It's kids' prerogative to change their minds, right?

After explaining we weren't going to see Ice Age 3, we ended up going as we got an invitation, and suddenly when asked by a friend, it became a lot more attractive to Sparky!

It was on the scary end for a preschooler though - lots of bad stuff that almost happens. Everything turns out Ok of course.

Trailer below.

Museums, Galleries and lots of culture oh my

When we went to the powerhouse museum, we discovered the premier's adventure passport for kids which gives free entry to school age kids for the next 6 months to cultural institutions on weekends and holidays- and 4 years old counts apparently.

This was great! what with that, Scout being free and having a voucher from the Entertainment Book, it only cost us 10 bucks for the 4 of us.

The Powerhouse was wonderful for this age - 5 play areas, including a play building site that our boys loved.

But now Sparky wants to take advantage of this scheme to the full - where to next? Maybe the Australian Museum? Anyone got a suggestion?

Museum over movie

Well you know Sparky and I love movies. And we had decided to go to one every holidays. But there are no G movies this holidays except Hannah Montana, which he declares is too girly. He also reckons that the PG rating for Ice Age 3 Dawn of the dinosaurs is probably warranted - "because even the title scares me mum" so we are thinking we won't go to that.

So our movie substitute is the Powerhouse Museum, which has a special school holidays exhibition for children called the Odditoreum which looks interesting, showcasing curiousities from their collection with stories written for each by the children's writer Shaun Tan. I hadn't realised the museum is so reasonably priced ($5 for over 4, $10 for adults, and we have a voucher). Scout can come too, unlike a movie.

Easter holiday plans

1. Remembering, reflecting and thanking. I have been speaking more to Sparky about Easter and Jesus this year, and he told me he finds Easter sad and happy. We have talked about when sad is good sad.
2. Sparky's first Easter Show. I am staying home with Scout and Bhaer is taking him. Is it just me or is the show ridiculously expensive? Pity I have lots of childhood memories of it I want my kids to share. I also have memories of my parents being stingy with showbags. Now I understand.
3. So, instead I'm taking Sparky to see Monsters vs Aliens. Some debate over this, as it is PG - where have all the school holidays G films gone? But after consulting Kids in Mind, decided to give it a go. We can always leave if too scary. We will stick with 2D I think, for a 4 year old.

piccie from freefoto

so we bolted....

Sparky and I went and saw the movie Bolt. We both liked it more than the last movie we saw (Beverly Hills Chihuahua).

Pros:
It is a G movie (but see cons below)
Not too long.
It has some good things to say, such as:
loyalty is important
even ordinary people can be heroes
the ordinary pleasures in life are important too - of home, family, friends, enjoyment of creation
It has humour that involves adults, while still being clean. The hamster is hilarious.

Cons:
It does have a few scary scenes - most of these take place as part of a TV show, and so no "real" (in the world of the movie) people or animals get seriously hurt.
There is reasonably frequent popping back and forth between the make believe of tv and the real world. This is confusing for little ones - Sparky is a 4 year old who is pretty good at this distinction, but he struggled with this, and so there was lots of questions on his part as we watched the movie - hopefully not annoying to the other patrons.

Sparky and I have decided to go to a movie every school holidays so if anyone ever wants to join in just say the word.

holiday movies for kids

I am starting to think through our holiday activities. I am going to take Sparky to a movie, but at 4, it is hard to find appropriate ones.

Kris (see sidebar) put me on to a great website, Kids in Mind. It tries to be as objective as possible, simply rating each movie on possible issues for kids and leaving it up to you what you do with that information, based on your values and kids.

I am considering Bolt, which opens here in January. It is about a dog who is a superhero. Sparky loves dogs and heroes so he should be like a cow in clover. My only concern is some violence which takes place in a TV show context in the movie, but I think we should be able to talk about it together.

What about you? what are you going to go see, with your kids or otherwise?

away with the kids...but now let's talk about something actually relaxing...

