18 September 2010

another fateful trip to the Floriade flower festival . . .

Greetings all,
I waited all week to find the least windy afternoon to take the children to Floriade, Canberra's famous month long Spring flower festival.  Please excuse their combination of school uniforms & overcoats + wind swept messy hair.
Mercifully they have signs to explain the flower displays, from ground level - you have to use your imagination.
It's a beautiful setting in the city by the lake with the resident swans.
The white tulips made me think of Rosalind from Grace Designs.
All good things must come to an end, i am terrified by gnomes (& clowns) so my children couldn't wait to show me how many children chose to paint their gnome as a clown in the gnome painting competition.  Shudder.
Out of Africa, Questacon, sandcastles (Old Parliament House) & some sculptures.
Views from the Big Wheel - at $7 per child (gulp) i'm glad the shots they took were so fantastic.
I love the tree at the wine bar & the swan on security who chased us out.  Plus no trip to Commonwealth Park or Lake Burley Griffen is complete without playing at the Castle Park.
Now i've distracted you with the beautiful images of the perfect afternoon out . . . i'll confess my trips to Floriade are always doomed.  Floriade 2008 i managed to lose our small digital camera.  We found it a year later in the pram, success. 
This year i topped that by letting my children run into the maze on our way out of the park . . . like a horror film "four go in, only two come out".  Yes, that's right, i lost my two eldest children in a maze.  So with the friendly hurry up announcement over the PA system "we hope you've enjoyed your day at Floriade, the park is closing in 30 minutes" . . . then a more terse "the park is closing in 5 minutes" of course, i'm was the only person left.  So i waved the security golf buggy down to help find my missing children.  To cut a long story short - crackled walky talky descriptions of my children - tuns out they lack any sense of direction & used the bathroom without telling me.  Success, i had a full set of 4 children by the time i got to the car park . . . after the walk of shame past all the volunteers who no doubt muttered "they looked like trouble when they walked in".
Have great weekends, i'm off to get tracking devices for the children, love Posie

11 comments:

Liz said...

Sounds like an amazingly fabulous day, you found them in the end and having raised 4 children to adulthood, I decided a long time ago that that's all that matters in the end....
Lizzie
xxx

A Spoonful Of Sugar said...

Glad it had a happy ending! I remember going to Floriade about 20 years ago - amazing! My sister is in Canberra this weekend on business - hope she get a chance to see it.

Sally said...

$7/person for the ferris wheel! I'm in shock. That is outrageous.

... and what are mazes for other than to get lost in? Your two eldest children may not have a sense of direction but it is more important to have a sense of adventure.

Kylie said...

Glad that they are safe and you were not locked into the gardens:)

Gillian said...

Just a long as the four kids you went home with were the same ones you went with. Better go check....

yardage girl said...

Sounds like fun ;o)

Heidi said...

What a fabulous time despite the mishaps you and I seem to find. I think mishaps are kind of fun who wants a dull life.

Those flowers were so beautiful!

Corrie said...

walk of shame.......I'm crying laughing over that one! too funny.....and i"m sure I'll have the last laugh with 4 of my own children!

too funny!
corrie;)

Miss Prudence said...

Gosh I remember the very first Floriade all those years ago - when the Dutch Embassy gave the ACT a gift of a massive tulip garden which of course was planted in commonwealth park.

Always a great time out yes! It has grown form strength to strength and cost to cost - true canberra style!

Anonymous said...

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