Week Five ~ Nana Visits and an Excursion

First of all, this post has TONS of photos due to our excursion to Cockatoo Island.

 Our week started with some work on our puzzles... Nana helped Monkey work on his while Monster and I made some more progress on his.

Later in the week it was off to the city for an excursion to Cockatoo Island.

We started our visit with a trip to the toilets (as you do with young children) and found this collage of toilet photos.  The boys found it very interesting and insisted I snap a photo.

Then it was off to explore... the boys had little booklets with clues to clue for as they explored the island.  We tried to work on both the convict booklet and the shipyard booklet but it got to be too much so we focused on the convict booklet as that was more closely related to the book we read about the Island.

 Some of the cranes were MASSIVE so we had the boys stand under this one so you could get a good idea of size of it.

 The first of two tunnels that ran across the island... 

 Unfortunately there are no more Cockatoos on the island as they have been chased away by the seagulls.  We happened to visit during nesting season so the seagulls were particularly aggressive and there was a section of the island we could not explore because the birds simply would not let us.

Checking out the solitary confinement cells.

 The exercise yard...

 The kitchen with the original fireplace still mostly intact.

The views of the city were spectacular... this is a prime area to watch the Fireworks on New Years Eve

 The second tunnel - called Dog Leg Tunnel

 One of the MASSIVE warehouses...

 Another old crane...

 There are beautiful houses on the island...

 Another lookout point!

 This is Biloela (pronounced bill-oh-ee-la) House and Monster and I think this particular house is mentioned in the chapter book we read "Escape From Cockatoo Island"

 I was able to snap a few photos of the baby seagulls!

 Nowadays Cockatoo Island is much more glamorous!  You can camp there, or stay in apartments, and the island is frequently used for filming of TV shows and movies!  The boys and I are looking forward to return (when the seagulls aren't nesting) and having a look at the shipyard history of the island!

Finally we ended the week with a little birthday party for my nephew who turned 21!!