I've been away, hence no blogging. I went away with my brother's family. He has 2 girls, 5 and 1, and we have 2 boys, 4 and 1. It was great for the cousins to get to know each other and for us to reconnect with my brother and his wife. Some asked: Did you have a good time? The answer - Yes! Some asked: Do you feel relaxed now? the answer - uh, no. 24/7 kids............. plus, I did have to take some marking with me for the distance course I have been teaching.

Now, this is where I would like to go next. With husband. Without kids. Or perhaps go do this, with a female friend. Without her kids.

I should also let you know my grandmother is being moved into a nursing home tomorrow, though it doesn't look good for her long term.

Thematic songs

Sparky loves me singing themed seasonal songs for him. He is under the impression that no day or week is ordinary - there is always something special on. Consequently I am always scratching around trying to 1. decide on what the current theme is 2. find songs for it. We are going on a family beach holiday in a month, so the current rage is holiday songs. So far I have contributed Cliff Richard;s summer holiday (which as a bonus for Scout, the video on youtube featured a bus!). Anyone know any good holiday songs?

Holidays with a preschooler

Well, I'm starting to get the hang of this holiday's bizzo.

I thought I might share what we did (not in mind numbing detail I promise) and whether it was worth it!

1. On Sparky's birthday, we went to his very first movie - Beverly Hills Chihuahua. He loved it - not a terribly good movie, but a great choice for your first movie, out of those available recently. G movies are few and far between. I was glad we waited til 4 for his first movie - he was able to go the distance ( well with lots of m and ms).

2. He had a Mcdonald's party. I know, the evil multinational uses this to suck in new addicts. But it was very cheap, they do it all for you, and the kids enjoyed themselves ( except for scout). Very relaxing and was glad I did this rather than hold my own with everything going on for me at that time.

3. We went to a Colin Buchanan concert (Christian kid's performer) - lots of fun and about the right length (30 mins or so) . Sparky was dancing a lot, and even seemed to join another family who had better positions closer to the front. I was glad in the end I didn't take Scout, who would have found it overwhelming I think. We went with my cousins and their kids. It was a great way to see each other.

4. We went to a park with playgroup friends for a BBQ. Scout kept wanting to run off, or do dangerous things on the play equipment - which made me appreciate the advantage of having BBQ areas inside the enclosed playground - which this didn't have, but Collaroy Beach does for instance.

5. Sparky and I had a treat of going to the city on the train after his vaccination. He was very brave about this and didn't cry, I think explaining it earlier that day helped. I also caught up with Kris who was in for Anglican Synod. We had afternoon tea at the hilton, did a round trip on the monorail (He loved this! Kids under 5 are free, possibly because a fall off the platform would be very far to fall indeed....I think with Scout I would definitely restrain him in his stroller for this) and looked around QVB, at the clocks and a toy shop and a model train shop (this was fantastic for Thomas enthusiasts , and I think I better take my Dad who has fond memories of his Hornby set). So a very trainy day.

What did you do?

Holiday mode

Sorry - I hadn't blogged for a couple of weeks - there was the mad Christmas rush, Christmas itself, and now I'm in holiday mode. We are holidaying at home, as it is cheaper, and going away with just walking Owl is not our idea of fun. So we plan to do some Sydney things - so far only been to Balmoral beach (in the rain to see old friends.....) and also we have hit the sales (I did a whole morning sans kids with my cousin, and have added necessary items to my wardrobe plus lots of Sparky clothes for next summer).

Other ideas we have are going to Sydney Wildlife world (smaller than Taronga zoo, so good for Owl's stage, and we have a voucher for it - we will go to Taronga later in the year) and stopping in at the chinese gardens while there if we feel up to it, going to the beach on a sunny day (!), seeing friends, and Bhaer and I plan to have 2 nights out - another advantage to staying at home is baby sitting is available - we are trying to decide a movie to see, since we haven't seen one since pre Owl - any suggestions?

I have put in websites as I went, but here's 2 others for people in our situation holidays with kids and travel for kids.

You may be wondering, did I finish the owl softies in time? yes I did! I promise piccies soon!!!

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