Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Picnic in the park


Sydney calls to me. I look forward to exploring the Botanical Gardens more. I want to go to the famous Manly and Bondi beaches. I heard about some cool parks in other parts of Balmain and I want to see them. But today we stuck close to home again and it really paid off. Instead of trying yet another park we went back to our closest park - this time with a scooter and a bike. The kids are so much faster with wheels. I actually have to make them wait for me at the corners so I can hustle to catch up. They seemed genuinely thrilled to be outside and active.

Once we made it to our close by park they agreed to venture the rest of the way up the hill to Gladstone Park. On the way we stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on picnic food. The produce here is wonderful and the girls are getting their fill of peaches, strawberries, mangoes, kiwis, blueberries, grapes, bananas and more.

Gladstone Park has wonderful big shady trees, lots of paths and a big blacktop for scooting, and a fun kids playground. It's a great place for a picnic and I was happy to see we weren't the only ones with this idea. There was a new mums' group gathered in one spot and a lot of family and friends getting together. The girls ate, put on a little show for me (scooter and bike "tricks") and then went to the playground.

Gladstone Park is also the site of the girls new school. It's the local public school so I keep thinking we'll run into other kids who might end up in their classes. It turns out there are lots of schools in this area and Balmain Public only has one or two classes per year. So the good news is it'll be a small close knit community once we find it. The bad news for now is that I cannot find anyone who can tell me what the girls need for day one. I've started the uniform order but I don't know about shoes, backpacks, snacks, lunches - any of that! Apparently the staff of the school return the day before school starts and we'll be showing up then to do our registration so I guess we'll save up our questions. 
One of many gorgeous fig trees in the park
Thrilled to be back on wheels!
Tessie loves to glide on her balance bike. She picks up her feet a lot.
Emily with the playground in the background

3 comments:

  1. This looks so gorgeous and spacious! I'm reminded of L.A. (and am more than a little jealous).

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  2. I've never been to LA but Balmain does remind me a lot of San Francisco.

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  3. Beautiful! I love the look of those trees and the produce abundance is enviable too! Thank you for sharing all of this!

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