“Have you got money?” Millie will now ask, hopefully, as I fumble in my purse for a gold coin while thinking about how I could own one of these machines with all the cash I’ve funnelled into these 90 second, spinning, rides of monotony.

Sometimes I don’t have cash, sometimes I tell her it’s broken, sometimes I just say ‘no’. Millie is ok with that, but will still want to sit in the fire truck/racing car/teacup/Wiggle car/ Peppa helicopter and pretend to steer.

Today at a major shopping centre Millie made a beeline for a spinning teacup and I watched her clamber on just as a couple sat their daughter in another teacup (there were three). I picked up the pace and followed her over – I was pushing Finn in the pram – and reached the ride just in time to grab a climbing Millie, turn her around and sit her on her bottom before she made a misstep and fell off the ride’s platform (#mumlife).

The couple had a $2 coin and gave it to their daughter, who popped it in the slot and pushed ‘start’.

The ride started.

“It’s your lucky day, Millie!” I said while waving to her as she did another circuit. “This little girl’s mummy had a coin!”. I didn’t have a coin. I was simply going to let Millie sit in the cup and pretend for a minute, before ushering her on.

The other little girl was waving to her parents as she went round and round.

The ride finished and Millie grinned at me. Her day was made.

Then the mother turned to me and said: “that was really rude of you”.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“That was really rude. You didn’t even ask us if your kid could go on the ride. You should have asked first.”

I was taken aback. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think it would be an issue,” I said. “If I have a coin and my daughter is about to ride then I’m happy for other kids to get on too. I encourage it.”

“Well it was rude, you didn’t ask,” she snarled.

“I’m sorry, I would have had I realised it would be such a problem,” I said.

Getting down to specifics, Millie had hopped on at the same time as the other girl. And they didn’t have to put the money in while we were there.

Did Millie being on the ride affect the other girl’s enjoyment? No. Did I put Millie on there while the ride was going? No. Did it matter if Millie sat on there or not? No.

I was really puzzled. Just what was the problem?

It seems stupid to get wound up about such trivial things and I’m kind of annoyed I’m blogging about it. But was I in the wrong? Am I completely unaware of my apparent rudeness? Am I so out of touch that I didn’t know the unwritten rule that a child needs exclusive use of a ride if their parent pays?

Sheesh. First World problems indeed.

Seeing two happy little faces is surely better than one?

Anyway, Millie will no doubt find these rides again and if you happen to see me about to put my hard-earned into one of these machines and there’s space on board, please let your child have a ride. The more the merrier I say!

The world could do with more smiles and with a lot more adults who are happy, kind and willing to share with others. Our children are watching.

I’d love to know your thoughts, leave a comment below.

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Millie is communicating with the fairies and every morning is like Christmas when she finds they have left her a message. She is convinced they live in the trees outside her bedroom window and wait until she’s asleep to take delivery of their letter and write one in return.

“They can see in my window, mumma, and that’s how they know to come in. They can see that the little fairy door is open,” she says. Gosh Millie, you are so sweet I could just eat you up.

This idea belongs to two sisters from Elwood in Melbourne – with five children between them –  who launched the play set on the crowd funding platform Kickstarter, enabling them to put Willow’s Fairyland into production. Like many mums, Penne and Lucy’s challenge has been keeping their children off devices and providing outlets for their children to build their imagination.

The beautifully made Willow’s Fairyland Play Set is gift boxed and contains a portable fairy house and decorative stickers, a hard cover storybook and a grass-look play and travel mat to allow children to take it anywhere.

Children can write a note to their fairy and open the door, then during the night the fairy will come and deliver a reply letter and place it in the house and close the door.

We’ve been helping Millie to write mini letters (she’s just turned five, her writing is coming along but it’s still tricky) and guiding her when she says she isn’t sure what she wants to say. At this age, Millie’s biggest problem is keeping her brother away from her toys, but as she gets older we can see the fairy house would be a great little outlet to air her worries and frustrations.

