Trekking in Blue Mountains

The Macpac Possum is one of the best investments we've ever made as parents. It is a backpack child carrier that allows you to go off the beaten track with kids. We bought it two years ago in Melbourne, and we have been bringing it faithfully on all our trips where some heavy-duty-walking-in-the-great-outdoors would be involved.

For our recent Sydney trip, we knew without a doubt that we would bring the carrier along. But the question was: Who are we going to carry? Kai won't be able to complete a one or two-hour trek. So if we carry him in the Possum, what are we going to use to carry Kit? The Baby Bjorn carrier places the baby in front, which is quite a strain after a while. Furthermore, this means we would need another backpack for the essentials (i.e. water, snacks, diapers).

So we ended up bringing TWO Macpac Possums to Sydney. Yes, two carriers in addition to our two luggages and stroller. And no, we didn't buy another carrier (those things are pricey!). We borrowed the second one from our friends. I carried Kit and most of the supplies at the start of our trek in the Blue Mountains. It was a matter of mathematics really. Kai weighs around 16kg and Kit is about 9kg. Though Terence was really chivalrous about it and said it was ok, he could carry more, I was quite confident I could manage.

We completed a medium-grade trek (Lyrebird Dell and Pool of Siloam Circuit) in 2 hours. The trek brought us to two waterfalls, and we had a picnic at the Pool of Siloam^.

Kit fell asleep at the start of the trek and was still asleep when we reached the pool. So I propped him up (supervised of course), still in the carrier^, against a big rock while we ate and played for a while.

He woke up eventually and enjoyed the rest of the trek.

One thing stood out from the whole experience: Terence's mum joined us and she completed the whole trek with no problems. Now, she is 60+ and the trek has its fair share of uphill climb and steep, slippery downhill track. But she kept up. It just reinforces the importance of good health; I want to be able to do the same thing with my grandchildren when I get to her age.

(I left our camera battery in the warm confines of our cottage. So the pictures were taken with Terence's iPhone 4.)

More from our Sydney getaway:

- Anxiously waiting for...

- Road trip snacking and its consequences

- Where the wild things are

- Paddling like a hamster

- Summer in Jervis Bay

For tips on trekking with children:

- Grampians part 2: Lesson Learnt

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bubble, bubble, boys and trouble

Kit is too young to be interesting enough as a playmate for big brother Kai now. So I have to get creative when both of them are at home together.

Waterplay and bubble time is a perennial favorite, and they can play side by side for a change. For about 30 minutes, I get to be in the same room with BOTH of them without having to split my time (and self) between the two.

Christmas this year...

...was jolly good. But more about that shortly.

I disappeared from my blogsphere recently not for lack of stories and pictures to share with friends and family. It's just that so much has happenend over the past three (four?) weeks. It's all got to do with this stay-at-home-mum (SAHM) business.

A friend asked me a few days ago how long have I been a SAHM. Fifteen months. Now 15 months isn't long compared to some of my friends who have been SAHMs days, months, or even years longer than me. I feel like I am still feeling my way around this whole SAHM business. The last few weeks have just been trying. By the time I finally tuck both boys in bed, I am exhausted. There is a glut of stories to share, but I can't seem to find the drive to pen them down.

It's not like there aren't happy stories. There are. Plenty of them. But all of a sudden, I felt tired of writing about them. Perhaps I am starting to doubt whether or not I am cut out to be a SAHM. And whether I am a good SAHM.

Anyway, enough of the depressing ramblings of a SAHM trying to sort out her issues. Christmas this year has just been wonderful. Kit crossed his 15mo mark just before Christmas, and he is starting to do toddler-like things including throwing tantrums. On a brighter note, Kai tells me he loves me every single day. I also started some new family traditions that I hope both boys will treasure for years to come. For one, Kai made his first Christmas ornament^, and I intend to help him (and Kit) make one every year from now on. Then when they are finally old enough, I can put them all in a box as a keepsake.

I always felt I sucked big time in arranging flowers, so it was a BIG morale booster when I finally put together a lovely centrepiece for our family Christmas dinner.

And of course, nothing beats seeing smiles on all my boys this Christmas.