Finding ways to cool down as it warms up

With the holidays drawing to a close and the weather warming up we have been spending time in and around water - a lifestyle I think the kids would be happy to continue with.

First we met up with Tricia and Little Eco up at Myall Lakes National Park - pop across to Tricia's page for some wonderful pictures. No TV, no computer and no MP3 players for 4 days - it was great to sit back and watch the kids just play and explore.

Of course we did do a lot of swimming....

There was lots of quiet time... here the kids were making the most of Grandma time - drawing and playing hangman....

We took the opportunity to take in the natural environment through a couple of short walks...

Once back home in Orange we spent the evenings at Lake Canobolas.. the kids tested their skills in a kayaks and can't wait to get back out again.

Sadly it is the last day of the holidays... and school goes back tomorrow and we all go back to work in earnest.  It has been great to get out and enjoy a range of activities over the summer break - so much of it was outdoors, non-technological and overall very refreshing. 

Holiday juggling fun

The boys spent the afternoon making some juggling balls and then refining their juggling skills.

We found some old balloons in the cupboard along with some rice and a funnel.  For each juggling ball we used about a half a cup of rice and three or four balloons.

We filled the first balloon with rice using a funnel.

Then we cut the neck off two or three extra balloons and used the shortened balloons to cover the first rice filled balloon.

With a few extra balloons over the rice filled balloon the juggling balls are ready for use.

Now to brush up on those juggling skills....

Holiday treasure hunt

We have been away from the blog over the last week as we were attending a family wedding in Sydney.   The extended family booked accomodation on Cockatoo Island - with views of the harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge and all sorts of natural historty and other historical things to explore - we all had lots of fun on the island.

By the second day on the island the boys were asking for more activities to do and a treasure hunt was suggested...... so a treasure hunt list was created and the search began.

The list -

• orange leaf
• blue flower
• round small pebble
• feather
• long leaf
• round leaf
• seed pod
• Y shaped stick
• white flower
• smelly leaf
• purple and white leaf
• heart shaped leaf

Getting the treasure hunt list checked off first was our littlest - who had collected things with a little help from Grandma

Dad helped our youngest boy....

And our eldest got to do the treasure hunt all on his own...

It was lots of fun for all involved... including Dad and Grandma...

After we checked the lists off all items had to be returned to where they came from... that was almost as much fun as the initial treasure hunt...

Music for all

It has only been a week or two since we extended our "TV free Tuesdays" to "Technology free Tuesday and Thursday nights" - and we are already having heaps of fun.

Here are the kids and Dad all enjoying some time to learn music..... they all had so much fun.. even the "big kid".

What do you do on your TV and / or technology free nights at home with the family?

"Technology free" Tuesday and Thursday evenings

Back on the 26th January I posted a blog entry to declare that Tuesdays were to be TV free - it has now been 6 months from our original commitment and we are proud to say that there has only been a rare occasion when this challenge has been broken (for example,  when the kids managed to get onto the local TV news).

Board games with the family and other activities such as marbles have become a part of TV free Tuesdays - it has been a fantastic result.

I guess the time has come to make more of a commitment to free up family time in the evenings.  I am inspired by Tricia's story of removing the TV from the lounge room and all the responses that that post received- so we have now agreed to add Thursday nights to our TV free nights and we have agreed to change from TV free to technology free nights - that is no emails, no web surfing, no Facebook, no after hours work on the computer, no playing on the iPod Touch.  So that's the challenge now - "technology free Tuesday and Thursday evenings".

Even with the introduction of a TV free Tuesday we have found that many more evenings have been spent playing family games rather than habitually turning the TV on.  So we are hoping that with the introduction of technology free evenings we will have more time with the kids and maybe the adults can find the time for some quiet reading or time learning new skills like a playing musical instrument or working out to play Mah Jong with the Dad's Grandparent's old Mah Jong set that is sitting un-used in the games cupboard.

Some old fashioned marbles..

The kids have really enjoyed their "No TV Tuesdays" and tonight we explored the old fashioned game of marbles.

So simple and yet so much fun!

a SMASHING Easter Sunday....

Easter Sunday with was spent with relatives this year, the highlight being a traditional Russian Egg Tapping contest.

The first step was to decorate the hard boiled eggs which involved drawing on the eggs with crayon

and dipping them into a food dye, vinegar and water solution..

and wow!!!.

We rested the freshly painted eggs in the cartons to dry..

Once dry we polished the painted eggs by rubbing butter on them and after our main meal on Sunday evening the plate of decorated eggs came out for the contests to begin.

With the rules of the contest layed out it was time to find the toughest egg.

The end result, a lot of fun, lots of smashed eggs and one winner.... 

traditionally the holder of the winning egg is supposed to eat all the hard boiled eggs they have won....

but we kept the egss for lunch the following day. 