The “fairies” write little messages in return and have scribbled on pink paper, leaves, buttons and ribbon. It’s limited only by the parent’s bright ideas. Funny how a child’s play set has encouraged us to use our imagination, too! Whatever the format, the fairy letters make Millie’s day.

The house sits on Millie’s bedside table and the included grass play mat has helped the teeny house travel to Nanna’s as well.

The Willow’s Fairyland Play Set is available to purchase online and extra pieces can be sold separately.

https://willowsfairyland.com/

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Yes, the T-Rex was an animatronic marvel going through its paces at Melbourne Museum, but it was amazingly real. Jurassic World: The Exhibition is on now at the museum and would be a perfect rainy day activity these school holidays.

Stegosaurus spotto at Jurassic World at the Melbourne Museum

The touring exhibit has brought some of Jurassic World‘s largest creatures to Victoria’s capital and I loved it as much as my daughter. A big fan of Jurassic Park, I couldn’t wait to be thrilled by a dream that such a park exists. I wasn’t disappointed – but the T-Rex was something else. A visit is worth it to see Rexy alone. Just be mindful when taking toddlers, I’m sure many have been quite terrified by the monster coming at them from the shadows. My Millie, almost 3, loved it, but I think if your child is easily frightened it could be a living nightmare. The exhibition is on until October 9.

Greensborough Plaza is hosting a free Peanuts Live Show from June 27 to July 1 on level 1, Centre Court these holidays. Watch Charlie Brown and his best friends Snoopy and Lucy as they decide to turn off their TV and learn some fun new games. The show will run twice daily at 11am and 1pm with a special meet and greet at 12pm daily.

The Big Freeze Festival offers icy fun at Cranbourne Racecourse

The Big Freeze Festival will provide an affordable snow experience close to home for Melbourne families. There’s hours of fun to be had with nine indoor interactive fun zones, including a snow pit, snowball toss, giant snow globe you can climb into, a winter slide, performances and snowboarding. The icy adventures will be happening at Cranbourne Racecourse from July 2-10 – keep an eye on my Instagram page for you chance to win your way to this exciting event.

There’ll be more snow when South Wharf’s Dukes Walk gives way to 10 days of cascading artificial snow, coloured lighting effects and special winter meals and discounts. From July 1-10, Dukes Walk in the city will have 12 faux snow making machines and large ornamental fir trees and every night from 5-8pm the snow machines will shoot out continuous snowflakes while special effect light towers will shine colour over the walk.

Create your own Minions at Pran Central from June 29 to July 1. Each child will receive a craft set to make their own Minion out of clay for only $2 (with all ticket sales going to support Prahran Mission’s winter appeal). Each craft session will run for 30 minutes, and children will be able to take home their creation.

In Warrnambool the Fun4Kids Festival returns from June 26 to July 2 for its 18th year of activities for a week of non-stop fun, all indoors. Recognised as Australia’s best children’s festival, Fun4Kids offers the perfect excuse to get out of town and provides children aged two to 12 with interactive and education zones, entertainment, activities and a selection of the best children’s entertainment on two performance stages.

Little foodies cooking classes will be held at Chadstone from June 30 to July 3 on the lower level outside Lindt café for mini masterchefs, cupcake decorating fun will be held June 30 and celebrity chefs, including George Colombaris, will lead cooking lessons from July 1-3. All workshops are $5 with proceeds going to the Bully Zero Australia Foundation.

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We love our adventures in Melbourne because there’s so much to do. You could never possibly do it all – but there’s always new experiences and new things to see. We were spoilt when we joined a Wonderland High Tea and visited the amazing Wonderland exhibition as guests of ACMI.

Treated to sweet and savoury bite-sized treats, Mad Berry Choc tea (a tasty collaboration by ACMI and T2) and mocktails – sparkling wine if you’re over 18 – we indulged in the grand glass foyer of ACMI in the middle of Federation Square.

What an experience.

