34/52

 We are feeling Spring warming the garden and beckoning us out.

 "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Orlando: His garden space continues, at the markets he found some pansy plants. This one he has called Tiger Flower. (Photo by Nathan Davies)

Matilda: We have adopted two beautiful new chickens to add to our brood. They have grown up in the hands of children and are very happy to be held. Today was the first time Tilly held one. She was very keen, learnt how to do it properly and was full of joy. Then she got a great shock when it flew out of her arms. Didn't deter her from having a second hold though. (Photos by Nathan Davies)

Pair: We are reading "The Little Fairy Sister" as a family novel at the moment. Tilly started constructing a beautiful little fairy garden, Ollie joined in. Now it sits under the flowers ready and waiting for the fairies to visit. I love the mini potato they found in the garden exclaiming "It might be tiny like a pea to us but to the fairies it's gi-normous!"

Joining with Jodi

Native Folk

As I have mentioned a few times before, my children are chronic collectors. They find treasure everywhere they go and fill their pockets (my bag) with all of the must have souvenirs. 

I love that our children see treasure and beauty in the natural world... we just need to find a way to channel the 'goods' that are lovingly brought into our home.

So when we came across this book... we were inspired to use some of our treasures. In fact we were so inspired we spent 2 more days out bush walking, collecting even more treasures with vision.

I LOVE that resources from the natural world a completely free. All they require is for you to step out of your door and open your eyes. We found some really interesting things on the nature strip!

This afternoon was a 'Craft-a-noon' at our place and the whole family sat and created. A world of Native Folk, out of our treasures. 

All we needed was the natural resources we had collected and a hot glue gun (I LOVE HOT GLUE GUNS)

We had a lot of fun, here are our first attempts :)

30/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Matilda: She has decided that it is time to learn how to read and write. I thought we would wait until she started Kindy next year, but the questions are coming thick and fast. So I guess now is the time. We are answering her questions and supporting her with information when she requests it. Orlando is LOVING being her one-on-one tutor. She is soaking it all in like a sponge that has been waiting for the good stuff. Round 2... here we come!

Orlando: His physical confidence is taking leaps and bounds. He is challenging himself to go places he would have previously shied away from. Rocks and trees are his climbing frame of choice. He declares "I think my boots would let me climb anything, they are great!" I reminded him that although his boots are great it is HIM doing the climbing, not his boots :)

Pair: Taking in the grand-ness of the beautiful rock we chose for our morning tea. Nothing makes you feel quite as tiny, than the giant-ness of the natural world.

Joining with Jodi

Rock and Gem Party

He is 7! It has happened already! Now I need to figure out how to parent a 7 year old! I haven't done that before.

Every 2nd year we support our children to organise themselves a birthday party. Orlando has done a few now and he loves the process.

This year he had a dilemma as to which 'theme' to choose (he is passionate about many things) so we planned them all! Through this process there was a clear winner. A theme that he has been passionate about for a long time and was going to make for a really cool party.

Rocks and Gems!

Here is what he planned...

Invite

Tools

Each guest was provided a bucket with a magnifying glass, paint brush, pair of tweezers and a tool for excavation. These were used in all the activities and then taken home at the end. 

Activities

Excavation - Sandpit was buried with bones, real fossils, polished gems, shells and an assortment of other 'treasure'

 Fossicking - Big tubs full of sand, water, chip gems, shells and large gems. Scoops, real fossicking sieves and gold pans made it feel even more authentic.

Rock Dig - We had a lot of fun creating a plaster and sand rock dig. We followed the tutorial over at 'longlivelearning'. We had great fun making them before hand and 3 of them lasted the whole party, and now, 3 weeks after the party, they are getting close to being finished. They were very popular and the party and the kids got a real sense of achievement when they finally got out a treasure.

Gold and Gem Mine - I forgot to take a photo of this! We got a kids tunnel and a small tent and covered the whole thing in MANY black plastic bags. This made it completely dark inside. We then spray painted a bucket full of normal rocks gold. These rocks we hidden all through the tunnel and tent. So when the kids went in with a head torch it lit up the gold for them to collect. We hid some large rough cut gems in there also.

I am not a big fan of competition at birthday parties. So near each experience was a bucket for you to place the treasures you had excavated or found. This served two-fold, if an activity was wiped clean, we could re-hide treasures, but also made the morning feel like a communal effort. We were all working together to excavate as much as we could. At the end of the party we collected all the buckets and put it into 2 really big trays. One of the kids said "WOW look at all the work we have put in! We have all collected so much!" (my non-competitive heart sang)

Then everyone collected 20 of their favourites to take home from the party, along with their tools.

Cake

This is always the first thing Orlando plans. Pinterest is a wonderful tool when it comes to ideas for cakes. There are some very talented cake decorators out there... I am not one of them. I can usually make a cake look pretty good but when thinking of rocks... A friend had her sons birthday party a few weeks earlier and she had made EDIBLE GEODES. They were IMPRESSIVE! So we got to thinking and thought that we might use this idea to make a geode cake topper.

Not all went to plan, I learnt a lot. But we had some crystal caves to use and found some chocolate rocks to add to the 'rock-i-ness'.

