Australia Day weekend

Well not much has happened really. The kids have still been great and haven't really had any arguments these holidays which is a miracle.

Saturday we just spent the day at home, Stewart wanted to get started on his shed so i spent the day cleaning inside. The kids kept cool by playing in the pool. We had a 3rd Birthday party to go to in the afternoon. We headed out for our dear friends daughters birthday in Reynella. I enjoy the long drives as Stew and I actually get a chance to talk on the way.

The kids had a great time at the party and loved playing with the other kids.

Sunday was a bit of a lost day, i managed to get a sleep in, yippee, then we headed to Brother in laws place for a barbie. We had a great time catching up with family who we don't tend to see to often. The kids once again where great and had a good time playing. Lachlan spent the day being passed around and around, he loved it, It was great to get a couple of photos of him with Stewart's family as we really don't have that many. Stewart's Nana is turning 100 this year so we got a few shots of her talking to Lachlan, he is too heavy for her to hold now. I am now planning her letter from the queen and have got the ball rolling for that.

Lachlan, Stewart and great Nana

Hamish, Lachlan and Uncle Paul

This year is going to be a busy one for our family we have my nieces 1st birthday in April, Stewart's Nana birthday in May, Lachlans 1st birthday in July and Stewart's Mum and Dads 50Th wedding anniversary in September. Wow that's a few special occasions in one yr.

Yesterday being Monday the kids veg ed out at home it was just a tad hot to do much so they played PlayStation and cleaned rooms, they also went out the back and cooled down in their little pool. I am sure this is helping them sleep as they aren't really doing to much when they are home during the day.

The kids cooling off in the pool

Tomorrow Emma has a friend coming over to play so she is all excited about that. The weather is a bit of a bummer as i was going to do some things with them this week. Now its too hot to take Lachlan out and about.

A day out at Victor

I had promised the kids I would take them to Victor but i wanted to do stuff that wouldn't cost us the earth.

So off to Victor Harbour we headed. I packed a bag full of snacks and drinks and got the kids bathers and towels organised, the plan was to go and visit the Whale centre at Victor Harbour then play on the playground. Watch the tour down under finish and have a swim and play on the beach if there was enough time we would wander over to Granite Island.

We arrived in Victor just before 11am, a bit later then i wanted but there were lots of road works and bike riders on the way. I didn't realise that before the actual race that there would be races for oldie's and amateur's. Anyway we got there and got a park and all was good.

We went for a walk to go and suss out what was happening. We hung around the finish line for a while but i found out the riders wouldn't finish till around 3pm. Way to long to expect the kids to sit and wait. So off we headed to the whale centre, it was a bugger that i was alone with the kids otherwise one of us would have stayed in the great spot while the other took the kids to do stuff.

Anyway i took the kids into the Whale Centre it was $8 for me and $4 for kids over 5, the old dear at the door said not to pay for Hamish. yippee saved $4. Anyway we walked through and the area isn't really big, but had loads and loads of info, since my kids are whale, shark, fish anything that lives in the ocean crazy they loved it. We went downstairs to the lower level, it was a little darker and down in this area was a shark...and shark cage a Rodney Fox doc was playing on a big screen and had loads of sharks on it. The kids were a little freaked at first, they have become a bit concerned about sharks lately. Anyway after a while they felt comfortable and walked around taking photos and asking me a million questions. In the end it went down well with the kids. Hamish later asked to go back in.

After this we went into Subway and got lunch, then headed over to the finish line again. Our great spot had gone but we found another one where the kids stood right up the front, we sat ourselves down and ate lunch. I feed Lachlan and we just relaxed. Soon the sponsor's came along handing out freebies, we got a hat, blow up clappers and inflatable jerseys. The kids loved these.Hamish especially loved the clapper sticks which make a lovely sound when banged together.

We sat here for a good hour and not once did the kids complain, in fact i hadn't heard them complain all day. After watching the riders and seeing a few with their war wounds from the falls that day we headed to the playground. The playground was great, they have done it up since we were there last. Hamish is a train fanatic so loved the old steam train, and the playground themed as a train, although he equally loved the pirate ship one. Emma played on the swings and spinning things.

Since it was so windy we gave the beach a miss and we ran out of time to go over to granite island, so next time.

Overall I had a great day and so did the kids, they didn't argue, complain whine or whinge all day. The only bad part of the day was Lachlan got sun burnt, how i don't know but he was the only one who did, he was in the pram with a hat sunglasses the cover over and a towel over for shade and shelter from the wind and he still got burnt.

Saved by the shops

Well after a quiet weekend at home basically , the kids were starting to go a little crazy and well basically i was going alot crazy. I needed a break. Emma's friend from school phoned and asked if she could come and play for the day...ah saved. So I sent Emma off for her play date now i just had the two boys to deal with and i must be honest they are the ones that are hard work. We had to head to the shops to buy some birthday presents for the few parties we have this week. I packed the boys in the car which is an effort in itself as Hamish still is so fussy about his socks and shoes, grrrrrrrrrrr at hyper sensitivity . We went to the centre and the boys were really good, we stopped and got an ice cream from maccas for Hamish and continued on our way. He was just starting to get wrestles when we came across a little circus set up in the shops. He sat and watched while Lachlan slept in his pram. The circus was basically some little poodles doing tricks, Hamish enjoyed it. Then we headed home to go get Emma and head to a 2nd Birthday party.