Seated on plush, colourful high-backed chairs, the kids and I felt very special – even if Millie and Finn’s high tea style was more Mad Hatter than dainty Alice.

The high tea would be the cutest way to spend some time with your mum or girlfriends before a day in the city. High tea sessions will be available throughout the Wonderland exhibition, with bookings on sale about a month in advance (tickets to the exhibition to be purchased separately).

Armed with an enchanted map, we disappeared down the rabbit hole into the exhibition. It was interactive, exciting and informative.

From Lewis Carroll’s inspiration, to magic lanterns, costumes from Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit’s house, clips from the many and varied film adaptations and screenings of the Disney classic we all love, there were sections of the exhibition each of us loved.

Admittedly Finn, 2, was too young for the majority of it, but even he enjoyed getting caught up in the mysteries of Wonderland. I plan to revisit the exhibition without the kids to properly take in all the exhibition’s displays.

All three of us LOVED the Mad Tea Party, a computer generated feast for the eyes where a plain white room is definitely not what it seems.

Millie enjoyed the Queen’s Croquet Ground (where her cutting and pasting skills came into their own!) and was delighted to see herself painting the roses red on the big screen.

The world premiere Wonderland exhibition is open daily at ACMI until October 7. Tickets for the Wonderland High Tea can also be booked online.

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What a magical experience it was. For any fan of Disney’s icy adventure it’s not to be missed. We haven’t been to a Disney on Ice show before, so weren’t sure what to expect. It was everything we hoped it would be – dazzling costumes and skating, bright lights, fog, snow and twinkling icicles paired with the tale and music every child loves (and mum and dad secretly do too).

Elsa patiently waiting for a train

We were at a Wednesday evening performance at Hisense Arena. Despite it being past almost-four-year-old Millie’s bedtime, her eyes were not getting sleepy for a second. She was far too excited for that.

Millie didn’t take her eyes of the skating rink Queen Elsa had a lot of mini imitators in the audience. PIC: Feld Entertainment

Her little face watched the entire show intently. She didn’t budge, wriggle or get distracted. She was in a Frozen trance – although did break into song on more than one occasion. She would nudge me and smile when a character recited her favourite lines and let out a big “oh no, Anna” at the pivotal last scene. Watching my girl in complete awe of the dazzling spectacle before her was worth the freezing cold train trip into town (plus side: the evening performance still had seats available and didn’t seem half as busy as weekend or afternoon shows). And I really enjoyed it too – who doesn’t love a good fairytale?

Let it goooo…

The immensely talented skaters actually looked like their characters, the show was schmick and ran for the perfect amount of time for its audience (1hr 45min including a 20 minute intermission).

Olaf provides the laughs. PIC: Feld Entertainment

Appearances by other Disney favourites bookended the show, pleasing the young crowd no end. Mickey and Minnie, Nemo and Dory, Timon and Pumba, Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White are just some of the characters who surprise the audience with a skate and a song. Millie was convinced ‘Cinderbella’ waved to her and it made her day.

Millie loved every second of Disney on Ice presents Frozen.

We were sitting on the side and close to the back of the arena (A Reserve Upper). It didn’t matter. The show has lots of movement and is performed to all sides of the stage so you don’t ever feel like you can’t see what’s going on. More expensive tickets are closer to the ice rink.

Disney on Ice presents Frozen is in Melbourne for three more shows tomorrow, then heads to Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney July 12-17 before returning to Melbourne July 22-23.

*MillieMummyMelbourne was gifted tickets to Disney on Ice presents Frozen for the purposes of a review.

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We booked in for the term with Brighton Swim School Aquatics and will go weekly for 10 weeks.

The classes at the centre are appropriate to a child’s age, development and ability.

We’ll see how she goes, but I’d like to have her in swimming lessons until she’s proficient in the water, at the very least.

Apprehensive at first (not as apprehensive as her mummy was about getting into swimwear for the first time in 18 months – eeek), Millie was splashing about and giggling after 5 minutes in the pool.

