Lessons from a Theme Park...

Seeing as how most of the school holidays have involved staying at home doing DIY, recovering from Christmas and getting ready for camping, we thought we'd better make an effort and actually take our kids somewhere. You know, actually do something with them.

To make up for our (almost) total lack of effort in the fun stakes, we splashed out and took them to NZ's Premier Theme Park: Rainbow's End (woop woop). OK, you Queenslanders, Californians and Floridians... stop laughing. It's the best NZ has to offer and the kids don't know that it's a bit sad as theme parks go internationally. They were majorly amped OK?

Hey us Kiwis are simple folk. I still remember my nephew saying to me, after we visited Owlcatraz (which really really sucked): "Aunty Simone, was this your best day ever???" See. Simple folk. Easy pleased.

OK, now back to my story:

We did the regular Theme Park stuff...

...stood in queues...

...rode the rollercoaster (the kids went on three times and loved it)

...ate candy floss...

...and learnt a few things about our kids while we were there...

Scrag:
This little guy just loves cars, trains, anything with wheels. He just loved the "Carwash Convoy" in the kids area - must have rode it 10 times. In fact refused to leave and had to be bribed.

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What we learnt from him was how your heart can just blow up to 15 times its regular size and threaten to burst with love and joy when you are watching your gorgeous kid enjoy something so much. (In fact watching the three of them together we were fairly bursting with pride at how gorgeous they all are and how much we love them).

Scrag completely missed his daytime sleep and did he whinge or complain?? No not once. He is truly the happiest baby in the world and we are the most blessed-est people to have him.

Miss Fab (a.k.a. Princess):
Our daughter is the Queen of Courage. She is a can-do girl. Ride the roller coaster?? No problemo. Let's do it again? You bet!
How about the Fear Fall? Yeah, why not. Hey, that was great! Daddy why are your knees knocking together??!
What about the Dodgems? Mummy can I have a turn driving? Sure.

Sometimes we forget that she's only five. She's so tall she qualified for nearly all the big rides and went on them fearlessly. So when she asked to drive her own Dodgem car, I thought, why not?
I was waiting with Dash in the Bumper Boats queue, so Daddy took Miss Fab and Scrag Dodgem-ing. When they came back, Miss Fab was shaken and crying. It had not gone well at all. All the other drivers kept crashing into her. She got stuck in the middle and Daddy couldn't rescue her. His heart broke as he watched her tears; he managed to grab the attendant and got him to rescue her.

Last night Mr G and I sat on the couch and reviewed our day. It was a great day. A special day together as a family. But Mr G still felt heart-sore over Miss Fab's Dodgem Distress. To see his daughter crying and being unable to help? Broke his heart. And helped us both remember that as bolshy, loud and seemingly fearless as our Miss Fab is, she is still underneath it all a tender precious little girl who doesn't always know her own limits.

Dash:
The King of Persistence. Dash got it in his head that he really wanted to have a go on the Bumper Boats. Nobody else wanted to, but he was determined. So I said, "Well it looks like a long queue, but if you really want to go, then you can line up by yourself. I'll wait over here."
So he waited. And waited. And Waited.

Each time the line moved I went over and checked that he hadn't been pushed in front of and was doing OK. Well! Not only was he determined to wait in that one hour long queue (for his 3 minutes on the Bumper Boats) but he had made friends with another kid (Cowboy Hat guy) in the queue and his family. Cowboy Hat must have been 11 or 12 years old, but he and Dash were chatting away like old cronies. Dash didn't even notice his mummy checking on him.

Boy o boy the look on his face when it was his turn! Off he raced, totally enjoying himself on the water with his new buddies.

I was blown away by his commitment, his patience... and his social skills!

When it was over, Dash and Cowboy Hat gave each other a high five and went their separate ways. I am so amazed at my seven year old son's social confidence. And Thankful - because it will take him Far.

Who knew you could learn all that about your kids at a Theme Park?

P.S. Owlcatraz is a real place, near Shannon in the Horowhenua; it's a kind of Owl sanctuary with a (really sad mottley) petting zoo and miniature railway. Click here if you don't believe me... :)

The More the Merrier???

This was the view from our tent when we went camping last year: a beach front site. Open the zipper and wow, this is what greets you in the morning. It is to this lovely place that we will return to camp again... this is how close our tent is to the beach:

I have just been sitting here drawing a floor plan, and making a schedule and asking myself ever so quietly: Have I really thought this through??
Thought what through, you may well ask. Only going camping with two extra kiddies!

*Ahem*

Yes, well it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time: "Take a friend each for the kids so they will play happily and we can all relax more, without the constant niggling and squabbling..."

OK, I still think it's a great plan... but the truth is that we are only now realising there'll be just a teensy bit of extra planning (and work) involved.

Like...

