Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Road Trip Part 3 - Dubbo

On Sunday we drove to Dubbo, our final stop. Dubbo is about 4-5hours drive from the Blue Mountains. It rained most of the trip, very very heavily at times. We made if safely and really enjoyed our time in Dubbo. For those who don’t know, Dubbo is the home of the Western Plains Zoo.

We visited the Zoo on Monday and Tuesday morning, for about 2 hours each day. 2 hours is about as long as the boys will tolerate. The boys had a great time exploring the zoo and loved the animals that moved a lot. Their favourites were the Rhinoceros, Giraffe and the Otters. We saw feeding time for these, and other animals. Feedings seem to make the animals more alert, active and closer to the front. The boys pointed, laughed and talked the the animals. We found it quite amusing that in certain exhibits that used water to contain the animals, the boys found the water more interesting than the animal!

Tracie and Ethan watching the Rhino having it’s breakfast.

tn_P6220172 Ben and Sal with a Rhino in the background.tn_P6220174 Tracie and Ethan with some deer type animal far in the background.tn_P6220176 Tracie and Ethan and an Elephanttn_P6220179 Ben and Sal with an elephanttn_P6220181 Ethan and Ben watching the otterstn_P6220184 Monkeytn_P6220185 Tracie and Ethan watching the lionstn_P6220187 Ethan and Ben examining the screws on the bench (toddler curiosity never ends)tn_P6220191 Ethantn_P6220192 Zebratn_P6220195 Ben Tracie and Ethantn_P6220197 Ethan, Sal and Bentn_P6220198 Ethan and Ben examining the wooden pole

tn_P6220202  Meerkatstn_P6230270 Ben escapingtn_P6230271 Ben walking around – apparently more interested in exploring the grounds than looking at the animals.tn_P6230273 Sal and Ben looking at the wombattn_P6230279 Wombattn_P6230284 Tracie and Ethan with a Giraffetn_P6230291 Ben and Sal with the Giraffetn_P6230293 Feeding time in the Giraffe enclosure.tn_P6230297 Ethan and Ben standing next to the statue representing a newborn giraffe.tn_P6230305 Ethantn_P6230309 Bentn_P6230311 Sal and Ben having lunchtn_P6230314 On Monday afternoon after the zoo and their nap, we took the boys to a park in Dubbo to play.

Ethan examining the slide

 tn_P6220209 Ethan on the slide, Ben at the stepstn_P6220211 Ben and Ethantn_P6220213 Ben, Ethan and Tracietn_P6220215 Tracie, Ethan and Bentn_P6220217 Ben and Saltn_P6220221 Ethantn_P6220229 Ethan, Sal and Bentn_P6220238 Ethantn_P6220252 Ethantn_P6220254 Ethantn_P6220257 Ben and Ethan – playing in the water on the bench tn_P6220261 Ben and Ethantn_P6220266

Ethantn_P6220269

That’s the end……. We had a great time on our trip. On Tuesday afternoon we drove home. It took about 6 hours. They boys did great. Ethan didn’t feel well, and cried and whinged on and off for a few hours in the middle of the trip. We are all pleased to be home, and are now wondering where we’re off to next!

Road Trip Part 2 – Blue Mountains

 

After Sydney, we spent 2 nights in the Blue Mountains. We arrived Friday evening and once again, went shopping (these children seem to eat a lot!) cooked dinner and put the boys to bed. On Saturday we went to the Winter Magic Festival. The main street of Katoomba is closed off to traffic, and overtaken by people and stalls and a parade. It was cold, a little wet but we still enjoyed ourselves.

Below are some pics of the boys playing in the house. Unfortunately, due to the cold and rainy weather we didn’t get any pics at the festival or get to play outside with the boys in the mountains.

Ethan and Ben with all the stuff we took with us on our road trip.tn_P6210164 Ben and Ethan eating dinner and watching TVtn_P6200128 Ben - can you see the neck of his shirt is all wet. Poor Benny is teething so much he’s dribbling like a tap and every shirt ends up wet within an hour of getting dressedtn_P6200130 Ethan walking. He still walks with his hands up for balance.tn_P6200132 Ben and Ethan sneaking off to explore the other room.tn_P6200135 Ethan watching TV in the beanbag.tn_P6210136 Ethan and Ben looking outside at the rain.tn_P6210147 Ben and Ethan examining the curtain.tn_P6210155

After the mountains we drove to Dubbo.