Inside was chocolate mud with jube lollies baked though it (like gems in the dirt). I DON'T recommend doing this... and wont be doing it again :) They made the cake really hard to cut and all sank to the bottom. They were hard to eat also.

Food

Well the food all needed to be rock - related so we had...

Chocolate Chia Seed Balls
Caramel Macadamias
Chocolate Rocks
Caramel Pop Corn Balls
Rock Cakes
Pretzels (with Salt Crystals) 

We also added -
Homemade Sausage Rolls and Spinach Rolls
Prawn Cutlets
Fruit Platter
Cheese Platter

Natural Beauty

I had a rare 'spare' day. So my girl and I went exploring. Although it is late in Autumn, the sky was clear and the sun was shining. It was BEAUTIFUL! 

I love exploring with children as they see beauty everywhere. Things that my adult mind sees as a weed, messy or misses completely, they see.

Matilda and I have made a deal. If she sees something special, I'll photograph it for her. Leave it in its home for others to enjoy and we will take home the photograph.

Today her eyes were particularly attuned to fungus - we keep the terms mushroom and fungus quite separate to avoid confusion. Mushrooms = in the fridge and we eat them. Fungus = outside and where you are likely to find fairies living - look but don't touch.

We took the Plunge!

After our recent paddling adventure, we made the decision as a family to buy a canoe. The simple fact that the WHOLE family can easily fit in and go on an adventure made it a pretty easy decision.

We knew which boat we wanted and it just so happened that there was one spare in our make and model in a new shipment of boats (almost like it was meant to be). We claimed it as ours and picked it up just before Easter. 

This year we were travelling down to our property at Durras, on the South Coast. What better time than to crack the champers and give our boat her maiden voyage. 

We picked up some kids paddles while we were there and they are just beautiful! 'Otter' Ollie and "Princess Paddler" loved being able to paddle with us. 

We spent 2 days out on the water over the weekend and without luggage in the boat we were all able to explore and experiment, really getting a feel for the boat.

We are all excited about the adventures to be had both close to home and in new interesting places. The fact that they all get us outdoors and exploring the world is just the icing on the cake. We'll be sure to keep you posted :)

Canoe Camping with Kids

Last year I had the privilege of working with a very skilled and very passionate Canoeing Instructor Travis Frenay. He instilled in me a LOVE of canoeing and the ability to control a boat, as I desire... even to look good when doing it :)

I really enjoyed our weekends out as a group, and was really surprised at just how much skill we were able to acquire in a relatively small period of time. Although I don't make it look like magic (like Travis does) I feel very comfortable making the canoe do what I want it to.

I was also excited by the possibility of being able to fit the kids in the boat, with Nath and I, and all the camping gear. We are keen to buy a boat, but wanted to see how to kids went in the canoe before investing.

As I started to pack I realised how much more stuff was needed for a family of 4. I am used to throwing together the minimum. If I forget something, it doesn't really matter, I'll make do. With the kids in tow... I needed to remember everything x 4. I started to worry about fitting it all in the boat and leaving enough room for the kids. The boat we were hiring was smaller than the one we would buy. The man at the hire place was worried we wouldn't fit in. I assured him we would... I just needed at assure myself :)

When the boats and barrels arrived I looked at my pile of 'stuff' and set to work. I can pack well... no space wasted. I got all of our gear down to 2 barrels and 2 school bag sized back packs. I was chuffed. The barrels went in and the kids straddled their backpacks as seats.

We were loaded... completely self sufficient in one boat.  A heavy boat, but set to go. We were all kitted with PFD's and set off on our adventure.

The kids were relaxed and calm, not anxious at all (thank goodness!) I was worried about us bring slower than the group, as we were so loaded. But with Nath and I muscling along, we powered through the water.


The kids loved it! We loved it! Bring on the water, off on an adventure, with my whole family in one boat... that is what we live for.

I had a smile from ear to ear.

Once the kids got even more comfortable in the boat we hit a few hurdles. They wanted to lean over the edge... but in a laden boat that was a little to much 'tilt' for my liking. They also LOVED paddling... but with only 2 paddles that meant one of us was unable to paddle. Therefore we went nowhere fast.

I see both of these as very 'fixable'. A bigger boat would be less laden and we have an extra paddle or 2 for playing in the water with. Easy fixed.

For kids, it really is a long time sitting in one place. But with the spectacular beauty around us they were pretty engaged. With the amazing feeling of gliding over the water, they were pretty engaged.

A few tips and tricks to when they get restless...
- Paddle close to shore and spot all the interesting things you would other wise miss. Lillies, lizards, waterfalls...
- Play games like 'I Spy'
- Sing... loud... fill the valley with your family in song
- Have plenty of snacks with you
- Have an extra paddle
- Stop every few kilometers to explore, stretch legs and have a swim!

There is no rush. I believe that when adventuring with kids it is important to factor in a lot of exploring time to the schedule. If we become goal oriented we miss the adventure along the way. In a canoe we are paddling to places we cannot get to by foot... make the most of it!

We had a wonderful weekend away. The kids took to the boat like a house on fire. Orlando even makes an awesome paddler. This is definitley something we wont to do again, often. So with a canoe set up (We-no-nah) now on the cards, we are excited to start planning many more adventures. Exploring places you can only see by boat.