Summer in Sydney: Day Two

The hallmark of Girl's Sydney breakfast ritual is morning cartoons. This trip, she discovered a cartoon about 3 bears - polar bear, brown grizzly bear and panda bear who coexist in a home near a town. Her last trip was all Ben-10! Bean was obsessed with The Bare Bears every morning so I had often brought them their breakfast and allowed them to eat in front of the telly while they were still in their pyjamas!

Since this was going to be a short holiday, we literally had to turn off the telly and pry them out of the serviced apartment by 10 am. We walked to the ANZAC Memorial, had both lunch and tea at Australian Museum and dinner at Sydney Opera House.

They both spent many hours collecting twigs and leaves at ANZAC Memorial and Hyde Park. It was a taste of normal childhood as they played tag (ran and chased one another while laughing crazily and loudly) while The Other Half and I sipped our lattes and watched out for their safety. Inside the memorial, Girl was able to recognise the red poppy garland as a tribute to fallen soldiers who defended Australia during the war.

We went indoors at Australian Museum as soon as the sun got hotter and we left the kids to be fascinated by display about Spiders. They especially loved colouring their own spiders, scanned it at the kiosk and see their own spider animated. There was just so much for them to do we spent many hours and two meals there until closing time. The rooftop cafe offers a lovely view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Fresh air and sunshine were let in as they left the sliding doors wide open for natural ventilation. Fresh food and drinks were of fairly good quality too, a nice change from just cold sandwiches, pastries and coffee which you often find at museums.

After an overload of Spiders,  we let the kids loose again at Hyde Park and Botanical Gardens until the shower hit us at 5.30 pm as per weather forecast. We had ponchos and umbrellas ready. Dinner was at Sydney Opera House for the Harbour Bridge view. Japanese cuisine was fresh and tasty but we were too stuffed to order any dessert.

At around 7pm, the little ones started showing signs of having had too much fun (read as: tired, tantrums) so we boarded the train from Circular Quay back to Town Hall. A quick walk past Queen Victoria Building, and we were almost at doorstep of our home away from home. Bean threw a mini tantrum because he wanted to hold all 4 Opal cards, and insisted on being carried once he got tired of walking. I was his one and only MamaTaxi, and to be honest I enjoyed kissing his cheeks while he clung on tightly for dear life.

Again, everyone got washed and retired early while adults stayed up to pray, finish the laundry and enjoy a cup of tea - which soon became a good routine considering it was a holiday.