Last weekend we had a beautiful day out. We went to the royal Tasmanian botanic gardens. What a day!

My favourite part of the gardens is the conservatory, where the most beautiful flowers are grown. This time, gorgeous orchids were blooming all around the place. It was so pretty – I could’ve stayed in there all day!

We had lunch in the restaurant in the gardens. We sat on the balcony in the sunshine, overlooking this beautiful view of the harbour. On days like this, hobart swells in glorious beauty and we are reminded once more why we wanted to move here.

Never rejecting a moment to provide our kids with some education, we had a map of the gardens, and asked the children where they would like to go, and what would be the best way to get there. It kept them entertained for a while, so monte and I could sip our wine and soak in the sunshine.

Elora actually wanted to sit in this posh high chair! She enjoyed her kids meal – a tasting plate of some nice fresh foods. I am glad that our children are usually so well behaved when we go out for a meal because it means we can go out more often.

Ella’s tasting plate.

Kids fish and chips.

Monte and I ate the marmalade glazed pork with vegetables from the garden’s vegetable patch. It was sooooo gooooood!

I do believe that this glass of wine, with the back drop of glorious blue sky, is suggestive of warmer days that are soon to come! I tried to take the photo with Matt’s reflection in the glass but it didn’t quite work out. The wine was the botanic garden’s sauvignon blanc. Sav blanc is by far my favourite drink.

Georgie, looking at her little sister with love and pride. I imagine that was the expression on my face at that moment, too!

Trying his best to eat with manners and maturity at the restaurant. He loves going out for meals so much that he tries so very hard to be perfect!

C’est moi. I’m in the conservatory. Happy. Monte gave me that string of pearls for my birthday.

My daughters. Can I just grin and feel like the luckiest lady alive?

Walking with my girls. That tall one on the left is my eight year old daughter. Amazing. That little one in the middle is one year old, going on six (at least she thinks so!).

My daughters again. I think at this stage of our outing, Matthew was running around the lawn playing super heroes and monte had wandered off to look at fruit trees.

Broad beans. I took this photo so I could show my students a picture of what (healthy) broad beans look like when they are mature. I doubt that these broad beans were germinated in plastic cups near a cold window in winter.

The cactus house. Matthew actually wondered if this cactus was going to come alive and eat him. Too much Ben10, or just an overactive imagination?

When monte and I were teenagers we used to stroll along the river Torrens in Adelaide. We often saw a pair of ducks, who we named Edna and Harold. They probably weren’t ever the same pair of ducks that we saw, but we talked about it nevertheless. This cute pair reminded us of edna and Harold, and of the cute baby ducks we saw in the park last February. We suggested to the children that these ducks could be the baby ones that we saw nearly six months ago. They thought that was pretty cool. I like ducks, or ‘wacks,’ as Elora calls them. Quack quack.

Our three beauties. The more children we have, the harder it is to get a photo of everybody smiling at the same time!

The Japanese garden is so beautiful. I’ve never been in there before our visit there. The children loved the bridges and water features.

In the Japanese garden there is a water feature where the water spins the wheel. The kids were fascinated that water could make it move and we got into discussions about power and electricity and they remembered what they learned on our Strahan holiday when we visited the hydro power plant (making links between different concepts would be just one step a student would make to move from a C to a B under the new curriculum).

Whilst we’re on the topic of water features, this fountain is made from hollowed logs of wood. It is very clever and very big! This is where Ella kicked off her boots. Luckily monte realized and was able to go back to pick them up.

This is a star magnolia. I took the photo because I think I would like a tree like this.

The Japanese garden – another pretty aspect of it.

A wall of pink camellias. It is very pretty. The blooms are big and the foliage is so lush.

We finished our adventure with a ride on the merry go round. I think it was the first time I had ever had a ride on one of these, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the music. I liked seeing the coal being put into the fire and I liked watching the guy stoke the fire. I loved squeezing my little boy tightly, listening to him giggle. I liked looking over to Georgia, who wouldn’t stop smiling and laughing. My cheeks hurt because I was smiling so much. It was the best fun I had had in ages!

One of the things I love about being a mummy is that the children force me to look at the world differently. I like to think of the world as a magical, fun place. Our adventure in the gardens was a grounding experience and a bonding experience for our family. Best day ever.