fun for free! the museum

The Auckland Museum in the Domain is a great free (for Auckland residents, just present your library card) place for small children. There are always  groups of Mums hanging in the foyer whilst tiny toddlers clamber on the furniture. Upstairs they have a Kai room, you can go mad and messy there small people. Next to that is Weird and Wonderful. Lots of live bugs and fish next to stuffed animals and drawers upon drawers of specimens. Insects, molluscs, birds, butterflies. It's not a huge space so your toddler can explore without you having to be right next toy them, but the specimen drawers are very heavy.

This week I went with Ada and Olive and the front pack and the double pram. We went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. The photographs are amazing and the entries come from experienced photo journalists through to young children. Olive really loved these when she was in the front pack, reaching out and exclaiming with each image but didn't engage from the floor. The tiles confused her and she crawled for the first time in months! Ada enjoyed being about to identify the animals, even thought they photos are taken from new perspectives. They really enjoyed upstairs and the freesom to explore there. There were a lot of people there so we didn't stay long, but that doesn't matter!

Here is the helpful link for getting there and parking.

Here is the helpful link for kids activities.

Have you discovered anywhere lately?
Have fun friends xx

(Here is another visit pic)

fun for free: art gallery

We hoped to take the train to britomart and get all fancy in the down town precinct then the weather looked iffy and we thought, ugh all Olive will want to do is crawl about and we will be wrestling our 9 month old on our shoulders for so many hours. Today the forecast had changed and we had a rethink about where we actually wanted to go and realised the art gallery was a great plan.

We braved the bus into the city. I know! 

Dad chose my socks. 

15 minutes into the journey we were still in Onehunga and I was loosing my nerve. The girls were having a blast, Olive waving at our fellow passengers and Ada chomping on some crackers or looking out the window. I was busy worrying about the fact it was 25 more minutes till we got off. Cam talked me down and I reassumed positive outlook and lo and behold no meltdowns on the way there! Hallelujah! 

Finally using hand sanitizer?!!

Our bus dropped us outside the Civic and we went across to the takeout Korean Pancake place. Yum! We ordered cinnamon, beef and cheese and vege and cheese. These are delicious filled pastry-like pancakes and are cheap as! We ended up eating them in the art gallery cafe, no askew glances noticed by me, so they probably didn't happen. Ada said no and ate all the feijoas instead. No problemo the cinnamon pancake went very well with my long black. We try to not just go to a cafe each Saturday, but lo and behold, there we were again. We had a little book to ourselves overlooking the rotating L's outside. "Look they're turning!" Ada could sit in the high chair and Olive could walk around the buggy and not get covered in mud. Win win win people. 

The art gallery did not go as smoothly as our trip to the Wallace Centre, only that the girls attention span was getting short. We did get a good 15 minutes in on the ground floor but there was only paintings there. Olive walked a good 8 steps in the big rooms! Ada would point out one she liked in each room, I couldn't always decipher why each one was liked. 

Considering the brush strokes. 

The education room was good fun though! Tables for drawing, a tv playing peekaboo, placard signs to wield! Olive looked adorbz playing in a round window until she hit her lip. Blood not so adorable. She stopped crying super quick but we went outside to the bean bag book corner for safety's sake. 

Crazy eyes.

We only hung about in the city for a total of 90 minutes but Cam and I totally felt like it was a breath of fresh air. So many little victories. We took just enough snacks. Go raisins! Go crackers! Ada is toilet training and on the bus home she told me she needed to do a wee wee, so I whipped off her tights and threw on a pull up. Success! No wees on me or the floor! Finally 15 min from home, the bus taking the full HOUR to travel home, Ada got to look through photos on Cam's phone and then when we were almost home Ada said she was tired and it "might be bottle time". We made it. Home and two girls asleep in beds in 10 minutes flat. 

