Christmas in Melbourne {2/2}

After a delightful morning of exploring inner city Melbourne we decided to take a walk up to Melbourne Museum for a picnic lunch and explore.

The gardens and beautiful Royal Exhibition Building

 After a peaceful picnic lunch in the gardens we decided to explore two of the newest displays in Melbourne Museum

Even the Dinosaurs had joined in Christmas this year!

Dinosaur Walk

The children enjoyed seeing the huge dinosaur skeletons and touching all the hands on displays and always a winner with the children are the computer animations explaining different aspects of dinosaur life. The museum has Educational resources available, a Virtual Exhibition as well as Prehistoric fun activities for children.

600 Million Years Victoria Evolves **

Next we explored a new division recently opened in the science and life gallery.  The amount of things to see in this gallery is a little overwhelming and you could take a full morning here to read and explore.  I was not prepared for what we saw and had not prepared Sir N who encountered the 100's of millions of years put forth as fact!  Needless to say we are having a few discussions about time and evolution.
You can take a virtual tour, enjoy some Fossil Fun activities, access educational resources or watch some video's.
** As a family we believe in Creation and young earth.
 
Dynamic Earth

Our next point of call and revisit was to Dynamic earth.  We briefly explored this exhibit in October and it made such an impact on the children they begged to see it again.

I stand in awe of our creator God who made all these beautiful things.  The images here do not do justice to the things we saw and experienced.

The website has a comprehensive overview of what you can see here as well as a library of video's,  Earth fun for children and Educational resources.

Christmas Blessings

It was a wonderful experience enjoying the outdoors, Christmas delights and earth science explorations for us.  It's days such as these that make homeschooling a delightful past time.

Which museums do you enjoy visiting with your children ?

Blessings




This post is linking with: Look What We Did
Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

Christmas in Melbourne {1/2}

We spent the most delightful day in Melbourne yesterday. In light of the fact that my PC took a turn for the worst and died two weeks ago I have decided to be more dedicated in recording our trips on my blog, as those are the only photo's I have left.  The moral of this sad story is back up! back up! and back up your photographs! Enough said and onto the wonderful day we had.

Each year for the past 57 years our Meyer store has decorated their store windows for Christmas.  This tradition inspired us to join the T family for a trip into town today to see the new windows.

This year I also decided to make more use of the community and grow a 'science of relations' as Charlotte Mason puts it.  Our morning started early with a trip trip into Melbourne central with a short walk to Meyer. This years theme is on the book: Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton.

Click on any of the collages to view full screen in light box.

Meyer Christmas Window

After exploring and enjoying the widows we took the lift upstairs in hopes of going for a ride on the Meyer Christmas train.  Unfortunately two of the children had grown to tall for this experience and after a deep sense of disappointment we went looking for the miniature railway display.

Meyer miniature railway

After a look at all the miniature things the children asked to see 'Santa'.  What a lovely experience we had with Rudolf sleeping in front of the fire.

A chat with Santa at Meyer Store

By now we were all thirsty and took a walk up to Melbourne Square and listened to some carols being played by the Salvation Army on the way.

Just before the square we discovered the Gingerbread Village by Epicure, to raise funds for the Children's Hospital. (You can view the Gingerbread Village at the City Gallery 90 Swanston Street, Melbourne.)

Next stop was Melbourne City Square for a picnic morning tea, a talk to the elves, a nativity story and a maize to find the reindeer.

It was a marvelous morning and it was so delightful seeing Miss L, Master G and Sir delighting in the things of childhood and creating some memories along the way.

From here we made our way to Melbourne Museum for a picnic lunch and explore but more of that tomorrow.

What have you done to enjoy your precious family this festive season ?

Blessings

..




This post is linking with: Look What We Did

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

TT - Silent Grief

This week ...

 Silent Grief

Clara Hinton

• Format:Paperback,
• Number of Pages:176 pages
• Vendor:  New Leaf Press
• Publication Date: 1998
• ISBN: 089221371X
• Author Clara Hinton

In the wake of this past weeks tragedy I decided to share this treasure from my bookshelf.  Around four years ago when I was struggling to come to terms with the loss of my baby in miscarriage I went looking for support over at Focus on the Family where I discovered this gem.

Clara gave me permission to grieve for my baby deeply and let me know it was OK to talk about the loss of my child.  She made no bones about the depth of the pain nor the road you need to walk and most of all she helped me understand the depth of grief a parent feels at the loss of their child.  Children are supposed to out live us not die!

Clara speaks from personal experience and the experience of one supporting those on the same journey of losing a child. This little book finally helped me cope with the feelings of loss I felt when my niece died before her first birthday.

If you are experiencing the grief of child loss or are supporting a friend who has lost a child I highly recommend this book to give you tools to support and encourage others on this journey.

 You can find online support at

• Silent Grief,  
• Silent Grief forums Child Loss Support
• Silent Grief - Child Loss Support Facebook
• In loving Memory of the Sandy Hook Victims Facebook

Blessings

In loving Memory of the Sandy Hook Victims

...

 Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!

There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library and add your post to Learning All the Time Favourite Resource Link Up.