A relaxing escape

We had a momentous event this morning!  Our first information session at the Little Big Fella's kindy (he starts next year).  Problem was, there wasn't much info at this session!  And the Big Fella felt completely out of place, being the only Dad there (come on guys!!!), and he was hungry and not really ready to be awake.

And I guess he was a bit annoyed that I'd left the paperwork for the kindy at home too... oops!

On the up side, after an initial bit of nervousness, the Little Big Fella discovered that kindy has toys!  Lots and lots of toys!  A whole little room set up with a kitchen and babies (he loves playing cooking and shushing the baby).  And then there's outside with the cubbies, sandpit, swings and all sorts of interesting stuff!!!

So while Mummy sat inside listening to... not an awful lot, Daddy got to sit outside and play with the kids :-)

We had a bit of time to fill in before the Little Big Fella's swimming lesson so we went and got some food for the Big Fella's breakfast then went to Macca's (McDonald's) for a coffee and a play.

Then it was off to swimming.  The Little Big Fella is just getting more and more confident in the water, although he has a thing about putting his head under water at the moment.  He has so much fun and jumps up and down in his excitement, which is rather entertaining to watch :-)

We've had a bit of a heatwave I guess, over the weekend and today.  Mid to high 30s (about 90-100 Fahrenheit?) most days for the past week.  So to escape the heat today, the Big Fella thought he'd take us to a river spot that one of his workmates told him about.

The description of where this place is was very... broad.  Something along the lines of, "just out of town".

Yup.

We drove to the town (about 60 kilometres away) then turned down the road.

And we drove, and drove, and drove.

Out of town.

Onto a dirt road.

Through some cattle grazing across the road.

On and on and on wondering if we were on the right road and if we'd ever get there!

Eventually, we turned back.  It couldn't have been the right road, surely?  And we had no mobile reception so our maps wouldn't show us where we were!  (Note to self: put paper maps in the car!)

We eventually got back to the town and found the information board at the main rest stop.  Sure enough, there was the river marked on the map - probably just a little further than we'd gone!

So back we went!  Through the town, onto the dirt road, past the grazing cattle, around a big bend, past some grain fields and finally!  We found the river!  And boy, was it worth it!

The water was beautiful!  So much nicer and warmer than the pool and the dam!  And a lovely sandy bottom!  And huge river trees that shaded a big part of the "beach" and some of the water.  And rocks for throwing (boys) or skipping (all of us).  And the obligatory rope swing, of course :-)

 

So we spent the afternoon lazing in the water, keeping cool and playing together.  Very much a relaxing escape from the heat :-)