You get some time with the kids today?
My first present was one of our dogs shitting on our bedroom floor 
My wife and I cleaned it up but the bedroom still stank so we had a sleepover on the lounge.
Woke up to the coffee machine, delicious.
Spent the whole weekend with them. Had them overnight Friday, Saturday and last night.
Yesterday went to the Calmsley City Farm out at Abbotsbury which was fun, been there before the kids love it. Had dinner at the pub in the evening. Sank a few pints. A touch dusty this morning.
6 Likes
took the kids on the new metro yesterday and into the city for lunch… absolutely fantastic. Sydenham to Martin Place in 11 minutes… stations are impressive, modern spacious places… will find more reasons to use it again
3 Likes
I rarely venture out of my Shire bubble these days (WFH), but on the rare occasion that I go into the office, my usual commute is:
- Drive to Kogarah (multi-storey Park & Ride usually is easy enough to get a park before 7:30am)
- Kogarah to Town Hall, change platforms
- Town Hall to North Sydney
I haven’t tried the Metro yet, but assume Sydenham to Victoria Cross cuts out a lot of bullshit with having to change at Town Hall.
What would be even more ideal would be:
- Drive to Sydenham
- Sydenham to VC, Metro all the way
Question is: what would parking be like at Sydenham (before 8am M-F)? I heard it mentioned somewhere here previously that commuter car parks for new Metro stations were already at capacity, so would I be better off still parking at Kogarah and a short hop to Sydenham on the train?
(Sorry, probably belongs in the Streets of our town thread)
Unless they’ve built new parking at Sydenham over the last year or two, there really isn’t alot available, and most of the street parking is timed unless you have a resident sticker.
1 Like
Yeah even yesterday, on a sunday, we were in a 4hr zone
@scottohara I would think the hop to sydenham from kogarah and then the metro to VC would be the easiest and quickest option.
1 Like
They haven’t.
Try parking at Tempe?
If parking at Sydenham is a problem, assume you could drive to Kogarah like you normally do, then get the train to Sydenham (on the same line) and change to the metro from there. The section from Sydenham to North Sydney (Victoria Cross) would only take 16 mins.
1 Like
We will be travelling with the kids to Peru in a month and its probably one of the most daunting tasks I’vee ben faced with. We will be in transit for 23.5hrs with a 2 year old and and 3 month old. We leave sydney at midday on a 13 hr flight, arrive midday, lay over for 2 hours, fly 4 hours, lay over 3 hour, fly 1.5hrs and arrive 8pm on the same day. I’ve done it many times and the its a testing trip that leads to days of jet lag.
We flew to Tassie 6 months ago with my daughter as a practice run to familiarise my daughter with flying. The first flight was a tradgedy and the second was better with the entire time spent turning the light on and off, hitting the servive call button and emptying the back of the seat pouch over and over.
My wife is going to be nursing the 3 month old for almost the whole time, making my solely responsible for keeping our toddler entertained. She struggles to stay in one place for any period of time, is super inquisitive, not in the least bit shy and is still learning to eespect other peoples space and belongings. If anyone have experience and tips with toddlers, long haul flights, jet lag and lay overs, please share
Yeah, not going to sugar coat it. It’s shit. Make sure you look after your wife and yourself too because you need to function especially with that number of steps in the trip. If you are thinking of Phenergan or similar drug to knock the kid out for a while, test it before you go. It has the opposite effect on our kid and she was buzzing for hours. Don’t worry about what the other passengers think. Chances are you don’t know any of them and you’ll never see them again. Load up a device with episodes of Bluey and some simple games, don’t forget to take a charging cable. Byo sick bags and wet wipes. Good luck!!!
2 Likes
Maybe its my kids but several times weve come prepared with a backpack full of activities and theyve largely been ignored, though we havent done anything as long as a day in transit.
If youre concerned about people around you could make some ‘party bags’ with choccies, ear plugs and a note saying ‘thanks for your patience blah blah blah.’ Could be a nice icebreaker for those around you, and if you get lucky they can maybe help you break the time and provide some distraction.
2 Likes
My brother flew to Poland with a 5 year old and a 2 year old, he said it was the equivalent of getting his nails pulled out for the entire flight. We’ve heard from friends that flight attendants are a lifesaver (depending on who you obviously get) as many would be actively involved in keeping the kids entertained for portions of the trip. Definitely good luck to you and hopefully it’s a smooth trip.
2 years ago we flew to the Gold Coast with my daughter (we only had the one) and it went really well there, but was touch and go on the way back. We packed a huge number of snacks toys etc but we have the same problem that she’s not one to sit still for more than 10 seconds. We managed it, but admittedly it was a short ish trip.
I’ll assume the 13hr trip will be the worst as it’ll be in the middle of the day. They’ll hopefully sleep through the rest. One tip is to get a stroller that you can take on as carryon. That way you wait till everyone gets off, open up the stroller and chuck them in
We flew a five and a 2 year old to London years ago… full of trepidation… but we had ipads loaded up, snacks etc and they were fine… the last hour or so coming to land into london they got a bit feisty and wanted out of the plane but they weren’t alone by that stage.
All you can do is your best, if people tut and moan, fuck 'em.
3 Likes
I feels theres a knowing look you get from other parents on flights which is like, “Forget the non-breeders…theyll never know this life.”
The only time we ever had someone say something snarky was an over night flight from Bali and my wife and i contemplated letting our then 2 year go free range out of spite.
5 Likes
In the same vein, my parents are very religious as is my brother. Myself, slightly less. I used to join them at church from time to time in Kirribilli. My brother’s kids were 5 and 2 and obviously couldn’t handle sitting down for an hour doing nothing. There were toys and books in the back for kids to play with and they’d go and do that. They were so well behaved, no massive issues or noises apart from maybe a clunk or a whisper. There was an old couple that would turn around and glare at them any time the slightest noise came out. Like a full angry “control your f*cking kids” glare. I always wanted to have a go at them for that. I mean those two kids dropped the average ago of that congregation by at least 20 years.
The kicker was the fact that the priest actively encouraged kids by getting them to participate in random games and Q&A sessions and stuff like that. Yes I know what you’re all thinking, but in fairness, he wasn’t that type…
1 Like
Everything we’ve read online suggests taking lots of activities, snacks and things for her to open and play with but I fear this is going to be largely ignored. I appreciate the reality check that its probably going to suck. If we go into it expecting the worst, it can only live up to expectation or be better.
I suppose my biggest concern is disturbing the people around us. I’ve been told people are generally tolerant if you’re parenting. If parents aren’t trying anything and all out of ideas, this is obvious and disgruntles other passengers.
We have thought about the possibility of phernergan but would prefer not to. The wife will talk to thr doctor about pros and cons of drugging tomorrow.
1 Like
could always try drugging yourself…
3 Likes
Anyone else’s little one getting really into Halloween?
My daughter’s 3 and now at the stage where she keeps on mentioning it. Her best friend has Canadian parents so that could be why.
I never celebrated it as a kid, but seems to be getting bigger?
We don’t really get into Halloween but one of my kids decided that he wanted to buy the posable skeleton from kmart.
It’s 160cm tall, he’s been scaring people all week leaving it around the house.