Back after some time away, so this is a two-week-update-in-one post.
Christmas Eve we went down to have dinner with cousin E. The kids had a great time in the Christmas outfits aunty C had made (and playing screens), and it was good to see Grandragon and uncle J as well.
Christmas Day was very busy: we had presents, church, lunch with Grandma and Doc, and then some afternoon tea with some old school friends of Dad.
Boxing Day we had brunch with a friend, and the kids continued to re-read “The Book with No Pictures” to each other, even after the adults had stopped reading them.
Dad had a great time playing with the kinetic sand, and occasionally sharing it with the kids.
Dad and the kids also had a trip to the Opera House with Grandma to see a pantomime – “The Tiger who came to Tea”. We had a picnic in the Botanic Gardens beforehand, saw the pantomime (which both kids loved), and had gelato afterwards.
On the way back, we called in at the State Library to look at the Hairy Maclary exhibition – it took a while for the kids to get past the TV that was showing the episodes of the animated TV version, but they enjoyed the books as well.
We went to Canberra for an interstate break. While Mum went to do some grocery shopping, Dad and the kids went for a walk. For the kids, everything was new, and Huff was keen to explore the “towers” and other buildings, which turned out to be bus stops.
The main reason for going to Canberra was to go back to Questacon, and make sure we’d seen everything that was there. We learned a lot of different science-y things, and Puff and Huff made (among other things) some paper helicopters. We also saw a dinosaur puppet show called “The Lizard of Oz”.
We went back to the kids area of Questacon, and Huff dressed up as a vet.
The next day we went to the National Dinosaur Museum. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the large dinosaur sculptures. Here’s Huff.
Puff had an even larger dinosaur friend.
The museum was well set up for kids to visit – here’s the large dinosaur head you can walk through on the way in.
We also had some places to sit and have photos taken. Dad managed to scrunch into the background of this dinosaur egg.
We went from there to have dumplings, and then went to Koko Black. Here’s Huff having something deliciously chocolatey.
And here’s Puff, who doesn’t like chocolate, having the one thing on the menu that doesn’t have chocolate in it.
For New Year’s Eve, we spent time with friends and their kids. Despite our best intentions, the kids made it up late enough to watch the fireworks. Here they are, playing with glow sticks (there were also sparklers).
On our last day in Canberra, we wanted to find a way for the kids to have a run around. We went back to the Tunnel Playground near Lake Burley Griffin.
Lastly in the holiday, we went to another friends’ house, and even had an ocean swim as a family (no photos). Puff was very happy with his robot lamp – have a look!