Tuesday Emma again had a visit to her Nana's so once again it was me and the boys. I must say since Lachlan has turned 6 months he has turned into a complete monster.

We drove to drop Emma off and got stopped on the way at the traffic lights as the tour down under went past. The kids liked seeing all the bikes so i think we will go and spectate later in the week.

Once Emma had been dropped off we meet up with my brother and niece for a while then headed to Hollywood shops to grab a few groceries. Hamish by now was just plain fed up. Once again the shops came to the rescue . A free jumpy castle inside the shopping centre brought some fun and relief.

A boring weekend

Well not much has been happening this end of the woods, I have been suffering a major migraine and poor Lachlan is still out of sorts since he had his needles, however i still wanted to try and do something with the kids.

Friday arvo once the weather had cooled down I decided to try out my bike trailer which i got for Christmas. The idea is that Hamish and Emma will ride their bikes to school and i will tow Lochie behind, hmm Hamish has taken a liking to the trailer it seems and thinks been towed along is better then riding his bike. We will see how long that lasts. So anyway I got it out the box and put it all together but the tyres were flat and i couldn't find a bike pump, so i load the kids up in the car and we took a pile of cans and bottles back then dropped off a bag of clothes to the Salvo store, while we were there we had a look through and ended up buying a pile of sesame street books. I had these when i was younger and loved them but Mum gave them away. Anyway we also got a bike pump.

When we got home the kids sat and looked through the books while i pumped up the tyres. In the end we ended up going for a test run, all went well and i was surprised how easy it was to tow behind. Lachlan had a bit of trouble with his little bike helmet, but this was only because he kept trying to eat the harness.

Saturday I had a killer migraine and ended up sleeping most of the day on and off. We went into Bunnings to check out some prices as Stewart is lining the shed, while we where there i sent him off to do that and went and sat down while the kids played on the playground They had some free face painting so the kids were happy and the lady gave them a stamp and a lolly each, phew day saved for the kids.

Sunday I still had my headache so i managed a bit of a lie in. We took Lachlan to get some portraits done, my poor baby is not feeling himself as he didn't really smile once, however we still got some beautiful shots. While we were there Stew found some Christmas trees going out for $8 so he brought 3 of them......... He is planning a big Christmas light show for this Christmas and these are apparently going to be in it somewhere. Stay tuned for that one.

Yesterday the temp did get up to 42 degrees, it was a true scorcher. The trip to the dentist was a hot one but the kids were pleased with their ice creams from Hungry Jacks after.

My brother David brought Hayley around for a visit yesterday, she is 3 months older then Lachlan. It was a good reminder of having a moving bub in the house. She is crawling and was off all around the place. Hmmmmmm things to baby proof before Lachlan gets on the move.

David and I also talked about how well behaved the kids were at Auntie Caren's 50th Birthday party on Saturday. I didn't have to talk to them once about their behaviour, they had an absolute ball. There was a band there so the kids basically danced all night. The band even got them up to play the tambourine which both kids loved. I was so proud of them, it was nice to have family comment on how good they were. Even talking to Mum yesterday, she said that Stewart and I are doing a great job and the kids are beautiful. Ah shucks i felt ten feet tall and super proud of my kids.

Taking care of us

Well here we are in 2009, this year I have decieded that we as a family should start to take care of us.
So to me this means things like taking better care of our health and our happiness and home.

Starting of with myself, I have decieded its about time i started to look after my skin, after 20 years of working outdoors in our wonderful weather I have started to moisturise. Yeah my skin says at it drinks it all up. Secondly I have to drink way more water then I do, infact we as a family need to drink more.

My aim this year is to also get my front garden done, it still looks like when we built the house 6 years ago, its very embarrasing for me a gardener to have a dirt yard.

I have also decieded to get out and about more in the community, at the moment I have been feeling very isolated, staying at home is so different to working and I have realised now how alone we really are. While both working full time and having the kids to run around after we let our friendships slide away as we became to busy. Now we are alone.

Today poor Emma got to experience the effects of taking better care of ourselves as she went to the dentist for only the second time ever. She had to have a tooth pulled out and the remainder of a baby tooth that had snapped off and was growing out sideways as the adult tooth pushed it out the way. Hamish is next to visit the dentist.

Stewart has started doing his shed up finally, we have resealed the concrete and have replaced the skylights with uv ones, so now he just has to start wiring it all up and then line the thing. I am sure he will find a hundred other things to do while he is in there, but as long as this makes him happy and finally gives us a place for all his electrical gear which i am so sick of looking at.

This week Lachlan has been captain grumpy, he had his needles last week so was suffering the effects of them , we discovered yesterday that his first little tooth has also come through.

On another note all I can say is thank god the air conditioner is working today, temp is supposed to get up to 42 out here today.