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.

Family Date 5.

windsor.
this place is our cheap date destination that feels like a world away but isn't.

the beauty of autumn was out this saturday in windsor.
i love those maple trees - no idea if that is exactly what they are called but you know what i'm talking about.
they are beautiful in autumn, the leaves are vibrant reds, oranges and browns.
we found a perfect one to have a picnic under, and also a leave fight.
we have a tradition whenever we go to windsor and it goes like this.
ice-cream.
bakery.
and basically that's all you need to have a successful date with the kids and i.
$2.50 cones, uh YES PLEASE.
joovy, unfortunately ended up missing out on this one due to work (BOO).
and he missed out on a good one.
i'm so gad i have these two little cheeky boys of mine to keep me company on the weekends while the husband goes to work for the ka-dash, i would be seriously outside my mind CRAZY.
there's only so much shopping you can do with oneself.
if you want a cheap date with the family, windsor is your place.

Family Date 4.

yesterday, jevan and i took the kids to balmoral beach.

jevan wanted to do something that cost no money (being a sunday), because he hasn't been able to see the kids with an exam leering around the corner, work picking up and being in melbourne this week.

so i suggested balmoral, a good friend of mine re-aquainted me with the beauty that is Balmoral Beach a few months ago.

it ticks all the boxes for the kids, it has a park, a scooter track, loads of boats, a wharf and a perfect picnic spot.

the weather was beautiful and the company was fantastic : ).

i didn't realise how much i missed having family time until the kids and i don't see jevan for months on end because he is studying his Chartered Accounting and golly studying full-time and working full-time takes up a WHOLE lot of time. 

I cherish these family dates at this moment in our lives because it's the only time where we are all together and we are focusing on each other.

i have watched my sister and sister-in-law have husbands who work and study, both full-time and i have so much more respect for them.

it is definitely harder than it looks and my hats go off to them.

they give me the hope that one day it will all be worth the time that jevan, the kids and i sacrifice.

Family Date 3.

This week the boys went to their first EVER show/fair.

It was SO much fun (not to mention SO expensive).

We saved our penny's - literally and have to say it was so worth it.

Makai was super excited, I love the fact that he is at the age where he is starting to understand things and he gets so over excited about it, how could you not be excited to go with enthusiasm like that.

Braxton just wanted to ride horses and eat fairy floss all day long.

Makai was in heaven with wood-fired pizza, fairy floss, dippindots, ice-cream and slurpies (this kid has expensive taste - seriously.)

We saw cows, horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, turkeys, alpacas, dogs, cats, baby chickens, mice, deers, ducks, cows, basically you name it they had it.

I unfortunately walked right through cow you-know-what and ALMOST slipped over (not my finest moment.)
Their was ute parades, police cars, big trucks and bmx bikes.

Then came the rides - the winner of the day was the Big Fun Slide, runner up was the train ride )it was a pretty close call.)

All in all the Castle Hill Show was a winner.

Family Date 2.

ok so let me start off by saying what a terrible, CRAZY person i've been this week.

haha no seriously, it's been really shocking to be truthful.

so as you can imagine our family date didn't go quite as smoothly as our first last month.

we had a great day planned but due to the weather our plans were ruined, which completely sent me into (i don't think there is any words to describe me).

we instead had a movie night indoors.

we ordered pizza, made popcorn, set the projector up and had some chocolate milk to wash it all down.

we started off watching Kung Fu Panda but it did not grab the boys attention so they just wanted to throw the popcorn at each other instead (as you can guess I didn't appreciate it to much).

so after having a minor meltdown at Jevan (poor jevan, don't worry I have apologised to him for all my wacky behaviour last week), screaming at the kids and sending them to a bath.

I decided to pull myself together and try for a second round of the movie night.

this time it was so much more successful, the kids watched a movie they loved (The Lion King 2), we each sat down with them and ate popcorn.

all i can say is PLEASE DON'T RAIN ON OUR FAMILY OUTING NEXT MONTH !

Family Date 1.

being the new year one of our goals as a family is to have regular family dates.

all together and separately with one of the kiddies.

so this month we started our 12 dates by going into the city.

the boys love the city.

all the boats, trains and cars - not mention the monorail.

they are in transport heaven.

makai rode his scooter ALL the way from darling harbour to the harbour bridge and half way over the bridge and back.

braxton has no fear and was trying to work out a way he could get to the boats from the bridge (this kid scares me).

it's amazing how much you learn about them when thats your whole focus.

i'm with them ALL day but don't get to spend "quality" time with them individually, because of all the daily tasks that have to be completed and then there's the fighting and if one has something the other has to have it, being a mum is great fun : ).

we ended our date by going on the carousel at darling harbour and they LOVED it.

the smiles on their faces were priceless.

i couldn't help but laugh, smile and be grateful for the two amazing (and challenging) boys my heavenly father has blessed with me.

An "uninteresting" Picnic

So we killed 2 birds with 1 stone this month for our date and family outting.

Our April date was to do something that we have always wanted to do but never done.

We have ALWAYS since we got married to go back to we, Jevan and I had our wedding reception, which was at Berowra Waters.

So we packed up our picnic basket with our favourite foods and put it in the car.

We absolutely LOVED it. There was a park for Makai to play on, Boats for him to watch, there was even ducks that he could feed.

Jevan started packing up the car and said to Makai..."Let's go car Kai Kai."

To which the response was "We go home WOOHOO" with his hands up in the air.

We had a fantastic time but Makai was CLEARLY bored.

Children - they just make you feel like your so important sometimes.