15/04/2023
Tuesday morning, we were back to reality after a terrific family Easter getaway in Northern Ireland. Eloise was straight back into nursery and dance.
Lachlan took it easy, still recovering after a big run around the farm. Super Mum nailed the roast for dinner, Lachlan was doing a terrific job eating until we introduced him to crackling and he was no longer interested in the food on his plate.
Unfortunately, he had missed us by one day, “US President Joe Biden said his priority was to “keep the peace” in Northern Ireland as he set off on Air Force One for a visit to Belfast. He will arrive in the city [Tuesday night] to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement”. Excitingly on the other side of the world, “a memorable win over England has given Australia a huge boost ahead of the Women’s World Cup on home soil”.
Wednesday was a slow start to the morning, Eloise was taking her time with her favorite lunch, “cheese lunch, cheese lunch today Mum, pleaseee”.
Her royal majesty then enjoyed being carried all the way to nursery.
Lachlan was eager to collect Eloise in the afternoon, or perhaps he just wanted to go for a ride as he was running around the house shouting “Daddy’s bike”.
Thursday morning the sun was shining and Eloise was in a rush, Lachlan and Super Mum were doing their best to keep up with her, the new playground was officially open.
This new playground also got the Super Mum tick of approval as it tired Lachlan out.
In the afternoon, with Lachlan still in a deep sleep, Eloise managed to find Super Mum’s chocolate and thought it would be nice of her to help Super Mum eat it.
When Dad was finished with work, the door was almost smashed in as the kids were screaming about the new playground, they could not wait to show him.
There is a decent swing for Lachlan that he can get good height on, “higher, higher, Daddddy, higher now”.
News travels fast, Friday morning our playground enthusiasts were shouting so loud about the new PG that even Emma had heard. The sun continues to get warmer as we met up to hear each other’s Easter stories. It was hot, but Lachlan could not get his tap-af, so settled for dropping the trousers.
After a slow start, Eloise and Emma were playing very well with each other and Lachlan, they were certainly the loudest in the playground for whatever that is worth.
After a couple of hours, Liam rocked up just after midday, Lachlan was excited he brought the bike.
The kids were having a great time on the playground but after almost four hours of running and squealing, it was time for a late lunch at home.
After food and a nap, we dashed off to the shops, Eloise and Lachlan wanted to buy some wood for the brazier. Lachlan made sure “Mooo” tagged along with him, Spot was out of order, probably in the wash.
The kids could not wait when we got home darting around the backyard finding twigs. We are not sure if Lachlan knew what was happening but he was feeding off of Eloise’s excitement.
Lachlan then grabbed some kindling and then shoved his whole arm into the fire. Oh yeah, whoops, toddlers are not supposed to be around fire, luckily he was not phased in the slightest, it was pretty quick.
The three kids with big smiles then started toasting.
Lachlan was loving the action, he doesn’t really like marshmallows but enjoyed waving them around, making sure Super Mum was watching him.
On the other hand, Eloise and Liam love marshmallows.
After such a beautiful day in the sun, all of a sudden that Scotland thing happened again, the kids were having so much fun they did not want to go inside, sadly that was enough marshmallows for one day.
This morning was a nice slow start to the day, Eloise was happily lazing about now that she had been reunited with her favorite scissors. Dad got in trouble, he had forgotten to put Eloise’s hair up… Again…
Mid-morning after Eloise had sorted her costume for the day we made our way to Helensburgh, we thought today would be an interesting one.
We arrived at the Hill House, which looked intriguing from the car park. The famous house was in a box. Eloise was puzzled, you could see her mind ticking trying to sort it out, Lachlan just wanted in.
Liam was swiftly moved past the neat Lego model.
With a flick of our National Trust cards, we were through the box and heading into the house.
Throughout the house, there were seven Mackintoshs to spot, each with a different colored bowtie. The Mackintoshs helped propel Eloise and Lachlan throughout the enormous house.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdonald, was influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism and praised by great modernists such as Josef Hoffmann. Mackintosh was born in Glasgow and died in London. He is among the most important figures of Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style).
Both of the kids’ walking has come leaps and bounds recently, making these sorts of day trips much easier, no longer having to lug the pram around.
There was an interesting voting system inside where you could suggest to the National Trust what to do with the Hill House in terms of preserving the house and removing the box. Eloise first thought that the box was mean and wanted the house to be free, but after telling her it was there to help protect the house from the rain she changed her mind and voted to repair the house’s exterior.
Lachlan found a snakes and ladders game however he could not play because his enthusiastic dice rolls kept missing the table. This gave Eloise plenty of time to decorate her house and us time to have a quick look around.
After making our way out of the house we noticed that there was a series of gantries that you could walk along.
Lachlan was a bit unsure about the see-through platform, fair enough, so stuck by Daddy’s side.
Eloise was very excited when she had made it over the top of the house and kept telling the boys to make sure they did not drop anything or it would be “gone forever”.
Lachlan made sure that he redeemed his hard earnt sticker for spotting all the Mackintoshs.
The house was unique but to be honest it was a bit meh, although we probably did not respect the history of the site. As one of Liam’s favorite Youtubers said “I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be watching this if it wasn’t for the box”. It was all about the box, which definitely made this an incredible attraction, the walking platforms were a great way to view the Hill House.
Hill House in Helensburgh, Scotland, was created by architects and designers Charles and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. The house is a prominent example of the Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style). It was designed and built for the publisher Walter Blackie in 1902–1904. Mackintosh also designed the house interior, including furniture and fittings. In 1982, the house was donated to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which maintains and opens the house to visitors… Mackintosh selected Portland cement harling, then a newly introduced product, for the surface finish. This harling was found to be less durable than traditional lime harling, and by 2017, it was discovered to be in a precarious condition, putting the integrity of the whole building at risk. As a temporary solution, NTS has enclosed Hill House in a transparent porous “box,” allowing some movement of air, so that the structure dries out gradually
The sun was shining, dare we say, it was actually hot. We thought lunch down by the waterside would be lovely.
Lachlan was eager to get crackin’ again as we wandered over to the jetty.
Super Mum’s radar was pinging as it homed in on another fabric store.
Feeling toasty we made our way home, on the way we noticed possibly the last bit of snow for the year.
The sun was still shining strong and the kids had not forgotten that there were still marshmallows to polish off.
Eloise’s mind was imploding when Dad double-stacked her stick, she was buzzing. After waving his stick around a bit, Lachlan was not too interested and returned to water play.
It is lovely being able to let the kids run free outside, Super Mum dared to dream and tried to sit down and read her new book.
It’s getting warmer, hope it keeps heading in that direction, we’ll see you all soon!