We started off our holidays on Saturday by driving down to the vineyard where we had the privilege of staying in Ray and Theresa's house for the weekend. (they have borrowed our caravan for a holiday in Broome) Dave and I were both not feeling well, so we relaxed while the kids enjoyed themselves on the dam. We had taken our kayaks along and the kids had great fun paddling on the water, and even swimming in the cold!! Crazy kids. Silly me didn't take any photos of the vineyard... like I said, I wasn't feeling 100%. On Sunday we spent the day at Dren and JB's. It's always fun spending time with them, and watching the cousins getting along so well!
On Monday we decided to do some touring around the southwest.
First we stopped at Conto Spring and enjoyed the walk down to the beach, the waves and the water:
The kids found a little stream of water between the rocks and played pooh sticks with their thongs:
Then we went for a 4W drive through the bush and through the Boranup Forest:
Our travels took us back to another beach with beautiful boulders:
And finally a stop at the Candy Cow where the kids all got some freshly made Fairy Floss and then some more sweet treats at the Chocolate Factory!
We went home Tuesday afternoon.
The rest of the week was spent working around the house and shopping for clothes. Summer is just around the corner and some of the kids didn't fit any of last year's clothes anymore!!
We had found some termites eating timber in our garage so on Friday we had our whole house treated.
Cody and Wade had spent the previous 2 days pulling up every second decking board around the alfresco so under there could be checked and treated. Brett and Travis happily collected all the nails so the four boys worked well together. Thankfully there wasn't any further damage done by the termites and the house is treated again. Should last for another 5 years now!
And all of a sudden we were into week 2 of the holidays already!! Tuesday was Dave's birthday so we treated him to an afternoon at the Moscow circus which was in Perth that week. It was loads of fun. The clown was really funny, did all his communicating with gestures and his whistle. There were lots of acrobats and a fantastic magic show; the russian swing, sending the acrobats flying through the air into a sheet; the steel wheels where 2 guys ran inside the wheels and somersaulted etc. and then one decided to walk on the outside of the wheel; a juggler; a hula hooper twirling 20 hoops; the acrobats that folded themselves in double and dangled their toes in front of their faces; and a wheel of death where they ended up having 4 motorbikes riding 80 km/hr inside a metal ball. It was loud and exciting and we all really enjoyed ourselves. It's amazing to see what people can do!! Tuesday evening Helen and Willem popped in to wish Dave a happy birthday which was really appreciated!! (even if you did come uninvited!!)
Wednesday the girls had invited a whole bunch of girls from grades 5-8 to come over for another card-making party. We ended up with 23 girls over and had a great time making 3 fantastic cards and a bag for their lollies. Mum thankfully took care of Brett, Travis and Owen and Wade ran away to a friend's house so I could focus fully on the girls. Michelle also helped out with 2 tables and between the 2 of us, we had a great afternoon. Thanks Michelle!!
The results of our hard work!
On Friday Cody and Wade went on their first mission expedition. Our evangelism team (Lighthouse) had been asked by the DCP (department of children protection) to clean out someone's backyard. The grass was waste height and the amount of rubbish they had to clear was a real eye opener for the boys. But they all worked hard and well and had it all done by lunch time. Well done, team!!
In the mean time I took mum and the rest of the kids to King's Park where we met up with Dren and JB and the kids. The weather was beautiful, the flowers were in full bloom and we totally enjoyed ourselves. Spring is finally here!!
Brooke cooling off!
Relaxing on the grass
A walk over the bridge and to the war memorial
Lots of chatting and even a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets to spot!!
In the meantime, between our activities Dave and I met up with a family from South Africa we had met at Warnar's wedding. We had a couple of nice visits with them. We could also go to Willem and Linda's to celebrate Kara's 17th birthday and to Mick and Helen's to celebrate Mick's birthday. Definitely a week of birthday celebrations!! Friday we had a soccer BBQ to thank the work of the volunteer umpires and yesterday we could witness the wedding of Grant and Lisa. Brett has been busy pulling up grass and making himself a larger veggie patch. He is so excited about gardening, we think he's received mum's green thumb (definitely bypassed me, but at least it's still there!!) It really was a busy but rewarding week!
Now we look forward to one more day off before the kids head back to school on Tuesday for their last term, which already looks like it's going to be a hectic few months!!
1 comment:
Hmmm.... summer time, and we just bought mitts and boots and snow pants, same problem as you, kids kind of grew a bunch this year. Oh, to feel the heat... we had only a couple of really nice weeks this year,=( . We had snow this week, and -12C most of the week, hopefully it warms up this week a little and melts this snow. It's usually not this early, and if it stays, we'll be in for a very looooonnnng winter, not exactly something to really look forward to. Good to hear you are all healthy and doing well. Love you, Elaine
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