lately at our place

Lately...not a great deal has happened but its coming up to 6 months before our first child begins school - so i constantly feel there's so much I want to do before life changes and is stuck in between the 9am and 3pm time slot.

We recently went to our annual disney on ice show - lots of fun, was able to take grandma with us and the boys were in their superhero gear they were so proud to show off their costumes amongst the pretty princesses.

As a family we climbed Tabletop Mountain. This is a full on climb! But boy what an adventure. I would recommend this for families...maybe not babies but we did it with ours. Looking back it probably was a bit risky. But the climb is so interesting, rocks galore and a serious incline. On all fours for a lot of it. THe boys were so into it - again wearing super hero costumes! Oh dear...      I loved that we got to enjoy that special day together though, having the boys see what a beautiful world we live in was priceless.

I'm really enjoying my success in not having the kids touch technology during this whole year - including television in the home. I've said it before, we watch a weekly movie for family movie night and when we visit family which is probably once a month they get to watch a little tv there if the other kids are watching it. Boy am I amazed that at home, my kids just don't need it. I think there is this trap that you (i mean me!!) just fall into with this tv thing. Like the kids just keep asking and asking so of course the easiest thing is to just give in. I'm so proud of myself for sticking this out.

I can't imagine how much tv/video games/iphone/ipad is being used as we are in the middle of school holidays...I wonder if parents tried to go screen free for the whole holidays what a difference it would make in their homes. Like just the less "frazzled" feeling enough is what keeps me motivated to keep them away from it all.

Yesterday we were able to visit a beautiful playground in the city. We were there for 6 hours straight and still they didn't want to go home at the end. I know (and heard kids yesterday) who say to their parents "can we go now, lets go home" and i know these kids are struggling to do anything other then get back to their devices because they just don't know how to enjoy doing anything else. Its so sad. What a world!

Here's a few pics from the latest at our place

xox