To celebrate the first day of the school holidays, we were so lucky to get invited to the Indooroopilly Shopping Centre launch of Brisbane's first free virtual reality sports tournament for kids - The Indro Games!

For the entire school holidays, you can go head to head with surrounding suburbs, and battle it out in a variety of virtual and augmented reality sporting games including basketball, archery and rugby union. Better yet, the Indro Games allows for the older kids to get immersed with a cool technology whilst mum or dad can enjoy a bit of me time from peaceful grocery shopping to window shopping the centres variety of 300+ specialty retail stores.

It's no secret that kids this age love their technology so incorporating that with some movement and craft is such an awesome way to spend the day.I enjoyed watching all my boys have fun and they said being able to ‘become the player’ and physically playing each sport using 360-degree video content was the coolest thing ever – 10 points to mum!

When you have had enough of all the battling and playing, you can move on to making your own medal at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre’s Medal Making Workshop. It’s a clever way for all kids to enjoy the spirit of winning and enjoy a hands-on craft where they can create their own medal. 

The shopping centre has really gone all out in making Indro Games feel and look just like a real-life tournament with a majestic stand that allows kids to hold up their medals on the winner’s podium and feel like a real Olympian! I could download an app easily and make the podium come to life too.

It was a great day out for us all, - I got to enjoy a nice coffee (and a bit of shopping) whilst the kids enjoyed their own time at Indro Games. When the kids were finished we had some yummy lunch from the delicious food court off Station Road. But best of all this whole event was free - which is such a pleasure since us mums need to fill the long holidays with some activities, and this event makes it possible even on a budget.

With so many elements involved, Indro Games is a school holiday activity not to be missed so go and check it out! Indro Games is on now until 15 April and located at Indooroopilly Shopping centre on Level 1 (near Coles).

To give you a sneak peek inside Indro's latest school holiday activity, scroll down to see all the fun Tysi, Rixy and Leon had. And although Leon wasn't old enough for the virtual reality sports tournament, he got busy shooting the big soft balls into the basketball hoop and joined his brothers when they got crafty with their medals. 

Enjoy all the photos and see more details about the event below. 

Paulie & the boys. X 

Indro Games

When: 3 April - 15 April, 10am-4pm daily.

Where: Level 1 (near Coles). Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, 332 Moggill Road, Indooroopilly.

Who: 5+

Price: FREE

Link to website for more details and in store offers: 

https://indooroopillyshopping.com.au/events/blog/indro-games/

This blog post was sponsored by Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. Paulina Eaborn has partnered with Indooroopilly Shopping Centre to increase knowledge and awareness about Indro Games. This post aims to be informational and does not constitute professional advice.

Jamie Oliver is all about getting kids involved in the kitchen with easy, healthy, homemade food and so we were super lucky to get invited to a very special cooking class with Jamie's team.

The boys had a blast! They were all smiles through out the whole morning until lunch. - the amazing team including the head chef was just so incredibly lovely and hands on helping all the kids get comfortable, with their hands deep in pizza dough and pasta making. Not only did the kids learn loads about all the ingredients and the produce but they also got to taste all their hard work. - we got fed pasta and pizza and it was amazing!  

Jamie's Italian is hands down the only place my boys ask for seconds and that to me is proof that healthy and beautiful food can be enjoyed by little and big.

If you haven't tried Jamie's yet bring your kids down during the school holidays where the 'kids eat free' offer is ON! 

Thank SO much for having us guys! 

Paulie and the boys. X 

Our Byron Bay family weekend getaway with Ford Australia.

The weeks and not to mention the weekends are always so full on in our family. We never seem to have time to really enjoy time together or visit places we haven't been before. - so when Ford Australia asked us to test drive their family car; The Ford Escape, we took it as a sign! We needed a family getaway! We've always talked about wanting to visit Byron Bay and so we jumped online and booked the accommodation and off we went a few weeks later. 

We usually go camping so it was so lovely and different for us just to pack a few bags and get going, - instead of having to pack half the house. The boys were so excited and to be honest both my hubby and I were too. 

