Since we were already in Sydney for the Organic Expo we decided to use some vochures Amy had recieved for her birthday to visit Luna Park. This was THE theme park when Kevin and I were teenagers. It has been closed down and reopened a number of times, reopening in 2004. But I don’t think I’ve been since I was about 15.

With the car parked at Darling Harbour we decided to get a water taxi (a first for us) over to Luna Park.

As you can see it was a perfect day for a trip on the harbour.

Luna Park is to the left hand (or North) of the Harbour Bridge (which Kevin & I will be climbing in just 2 weeks , so it’s in a magic location.

It’s free to walk around but you have to pay to go on the rides. The girls already had tickets but it was $40 each for Kevin and I. I only went on two rides so did NOT get my money’s worth. You can buy single tickets ($10 each). First up was Coney Island which was exactly as I remembered.

Gotta love the funny mirrors .

I took a lot more video than photos (to show the rides in action) and put together a video but am having trouble uploading it to YouTube.

Just love this photo of Amy on the wild mouse .

Sydney Harbour really is a magical place. We are so lucky to live close-by and even luckier that we don’t have to deal with traffic everyday .

When I woke up this morning I was instructed to stay in bed. I did but requested my laptop.

A short while later I was presented with tea and freshly made cookies….

What a great way to start the day. I was also given a fabulous cap from Amy (which I wore today) and this lovely chalkboard heart from Christy.

Amy made breakfast….

And around 9am we headed off to Belgenny Farm. We had a fabulous day and I had lots of fun taking photos with the DSLR.

There was sheep shearing…

cow milking…

And horse demonstrations…

and working dogs…

Rides..

and most importantly pony rides…

and lots and lots of photos ops.

It’s been awhile since we had a family fun day and with the kids behaviour being as bad as it’s been we thought it might help if we spent more time together. Since the weather has been so warm we decided to go the Jamberoo Action Park using the tickets Christy got for her birthday (last Sept). It was a great day for it – nice and warm, the water the perfect temperature and the crowds pretty low.

The girls and Kevin had some fun with blue zinc.

I didn’t take a lot of photos today but I did catch Christy and Kevin trying to have a snooze…

while I read and relaxed…

Today we took the girls to see the Irish dance show Dance of Desire. We went with Mum & Dad (though had to take seperate cars). Before the show we managed to get lunch out.

We had debated doing some touristy thing in Sydney but Amy was in another of her “puberty” moods so we decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.

The show was very good. Not quite the cailbre of Riverdance – but that was more the choreography rather than the dancing. It was definitely an enjoyable couple of hours.

After the show the girls were excited to be able to meet some of the cast.

As you can probably tell we’ve been making a real effort to get out there on Sundays and spend it together. This week was no exception. The weather was glorious – definitely more Spring like than Winter like.

We decided to take the dogs to the local dog beach. They had a ball. The girls did too. Rosie had fun swimming out to fetch her ball, until it got lost. Bailey had fun following her, exploring and trying to eat the sand that Rosie & Christy were digging up. He’s such a crazy dog.

Don’t you just love the heart that Christy made on the sand – how cute!!!

We then drove by the dog wash to get the sand out of their coats and then dropped them at home. The girls had a quick shower and got changed (crazy girls actually went in the water). We then headed back out to the local airport. We had lunch at the restaurant and watched planes taking off and landing.

Unfortunatley my veggie burger was like nothing I have ever had before, and I obviously didn’t read the menu properly. I did order it without the bun (in case you were wondering). I didn’t really like the veggies so I ended up with Christy’s bread (which she didn’t like) and had a chip and beetroot sandwich – with suprisingly VERY good.

Kevin did enjoy his pie and Amy said her steak sandwich was okay. So I’m not sure if we’d come back here again. Maybe, it certainly was nice sitting outside.

After lunch we headed to the HARS museum. I had read good things about it recently on Tina’s blog and, like her, we were very impressed. We did get a VERY talkative guide so our tour was perhaps a little long (the next tour which started half-way through ours caught up to us at the end).  Amy really enjoyed it and so did Christy, but she got a little bored towards the end. And it was cool in the big hangers and none of us had jackets. Definitely a well worth visit for local and tourists alike.