• How are we going to fit four kids and a portacot in the back room of the tent?? (I think I have it figured out; but it involves getting kids off to sleep in shifts and packing them in like sardines. Upside: They will be nice and warm)
• What happens if the baby wakes up in the night and then all four kids wake up and... (OK total mayhem would ensue so lets cross our fingers and hope the kids are all heavy sleepers).
• What about Toileting? The toilet block is a good hike from our tent site... and we have a rule about kids not going to public toilets by themselves. Downside: A lot of extra walking. Upside: a lot of extra walking.

I'm from the More is Less school of parenting. As in, more kids is actually less work. They entertain each other and you can chill out more. Gee I hope my theory holds true to some extent at least.
The thing that reassures me is that Auckland is only 40 minutes away... if it all turns to custard (which I really really hope it won't).

And... the view will still be good.

And... as we all know, disaster stories make for great blog posts! I promise to take lots of pictures.

Do you think I'm slightly crazy???

Backyard Camping

As I write this Dash and Daddy are bonding - camping in the backyard. It's a bit of a tradition which began when Dash was four; they pitch the little dome tent in our backyard, stuff it full of sleeping bags, pillows, torches and board games and then settle in for a "boys night". That first time I brought them out cookies and milo; this time we are all out of milo and cookies. So they're roughing it, sort of.

Actually they're in the Big Family Tent this time. Next week we're off camping (for real, all of us) so Daddy decided the tent needed airing out. We also probably need the practise putting it up - you know - to (hopefully) avoid those public camping ground "marital discussions" you tend to have while attempting to pitch a tent and look after umpteen kids at the same time???!! (Yep, we're taking a few extras with us). Anyhoo, I digress.

We pitched the tent (had a few minor marital discussions); we played some family games in it (charades, Trouble), had a BBQ and after the youngest two were tucked up in bed, out went The Lads for a bit of bonding and board games.

Ahhhhh, and now for me a night of peace watching girly movies. Bliss. Go boys, have fun camping!

P.S. If you're wondering why our tent floor looks so fab, it's a camping trick I copied off a friend: woven plastic Chinese (or Polynesian) mats, approx 2 metres square; they only cost $18 each from a Chinese trader, feel lovely and soft to walk on (plus adding warmth) and best of all, the sand filters right through them - so no gritty sandy tent floors. Oh yes, we are in luxury now, boys!

The Sun Sets on 2009

First things first: Happy New Year, my Friends! I hope it was a merry one. We had a family-friendly BBQ with friends and neighbours who were still in town. We let off fireworks and toasted marshmallows; all the kids brought their PJ's and sleeping bags and snuggled down to watch a DVD and leave us grown-ups in peace to chill and socialise.

It was the best New Years Eve we've had in yonks: much better than sitting alone at home (babysitter-less) and watching a lame TV line-up. (Oops, sorry if that's how you spent your New Years. That's our usual scenario as well)

Check out Mr G trying to fit all the recycling in our bin after Christmas and New Years! Tee Hee.

New Years day we recovered from the night before speedily enough to...

...rip up the carpet in our bedroom and expose the wood floor (me)!

...start building a mega-playhouse in  a disused corner of the garden (Mr G)!

...get Pizza and have dinner at our local Pt Chev beach with our lovely neighbours (all of us)

I had planned to write a whole "Review of 2009" type of post... but, well, since it's now actually the 3rd of January, I think I've kinda missed the boat on that one.

But here's a brief Pictorial Sum-Up of a few highlights in my Year:

The Good...

My baby turns One, he walks he laughs he runs he sleeps through the night - he lights up our life... it's all good. What a difference in only a Year.

Mr G is voted Man of the Year again after remembering our Engagement Anniversary. Who does that???

My little brother and his family visit us from Spain and Miss Fab(a.k.a. Princess) turns five and heads off to school...

We got lovely new neighbours with kids (and trees to climb)!

We travel to the UK and see Mr G's lovely family. The trip of a lifetime... wonderful!

I turned 40. And survived.

We also survived our first sleepover with seven year old boys. And I made my best ever Birthday Cake.

I got to meet some wonderful bloggers for brunch in Warkworth! These are a great bunch of girls: Weza, BanBan & PaisleyJade. What a special day (and a road trip with my buddy Gail).

We got to celebrate Christmas for the first time ever at our home with my parents... magical.

The Bad:
My dad had a heart attack and a triple by-pass. But he's doing great and is back at work on his Postie round. Can you believe it??

The Ugly:

Remember this? Miss Fab decided she didn't want a fringe any more so she cut it off at the roots. It was a black day for me. It got ugly. And the fringe didn't look great either. Finally finally it's grown out. Only took six months.

Like I said... a brief overview of my year. Overall it was a good year, and I'm thankful and hopeful about the year to come.

How about you?