Inverloch and Ollie turns 6!

Last month was Ollie's 6th birthday - it's hard to believe that my little baby boy is already 6, where does the time go?

Ollie is in "Foundation" at school here in Australia, the equivalent to Senior Kindergarten in Canada. (There is no Junior Kindergarten, as formal schooling starts a year later than in Canada.) It is common in Foundation for kids to have a class party for their birthday, which is exactly as it sounds - you invite the whole class to your party. This works well for those who have their birthdays in warmer months, as the class parties tend to be held somewhere outside, like a local park or someone's backyard. But for those with a winter birthday, planning something outdoors is risky - it could be very cold and rainy on the day! (Never mind that we'd actually had beautiful autumn weather throughout May this year - who could have predicted that?!) Indoor parties at some sort of play centre, like Bounce, bowling, or otherwise, come with a hefty price tag... most have a starting package of about $35 per child, which adds up fast when you are inviting over 20 kids!

So that whole paragraph is me justifying NOT having a class party for Ollie this year. Yes yes, I'm trying to get rid of the mum guilt, made even worse when Ollie woke up two days before his birthday and asked me if I'd sent out the invitations on my phone! "Invitations to what?" I asked him slowly... to which he (reasonably) replied "My party!" 

I want to state here that at no point had we discussed having a party with Ollie, we hadn't led him to believe that this was something that might happen. But of course, his innocent and reasonable question just broke my heart! We had actually arranged to go to a friend's beach house in Inverloch for the weekend of his birthday, so I told Ollie that he could invite three friends of his to Bounce the following weekend to celebrate his birthday. Thankfully he was thrilled with this idea, and I was able to easily arrange the details with the other parents... crises averted!

Ollie's birthday was on a Saturday this year. He was up at his usual 6am that morning and snuck in for some morning cuddles, as is his current routine. I'm not complaining, it's an early start for the weekend, but there is more time to indulge in cuddles when you don't have to rush around to get ready for work. After a few minutes, he realised it was his birthday so we all went out to the living room so he could open his presents. The main theme was Lego, a marble run, and Hot Wheels, with some books and clothes thrown in for good measure. All very happily received!

After breakfast, we all had to head out to various sporting commitments. Everyone except for me has a sport to go to on Saturday mornings. Andy coaches soccer for his school, Ella plays netball and Ollie has started AusKick this term, which is the beginning of AFL (Australian Football League). 

Normally, I take Ella to netball and Ollie goes to Auskick with his friend Johnny. However, this weekend Andy happened to have a "bye", so he took Ella to her netball game and I went to Auskick. Ollie has been begging me to go to Auskick with him and I was looking forward to watching, however, he decided that morning that he didn't want to play and that he "hated footy". Sigh. I spent the whole hour trying to convince him to get involved while he repeatedly said he hated footy and did not want to be spending his birthday there. I felt the most guilty about Ollie's friend Johnny, who of course decided he didn't want to play footy either! They did both half-heartedly join in for about 20 minutes, but then came back off the oval and just wanted to play together. Johnny's dad and I decided to just let them play around for the last 15 minutes rather than go back to trying to convince them to rejoin the group. 

Every other Saturday when Ollie has gone to AusKick with only Johnny and his dad, he has by all accounts participated fully and enjoyed himself. I think that Ollie is going through a stage where he reverts to being a bit babyish when I'm around (he's done similar with his swimming lessons and even once at gymnastics, which he usually loves). I'm hoping that this is just a stage, one of those times where a small child wants to still feel like a "baby" and just needs a bit of mummy love!

After that somewhat painful hour, Ollie and I met Andy and Ella at home. We quickly packed our overnight bags and headed to Inverloch to stay with our friends Kate and Evan. Both Kate and Evan are maths teachers and worked at my school in the past, about 9 or 10 years ago. We'd kept in touch sporadically since we returned to Australia, and this year Evan started working at Andy's school, so we've reconnected more consistently. They have three kids who are aged 9-14. 

On the drive to Inverloch (about 2 hours from Melbourne), Ollie was not particularly happy that this was how he was spending his birthday, and I was beginning to think we'd made a mistake in taking this little trip on his birthday weekend. However, once we reached the coast we stopped at Shack Bay, a quiet beach about 20 minutes outside of Inverloch. 

This part of the coastline of Victoria is absolutely breathtaking. We climbed down the steep wooden steps from the parking lot to the pristine, and deserted, beach and were treated to this gorgeous view.

There are rock formations all along the beach, which were perfect for exploring. Ollie's mood immediately changed as he hopped along the rocks, exclaiming happily that we were on an adventure. He even kept saying "This is the best birthday of my life! Thank you SO MUCH for taking me here!" It was hilarious and a huge relief to have him so happy on his birthday, despite the lack of a party and how convinced he was that he did not want to be there while on the drive down.

Next, we headed further along the coast to The Caves Beach, where we had more rock pools and formations to explore, and even to climb! We also read about the thousands of dinosaur fossils that have been found at this beach, and at low tide, you can even see a dinosaur footprint! (No caves though, despite the name, the access to these has been cut off for years for safety reasons.)

It felt like we could have stayed exploring all the beaches along this coastline forever. We only had a very short stay in Inverloch, a place Andy and I had only been once before, way back before Ollie was born. But I definitely think we need to revisit Inverloch for a longer stay in the school holidays sometime!

We headed to Kate and Evan's in the late afternoon. I had been a bit worried that because of the age difference of our kids, that this weekend might not work out so well, but I need not have worried! Kate and Evan's kids were wonderful with ours, and it almost felt like we had live-in babysitters the whole weekend! Ollie and the boys played with the foosball table incessantly - of course, Andy had to get in on the action at times. and Ella and their older daughter bonded over netball and hairstyles. 

For dinner, we ordered fish and chips and then finished with some birthday cake for Ollie.

Exhausted from a full day, our kids fell asleep almost immediately and gave us time to properly catch up with Kate and Evan.

The next day was quite grey and drizzly. We had a lazy morning of coffees and bacon and egg muffins, before deciding to brave the weather and go on a walk. It was good to get out and enjoy a bit of nature despite the cold rain. At this stage Ella was annoyed about something - I can't quite remember what - and she was lagging behind as she tends to do when angry. But having a "big sister"  around was great, Evan's daughter managed to get Ella back into a better mood and rejoin us for the walk. 

We headed to a bakery in town for a lunch of pies and sausage rolls - very standard small-town food, before deciding to head back to Melbourne. I think we would have stayed longer if the weather had been nicer, but sometimes you just need to know when to end things on a good note!

The next weekend Ollie's birthday celebrations continued. As promised we took him and three friends to Bounce. We booked a 9:30am session for 90 minutes, which worked out really well as the place was pretty much empty for the first hour we were there. I was a bit nervous about taking four silly boys to Bounce with just Andy and me there, but if there is a place where you want to let little kids run around and be crazy, this is it! They had a wonderful time and I think the 90 minutes was a good length, as there was no protesting when we said it was time to go.

After Bounce we headed back to our house for a play, sausages and cake. It all went a lot smoother than I was expecting and Ollie loved his "party". It is incredible to me that Ollie is now six, that just seems so grown-up, and I feel so proud and lucky to be his mum.