Our last stop for the day was another visit to see Granny in hospital. She was asleep when we arrived but we knew we’d be in trouble if we didn’t wake her. We had a short visit and I believe she was asleep again before we left the ward .

Home to see our tired puppies and enjoy a family movie.

Today we headed out on a forest walk with the dog club where we do training. The dogs had the best time – they got to run free with all their doggy friends.

We went for a 45min walk through the forest, had a picnic lunch (next time we’ll come prepared for a BBQ), chatted, sat around the fire and watched the dogs played.

We all had a fun time and look forward to other such outings. The dogs slept the whole way home (1 1/2 hours) and are still sleeping.

It’s been some time since we had a family day out, so since it’s been such Spring like weather we decided to go to the Illawarra Fly – using some vochures we received for Christmas (thanks Rod & Angela) that I had been saving for just the right day.

We really enjoyed it – it’s a nice little bushwalk to the start of the treetop walk. The views are amazing.

You can see the lake that we live by and the ocean behind it. It’s a beautiful part of the world.

We climbed to the top of the tower for an even better view.

The girls loved walking way above the ground.

Definitely worth doing, esp. if you’ve never done anything like it before.We found it a little disappointing after the Otway Fly – which we did last year and was much longer. A MUST DO for tourists to the area. Great views. We really did enjoy our visit.

After walking back up the hill (a workout in itself) we had lunch at the cafe.

Kevin and I shared a yummy roast veg frittata.

There was a stand with wildflowers for sale – which I couldn’t resist.

We then drove into Robertson and visited the Cheese Shop – where we of course bought some cheese, and a gelato!

Then it was back down Macquarie Pass

and to Shellharbour for a spot of shopping before heading home.

Well, it’s been some day since we’ve had a planned family day out, though we do aim to do it every month.

On Sunday it was a beautiful Autumn day so we went to Berry Markets.

A highlight was a visit to the animal nursery. Aren’t these baby goats just the cutest in their little coats?

The girls enjoyed patting the duckings and bunnies (they’d both love to have a bunny at home)

We bought a few bit and pieces including some veggie seedlings and this cute little dress up that Christy just had to have.

We had fresh corn cobs for lunch then headed into the town of Berry for a wonder around.

We had to visit this store… and bought some birthday treats for the dogs (whose birthday is at the end of the month)

As we were walking along, Christy spotted these guys up an alley. For some reason the flickr won’t load the photo so you’ll need to look here.

It was a very nice day out. When we got home I planted my seedlings, Kevin got organised for his week away in Melbourne and we watched a couple of movies.

Yesterday we had a great day out at the local waterpark. One of Amy’s friends had a sleepover the night before and came with us. And yep, you guessed it. Another video…

I had a really great Sunday. We started off the morning with a family walk down to the lake. I was inspired by Gretchen’s putt putt layout and started to make when we got back. It’s the first time EVER I have scrapbooked photos taken on the same day. Annie you are right – it was so fun!!

Kevin was wanting to do something today. That was fine with me but it was too nice a day to spend indoors either shopping or going to the movies. I suggested we go to Kiama – a seaside town about 30mins away. Then I remembered it was market day so that’s what we did. We packed some lunch which we enjoyed sitting on the grass. The girls went on some rides and visited the petting zoo and we wandered through the stalls buying a few bits and pieces. I was rather pleased to be able to buy some more seedlings for the veggie garden. Such a good idea – you buy a punnet and can fill it with whatever seedlings you like. So much better than better 6 of one plant. It was such a beautiful day to spend outdoors. And funnily enough we realized we last went to the markets here in Sept last year. When we came home the girls had a swim, I planted my seedling and finished off the scrapbook page. We then watched Camp Rock. Kinda cute but I don’t think quite the league of High School Musical.

Aren’t those cupcakes the cutest? Almost too nice to eat. Lucky they tasted as good as they looked.

Isn’t this chook beautiful? I think I might get some of those next time.