When Walking Becomes REAL Walking

Every parent vividly and proudly recalls the day their offspring took those first, tentative steps. A whole new world suddenly opens up to a child (and the parent!). But, when walking becomes REAL walking, of the one to two hour, no complaints, hiking variety, there is real cause for rejoicing. In the past week Charlotte has excelled at long walks, of challenging gradients and terrain. Combined with Charlotte’s new found walking agility, Sophie has just about dropped her afternoon nap (occasionally taking one every five day’s). This has given us freedom to take off after the midday Kindi pick-up for some fantastic walking; and great exercise for me!

Tuesday we enjoyed an old favourite – the Botanical Gardens – where the variety of plant species allows for beautiful observation of the changing seasons. There’s the popular duck-pond, fish pond (in the Begonia House) and playground. In addition the cable-car museum and sculptures throughout the gardens provide another dimension of exploration and learning.

Wednesday, was the real day of walking achievement for Charlotte. Opposite the playground in Houghton Valley there is a new walking track, meandering up through the bush to stunning views of the South Coast from Buckley Road. The track was muddy and difficult in parts, but Charlotte triumphed with great enthusiasm.

We opted to take the longer, but easier descent along Buckley Road, through Sinclair Park and down the valley past Charlotte’s school – where she’ll start later in the year.

After a nearly two-hour excursion the girls were still left with energy to play at the playground and walk down to Houghton Bay beach – incredible!

On Thursday Dan came home earlier so I could enjoy my weekly jog to Island Bay and back. The girls had a fabulous time with Dan at the playground and after I’d stretched down we all walked down to Houghton Bay to watch the dozens of surfers who were enjoying the most fabulous surf in the evening sun. I’d already had quite a bit of exercise in the morning – as we walked to Kindergarten and back – up the VERY steep Hungerford Road. Sophie fell into a blissful sleep and didn’t wake till 4.30pm! – A rare nap for her – but gratefully appreciated!

We saw a beautiful Monarch butterfly and Charlotte took a fabulous photograph of a cicada – the sound of summer still lingers in the air!

So it’s been a pretty full-on week of walking and exercise and we all feel so energised. Dan enjoyed indoor soccer on Wednesday evening – winning, but thankfully not bringing home yet another tacky trophy! The girls are ecstatic about the new ‘Splash Pool’ at the Acquatic Centre – we went three consecutive days over the last weekend and on Monday afternoon.

It’s such a brilliant facility.

Long may the fine weather last – though we are having a few cooler days with a little more wind and showers.

It’s been good for us all to keep busy this week. It was such a wrench saying farewell to Grandma and Grandad last Friday. They arrived back in England on Tuesday, after an enjoyable stopover in Hong Kong. It was such a relief to be able to talk with them again and now we are back in regular contact via phone, e-mail and ‘Skype’ the distance doesn’t seem so hard. Our memories are still very fresh and we will delight in those and the hundreds of photographs for many, many months (see the photo albums on the the right-hand side-bar of the blog).