The chilly weather I wrote about recently didn't last long at all. We got back into the upper 20'sC / low -mid 80'sF which has been lovely. We've had some beautiful soaking rain too - sometimes all night long which is great to lull us to sleep and to have those negative ions coming through the open windows.
It is getting lighter later so the kids are sleeping in a bit more which is good for them. I keep waking really early though.
We had a state election here yesterday. Voting is compulsory in Australia for all aged 18 and over. I went to vote at the local public school. As usual, there were lots of people standing out the front handing out pamphlets showing you how to vote for their candidate. We walked up to the big shed where the cardboard booths were set up. As we approached, I asked the greeter if the children could come in with me. He was very friendly and enthusiastic and said "Certainly - show them how the electoral process works!". Wow, I hadn't been able to bring the kids in with me in other places I've voted. They saw the big roll for our area that has everyones name on it and helped the lady find my name and make sure it was checked off so that I did not get a fine for not voting. They came with me to the booth and I told them why I was voting the way I was. And then the workers there were fine with the fact that Nicholas helped me "cast my vote" by popping it in the box. The kids did feel more involved with the process and now have a little more understanding of how that works.
We love living in this state - "the sunshine state". It's currently celebrating its 150th birthday. One really great thing about that is that 3 of the big theme parks near us are doing a special deal - for the price of entry into one of them for a day, we can get a special pass that will allow us unlimited entry into all 3 of them anytime until the end of June. Too good to pass on that! Last week we went to WB Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World. Oh we had so much fun - and one of the best things was that we didn't feel rushed to get around and try and see everything in one day. At Movie World, we mainly hung out in the area where the kids rides are though we did see some shows. The car stunt show was very good. Nicholas didn't like the Batman street show, thought the Scooby street show was ok (the ghost guy running around was a bit scary) and after being a bit nervous at first in the 4D theater, he quite liked the Shrek show. I went on a roller coaster by myself. Not the super fast one that goes up really high and then very steeply down at about 60mph. no no no no! Not yet anyway. Compared to that one, I went on the tame one. It was still a blast!
Another day we met some homeschoolers at an ambulance station for a tour and then on to a playground. Seeing as we were only 10 minutes away from Wet n wild, we decided to go there afterwards. We hung out at the wave pool for about an hour, floated along the lazy river for another hour then played at the big kids playground with climbing and squirting things and slides and big fun. Until Summer was told she was too old to go down the slides there, it was meant to be for the little kids. She was really sad. Growing up and not ready. So we looked at some of the big long water slides for the "big kids" (yeah that's me too) and she picked out some she wants to try 'next time', that don't look too fast or scary.
This week....Sea World. I have a feeling we'll be riding the monorail for at least a few laps of the place. Maybe Wet n Wild again too while the weather is still so good for it.
