West's Hidden Treasure

yesterday, it finally stopped raining.

although we could not go to the park because of the week down pour we have received, the boys and mostly i needed to get out of the house.

and since its our exploring thursdays we went to poco first.

if you haven't been to poco you should, it's like a BIGGER version of ikea.

it is literally a one stop shop for your own - inclusive of appliances.

that outting was purely for my benefit, the boys didn't particularly care much.

whilst we were out in blacktown we decided to go visit "Mater and Thomas"

if you have boys, that are anything like mine (OCD transport),

then you should take a trip, it's well worth it.

you will find these two guys out the front of 4 Richmond Road, (not to sure of the suburb - it's such a long road) Winsdor-ish?

It's just past Windsor Downs - on the left if you are driving towards richmond, right if you are driving from richmond.

whoever owns this house, i just want to give a High-5.

they have old diggers, tractors, utes, trucks just sitting in their front yard.

what's even better is it's free and you know how i love a free activity.

oh and then we totally swung by to The Windsor Pie Stop - now they do good pies.

Me vs Him

there is no instruction manual on motherhood.

if there was, it would say under 3 year old boy ; you've done your best, now run.

I don't know what it is but sometimes they just wake up and turn into this person you don't even know.

i reached my breaking point yesterday morning during sacrament meeting at church - I know, such a great place to lose it.

jevans's new calling keeps him away for most of sunday and his work keeps him away all week, so this mumma had a minor meltdown filled with tears and thoughts of "how can Heavenly Father think I can do this, what did I do wrong in raising this boy, i have failed him already, why won't he get that we don't hit and that we share."

don't get me wrong I love this kid more than he will ever know but gosh he can make me want to hit my head against the wall sometimes, tell a lie most times right now.

is it just my kid that won't listen, is it just my kid that talks back?

as a mother you have all these types of question that float around and around in my head.

my mum always said after labour "now comes to the real hard times."

and golly, how right she was.

sometimes a good cry is all you need with support from people around you affirming that no, your not crazy and yes you are doing the best you can - oh and chocolate (that always makes everything better right!?)

i love being a mum but man, it's a tough job.

A Tad Obsessed

to thursday is my set day to take the boys on an adventure,

and i' becoming a tad obsessed with local history,

so put the two together and what did i come up with you ask?

Rouse Hill Regional Park.

it's huge.

it's beautiful.

it's full in history.

the kids park has a backdrop of the historic Rouse Home and Farm.

it's really breath-taking, well for local historian lovers, like myself ; ).

plus there are cows there which the kids went crazy over and it's 100% free.

you should see my list of local historical sites that i want to see.

it's pretty long - never ever thought i would get to this point in my life - ha.

my greatest discovery today was on the drive home, i took a different way home and i know your dying to know what i stumbled upon in between two houses.

THE ROUSE HILL CEMETERY. 

like, the original one, can you imagine my excitement because that was not on my list.

it's a little embarrassing, ok it's a WHOLE lot embarrassing to know how excited i was.

we don't hear anything about our local history and i think we should.

you can find out some amazing things, we have an amazing heritage and i can't help myself thinking about the houses, who lived in them, what were there lives like, what did they wear?

the list goes on and on.

all i have to say is, it's official i am OLD.

Family Date 6.

this family date was completely inspired by one of sydney's greatest attractions - for kids.

the monorail.

if you live in sydney you will know the monorail is closing its gates on the 30th june.

this was the last time the boys would be able to experience something that is very dominant in jevan and my childhoods.

and plus it makes for a pretty cheap but memorable activity for the kiddos.

what makes this family date even more exciting is that for the first time EVER we did not have to pay for parking in the city *FIST PUMP* - which gave us an extra $12 BOO YAH.

to start off this date i did have one request.

banana and honey gozleme from the rocks markets.

and i got it, gosh they are so yum i could have had thousands - no joke.

of course the kids requested to have their cheeseburgers with their dad.

once everyone had a full tummy and was happy we headed off to the monorail station - along the way we did some exploring and found some of sydneys' hidden treasures.

kai-kai could have been content all day with watching the monorail pull into the station and leave.

after doing this and letting 3 monorails go by we hopped on.

we went around the whole circuit twice, the boys loved it and i loved that we were all together.

and a good family date is always finished off with a treat (my favourite part).

because we were a little short on change we opted more persuaded the boys to have a packet of smarties each - and they were happy as if they were having ice-cream.

C is for Chalk

while brax was sleeping today i decided to cut makai's quiet time in half and spend some one on one time with the little monkey.

i made a outside chalkboard a couple of weeks ago and so i decided we would use our artistic skills.

i let him decided what we would draw, to my surprise it wasn't a train track or a road this time, to my delight -  there is only so many tracks and roads you can draw.

he started by drawing a brown circle and started talking about sting-rays (he has been obsessed with sting-rays, sharks and dolphins since our trip to sea world all the way back in march).

i love his little imagination it can run wild.

we drew sharks, fish, crabs, "seagullies",  2 suns and waves.

 we had conversations

"Oh no the stingray is going to get the crab"

"Hello Mr Shark *DoDoDoDo* with his hands on his head"

"How many legs do crabs have"

"Oh quickry swim away nemo, the shark is going to get you arghhhh"

our masterpiece - TADA

Kia Ora from Aotearoa

i cannot lie, 

new zealand is one of my favourite places in the world.

the untouched beauty of this county makes it that more special.

the rugged hills, the greenest grass you have ever seen that seem to just spill over the hill tops, the volcanic transformations that appear in the middle of the sea.

the list could go on and on.

we have travelled to new zealand many times this is our 3rd trip since jevan and i got hitched.

we are staying at Skye & Sarah's house at Mairangi Bay this trip.

can i just say the North Shore is AMAZING, must add it to you to see list when you visit auckland.

after travelling to america and within america, travelling with the boys internationally now is simple especially that kai-kai is a crazy as plane lover and asks me all the time "mum can i go to the airliport so go on a airliplane." (and just between me and you the iPad make it that much easier.)

we flew in thursday afternoon, the boys met their cousins with great big hugs as soon as they walked out of the last door.

we have been to browns bay where the boys and there cousins turned a skateboard park into a slide arena (literally), we discovered THE best pie bakery ever known to man (order the Chicken Camembert - divine) with THE best bakery treats your mind could ever imagine, i highly recommend the Caramel Rough for those caramel lovers, like myself, out there. We have been educated on everything you could imagine at the Auckland Museum overlooking the city and Parnell.

we got to see isaac play rugby and lini play - "dance" at netball. 

one of my absolute favourite places in new zealand is Temple View.

as we were driving to the temple you can see it up on the hill, i always get this overwhelming feeling of peace as i think i am home again.

we have attended just this afternoon the sealing of the Afoa family, it was beautiful and of course i blubbered, i tell you kids do it to me.

how rich this country is in history, culture and natural beauties.

 i love it, jevan loves it and the boys love it.

it's a winner all round.