Laughs, Lizards and Lying Around

On Sunday we decided to go to the Aquarium at about 9am. We all bundled up into the car at...oh.. about 12pm. Admittedly Harriet had a good sleep in between the decision making process and the departure time, which turned out to be lucky because we had a fairly fun-filled day out and about.



This photo is just in here because Harriet is not a real stroller lover. Also not a sling lover. So guess who has the best biceps in Old Sydney Town? But lately she has been intent on copying babies - she yells out "Crawl!" and gets down on all fours to crawl (something she never did when she was a baby mind you). Then this morning she decided she wanted to sleep in a stroller like a baby. So here she is sitting in her doll's stroller (for which she is so big that it threatens to snap every time she leans down into it), with a blanket wrapped all around her and she was putting her head to one side and closing her eyes to pretend she was sleeping. So cute! So strange. Anyway, back to the day's outing to Darling Harbour.


Once we worked out where to park (and surrendered our next month's mortgage payment to the parking meter), it was straight to the foodcourt for three famished bellies. Harriet, who isn't a massive eater (she will eat anything, just not much of anything) ate almost a whole packet of avocado baby sushi slices! No, no, not from the chef who has HepA. When we tried to find something to eat it became something slightly nightmare-ish when we turned the corner and realised that the whole place was insanely busy. It was the Greek National Day and there were dances and special activities on and, on top of it all, it was lunchtime. Once James found a spot in a line he just stayed there and ordered a salad roll and we went outside to eat it and watch the dancing.


Harry had a blast first of all with the seagulls. They would come flying in, she would throw some of our roll out for them, they would go crazy squawking and she would crack up. There were some other children there running after them too, and watching them was just as much fun as watching the seagulls.

Soon after we sat down the Greek dancing got underway. Well, Harriet was entranced and thought the whole thing was worthy of some head bopping and torso thrusting. But all of a sudden it just began to BUCKET down - an audible moan ran through the audience as everyone scuttled off to the awnings surrounding the food court. We took the opportunity to grab a seat in one of those little car/train things that ferry people from one side of the harbour to the other. We were planning on the aquarium as I said, but as we neared the entrance we could see that the queue to get in was all the way down the outside of the building and then inside it was snaking up and down in a vicious, anti-toddler manner. So we made a snap decision to go to Wildlife World instead.

Harry was quite insistent that she didn't want to go inside this place, but once we did...Oh. My. GOD! She loveloveloved it. Admittedly they have made it so that it is basically a toddler heaven, with windows that come down to toddler height and even some specific exhibits at toddler height.

But even though we spent all afternoon there and saw every exhibit, nothing and I repeat NOTHING came close to Harry's love of the lizards. She still talks about the skink that we saw run inside a little hole next to the back door and that was when we first moved in. In this photo she was admiring (along with the other children - she's in the middle btw and if you needed that info then back to the naughty mat for you) the humungous dragon that was racing up and down the length of the window, much to the delight of all watching.


I can't remember what was in this exhibit, except that it was a lizard with a very stubby tail. She was in raptures, running around from window to window, exhorting one and all to see what she could see. It was just the cutest thing ever. Could I love this child any more? It was quite dark inside so I wasn't able to get any good shots and everything was on 1600 and still blurry, but I won't forget her face as she sat enthralled watching lizards sluggishly/rapidly/disinterestedly/manically walk around their cages.


And after the lizards, we found out that her other favourite 'zoo' activity was the peek-a-boo tree. It was just a hollowed out tree trunk next to a bench where I stopped to give Harry a feed. She found it and started playing with it...and wouldn't leave! Even when she saw the cassowary she kept asking to go back to the peek-a-boo tree. It was pretty funy. Here she's getting a good look at the birds in their little enclosure from the upper level. But being Harry she had to do things in her own style, which involved lying flat out sprawled across the floor to inspect the birds as they flew from one tree to another.

On the way home we walked across the bridge and Papa Jimbo got very excited about seeing where it rotates in the middle to let the tall ships come through. Harriet, meanwhile, was enjoying the present left by the earlier downpour - puddles!

And we found a new game that causes much delight and many giggles - Harry calls it the "No, no" game. I walk behind her saying "Don't run away Harry, don't run away!" in a mock authoritarian voice and she giggles like a crazy one and runs on ahead and I run in and scoop her up. She LOVES this! She is really just so very cute and very smoochy at the moment, I am loving it.