to play on. They climbed, spun on the roundabout, inspected the pond, but always returned to the water.
We had brought Mr7's scooter and Ms4's bicycle with us. We pulled those out on the first morning and encouraged them to ride around a bit. After much practice Ms4 is becoming more confident pedaling the bike by herself, but still struggled with applying the foot brakes, and tends to panic on a downhill slope which makes the task even harder.
On Tuesday evening we shared another family's fire pit and the kids rode their vehicles around in the dark until bedtime. Of such things are childhood memories made.
We did drag them to a few places, with Mr7 complaining bitterly, then enjoying himself thoroughly once we got there.
There was a visit to Steavenson's Falls, which were looking quite good after all the rain. Mr7 wanted to take the 30 minute walk up to the top, but it was getting late in the day so we agreed if he really wanted to do it we would come back before heading home.
And indeed, this morning before we left we were back at the falls in much sunnier and warmer weather. The plan had been for Ms4 to stay at the playground with David while I took Mr7 on the walk, but at the last minute she insisted she wanted to come with us. So, David and Mr7 strode briskly to the top of the hill, while Ms4 clutched my hand tight and we made our way up with a few rest stops on the way.
To her credit, she made it up and back with minimal complaints. We discussed snakes and all the reasons she shouldn't be too afraid of them (there was a sign at the start of the path warning of snakes), saw a very small lizard on a rock she rested on, touched fluffy wattle flowers, and spotted a butterfly and several small birds.
By the time we got back she had decided she deserved some chocolate for being so good and brave on the walk. We improvised a picnic lunch from our remaining food supplies, and as it happened there was chocolate in her future.
On Wednesday, after lots of bouncing and saying goodbye to the Tuesday friends, playground time and lunch at the bakery, we made our way to the Sculpture Garden. Again, despite initial protests the kids quickly became enthused about spotting all the sculptures and had a great time.
Later we checked out the Lolly Shop. A very nostalgic place for the adults, and exciting for the kids. I gave them a very small shopping basket and let them choose a few items to buy, while David and I managed to restrain ourselves to a couple of things each as well.
The main other stop of note was the nearby supermarket. They had some plush toys in there, Ms4 spent all her money on a plush unicorn that she seems to love dearly. Mr7 also decided to buy a bear, mostly so that he could train it like a pokemon in their games. He's a bit keen on pokemon at the moment.
After our hike to the top of the waterfall, our last stop on the way home was the Yarra Glen Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. There we closely inspected the chocolate making process, indulged in amazing ice-creams and sorbets, then David and I went shopping for chocolate.
Permitted to select one thing each, Ms4 quickly opted for the 1m bar of chocolate, but Mr7 eventually decided he just wanted a Hot Chocolate mug.
Then it was back home, all of us quite worn out.