The instructor said she was at a good age to start. Millie is 11 months and mostly understands what to do after some help or a demonstration (kicking her legs to make a splash, putting rubber ducks in a bucket).

Blowing bubbles in the water will take time, however. At the moment she is drinking it. Hmm. I really would like her to learn not to do that.

I didn’t learn to swim properly until I was at school (who remembers the Aquapass?). I don’t want that for Millie. It’s a life skill and I’m glad she’s testing out the water before she can walk or talk!

Millie and another little girl, Allegra, are the only two kiddies in the class.

It was so sweet to see my baby girl, who this time last year was still weeks off being born, discovering the joys of a swimming pool and trying something for the first time.

We can’t wait for next week.

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We were at The Australian Ballet’s special child-friendly performance of Once Upon a Time: The Sleeping Beauty. It didn’t matter about the excited chatter, the wriggly chair hoppers or the occasional cry from a baby. We were at the ballet, an experience rarely offered to a three year old.

Twirling with excitement at the Arts Centre

Millie is in her second year of ballet lessons and we’re in the thick of the tutu phase. She loves ballet. So much so that she’ll even watch the entire Mariinsky Ballet performance of Swan Lake we recorded from the telly.

A couple of times a year The Australian Ballet will stage a magical ballet performance for the littlest lovers of dance. The abridged version of The Sleeping Beauty was a fully staged production performed with live music and narrated by the royal servant; Catalabutte.

Fairies in The Sleeping Beauty. PIC: The Australian Ballet

The foyer was a sea of colourful tutus, proving the power of dance has not only taken hold of my girl but hundreds of children across Melbourne. The theatre itself had Millie in awe but it was the sets, live orchestra, costumes and dancing that had her talking about the experience for days. It was simply beautiful.

Tutu cute. Millie in the foyer before the show

The length of the show was perfect for its audience at 55 minutes (no interval) and the addition of the narrator to explain the story was a necessary touch and I imagine would have saved a lot of q&a sessions with patient parents.

As the promo posters explained, there’s fairies, a villain and a sleeping princess – everything to keep the imagination of budding ballerinas twirling until the next show.

*MillieMummyMelbourne received two tickets to Once Upon a Time: The Sleeping Beauty for the purposes of a review

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But what about the mums and dads who will still have their little sidekicks for another year or two? The mighty fine weather will continue long after this week and there’s still lots of fun to be had.

Inspired by the Carnival Cruise Tips Blog and the quest to create inexpensive moments for the family that are “worth millions”, I’ve come up with things to do with your tiny tots that cost $5 or less and will keep them busy bees and creating memories everyone will treasure.

• Walk on down to the local fro-yo store and scoop up an icy treat
• Visit the botanic gardens in your capital city with a packed lunch and make it your mission to learn the botanic name of two tree species

Run free in the botanic gardens

• Head to the beach for a sandcastle building session and work up an appetite to share a minimum chips from the nearest fish ‘n’ chip shop

Sandcastles in the sunshine

• Buy a small watering can and let the kids help you tend to the garden

The ever-helpful watering duck

• Draw a hopscotch game on the front footpath with chalk and help your child learn to jump and hop
• Ok, cheating here, but track down a clam shell pool/sandpit. So much splashy joy comes from one of these. You can find them for about $25 which works out at less than 1 cent per use, because you WILL use it a gazilion times. Another idea is to fill it with coloured balls to create a ball pit. You can find bags of balls at places like Kmart and Big W for $5

Splish splash and cool off

• Here in Victoria there’s the ‘1000 books before school’ reading challenge. Register at your local participating library for a reading kit and start! It encourages a love of reading and writing in preschoolers and reading together is a lovely snuggly and quiet time for you and your child
•  Visit Luna Park – not only will your tot be beside themselves walking into Mr Moon’s wide open mouth, some of the rides – like the historic Carousel – allow adults to ride free with a paying child (single ride tickets are $4.95 for ages 0-3)
• Pick up a pack of sunflower seeds and grow your own flowers

It’s simple to grow your own sunny sunflowers

• Let your kids ‘camp’ indoors by bringing their bedding into their teepee or creating a cubby out of couch cushions and a sheet
• Grab a pack of mini cupcake mix and have a little baking session (Millie loves the Frozen cupcake mix right now, mainly because of the edible pictures you get to stick on the icing)

Mix and bake and then eat!