I was a great fun Easter Sunday.... I can see it becoming a tradition in our Easter....

Jimmy Barnes, brass bands, scarecrows, pumpkins and a solar oven

We have enjoyed a range of activities locally over the last couple of weeks....

Last weekend we took the kids down for the first half of The Garden Party at the Orange Botanic Gardens, then arranged a babysitter for the later acts... it was great to drink some of my favorite local wines (Brangayne Sauvignon Blanc, Icely Rd Sauvignon Blanc and Rolling Sauvignon Blanc Semillon) while listening to music - including our highlights John Swan, The Whitlams and Jimmy Barnes...

Te next day we went down to Cook Park to see some of the brass band entertainment as part of the Brass Celebration .....

This weekend was spent strolling around the Central West Garden Expo and checking out the ScareCrow Competition...

Picking up some local fresh produce (only $2 for a small pumpkin or $3 for a large pumpkin).... we got a watermelon for $2 as well....

And testing out our newly aquired solar oven.....

I will give you a more detailed entry on this soon... its been fun playing with it....

A wet Clean Up Australia Day and DS's

With the rain that made for a very wet Clean Up Australia Day we chose to stay away from cleaning and spent most of the weekend indoors listening to the rain outside.

At least the rainwater tanks are now full again.... and the kids had to find ways to amuse themselves in the rain or indoors....

It worked out that the kids had friends stay over on the weekend..... these kids came armed with DS's.... over the past years we have resisted the pleas from the boys to be part of the DS club.... and our observations on the weekend have only further confirmed our opinions of the DS...

Once playing the DS games our boys fail to listen to instructions from Mum (more so than usual), every is to be done once the next game is finished (and they are long games), they never shut the DS down on their own accord, and their friend found it hard to drag them outside for a play on the bikes.

I am hoping that we can continue to say NO to the DS, and allow the boys more time for creative and outydoors play.  But I guess that they will continue to make the most of the DS games that friends bring over whilst visiting.

Where will you be cleaning up on Clean Up Australia Day?

Clean Up Australia Day Sunday March 7- It's Easy to Get Involved

Grassy Box Woodlands near Molong

We will be joining in at one of these sites in Orange.... where are you cleaning up?

ECCO and Orange City Council's Tidy Towns Committee invite you to join Clean Up Australia Day in Orange on Sunday March 7 (at one or more of a number of registered sites). This year’s event will target waterways and parkland to help produce cleaner drinking water through Orange’s stormwater harvesting scheme. For more information and details of registered sites, contact Peter West 0404 186 374 or visit http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/

ECCO and Orange City Councils Tidy Towns Committee invite you to join in this community event on Sunday March 7 at any of the following sites. With a FREE BBQ lunch for participants from 12 noon in Elephant Park

MORNING (10am – 12 noon)
• Moulder Park – Anson street
• Elephant Park – Woodward road
• Somerset Park – near Robin Hood

AFTERNOON (1pm – 230pm)
• Hill Park – Jilba Street (Bowen)
• Gosling Creek Reserve –Bargwanna Rd

Time with the extended family

We have had an eventful time over the last few days... starting with my Mum (Nan) arriving in time for my oldest's birthday on Friday.  The birthday cake was had down at the Orange Botanic Gardens listening to the Big Phat Jazz Band from the Orange Regional Conservatorium as part of Music in the Gardens.

We then spent some time on the weekend getting some more stone fruit preserved and more blackberry jam made.  Thanks to those that kindly donated some preserving jars that were in boxes in their sheds after my last story on preserving.  I would still like to try to get some tomatoes bottled - ours are just ripening now. 

It would also be interesting to cost the energy input of storing fruit and tomatoes in the freezer in comparison to the high energy input of preserving them on the stovetop and storing in the cupboard.  Has anyone done this?

Nan has enjoyed playing board games with the kids on our TV tree Tuesday nights...

On Monday I had my thyroid removed and are at the moment recovering at home - I have a sore throat and the anaesthetic has knocked me about.  Dad bought me a lovely made in Orange olive oil bottle - will have to get to the farmers markets in a couple of weeks to pick up some more local olive oil.

Local spoils....

After spending last weekend in Sydney it was great to spend some time locally this weekend.

On Friday night "Music in the Gardens" had been transferred to indoors on the forcast of more thunderstorms and rain...  so we took our picnic chairs, food and wine indoors and soaked up the music.  We started with classical music and progressed to more upbeat tunes.. ending with a cover of Foxy Lady by Jimi.  Our littlest certainly showed how versatile her dancing styles are....

On Saturday morning the Regional Farmers Markets were also transfered to an indoor venue due to rain... and lots of it..  picked up some local produce...

... turned it into some yummy lunch....

.. then used local blackberries for some muffins (bribes to get the kids to clean up their rooms)...

It continued to rain all weekend.... the council should be happy with their storm water harvesting