I am a big believer in plan b, or what's the worst that could happen, we can always just go home, not today! In the words of Dora and Boots  "we did it, we did it, yay we did it!"

fun for free: Monte Cecelia Park

Our most recent Auckland discovery is Monte Cecelia Park off Hillsborough Road. It is a lush green, rolling hills sort of place where people picnic and walk dogs. At the top of the park is the historic and very lovely Pah homestead which houses the Wallace Arts Centre, a gift shop and a cafe. Did somebody say coffee? We all loved walking/crawling around the galleries filled with sculptures and paintings. Ada showed us her favorite piece in each room and tried out all the leather couches and seats that I wanted to take home, along with some Ian Scott pieces. Outside there is a huge sweeping veranda to enjoy some coffee and cake and lots of outdoor sculptures to explore. There is even one friendly cat to amuse the small ones. I want to go back soon! 

So much crawling to do, so little time

fun for free: Grey Lynn Toddler Pool

If you are lucky enough to live in Grey Lynn you will no doubt be reading this with a takeaway coffee and Anika Moa's Songs for Bubbas playing in the background and you will know all about the great stuff for kiddos in your local park. If you are anywhere else in Auckland and you don't have a pool get on down to the free pool in Grey Lynn Park. It is supervised, shaded, next to a cool playground and safe for under 5's. We love it so. We have been twice this summer, the first time was before our beach holiday in January, Ada just dangled her feet in from the edge of the pool. The second trip we had the pool to ourselves, it was a cooler morning, Ada was all about it! I put Olive in too, she was sitting in a big ring we have, she seemed pissed off that the couldn't splash her hands, well it was that or the cold. Olive had a short swim...

Ada a year ago! What? Hi Grace!

You enter the Grey Lynn Park from the Williamson Ave entrance or down Grosvenor St, thwn you are right next to a great play ground, a skate ramp, basketball court and the paddling pool. Fenced. Patrolled. Shaded. Amazing! It should be open a few more weeks, here is the councils website with the guff.

Google Map!

fun for free: Auckland Botanic Gardens

I thought to round off the summer I would do a short series of posts of places to go with your toddler in Auckland. You may or may not know there are a number of fun places to go with your family for free! I do so love a good freebie. There are hopefully a few good weeks of weather left and getting outside is a great plan. Winter is coming.

oops, not for touching...

We visited the Auckland Botanic Gardens the beginning of summer and loved wandering about the various regions of the world represented in plant life. There is a sculpture walk over summer ponds with birds and fish and of course many plants to keep your inquisitive toddler entertained. We will hopefully go again soon as teh sculpture walk is great and only there until February 28th. This time we will probably go as early as possible to avoid the heat of the day and now Olive can crawl about a bit rather than suffer the squirms in the front pack as she fights sleep! (I love when they are finally awake long enough to go somewhere and get home again without a melt down. Ada loves wide open spaces she was in heaven here.

The gardens are in Manurewa, take the Hill Road exit when coming from the city, from there you can follow the signs. Easy! For a refuel/adult moment there is also a nice wee cafe at the entrance that serves a lovely Italian espresso.

Where do you take your small children in Auckland?  Look out for my next installment of free fun.

You may also like to know some kid friendly cafes.

a buzzy birthday

We had a great birthday party for Ada's second birthday! She loved dressing up as a bee and a fairy, over and over again in fact. Ada and friends played on some gear from the toy library while the adults ate cheese and enjoyed some light refreshments. I was so impressed with the two year olds on the day, very few meltdowns from the crowd and even Ada was on good form 95% of the time. In the end this felt like an easy party, I had lovely helpers, Liz and Granma Lizzie on decorations, Jo on the cake and Cam and Grandy Gav set up a marquee. Ada was a bit spoilt with presents from her friends, you are all so thoughtful. Thank you all so much!

Here is the must see singing invitation.
Here is the birthday letter.
Here is our new fave photo, and some others!

the time Ada painted her own face

Hi blog, long time!

Playcentre was fun in the sun with a paddling pool/ball pit and face painting too. Olive had a long sleep there so it was fun with Ada rather than being pulled in two directions as is often the way with two kiddos. 

Matchy.