• Create tracks on the carpet for toy trains and cars using a roll of self-adhesive road tape from Kmart. For $2 you’ll have the kids revving their wheely toys for ages. My daughter loves using the Thomas Mini trains you can buy at supermarkets for around $3
• Make bubbacinos using the froth from your own morning cuppa and have morning tea together
• Stir up some dishwashing liquid bubble mix and pop bubbles in the park

I hope this little list helps prove that it doesn’t have to cost a lot to create family memories that will last a lifetime. It’s the little things with minimal cost that create moments worth millions, so check out the Carnival Cruise Tips Blog for lots more fun content and tips and tricks for travelling with the family.

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Not sure if she could hear me or if it’s the reason she now loves it when I read her a book.

I found the little book Oh, Baby, the Places You’ll Go! which is a book designed to be read in utero.

It’s adapted from the Oh, the Places You’ll Go! story by Dr Seuss (and coincidentally, that was the book we used as a reading at our wedding) and it’s said that learning starts while bub is still in mum’s womb.

Oh, Baby, the Places You’ll Go!, adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr Seuss

Once she arrived, I bought Millie a board book called Mesmerised, a black and white book of pics to help her see.

High-contrast images are much easier for babies to see when they are little. I’d prop it up beside her and soon discovered the title was apt…she would stare at the pics for ages.

Mesmerised, by Katey Love

Now I read her a nightly story – I’ve found she responds well to books with repetition – and we’re regulars at our local library’s fabulous Baby Rhyme Time sessions.

Held every couple of weeks, the free 20 minute sessions are designed introduce your child to language, literature, singing and the library.

Millie loves it. I wasn’t sure she would sit and listen but she is entranced by the singing librarian and often turns to look at me and giggles, as if to say she approves.

Humpty Dumpty, Five Little Ducks, Heads and Shoulders…they are all read or performed, often with puppets or dolls.

Enjoying Baby Rhyme Time at Brighton Library

Brighton Library

There’s toddler and preschool storytime at our local branch too, so I can keep taking Millie along until she goes to school.

Hopefully it will introduce her to a lifelong love of reading.

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Summery pineapples for the win

When holding the swimwear it immediately struck me how thick and durable the fabric is. There are no see-through areas once on and you can tell the bathers are made to last.

The racer-back styling means my daughter can swim without straps falling off her shoulders and the matching rash vest will provide the ultimate sun protection without being restrictive and preventing her from enjoying the beach as a little kid should. The swimwear dries super-fast, allowing Millie to play after a swim without being dripping wet. The bathers don’t seem to absorb much water which is fantastic when it’s time to go home – no soggy towel or wet clothes in the swimming bag!

The matching rashie is just as sweet Millie in her new Speedos

The fabric doesn’t contain elastane so will not degrade in chlorinated water. We’ve had multiple swimming lessons in an indoor pool and the bathers show no sign of wear and tear. They’re still as bright and stretchy as the day we received them.

Pineapple prints at the pool

The fit is perfect, my three-year-old has the size 3 and they are spot on – not saggy and not uncomfortably tight. She can jump in the pool and swim any stroke without the bathers restricting her movement.

Racer-backs are synonymous with Speedo

In a bright and happy shade of pink with a summery pineapple print, the bathers and rash vest are super cute and highly appropriate for a little girl.

This range is functional but still fun. With weekly swimming lessons in a chlorinated pool, I love that they will last and when on the beach this summer I have peace of mind knowing the rashie will provide excellent sun protection.

But don’t just take my word for it, find out what some other mum-kid teams thought when putting their new Speedos to the test. The full review is live now on parenting website Babyology.

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