School excursion

Today Louka's class went on an excursion to the Coastal Environment Centre at Narrabeen. One of the other mums had put her name down as a parent helper on the assumption that I would be going. So I felt I ought to put my name down too. And then my name was pulled out of a hat and hers was not. So here I was  going to keep a bunch of five kids together on the beach and rock platform - yeah right.

The weather was lovely for a beach visit - warm and sunny but not hot. It would not have been so pleasant last week in the rain. My group split up right from the start, with three in the first bus and two (with me) in the second bus. But we all gathered together at the other end.

At first we went down to the lagoon to look at birds through binoculars. There were only seagulls and a pelican so we soon started to investigate footprints on the sand. We saw some small mammal-like prints that the CEC educator guessed were from a water rat.

Then we went back to the building and learned, using a catchment model, what happens to rubbish, dog poo and fertilizer when it rains - it all goes into the sea of course.

We gathered round to listen to a story about a girl who got a limpet stuck to her finger then went inside to look at the displays there. The animals preserved in glass jars were fascinating to the kids.

We walked towards the rock platform where each group was given a life form to search for. Our group was assigned sea stars. I thought these might be too hard, but the kids found quite a few (they were tiny and matched the colour of the rocks and I didn't find a single one). So we went on to look for other creatures. We found plenty of limpets, mulberry whelks and zebra shells, and quite a few sea anemones (which the kids squealed about when they stuck their fingers in) but no sea urchins. Fortunately we also found no blue ring octopuses or bristle worms, which we'd been warned to watch out for.

After a good hunt we walked over the headland (quite a climb up a staircase) to Turimetta Beach where we did some beachcombing. There was a lot of pumice, which Louka finds fascinating, and lots of kelp. We also found some bits of cuttlefish shell and some rather smelly cunjevoi. Then each group got to make a sand sculpture of a sea creature and decorate it with our finds. We made a turtle; another group made a very impressive mermaid.

 At about a quarter past two we trekked back over the headland to the waiting bus. On the trip back to school a couple of kids fell asleep. It had been a tiring but enjoyable day.

Pony party

For the last couple of years we've given parties at home for Louka's birthdays, but she really gets on best with just a couple of friends so it seemed like a good idea to give her something for her three best friends. Graham suggested, among other things, a pony party. Louka had really enjoyed her previous horse-riding experience (though it was a few years ago). So I web searched and rang around a few places. The difficulty was that while two of Louka's friends are already 7, one is only 5 (and small for her age). Generally under 7s just get short pony rides while older kids get a proper one-hour lesson. But the Shellby Equestrian Centre people said they were sure they could accommodate the 5-year-old (and were very nice to talk to into the bargain) so I booked the party with them.

It had been horribly windy and rainy the previous few days and I was concerned we'd have to postpone the party. (The Shellby people assured me they could do a great fun party undercover but I was a bit dubious.) But despite a band of light rain on the radar it stayed dry, if a bit windy, so the party went ahead as planned. The girls had an hour's riding lesson, progressing as far as walking over poles with no hands and a rising trot. They walked the horses back to the stables and fed them carrots (we provided the carrots as suggested). Then it was time to return to the party deck.

Graham had also suggested an ice-cream cake. I'd done most of the ice-cream making but he wanted to coat it in chocolate and for that he was on his own. It looked rugged, but it was good as some kids liked ice-cream and some preferred chocolate.

I'd prepared a short treasure hunt because I knew they wouldn't sit eating party food for a whole hour. It was over a bit quicker than I expected and I was slow in placing the treasure in its place (under the table where they'd started off) but they did enjoy it - so much that one girl requested another treasure hunt straight away. I put some smarties packets in the girls' discarded shoes and wrote a few clues. That was good enough for them.

A successful birthday present

Mum and dad came over for afternoon tea last weekend to celebrate Louka's birthday. The weather was wet and windy but during a lull in the rain Louka tried out her present, a hula hoop. On the trampoline. She was actually pretty good! (She got two hula hoops but hasn't yet tried to use them at the same time.)