Cape Solander, Kurnell

we have attempted whale watching for the last three years now

and after seeing our first whale while jevan are i were swimming at Waimea Beach,

(completely didn't even know it was whale season while we were there)

i was determined that this year our family whale watching day would be successful.

we packed our lunch and headed to the most popular point in sydney

to get a glimpse of these ocean beauties.

we had our packed picnic on the rock cliffs - with no luck,

we went on a hike - with no luck,

we explored ocean view caves - with no luck.

the boys were asking me if there really are any whales in the ocean.

lucky i had seen one if hawaii or else i would of agreed with them.

we were about to head back to the car

but we heard a big crowd talking about the whale,

brax and i turned and saw a whale jumping out of the water.

the other 3 quickly came back and we watched this whale for a good 10 minutes.

the boys were SUPER excited to know that whales actually do exist.

we headed down to kurnell to see where Captain Cook landed,

braxton had learned about captain cook at school

so he wanted to see where his boat had landed.

winter in australia is AH-MA-ZING.

the boys played nfl along the beach

and then of course,

the game had to be stopped because of arguments.

Wiseman's Ferry

these holidays i was super super organised,

i had our whole 2 weeks planned out.

the first week went according the plans but the second week didn't go se well,

unfortunately the boys picked up the vomiting bug that has been going around

and they didn't even decide to have it all at the same time.

they took it in turns,

one after the other.

as i'm writing this i am sitting with zayden in his bed

because he is hopefully the last to contract this bug.

BUT the first week was awesome,

we did so much fun stuff.

we went to the drive ins on the monday to see the Incredibles 2 * HILARIOUS !!

on tuesday we i had a day planned at Wiseman's Ferry.

we had a pit stop on the way at Scheyville's National Park.

sydney is so rich in history,

i absolutely love it.

especially when its  under 30 minutes away.

it has been used for many things, immigrant hostel, military base and a whole lot more.

the buildings here are amazing.

i LOVEEE old buildings.

we spent way longer than i thought we would here.

braxton is really into anything army

- it's his life dream to join the army

so he really really enjoyed reading and learning all about what they did at the base.

we headed off to wiseman's ferry after.

i had packed a picnic to eat along the hawkesbury river,

but before we sat down to eat it

we caught the ferry over to the other side and did the Devine's Hill walk.

this was along the original great north road that the convicts built.

this is SUPER kid friendly.

they have facts the kids can read all the way up,

about the convicts, how life was for them and about building the road.

we would have completed the whole thing,

if makai didn't turn HANGRY !

so after 30 mins up we had to turn around to feed our maori boy.

we had a lovely picnic sitting in the sun and enjoying each others company, 

WITHOUT arguing.

that's a rarity !

Canberra | Day 1

this year we decided (at the last minute),

 to get away for the queens birthday long weekend.

i'm so glad we did because we had the best fun.

we decided to go to canberra.

whenever i told people,

they would give me like a "your cray cray" look.

BUT canberra actually has a lot to do and see.

i was really bummed we only stayed for 2 days.

canberra is totally underrated.

the good thing about canberra is,

it's only 3 hours away.

so we left early monday morning and spent the day at tidbinbilla reserve.

this place was AH-MA-ZING.

we took the boys on two hikes 

Birrigai Time Trail and The Sanctuary Walk

and WOW,

we live in such a beautiful country.

we got to walk through a field of kangaroo's,

and even spotted 3 emus !!

their are these massive boulders placed all over the ground,

it looks like a volcano just spat them out.

zayden LOVED climbing and jumping off them.

there was no hills - a big win for our boys.

braxton is really interested in learning about aboriginal culture,

on the Birrigai hike we came across an aboriginal shelter.

he thought it was pretty awesome.

the boys even loved the visitor's centre.

the highlight of the stay for our boys though

was that not only were we staying in a hotel BUT it also had a pool.

they had begged us to go to the hotel ALL day so once our check in time came

we hit up the hotel and they spent the afternoon swimming in the pool

and feeling very fancy in the spa,
because of this we had an EXTREMELY quiet dinner
at a local thai restaurant
- that we were the only ones in.
apparently peeps in canberra don't go out after 5?!
jevan and i still say that was our best restaurant outing as a family to date.