Hunter Valley again

We have been to the Hunter Valley twice in the last 2 months. Everytime we go, we discover something new..

We stayed at the Littles winery last month. It was very interesting to actually sleep next to the tasting room inside the winery and the view from the dinning room table was beautiful and serene. The kids loved the winery manager's dog Gypsy and loved tasting the chutneys, olive oil and cheese. We also went to a nice little deli that served yummy hearty food on cushions under trees, the food I still crave when I think about it.

This was before Sam had his first haircut.


We stayed at a 4-bed house this time because we had the Grandparents with us. The house was quite basic but the setting was very relaxing and tranquil. We didn't get to visit many wineries as it was very hot while we were there (there was a heat wave). I counted us very lucky though because if I booked one week earlier, the kids would have been too sick to go. We all enjoyed the swimming, we had the whole pool to ourselves. We had barbecued steaks and sausages plus the yummy goods we collected along the way, including the smoked trout and octpotus legs from the Lovedale smoke house, a new-find this time.  We also went to the Hunter Valley barn and stocked up on sweets.



Kids were on a high singing just before a swim.


We will leave Hunter until the weather cools down but we will be back!

Cheeky monkey

Sam is quite a handful at the moment. He is quicker and cheekier than Lara was at the same age. He doesn't listen as well and changllenges 'authority' more (seond child +  boy?). He has chucked toys in the toilet, put his hands in the toilet. He got out of his pram and ran to the jumping castle (not free) and didn't want to get out in our last shopping excursion. I took him to an indoor playground once, he went straight to the 5-11 year-old section (2-5 yo section is too boring for him) and stayed there for the entire 2 hours. He thinks he's older than Lara, often shouted 'instructions' for Lara to do. He likes to open and close lids, doors, windows. He also like to chuck things into illegal' places, like back of couch, toilet, out of the window, into small holes.

This is me trying to take a video of the kids while we were picnicing at the local park.



Sam is being toilet-trained at the moment (3rd week). He's doing very well with wee, but only started to poo in the potty. I am busy washing dirty undies, shorts and shoes!