Marietta’s birthday fell on a Saturday this year and so this meant that Rob would be home and we could spend a day together as a family … but, much to our disappointment Rob ended up working that morning of all Saturday mornings to work. So our plans for the day were changed to just an afternoon walk and picnic supper, which was still a good time.
Marietta had chosen ice cream cake for her birthday cake, but we surprised her in the morning with a simple vanilla birthday cake decorated by Rebecca, which we had for morning snack.
After lunch we headed to Hamilton to go for a walk to see the Chedoke Upper and Lower Falls. Our girls, especially Marietta love waterfalls and really enjoy it when we go for nature walks that involve climbing or waterfalls.
We have gone to the Chedoke Falls before and followed the trails and tried to see the falls but didn’t have very much luck. I remember how we could hear water but couldn’t see it. We had kept to the trails along the upper part of the gorge but besides enjoying a fun hike were not very successful. So we thought we would give this one a try again.
This time we had better luck finding the Lower Chedoke Falls, but not because of the trails. As we walked we see the fence at the end of the gorge had been mangled and pulled down and so we decided to take that route … a much more exciting route as we actually got to where we wanted to go as the aim of the game is not just to see the waterfalls but to actually get in it and get wet.
It was a dry summer and we were in need of water, so you can well imagine how much water could come through her during spring and fall time, hence the reason it’s fenced off.
Making our way upstream, finding little waterfalls along the way.
Tada, we made it to the Lower Chedoke Falls and the kids had to get right in the water … which was deep by the actual base of the falls
At one point Rob was nicely checking out the other side of the falls
And the next time we looked he was standing at the top of the falls.
This of course meant the kids wanted to join him, but he had climbed a very steep part of the gorge, much too hard and dangerous for the kids to climb. Marietta probably could have made it as she’s quite the climber but not the other, especially not Jada and Matthew. A lot of time when they go off climbing I just need to look the other way and try not to get too uptight, but this time I just said “no, not taking that chance”. So we headed back downstream and tried to find a path that would take up to the Upper Falls.
We ran into the same wall that we did the last time we did this walk. Rob climbed up the wall to see what was beyond and it was someones yard … guess we took a wrong turn!
By this time it was supper hour and we were all getting hungry so we decided to give up for the day.
Matthew enjoying a lollipop (someone had pulled it off the golf course and he found it by the water)
We found a playground with a splash pad and had a picnic supper before heading home.
Games are always a well loved gift around here as the girls love playing games
An electronic handheld version of Phase 10, a game we all like to play here.
Music for Marietta to play – the Psalms by Cor van Dijk
Rebecca’s present started out looking pretty big but involved a lot of unwrapping before Marietta actually got to the present
which was a bracelet that she made
Before heading off to bed we enjoyed O Henry Ice Cream cake … a favourite around here, a recipe passed down from my mom.
And now we have a 12 year old in the house, old enough to babysit outside of the home … thankfully we also have a 10-year old so when the 12 year old is gone we still have a built in babysitter.
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