Nana's School Holiday Program

Less than 24 hours after Grandad left Canberra, Nana arrived just in time for the cool change! There was no easing into child minding for Nana, as both Andy and I headed off to work come Monday morning. The girls opened the Pop Cake kit they received for christmas. This kept them busy until Andy returned mid afternoon. Although the concept of cakes on sticks like lollipops is a good idea, they were in fact very fiddly and difficult to complete. Nevertheless the girls did eat a couple of the more successful ones!

Tuesday saw us visit the National Dinosaur Museum. Ella completed the Dinosaur Activity to earn a Dinosaur Hunter License with real fossils attached for both herself and Katy. The 20 year old museum houses a relatively small collection located on the second storey. The exhibits takes you on a journey from the earths beginnings through evolution highlighting the success of the dinosaurs. Ella was reading bits and pieces which caught her attention while Katy was happy to touch the numerous hands on exhibits.

By far the most interesting piece of info was chatting to a staff member who was obviously bored of his dusting the exhibits job, who happily informed us that the well known and popular brontosaurus wasn't a real dinosaur! This tale began in 1877 between two palaeontologist whose rivalry of dinosaur hunting evolved into the bone wars. As a result the skeleton of an apatosaurus was given the head of the camarasaurus and named the brontosaurus! The name brontosaurus was formally removed from records of palaeontology in 1974. However the popularity of brontosaurus continued to stick with the general public and in books. I definitely remember it despite that fact I was born in 1974! Even 15 years later, the US Postal Office issued 4 dinosaur stamps including brontosaurus receiving a large amount of criticism. So now we know that the brontosaurus is synonymous for an apatosaurus!

Wednesday was a quite relaxing day. Spent most of the morning in our pj's. By the time we got ready it was lunchtime, so we stopped at Ricardo's for a bite to eat, then a visit to the library, markets shop followed by an even quieter afternoon.

We decided by Thursday that girls needed a break from each other so Ella spent the morning over at Nana Hoggs house. Katy meanwhile enjoyed having Nana to herself playing games, reading books...Thankfully Nana looked after both girls while we chatted to our architect for a few hours in the afternoon. Then it was a rush to get to the Little Ath's twilight meet. Nana and Katy picnicked and watch Ella compete in the shot put, long jump, 50m, 100m and 200m. Meanwhile I ducked off to enjoy dinner with work colleagues!

Andy and I were off to work again on Friday. Ella was chuffed that Nana could teach her how to knit on her knitting doll which took most of the morning! Andy returned home in early afternoon to take the girls for haircuts and give Nana a much needed rest. The day ended enjoying a takeaway dinner.

Saturday we drove over to the National Arboretum to show Nana the Pod playground. While enjoying the sunshine, we bumped into Anne and her three children who'd made the trip from Melbourne for the orienteering. As we were in no hurry we stopped off again at Ricardo's for Nana's final lunch.

Based on the previous weeks experience at the airport, we decided en route to the airport to drop the girls off to Andy (who was trying to catch up on work). Nana's flight was on time and she surprised Grandad at the other end with an early arrival! We loved having Nana around and look forward to seeing her again.