Raising Boys: Keep the Adventure Coming!

With an all-boy family there is always lot of outdoor of action required. It keeps everyone happy, its what they want to do and burns off all their energy! My family is so much more happier and better behaved when we are out and about enjoying nature. I guess we don't have to tell them 'don't touch that', 'stop jumping off that!' and there isn't that much to fight over (though of course they always manage to fight over the car seats).


Something our family had always wanted to do was go on a adventure ropes course and they have a fantastic one at Thunderbird Park at Mt Tambourine in Queensland; but it is quite pricey. However Fathers Day gave me a perfect excuse to try it out and I thought it would be a great tradition to start.

Here are all the boys. We had just picked up Seth from basketball so he is still in his school uniform.

When we got there we found out Hayden wasn't tall enough to participate! Drama! We were really sad about this but luckily we had his game boy and he sat near us while we were on the course. So this didn't end up being a lot of fun for him (but I promised him a day off school to make it up to him).

Seth and Josh walking along the wobbly bridge leading up to the course.

You can see the boys on the course. Climbing over wobbly logs on ropes.

Here I am in some very attractive overalls. You can see the rope that attaches you to the cable so you can't fall down, you are attached at all times. (That doesn't mean if you fall you won't hang in a very uncomfortable position for a long time till you are rescued!)

See the ladder here? It was a killer. Because you had to keep locking and unlocking  your cable as you went up. I know it looks easy! But trust me..... its' really high up there!!

Here Seth has just come down the flying fox. The best part!

Josh, our monkey boy, couldn't get enough of the ropes course. He could of gone all day! The rest of us got tired out (like after an hour).

I got to take lots of photos as after one course, I was done (plus I had to keep Hayden company, that was a handy excuse)! Mark and the boys did about three more courses each getting harder. I will be working out at the gym on my arm muscles before I go back the next time!

 

Mark up high. You know, as you are going along there are other people using the course. It is hilarious hearing their comments. Some are terrified (like me) some are very cool and collected (our kids). When one lady was struggling on some hanging logs that were really high up, her husband was yelling encouraging comments like 'use your inner core', 'c'mon you can do it', 'deep breath's'. She crossly replied 'will you just be quiet!!'. Then when he was going across she resaid the same comments back to him and he was like 'ok I get it!. Not helpful!'

Anyway, a fun activity, we loved it! Though I must day even Josh was complaining for days afterwards about sore arms and legs. Already looking forward to next time and it was a great activity for teenagers as it is not to young for them- though obviously harder for the younger kids.

We had a nice picnic at Cedar Creek Falls afterwards, which was a perfect finish for the day. Yay for some great family fun!

P.S. Ben was here, just avoiding the camera as usual!

Our Yamba Holiday

With the business of life we decided in would be nice to get away and 'disconnect' from life. Because of schooling the 3 oldest boys have had laptops this year and were becoming a little too obsessed with technology and we needed some time out from it. Having teenagers now, we also needed to spend some family time with them, away from the stresses of school, homework, computers etc. So we found a fairly reasonably priced house in Yamba which had plenty of space to explore and run around and have booked it for a week; leaving all computers behind! We've never been to Yamba before and we love to explore new places so it is an exciting prospect!

As Mark owns his own business leaving for a holidays is always really full on as he has to try and wind up all his jobs before he leaves. Normally this means working back at night. This time seemed even more busy than normal, with Mark working 50 hours in 4 days in order to be ready to go. It really wears you out!

Anyway I thought I would keep track of how my 'disconnect- reconnect' holiday would go.

Day One

Even though woke up early I lingered in bed. Not eager to jump into all the work ahead to get the family packed. After the normal crazy dash of packing and cleaning, tantrums and fights we were ready to leave. This holiday we had the great idea of getting a bike rack and taking our bikes. It looked so easy when other people did it. But as young can see in the photo, getting five bikes on a Prado was no mean task! I mean it looks like a circus bus! We actually had people drive by us looking at us to see who was driving this crazy car and grinning!

This is our Prado all loaded it. Doesn't it look crazy!
We were worried we might get pulled over by the police.

We had a pretty good run the way to Ballina until we passed the Macadamia Castle. We started reminiscing about previous times we had been in the area (without the gameboys you see we had time to talk). Like the time we stopped at the macadamia castle and when a particular child had dropped his ice-cream and had a tantrum when he dropped his ice-cream cone. We all had a good laugh at this distant memory when 'thump' a book came hurtling passed us all the way from the back seat. Then came a few more items. It seemed this child didn't seem to appreciate the story and was getting really upset. But the rest of us couldn't stop laughing as we remembered another time when the same child had gotten upset and had started throwing things from the backseat.

