Kingston's Big Day

I can't believe my little guy is 2! He woke up nice and early on his birthday, ready to open presents.

Looks like this one had a bit too much cellotape on

Hunter helped him with the opening, and he was really excited to see all his new things

Especially some new Cars toys

A helmet from uncle Kellum

Some trains from Nana and Poppa

A lightsaber of his very own so he can join in the Star Wars games

Next was time for his present from Mummy and Daddy, we told him to close his eyes while Daddy brought it in

His very first bike! How exciting!

After we got home from taking the kids to school, Kingston and I went for a bike ride to the playground

When we got home, he had another present to open, this one was from our dear friend Myah

I think he likes it

He spent the next 20 minutes playing with the car, he figured out how to work the remote control really well

Then it was time to play with those new trains and cars, while wearing his new Wall*e backpack

We did some puzzles

Finally it was nap time, while Kingy slept I worked on the cake, I was happy with how it turned out

After school the kids played, Hunter is great about making train towns for Kingston, Kingy usually says thank you when he's done, by sending him away so he can play alone - he's a riot!

Once Craig got home it was Cake time!

I think it was a hit!
What a great day for our big boy.

A visit to Darling Harbour

Tuesday was our last day with Carmen and the boys, so we decided to take them into Darling Harbour, it was their first time to Sydney, and I wanted to show them some of the city. Craig was back at work, so we packed up some lunch and the 7 of us headed out for a day of fun.

First stop, the obligatory picture in front of the harbour, the kids weren't too excited about this, at least kenzie smile I guess. lol


Next up the playground, we hadn't actually visited this part of Darling Harbour before either, it was really cool, with so much to do for the kids, and the best part - it was FREE!





After a play, it was time for a bite to eat, then we wandered around the harbour a little on our way to the Aquarium. We have annual passes, and it's one of our favourite places to visit.



Kingston liked the sting rays


As always the hands on part was a hit


My little poser


And another of Kingy - just because he's cute, and about 5 minutes after this he was sound asleep.


We walked around a little more after the aquarium, and got the kids some ice cream before we went back to the car, it had been a very full-on day. We drove Carmen and the boys to their hotel, near the airport, they had an early morning flight the next day. It was sad to say goodbye, we had a great visit with them.

By this time it was around 4:30, so I called Craig to see if we should wait around and give him a ride home. He liked that idea, so drove back over the bridge to McMahon's Point, and the kids and I waited at the playground down the hill from his office, until he was done.

The kids had fun goofing around and I decided to take some pictures

You get a postcard perfect view of the Bridge and Opera House from that Playground

Easter Weekend

On Good Friday we took the kids to the Easter Show, since we were such a big group we decided to take the bus into the showgrounds. It was about 45 minutes, not too long and the kids were very excited.

This is Craig and Kingy on the bus, naturally he fell asleep just 2 minutes before we got there, but it was just enough to recharge him for a few hours of fun.

We wandered around for a little bit, deciding what to do, we decided to watch the X-treme show, which was a combination of moto-X and Toyota Hiluxes. The boys thought it was very cool.

Warning: Do not try this at home!

This hilux drove around the track on just 2 wheels! It was pretty impressive.

And a little more Moto-X

Next the kids were ready to try out some rides, but not before Mackenzie practised being a banana!

First stop, the little cars.

It was poorly organised, and Hunter missed out on a car and had to ride with Kingy, he was not impressed but Kingy had a blast!

As you can imagine, the Easter Show is a money trap. They sell these show bags, full of wonderful useless junk that the kids LOVE, Hunter got a Star Wars one, and Kenzie got a Princess one. (no surprises there) We checked out some more of the Show and the kids had Sno-cones.

Hunter used up the last of his ride tickets on the bumper boats, you can see he was much happier on this one.

It was super hot and the kids were exhausted, so we decided it was time to head back to the bus stop. This is the kids at the first bus stop, yep we waited at the wrong one! Luckily we realised before we missed our bus. The ride home was super quiet, we had lots of very tired kids (and parents)

Once we got home Mackenzie tried on all her new princess gear.

Saturday:
We wanted to have a quiet day on Saturday, after our big outing the day before, so I thought the kids might like to decorate some eggs.

Kingy thought he'd wear the bunny ears for the occasion.

We sat them outside and set up the paint and eggs.
I had blown out all the eggs in the morning - not a fun task! (lol)

And here's the finished product, once the paint had dried, we glued on some googly eyes.

Kingston's

Hunter's

And Mackenzie's! She made a fancy little hat for her one.

Chris played outside with the kids while we made dinner, yep it was five against one.

Sunday:

The Easter Bunny had visited during the night , but the kids had to wait for all the grown-ups to be ready.

They found Mackenzie's easter basket, and inside were some yummy eggs, and a note.

The note told them to follow the string attached to the basket, they were so excited.......

They very carefully followed the string

Even the little guys joined the hunt

In the laundry they discovered some little eggs and another clue, where would it lead?........

Kingy had already started eating his first egg, he loves chocolate.... I think he gets that from me!

The next clue led the kids to the dining room where they followed another string......

What did they find?

BOOKS! That easter Bunny sure is clever.

They were very happy with their books and stopped for a few minutes to read them, before they realised there was ANOTHER clue, the treasure hunt was not over yet.

The next string led them out the front of the house, where they discovered more little eggs, and you guessed it........ another clue.

At this stage Kingy had lost interest, he had a new Lightning McQueen book and chocolate, what more could a boy want?

But he decided to follow the kids on their search for the final string to follow.

It led them into the backyard

Where a little present was waiting in a giftbag - they had to find the one with their own name on it.

What a treat!

Kenzie got a miniature baby dragon.

Hunter got some new Star Wars figures.

Kingy got a new car, he was sooo happy.

Then we headed inside where Craig with some help from Carmen made us a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs.

Later in the day, we walked down to the Ettamogah which is our local pub. They have an awesome playground there, and on Sundays they get a bouncy castle and face painting for the kids. It's hours of fun, and we were able to have a relaxing drink.

Once we got home, we rested a little, and I started cooking, I stole Kellum's ham recipe, and it was DIVINE. For dessert I baked some cupcakes and let the kids decorate them themselves.

They turned out so cute, and it was a lot of fun. Wow, even just writing about it is exhausting, it was a really nice Easter weekend, and I have no idea how we will be able to even match up to next year.