Adora and The Rug Expert

My visit to Adora's and The Rug Expert has been months in the waiting. On Tuesday I finally got around to taking a walk with J while he napped in the pram. It was a gorgeous spring day and I popped into Athena's en route to grab a spinach and fetta scroll (highly recommend) for lunch and some of our fave almond and honey biscuits (for after dinner treat). It took about twenty minutes to walk to Adora's (from home).

Adora's is the handmade choccie shop just over the Cook's River from Steel Park; and opposite it at the roundabout is The Rug Expert a shop selling mainly Turkish rugs and kilims and a few Nepalese pieces too. I love a good rug shop. We bought a great Boujad rug from Morrocco when we spent a few weeks there in 2009, and since then we have loved looking at rugs. Ours is wool pile, geometric in pattern and vibrant in colour - it's not very refined technically as far as rugs go, but it's a happy rug, it's about fifty years old, a large rug, a rug we now spend time with on our lounge room floor. The Rug Expert also has patchwork rugs made up of many squares all sewn together. I'd like another rug to go under our dining table, and cover the copious number of tiles we have throughout our house. It takes a while to find the right rug. It's like buying art I guess. The man at the rug shop was very helpful and told me of a scheme they have where you can take the rug you want to buy home - to see how it feels - what a great idea!

After looking at the rugs, I popped over to Adora's for a takeaway milk hot chocolate, which they serve with a complimentary choccie (and I bought another for Mum who had come along for the walk). The hot choc was not too sweet, it could have been a bit more velvety for my liking though and the almond truffle was yum! Then we took J, who was now awake, for a play Steel Park.

A retreat. A fete. A (new) park.

I've not been doing many new crafty things with the boys of late. Since J started crawling, standing and now cruising at 8 months - the boys have started to play with each other and I've taken the opportunity to make our long awaited (parents) retreat in one half of the garage. Here is a pic of the wall above the couch, in progress. I'm doing a wall of our pics that don't work in the house.

I bought the blue bird cushion (above) from the Drummoyne Public School Fete. We had a fun quick one hour at the fete this year, as the kids were tired. D and O went to check out the rides, while J and I looked at the clothing hall where we bought some good gear. I also bought several handmade cards (the same stall was there last year) to use throughout the year - such great little cards they are too!

We also found Beaman Park recently. It's not a destination to seek out for the playground gear alone, but if you are around these parts and need a park stop then give it go. It's on the Cook's River.

Centennial Park: cafe + play gear = harmony

Today we caught up with friends and had (hubby's birthday) lunch at the Centennial Parklands Dining cafe (CPD). Glorious weather, gorgeous friends and there were smiles all round. CPD has a casual kiosk outside, a cafe (with indoor and outdoor seats) and a posh restaurant. We had a table in the cafe where mains are $20-$25 and the kids meals $15. So the prices are a bit more than your standard cafe fares.

What sells this eating experience is the great kids play area right next to it. You literrally leave the cafe and roll down the grassy hill to the kids gear. We had our lunch and then headed to the playground with huge sand pit, there are shade sails too. The kids had a great time playing and us elders had a good chat. Ooh, and we saw horses, as you do at Centennial Park, an added bonus for O!

So if you have kids like our O, who does not sit still for too long when you are dining out - then this might be a good option for you.

Now I have that 'been in the sun' sleepy feeling as I type, and must 'to bed'!

Sydney Park: urban bushwalking, bike rides, ducks and hills!

Dad and O took a boy's trip to Sydney Park in St Peters this morning. What I write here, is short and sweet, as it's all that was shared with me from their adventures this morning. It seems what happens on boys adventures, stays on boys adventures! I do know - that they returned home very happy boys.

O took his push along trike, though he was too young to go it alone on the track pictured - there is a great bike track for kids - he rode it elsewhere in the park. They saw ducks, ran down grassy hills (and stacked it), and it seems the most fun was had stomping through the bushy undergrowth. It was an urban bush walk, where O was picking up sticks and bark - I've seen video documentation of this - crunching leaves under foot, roaming free and happy...

Oh, and there is a cafe in Sydney Park too - friends of ours had their little one's birthday at the cafe tables last year.

Marrickville Recreation Survey

Marrickville Council is currently running a Recreation Survey, be sure to fill it out and have your say about the parks, do you need shade cloth over your kids local park playground, and more!

Through the survey you can also comment on activities like the Magic Yellow Bus, which now consists of two buses which set up great activities in a different park in the area each day, Monday to Friday. I remember our first adventure to see what the MYB was all about and it WAS m.a.g.i.c! The MYB comes with it's bountiful supply of craft activities, ball games, lawnmowers, obstacles to walk on, story time, and blankets with toys for little people under one. There is no charge. I've found it's also a great way to meet other mums in the area, and a lot of mothers groups have their weekly catch ups at the MYB.

If you don't live in Marrickville come and check out the Magic Yellow Bus and then lobby your Council - 'cos every 'hood could do with some Magic Buses drivin' around!