Posts Tagged 'outing'
5
We spent the day in Newtown, Johannesburg, today… at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. It’s like a science museum only cooler… way cooler. It’s 3 floors of stuff… packed with coolness and loads to keep the kids occupied.
It was easily the most fun we’ve ever had for R30!! Seriously, that’s all it cost to get in, because Connor was “free” ‘cos he’s under 6. We got there at 11:30am… and I managed to drag them out of there at 3:30pm!! And they were complaining that they didn’t want to go home yet.
I was in two minds about going to Sci-Bono. The only people I knew that have been there, have got little kids. I was worried that Bradley would get bored. Well, I’m not actually sure who was more engaged by the centre actually. They definitely got different things out of the day. Connor was just interested in getting things to work. Bradley would intently read instructions to get them to work right… but he’s not yet interested in why it works like it does… and I’m sure older kids/teens would be… so it caters for all ages. And it’s under cover!! Perfect for a rainy day! And for those worried about going to “scary” Joburg 
the parking lot is right outside with a guard.
And now for the photos… ‘cos that’s what you came to my blog for anyway
This Lego soccer stadium was at the entrance… isn’t it amazing?
Love the concentration
They had to use the paddle to create music and find the pipe that had the highest note.
”
The highlight of the place was definitely the Murray and Roberts construction site. The boys kept coming back here. There was a “site office” where they had to get kitted out with hard hats and bibs. There was piles of foam bricks and cement to build walls between steel structures…
… there was a crane that worked on a lever and pulley system…
I managed to tear them away to get them to a science show at 12:30pm. And on the way we got sidetracked by this machine that showed pressure in a chamber when you used a lever to spin a soccer ball
The science show was fabulous. They used chemicals to produce fires and all sorts of cool things for the kids to see… in this experiment she blew cake flour out of a funnel and lit it… I did not know that flour could burn like that!
Then she made bubbles with liquid nitrogen and I can’t remember what else
Bradley’s reaction after seeing the balloons filled with hydrogen explode…
Then it was time to see the dinosaurs. They were awesome, and roared and moved when you pressed a button. Really cool for the kids! And Bradley was amazing… he just looked at them and named them without reading the signs… he still remembers all those dino encyclopedias he used to read.
Both boys loved the Eskom section where they played with circuits and currents… this one used batteries to get a train to move around a track.
This was them running to get back to the construction area after being through all 3 floors of magnetic, electric and musical fun….
The toughest thing about today was deciding which blog to blog about it on! The Jenty blog which is about me and parenting… or this one… but in the end I decided that this is mostly about photos and my life in photos. I’m having a bit of a dilemma with this blog at the moment… should I keep it only for clients? But my story about photography is so important to me.
So this story has to be told here… partly because all the images were taken without flash… and I only used my 50mm again. I’m in love with the 50mm at the moment for my personal photos and it just makes my camera so much lighter and smaller to carry… FTW!
And as far as the Sci-Bono centre goes… we’ll definitely be back. Connor wants to go there again tomorrow… LOL! And I’vedefinitely decided that this is a definite party venue for one of them this year!
Recommended Reading
3
I took the boys to the Waterkloof Airshow in Pretoria this morning. And even though it took an hour and a half to get parking and get inside, it was well worth it… although next year we’ll definitely go via the Gautrain like a few of my friends did, because it sounded a lot less stressful and painful. So anyhoo, because it took so long to get in, we only stayed for 2 hours or so… and it looked like it would rain and I didn’t want to get stuck in the rain with the kids and that traffic.
We had a perfect spot too, because we joined up with friends that had got there earlier than us. In fact, all the photos were taken with my 70-200mm lens, and I didn’t once feel the need for a longer lens.
The Gripon is one of the planes that was most impressive… the sound alone was just incredible, let alone the speed!! My oath, I’m glad I have a fast lens or else these photos would surely be very blurred.
And that’s it I’m afraid, we went home after that… and missed out on a lot by the sounds of the news with the parachuting accident and some of the planes that were expected later on.
But it was a morning so well worth the money and time. I was actually saying to Lance this evening that the morning cost less than a family movie outing would and it was much more fun and it was outdoor fun which the kids need so badly!
Recommended Reading
13
You have to get out of your comfort zone to experience magnificence. And that’s exactly what happened yesterday morning.
A few weeks ago on Twitter, a local photographer asked where he could get a good view of the sun rising over Johannesburg. I’d been to the top of the Melville Koppies on a photowalk a few months ago, and guessed that would be a good spot. Well, to cut a long story short, 4 of us met yesterday morning before dawn to climb up the hill and watch the sun rise. It didn’t rise in exactly the right spot, but it was magnificent anyway!
And yes, I voluntarily woke up at 4:15am to get to Henti’s house by 5am in order to get to the meeting place by 5:40am.
It was a good outing for my soul 
I think I’m going to sell these as prints and canvases actually, that’s how much I like them. There are also a few more photos in a Facebook album
Recommended Reading
12
We got back to Jozi yesterday, a day early, because the weather yesterday was horrific. So we had a free day today which never happens! We took the opportunity to check out Market on Main, which is in the heart of Johannesburg’s CBD.
What an awesome place!! Love that there are spots in the city that are being revitalised like this. I loved the venue, and the rabbits warren of foods and other stalls. It was jam packed, much busier than I thought it would be. I could have spent a lot longer there, wandering through the stalls.
You see this wall of A4 canvases? I want to do that!! But to do that, I need to go on a few more photowalks I’m sure I have quite a few though, which I’ll get together in a few weeks time. I actually love the iwasshotinjoburg concept… it’s really worthwhile supporting them as they teach street kids how to use cameras properly.
Lance declared this to be the BEST chicken curry bunny chow ever!
We loved the homemade lemonade that was on offer…
Isn’t this space incredible?
I’ll definitely be going back.
Recommended Reading
5
Remember those photos of Bradley that I posted a few days ago? Well, here are the other images I took that afternoon… this time of the Huskies and the plants… all with the 50mm f1.4 at Walkhaven (the dog park in Honeydew where we take the huskies for long walks).
And yes, this image of Kitara looking rather dark grey instead of white and black is actually what she looked like… between the burnt veld and the black mud in the swamp the dogs were FILTHY by the end of the trip.
