I was reading the post written three years ago, the last time we went to the Rand Easter Show. Nicky was two years old at the time.. I marvel how some things have changed, and others haven’t. Nicky still loves cars, helicopters and bikes. Although he is bigger and can do more, he still gets tired and needs a nap on the way home.
Helicopter rush.
A bit nervous inside.
Holding onto his hat in the helicopter winds afterwards!
We started off the show by taking a helicopter ride. What a rush. They take you up for a few minutes and you can see the soccer stadium and tiny parked cars and houses. It was very noisy and windy though. Nicky was holding onto his hat for dear life!
Drifting cars
We then went and watched some cars driving around drifting and doing doughnuts together. You could smell the burnt rubber. The announcer certainly has a sense of humour and remarked how they keep going back to Tiger wheel and tyre to get more tyres!
We also saw some bike tricks which DH and Nicky enjoyed watching. DH took some amazing pictures – he got one nice one of the bike positioned in the air above some volunteers lying on the ground beneath him. Brave souls.
I knew Nicky would get tired and I was not keen to carry him so we got one of those cars that you push, which he loved. Much as it was good to have something to put our stuff in and let him drive around in, it was also a nuisance to get around in and look after. But I guarded it with my life since I had handed in my car keys as a deposit.
As we were walking along we saw the Bungy Jumper where kids are attached to elastic and put on a trampoline to jump on and Nicky really wanted to do this. We had run out of time at Nick Fest to have a turn for that and so we decided to make a point of doing this activity. However, we hadn’t figured on the queue. We must have waited for our turn for around an hour. Standing for an hour in the sun guarding a toddler car does not make for a happy husband.
Finally it was our turn and Nicky was so excited. He was strapped in and started jumping sky high. He had such a smile on his face it was worth the wait.
Then we went inside to have a look at the Science and Technology section and saw a Spaceman. There were also lot of interesting activities on display like puzzles and magnets.
There was a science stage entertainment going on but I was more interested in what was happening behind it. So while my husband sat down and watched (and guarded that cart, yet again…) Nicky and I went inside and learnt how to make a Consol Solar Jar.
It was a very creative and educative exhibit, where they showed you how glass, steel, electricity, rubber and solar power came into existence. The solar power part was quite inventive – they had a light bulb which when you brought it closer to the solar power source, produced power for a propeller to turn. Nicky just loved that.
At the end of it, we finally had our Consol Solar Jar and they had a black tent so that you could go inside and see it light up. Nicky was thrilled.
By then it was 3pm and although we probably hadn’t seen the full extent of the Easter Rand Show, we had had enough and it was time to go. I grabbed some chips on the way out which Nicky cheerfully munched in his little push car until we could finally take the blasted thing back and get my keys!
I want to thank Charlene for reminding me of this event. You can read her post here. After I saw Zee with the Spaceman I knew Nicky would enjoy this event. But as it turned out we found different things and I think that is what is cool about this show – there is so much to do and different things will appeal to different people.
I hope everyone had a lovely Easter last weekend. It was a peaceful one for us. Nicky decorated his little table with his art works and put his Easter eggs in a circle. (He didn’t want to destroy his display so he was eating my eggs instead…) He started colouring in his picture from Church but didn’t quite finish.
I feel very grateful for my family and blessed to be able to have fun experiences like we did today.
In between I have been working hard at our school’s holiday program and you can see some of the things we have been up to on Children’s Kickstart (the pressed flowers bookmark). We made sensory bottles on Friday and they are awesome.
What have you been up to lately?
Nicky really seems to be enjoying this a lot but the image of the Bike Trick is really scary.