Spring is here! Not officially for a few more days of course, but there's no ignoring that it's here nonetheless.
The mornings are warmer, wattle trees are blooming their fuzzy little pom poms of colour, and the August winds hurry delicious scents of jasmine and sweet peas along the streets from people's front gardens.
The temperature is in the 20s today, and it's glorious! (Out of the wind that is).
The temperature is in the 20s today, and it's glorious! (Out of the wind that is).
I feel as though I'm coming alive again. I found the last couple of weeks in this last month of winter quite hard for a couple of reasons.
We feel as though we've been constantly working, and we basically have, including evenings and weekends on a project (that I'll blog about next week) which is nearly over.
Added to that the unrelenting cold has been getting to me, my lack of a fabulous coat has really been getting to me, and my increasingly annoying PMS last week topped it all off nicely.
But now just around the corner, we see time for rest, for playing with the kids at the beach, for having friends over for barbeques, and even for going on a holiday.
My husband has a work conference in Canberra and it happens to coincide with the Spring school holidays and the annual Floriade exhibition, so we figure, cheap holiday, why not?
So much of the pleasure of a holiday, even a little one like the one we hope to take, is in planning and looking forward to it.
A few days of freedom from work and other responsibilites, picnicking among the gardens at the floral showcase which is Floriade, catching up with friends, taking a boat ride on Lake Burley Griffin, visiting Black Tower.
Ah, it's going to be great.
Any tips for the three-hour car ride with three kids under six though? Must we succumb to getting a portable DVD player?
Because I know they're useful on long drives and we could borrow one, no problem, but I'd rather not get in the habit of relying on one.
On the other hand neither do I want to play 500 rounds of 'I Spy'!
3 hours isn't too bad. I find the best thing is to just grit your teeth and do it without taking breaks. We travel to Adelaide and it takes us about 3.5 hours. We usually have a 10 minute break after traveling for 2 hours.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to have little snacks in the car and their own drink bottle although not too big because you will end up stopping for lots of toilet breaks. We keep snacks in the front seat and pass them back occasionally.
We haven't ever played I spy or any other traveling game but we do have music and encourage the children to sing along. They like that.