Building houses

Mulga using foam castle blocks to build animal habitats and superhero homes, then acting out dramatic play with them.

Nana's birthday

You would not think it but Nana turned 92 today! Happy Birthday!!!

And guess who has Nana wrapped around her charming little finger? :)

Mulga turns 5

Happy fifth birthday to our darling Mulga!  First came the very serious business of present opening!

Lots of reading - he received a big pile of books about superheroes.

Then off to soccer for a match game.

Boronia watching her big brother play (we dropped Yeti and Waratah off for a game at a different field).

Then home for party and cake :)

Birdwood Gully geocache

From our log: Success on our second attempt - the first time we searched every step - up, down and around LOL... not easy when wearing a sleeping 13 month old! Still, it was only our first day of geocaching, and we were tired after a long day... we came home, re-read all the comments, and figured we knew where it was. We had searched the right place but not at the right level! We came back for our second attempt and started by admiring the bower bird nest - we had made a special blue bird to leave in the cache when we found it, and we wanted to photograph it in the bower. Just as we finished, we looked up from the bower to not-ground zero, and there it was, a little corner peeking out at us! Mr Bower Bird came by and watched curiously as we put our blue bird and a blue car in the cache. We took a golden pirate coin and the Pico Compass Rose Geocoin... Waratah was extremely disappointed that he couldn't keep such a beautiful item. He thought he had found "real treasure" and is now saving up to buy one of his own.

Step up... and up and up and up: Waratah and the cache on the steps - where we searched and didn't find it on our first attempt. This cache is for the birds!!! :D

The little crocheted bird we made just to leave in this cache, posing in the bower... we may have to bring another one up to leave for Mr Bowerbird who was watching our proceedings with great interest!

 

Our first geocoin find. Waratah REALLY wanted to keep it!

First time geocaching - Madoline Glen

We have been wanting to try geocaching for a long time now, and we finally got our first opportunity, with a our Blue Mountains Homeschool Bushwalk group. We all met at Springwood to walk through Birdwood Gully, and hopefully pick up a few geocaches on the way. We were all first timers, and it took us a while to get the hang of using the compass apps on our various devices (we were using an iPad in a Griffin Survivor case with Compass Commander. I have since purchased the geocaching.com app which is VERY user friendly).

Waratah climbing the wall of. a cave

Mulga with his "fossilized T-rex tooth".

At first we missed the spot where we were to turn off the track, and walked up the hill, where we stopped to play on some amazing wave-curled rock formations. I didn't get any photos of that because Waratah and I (and Boronia in the carrier) decided to go back down the hill to see if we could find the right spot. A short trek off the trail, and we had it! Back up the hill to get everyone else, and then back down the hill to let everyone share in the excitement of making their first find. It was a lovely big cache with something for everyone.

Hidden treasure!

Mulga was incredibly impressed to find this "Gandalf" statue.

Boronia thought it was all very exciting.

The children then made and hid their own special cache for homeschoolers. Everyone else went home, while we decided to have one last look for the cache we had missed right at the start. We did not find it, but we did find a gorgeous, active Satin Bower-bird nest.

Boronia explores her environment

Boronia is getting much more mobile now, and is starting to want to follow the boys wherever they go. Here she is taking advantage of a cool but sunny winter's day to investigate her surroundings in great detail.

Crochet

I was doing some crochet and Waratah asked me to show him how. It was obviously a task requiring great concentration! Not bad for a first try :)

Day trip to the beach

We had an Ebay purchase to pick up on the north side, so a trip to Dee Why Beach was added into the journey.

Boronia seemed to like her first touch of sand and seaweed.

Mulga had a fantastic time playing sandcastles.

Meanwhile, Yeti and Waratah went for a long walk... if we looked very carefully, we could just see them enjoying themselves in the distance.

Greenhood orchids

On a bushwalk with Daddy today, Waratah discovered a patch of greenhood orchids in flower and brought two home for Boronia and me (and to observe more closely).

These are the Nodding Greenhood Orchid, also called the Parrot's Beak Orchid. We discussed why they might have been given that name, and wondered about why they were green instead of brightly coloured.

We learned that the root or tuber can be eaten raw or cooked (but we decided not to try it, as we did not want to damage them, preferring to come back next year and see if we can find them flowering again.)

We also researched how pollination occurs: " a pollinator (always a type of fly for this genus) lands on the lip having been attracted to the color of the flower or in some cases the odor (both color and odor resemble carrion, but they don’t smell bad to humans). The lip, being hinged at its base, springs backward toward the column, thus pinning the poor fly down. The trap then slowly releases and the fly escapes with no prize (Pterostylis produce no nectar), but with luck the pollen of the flower attaches to its back. The fly visits another flower and the process is repeated, this time depositing the attached pollen onto the next flower."

Source: Botany Bay Plant Encyclopedia

We discovered that they were also pollinated by fungus gnats, and mosquitos! 

(Source)

Hunter Valley Backyard Nature also gave us some interesting insights into their lifecycle. We shall be on the lookout for seedpods!

Veggie Gardening

A lovely sunny winter's day - time to get out in the veggie garden... Boronia enjoyed being more mobile and able to explore areas she could not get to before...

And the boys helped weed among the broadbeans (using some not-so-traditional gardening tools). Did a great job, though!