With or Without Nap: Evidence That Summer *Did* Happen

It's hard to remember the weather being hot enough to swim, because it has rained non-stop for the past two weeks (maybe more? It's all a blur now!). But we did have some beautiful weather and we did mostly enjoy our summer holidays (when we weren't stuck inside, going stir crazy!);

I love it how, despite forgetting the buckets and spades on one of our many trips to the beach, the girls made the most of it anyway and buried themselves in the sand;

They loved discovering the new water playground at Darling Harbour in town;

(Even if they were fully clothed!)

We took them to Pelican Feeding at The Entrance

Which was followed by a splash in the children's water feature;

The girls were, once again, enchanted by the Maze at Paddington;

And Nick stumbled upon a geocache!

If you haven't heard of it before, Geocaching is a free, high-tech treasure hunt. You can use your GPS to locate hidden treasure boxes (they are hidden all around the world, hundreds in Australia!), with little trinkets inside. You can take a trinket and leave a trinket. You also write your name on a list and then hide the treasure box for someone else to find. It was very exciting to have uncovered it by chance!

We enjoyed a day at The Gunners Barracks at Mosman;

We had lunch at Burnt Orange and a beautiful walk around Headland Park, and the defence forts that were hidden for 100 years;

Nick's company sponsored a family day at the Sydney Aquarium;

After Livvie's assessment at school last Monday, we piled into the car for an early evening swim at the rock pool at Terrigal, followed by Fish 'n Chips for dinner;

There was lots of 'Playing Hairdressers' this Summer - this time in the pool, with cousins;

My girls will play hairdressers anywhere, anytime they get the chance.

Common weeds will suffice for hair accessories;

We enjoyed a waterfront picnic with our Mothers Group;

It was such a beautiful day!

I braved the freeway for a trip north (across the scary Mooney Mooney Bridge in high winds! The car always feels like it is going to slide sideways and I hold onto the steering wheel as tight as I can!) to take the girls to the Reptile Park;

We have passed the big yellow Dinosaur on the hill near the freeway many times before and the girls couldn't wait to see a 'real, live, Dinosaur!' (Of course, that didn't happen!). So sad that it was the displays of fiberglass animals that were the highlight!

And lots of fun, swimming in our pool;

Livvie finally got the confidence to swim without a floatie;

The girls loved finding lots of lady bugs (our pool is a magnet for them!), except when one took flight and landed on Elly's cheek!

Is this the same child who will hold crickets in her hand and chase lizards whenever she can?

The girls saw their first Cicada up close;

Livvie stayed at a safe distance inside the trampoline in her saggy-baggy swimmers. She went through 3 pairs of swimmers this summer... they don't last long, being in the chlorinated pool so much, sitting on the rocky edge of our pool and fading in the sun when they are hung out to dry!

I have fond memories of my brothers catching cicadas and we always found (and still do find) lots of cicada shells on tree trunks around the garden. They are a noisy little creature and have funny names; Green Grocer, Brown Baker, Yellow Monday and the elusive and much prized Black Prince. My cousin tried to convince us he was selling their wings to the local chemist to be made into medicine. Of course, we believed him and all tried to help him in this Get-Rich-Quick scheme!

We thought of a fun way to decorate our backyard for when friends came over for a BBQ;

Punching Balls (remember Romper Room?) We found these at our local IGA.

This is one of my favourite pictures from Summer;

Looks so festive and relaxing. In reality, there was much commotion on the trampoline as one of the littlies had a nose-bleed. Note: the men are oblivious!

I think I will remember the summer of 2011/12 as the season of my little mermaids;