Road Trip Part 1 - Sydney

Our 7 day road trip started on Tuesday. We packed up all our stuff and hit the road around lunch time. I should also mention that last week we started to transition the boys to one nap a day, and by lunchtime they are very tired little boys. They slept most of the 90minute trip to Sydney.

Tuesday afternoon we did a little shopping, cooked dinner and put the boys to bed. Our hotel was a one bedroom self-contained apartment. The boys went to sleep in porta-cots in the bedroom. They didn’t like going to sleep in a strange room. They cried a little, but fell asleep quite well as they were very tired. Ben woke 3 times in the evening before we gave him some Panadol (Tylenol) and he slept the rest of the night.

Ben had a few teething miseries in the first few days of the trip and now has a total of 12teeth! He got 3 new teeth in the first few days of our tip. He now has the 4 middle top and 4 middle bottom plus his 4 molars. The 2 bottom molars are completely through the gum, he’s still working on the top 2 molars, they are slightly through the gum, but not completely. Ethan still only has 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom middle teeth).

Over the next 2 days we visited many friends in the Sydney area. It was great catching up with everyone.

Our two little boys are well and truly toddlers now. They are both walking very well and have a keen curiosity about the world. They love to explore, examine and learn about the world around them. They open draws and cupboards; they push buttons on TV’s and DVD players; they pull on cords; they pull toilet paper off the roll; they put their hands in bins and toilets; they climb on furniture without fear of falling off; they push chairs around the room and still enjoy eating all sorts of “treats” they find on the floor! With that in mind, imagine travelling with TWO curious toddlers to places that are not baby-proofed! Life at the hotel was chaotic. They boys do not appreciate being told “no” when they are only trying to explore and learn. We try so hard to let them play, but it is not always possible, and we found our self saying no, and consoling screaming toddlers a lot!

Below are some pics of the boys playing in the hotel in Sydney.

Ethan

 tn_P6170001 Ben and Ethan getting treats from Mumma.tn_P6170003 Ethan getting a treat from Mumma.tn_P6170004 Ethantn_P6170008 Ethantn_P6170018 Ben brushing his teethtn_P6170020 Ethantn_P6170021 Ethan and Ben exploring the kitchentn_P6170022 Ben – again with his toothbrushtn_P6170025 Ethan and Bentn_P6170030 Ethan and Ben having dinner – Ben is laughing.tn_P6170033 Bentn_P6170036 Ethantn_P6170039 Ethan climbing through the coffee tabletn_P6180041 Ethantn_P6180046 Ben emptying the baby bag. Both boys now love to empty things. Apparently this new skill is a developmental milestone that helps hand/eye co-ordination!tn_P6180048 Sal with Ben and Ethan early in the morning.tn_P6180055 Finally on our last day in Sydney the skies cleared and we got some sun. We took the boys to the park for a MUCH needed play outside. Below is Tracie and Ethan in the park.tn_P6190059 Ben exploringtn_P6190061 Ethantn_P6190063 Ben feeling the sand in the sandpit. He’s never seen a sandpit before (only the sand at the beach)tn_P6190064 Ben playing in the sand and Ethan showing us his hand as if to say “Mum, I’ve got something weird on my hand, get it off for me” Ethan doesn’t like it when his hands get dirty!!tn_P6190066 Ethantn_P6190070 Ben examining the tiles on the wall.tn_P6190071 Ethan in the sandpit.tn_P6190075 Ben and Ethan in the sandpit. This park had a very strange elevated sandpit. It was as high as the boys chests in parts, and as high as our waits in other parts. The surrounding ground was concrete. This sandpit made us both very nervous that the boys might fall out and onto the concrete, so we didn't stay long.tn_P6190076 Ben and Ethan. See the elevated sandpits behind them. Strange huh!?!?tn_P6190080 VERY cheeky Ben.tn_P6190081 Tracie and Ethan.tn_P6190083 Sal and the boys.tn_P6190084 Sal and Ethantn_P6190089 Sal up in the climbing net looking down, and Ethan looking back up at his Mummy.tn_P6190092 Ethan and Sal, wondering what to do next.tn_P6190099 Ethan on the swingtn_P6190103 Ben on the swingtn_P6190108 Sal and Ben going down the big slide.tn_P6190115 Ethan playing at the bottom of the big slide.tn_P6190120 Ben and Sal climbing up the mountain. Ben climbed most of it himself, and only had a little help from Mummy.tn_P6190122 Ben and Saltn_P6190124

After an hour at the park we had lunch in the car and said goodbye to Sydney. Off to the Blue Mountains……