Needless to say that the boys were over the moon when they heard we were going to drive down in a different car to our own. - something new is always so much more fun. And they loved the car when daddy pulled up in the driveway. Boys will be boys and they had to push every button and sit in every seat before we could get going. 

After arriving in Byron we took the car out and about and drove around some of the places we had heard about. Our first destination on day one was the beautiful Byron Bay Lighthouse. It was a chilly morning so the boys weren't too keen to get out from the sheltered car. But once we got walking we warmed up and enjoyed the beautiful walk and the fresh air. The Lighthouse walk was a short little track up to the actual house but then from there you could walk on down to a couple of lookout points where the boys insisted on going. - It was so worth it though and we all got to see dolphins and some beautiful panoramic views. All three boys were super tired when we got back to the car and Leon had a little snooze while we drove down to get some lunch in town.

On our way home to our little cabin which we had rented for the weekend we stopped by a surf shop. Tysi has done chores (emptied the dishwasher and gone out with the bin) for almost two years and he could finally afford his first board. It was such an awesome day for him as he got to choose it and put his own fins on. I loved watching my little man experience such a big milestone. He was in surf heaven!! Luckily the Ford Escape has plenty of room for a surfboard and we cruised on home. We stayed at a beautiful caravan park where the boys got to see big goanas and explore the nature. 

On day two we were so excited to take the kids out to The Farm at Byron Bay. We had heard such good things about this place, it's basically a working farm where you can see the animals, eat the produce in a beautiful restaurant/cafe and let the kids run around in the amazing surroundings. Being a Sunday the place was packed. - but we didn't want to stress and had given ourselves the whole day there to enjoy everything we wanted to see. The boys loved the animals, - it's so different from my childhood as I grew up with animals like these but my boys have never even seen a pig in real life. 

Unfortunately all things must come to an end. In this case it meant we had to head on back to Brisbane. We packed up our trusty Ford and with a suitcase full of memories from two big days we turned our heads towards home. 

About the Ford Escape. 

We loved testing out a new car and enjoyed all the cool features it had to offer. - being a family of 5 it is important to us that we don't feel squished in our car as the car seat for the little one can often take up quite a lot of room. We all agreed that we felt comfortable in the Escape and had plenty room to twist, turn and stretch our legs while driving to and from Byron.

Another important thing for us is how efficient a car is on fuel, - let's face it a family of 5 can't afford to waste money anywhere, - especially not at the traffic lights. So we loved that the Ford Escape is Auto Start-Stop. It shuts down the engine automatically when at a set of lights and restarts when you press the accelerator. Genius! Especially driving around Byron and it being an unknown place for us it was nice that we didn't have to worry about running low on fuel. The Ford took us all the way from Brisbane to Byron Bay, drove it around for two days and back to Brissy again on the same tank. 

Some of the features of the car we loved at first sight;

• Awesome trays on the back of the front seats which fold up so the kids sitting in the back seats can use them for snack or play. 

• The screen on the dash which shows you where you are, - what music you are listening to and gives you alerts.

• The amazing panoramic roof which opens up with a touch of a button. The boys squealed about this feature!

• Blind spot information system. Indicator lights in the side mirrors can let you know if there’s a vehicle detected in your blind spot when changing lanes. So you can see what you can’t see.

• The back of the car is huge, - we could fit in so much and still be able to throw an extra stroller and our own blankets and pillows. 

• Tailgate opens and closes automatically with a touch of a button on the back which makes it so easy when you have your hands full with kids or baggage. 

• Park assist. - God knows I need this one. The screen shows you alerts and lines when you need them the most.

• One of the things my hubby was super impressed about when we were driving down was the Adaptive Cruise Control. Instead of having to turn Cruise Control on and off, Adaptive Cruise Control adapts. If it senses traffic is slowing, it slows. When the traffic clears, it goes back to your pre-set speed. He thought it was such a clever and convenient feature of the car. 

Thank you so much for reading and following along on our adventures. A big shout out to Ford Australia for making this little getaway possible.

Paulie. XO

#ComeOutAndPlay