The Adventures of Alice and Juliet: Rainy day activities

The autumn weather has been a little unpredictable for the past few days. Thanks to the constant stimulation at daycare, Alice expects round the clock entertainment and so I have been on the hunt for rainy day activities that don't involve shopping at Westfield Bondi Junction.

So yesterday, we ventured to Westfield Eastgardens. Kidding - this was in fact on the way back from a swimming excursion to a new pool. Despite the Westfield obsession, we are quite pleased with our discoveries at the new shopping centre - an indoor playground, a supermarket with no other customers and clothing shops with sales that have sold out of size 8 or 16+, but all the other sizes in abundance (the clientele are either malnourished or obese it seems) and little cars for little people to ride around in. Alice wouldn't get in, since she enjoys being up high in the supermarket trolley so much, but next time...

The new pool was great - we've decided to stop swimming lessons (because, let's face it, she's not learning to swim - it's all about familiarity with the water until she is old enough to follow instructions or in Alice's case, looking around and smiling at anyone within range and ignoring both me and the teacher) and so it was our weekly off-curriculum revision time for jumping off the side and "Eyes in, ready go". She spent most of the time smiling at the old ladies who stood chatting in the baby pool and despite lying prone while I floated her up and down the pool, exhorting her to, "Kick, kick, kick", she probably got more exercise than any of them. Didn't see much "Swim, swim, swim" from anyone else in the pool, in fact.

The highlight of the rainy day was a trip to the children's library. The heavens opened so we were stranded there for a while, but Alice had such fun with the books and the cushions and moved like lightening around the area. At once point, she made a break for freedom towards the exit, but set off the alarm, since she was carrying a book. Completely over-excited, she slightly missed the point of a library being a place to be quiet. She did enjoy saying, "Shh" a lot. And "Tigger" - there were a few posters around. Neither word was exactly sotto voce. There's a few photos here - she really had such a great time that I took quite a few. As we left, there was a chorus of "Goodbye, 'Stripey' ", from the somewhat bemused staff.