Playing in the Rain

After months of feeling as parched as the landscape, we are finally getting some decent rain here.

This morning the little one raced out for a turn on the swing, it had just started drizzling, but I thought "what the heck, we were about to have our shower anyway". So I popped him on the swing. As I sat out there pushing him the rain fell upon us. Lightly at first, then quite heavily. We stayed out there as the rain drenched our clothes and skin and hair. It felt so nice the pitter patter of rain drops on bare skin.

When the rain eased up we headed inside to dry off. I felt so refreshed and energised, like that feeling you get after swimming in a brisk ocean. Then the sun came out turning all the raindrops into tiny crystals. Everything looked all the more beautiful for us having just been out there.

I wonder why people have become so afraid of going out in the rain? It's only water! The only thing that would have made our splash in the rain more perfect is if we were naked, then I wouldn't have been left with a pile of soggy clothes to deal with :)

Hope you had a good Christmas!

Photo credit http://30secondrule.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rain-puddle.jpg

Imitative Play

From a very young age toddlers are interested in imitative play. One thing that is a big feature in the daily routine around here is hanging the washing out to dry! Now that the weather is getting a bit warmer and the days a bit longer, I do two loads a day, one goes out in the morning and the second at lunch time. Usually DS is content to play with the pegs and pull the washing out of the basket (and drop it onto the dusty ground...). But this afternoon I set up a little play line for him (a bit of twine strung between two fence posts next to our actual line), and he is mighty impressed.

Between the "play line" and his little "play kitchen" DH fears that I am turning our boy into a perfect housewife. But I don't think there's any chance of that with me as his role model!

Magical Moments of Childhood

When I remember back to my childhood, there are certain occasions that stand out as being pure magic. Where life diverges from the ordinary and you end up in some alternate space where the rules that normally bind your budding existence no longer apply.

Today I took my boys to Wellington point for the afternoon. It was such a gorgeous day and the baby was in a good mood so we decided to stay on a little longer than we'd planned. The shadows began to lengthen, the sun mellowed and coated us in its viscous honey light, a gentle breeze came up off the water. Families packed up and left, and others started arriving with their picnic teas.

Watching my older boy run and play among the giant fig trees with his band of newly found friends reminded me of evenings spent on the beach as a child. The awareness that I had then of the day ebbing and drawing to a close, and the thrill of still being out on the beach, free, with night approaching. The feeling that this was a special day, a day different to all the others, a day fully lived.

Those were magic times, I wonder if my son will remember back to this day in the same way. As the sun finally sets and we head home, I think to myself that we should do this more often

Photo from http://www.herveybaygossip.com/images/January2009/beach-evening.jpg.

I wish I'd taken my camera with us today.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to all the wonderful mamas!

Mothering is the most wonderful, amazing, trying, frustrating, and important thing I will ever do, I am sure of that. While it has been so nice to be spoilt by DH and the boys today, mothers day is also a good reminder for me of how lucky I am to have the little ones and DH and how special they are.

Yesterday I went to Hawkins nursery, in Chandler, to buy some herbs for my mother and MIL.

I thought I'd share some of the lovely little set-ups they have there:

I'm sure that last one is a little fairy's island. Here is a close up of the staircase leading to the magic Faraway Tree:

Be Out There

Green Hour is a great website I have been visiting for the past year or so now. It is created by the National Wildlife Fun and it aims to get kids outside in the green stuff for an hour a day.

It is a US site, so a lot of the activities are seasonally out of sync for us here in the Southern Hemisphere. There is an extensive archive, so I just look through that for activity ideas.

Even when I don't end up doing any of the activities suggested, it's a great reminder to prioritise outside time for the kids. I think fostering a child's connection with nature is one of the most important things we can do for the future of the planet. If kids don't have that personal connection with and love for the wild places of our planet it is unlikely they will want to protect them in future years.

We do 'Green Hour' every afternoon when DS 7 gets home from school.