Playing catch up

Whenever I go away on holiday I feel like I pay for it when I get back to work, because - geesh! Seriously, between juggling 2 projects with the same delivery deadlines, my aunt now at Mercy Hospice, and the agony of waiting for that elusive last win (if you are a New Zealander you know exactly what I'm talking about) I am shattered both emotionally and physically. Whenever I'm feeling this way I get grumpy, and my poor little family - sorry Jef! I'm trying.

So this morning Kien and I stayed in so I could watch the race, and then I just needed to get out. Kien wanted to go to playgroup, but I wasn't in the mood for any form of interaction with other people. So I put Kien in the backpack, grabbed the umbrella, walked to Vic park and caught a bus to the CBD. Destination - the library.



Kien loves books, and he lined up a dozen or so for me to read to him when we arrived.



We read about the coral reef, pandas, camouflaging insects, Hiwi the Kiwi who questioned what's special about a bird that can't fly (I'm sorry, but the reasons explained to that poor little bird in the story wasn't very convincing), Sailor Sam, and a whole heap of other stories I can't even remember. And then...



Look, Mummy! Look what they have!



Angry Birds! And they even have Red Bird!







And that was the end of reading time.

After lunch we caught another bus to Parnell. Destination - the museum.

I knew Kien would enjoy the current Moana - My Ocean exhibition. He wandered around looking at all the different species in the jars, and asked me lots of questions I couldn't answer, like, "Mummy, what's that?"..."Why is it called that?". Sometimes I just can't keep answering those questions 50 times in a row.

Of course we end up at the Stevenson Discovery Centre. It's such an awesome children's gallery.





We sat in front of this tank for (I guess maybe) half an hour waiting for one of the frogs to jump into the water. That's what he wanted them to do, and he was very patient about it. But sadly, no, it didn't happen. Before that we sat in front of the lizard tank for (I guess maybe) half an hour waiting for one of them to catch a fly. But sadly, no, that didn't happen either. I'm pretty sure he would have stared at either of those tanks for the entire day if I hadn't enticed him with puzzles and more books.



It was getting late, and when we got outside we were struck by a gail. My umbrella kept turning inside out as we walked to the bus stop, and the rain was hitting us sideways. Good one, Lien. Of all the days to decide to leave the car at home today may not have been the best one. But you know what? We had a great time - an adventure.