Here we stopped at Ballina for lunch. The boys are relieved to be out of the car and into a tree.

Anyway we finally made it to Yamba. Past all the sugarcane fields and down the long windy road that lead to town. The three and a half hour drive, took us about five, but we finally made it and got to our holiday home. The boys were thrilled- it was a two story house, which, to them, means it was a rich person’s house. The best bit though, was that it was that it was on a canal which meant we had our own little pontoon with about a meter and a half of 'beach'. The boys were in the cold water in no time. There was lots of fish darting all around which made Mark just start itching to fish, even before unpacking the car.

The boys love their little patch of sand.

Instead of going fishing we went to find some fish to eat and this was the great food we found to eat. Morton Bay bugs (called Yamba bugs here) for only $20 a kg. We got four for $10 and they were so fresh. The prawns were so big. Mark and Ben (who just LOVES his seafood) peeled them all before dinner so they were ready to go. They hadn't been frozen and they were seriously some of the best prawns I have ever had. Especially since I didn’t even have to peel my own! My family to myself, no stresses and appointments, great food, life is good!

Here is our yummy meal of prawns (already peeled!) and 'Yamba Bugs'. It so so fresh!

We've become a high tech family!

This year has been a big year for us. For the first time not one, not two but three of the boys have gotten their own laptops. The older two got theirs with their starting at a private high school this year and Josh got into the one laptop class for his grade. Also the older two have mobiles now as they are travelling further from home and helps us work out any transport problems.

I was a bit nervous to start with. It meant new rules, new ways of doing things... I am really concerned that the boys don't ever view pornography or play really violent games. In previous years we haven't let the boys play computer games during the school term, as we just found it was to distracting. If you let one kid play computer gamesif they had finished their homework, then all the other boys would come and watch, instead of getting their things done. Plus I think it really limits their playing and active time which can affect their weight and fitness.

In a way the boys having laptops have meant we have had to relax our control a little on some things. They have more freedom this year on what do with their computers. I have noticed a few copyrighted games on their which we have had a chat about. One child has had some violent games, he had to delete that.


We have been focusing on teaching the boys to be accountable when they are on the computer. Which the schools are telling them too, which is great. They all have to have their screens so you can see what they are doing if you walk pass. So they often study at the kitchen table or bench or laptop table.This helps them not play too many games or hopefully too many time wasting activities. We also sometimes check their internet history, to see what they have been doing. Our oldest two boys have seen fellow students suspended from school for having inappropriate material on their computers. So they are fairly compliant for all the parent checks. ( I think they have worked out they either get the parent check and give no resistance or give resistance and get the parent check and the computer safety lecture :D. Smart kids.)


But you know the new technology has kind of been fun too.  I can e-mail the boys during the day, send reminders, little words of encouragement. Its been a good tool with communicating with each other.

Keeping up with technology is a challenge for parents. Its a balance between letting kids use technology and protecting them from it too. Some of those chat rooms and that can be really scary. Its hard keeping up with the kids who always seem to know more then you about it. For example one of our kids was showing us how to password protect our phone and another was showing us how you can delete your internet history... great!

'The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.'

'Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories.' Earl of Rochester


I like this quote as it reminds you how idealistic you start out as a parent and how all those ideals can go out the window when you have children. Parenting can be such a challenge. The lack of sleep, all the washing and feeding that needs to happen, the lack of free time, the lack of appreciation the crying, whining, arguing! Of course, not that I am saying that happens in my family, I have just heard that it happens. (If only that were true!) So I always appreciate anything that makes me laugh about being parent.

This is a great quote: 'The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.' Jack Hardy

Josh, his cheeky face.

Hayden has just gotten off the 'Winnie the Pooh' ride in Disneyland. How happy does he look! I was looking for some frowning pictures too, but I guess I don't think to photo the kids when they are in a bad mood.

Mark and I have have discovered some great books by Michael Carr-Gregg (no this is not an add, just something that I love that I recently discovered). He is a psychologist that talks a lot about children's issues. Using lots of humour, which makes you feel like what you are going through is normal.

This is video of him talking about parenting. Its 10 minutes long and takes a couple of minutes to get into it but its really funny. I like some of his comments in it: 'If you are haven't upset your teenager three times a week then your just not trying.':D Also that not one ounce of your self esteem should be wrapped up in what your teenager thinks of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWCR9tHSdFM&feature=related

We borrowed out a couple of his books on teenagers a the library they are great!