Staycation

Canberra’s unofficial start of winter has arrived. We had perfect temperatures the past couple of weeks during the autumn school holidays. Now the cold has arrived as it usually does around the Anzac Day public holiday. There’s a Canberra belief that heaters should not be turned on until then.

With the exception of Phil and Nicholas’ trip to Melbourne, we stayed put during the break. I’m glad we did since we had beautiful days to go out and about. While the boys were away, Catherine had her first sleepover. We went out to see Beauty and the Beast, played duplo, made waffles for breakfast and played at the park. Then Sydney friends stayed over the following night for a pit stop on their road trip to Melbourne.

From Autumn2017

Easter came and went. We had a lovely lunch with my sister-in-law’s family. Days after we’re still eating chocolate eggs. Spent some time in the great outdoors and enjoyed a favourite local spot, The Arboretum; drove further out one day and went to Corin Forest (along the way we saw a car that had gone off road and turned upside down - fortunately, no one was injured!) for a couple of rides on the Alpine Slide and checked out Gibraltar Falls on the way back; on another day we walked up the serene and scenic Cotter Dam trail. Closer to home, I took the kids out to the galleries for a creative morning. The next day we did something new and played indoor mini golf at Flip Out in Mitchell. Catherine lasted and enjoyed it along with Nicholas. They still had more energy after the game so they jumped it all off for an hour. Phil had a couple of moments of fame in one week from a television news interview and a positive review of another piece he composed for Oriana Chorale. We had a pretty good staycation.