NSW Trip Day 21: Holbrook -> Home

LiAM and Millie and I were up first and we went outside to sit at the table in front of our room and write in our diaries/blog. The guy from the next room came out with his toddler son to go and look at the birds, LiAM and Millie were interested too and LiAM had a good chat with him. The kids and I popped down the street to get milk and bread for breakfast, then we ate and packed up. We were ready to go by 10 but I couldn’t see Millie’s iPod Touch anywhere – she doesn’t think she took it inside but it wasn’t anywhere obvious in the car. We spent about 45 minutes looking in the car and the room for it, with no luck. I imagine its in the car somewhere, underneath stuff that we weren’t easily able to move without unpacking the whole car…

The motel people said they’d send it if they found it and we left to go and see the submarine (stopping at the Foodworks on the way to see if we’d left it there – no). From a distance the submarine looks simply yellow, up close it looks amazing – every imaginable shade of yellow, in knitted, crocheted or woven pieces of every size, all joined together to form a giant cover for the sub. Some of the pieces had knitted animals attached to them, or woven in as part of the pattern, some had words (including one that said Liam), others had plastic sea creatures attached – it was fun exploring all the detail, even in the rain. The yellow wool is a yarn bombing exercise that has been done in time for some wool festival. It had only been installed the day that we arrived and will only be there for a month, so it felt like good timing to be in Holbrook!

Approaching the Submarine

Close up with sea animals

From there we went to the Holbrook bakery where they sell the best pies in Australia, according to my brother (when I asked at the info centre the girl there confirmed that they were the best). Tony, Caitlin and I had pies (mine was satay chicken, theirs were plain pies) and yes, they were magnificent. LiAM and Millie had sweet pastries which were also delicious.

We left Holbrook in the rain for almost the last leg home. Again we had a pleasant drive, listened to Harry Potter and talked about where we were, what we’d do when we got home, and played iPads/Pods. Just after I drove past the last roadhouse before we turn of the Hume Freeway, I realized we needed petrol, so we went into Benalla to get some. While Tony was putting the petrol in I realised we were opposite a McDonalds, and I’d promised Tony that at some point on our trip we could have soft serve cones from Maccas – so I popped over and got one each for the kids and Tony which was a nice little treat for the way home.

Mum and Dad had suggested we could call into their place in Yea on our way through, as they had a birthday present for Millie, so we did that. Great to see them and also Buckley our dog and all of our chickens (our chicks are now almost fully grown and the ‘baby’ roosters are crowing). Millie loved her presents – a fold up camp chair (pink) and a great hot pink and black dress, with black leggings. Everyone had lots to tell and show everyone else, then we had some cakes and sang Happy Birthday to Millie again, then had a bit of a play, and Caitlin watched some of Dance Academy – very exciting to see all the places we had been on Wednesday!. We were getting ready to head home as it was approaching tea time, so decided it was easier to stay there for tea and come home fed. It was a pleasant evening and then I got very tired before the kids were quite ready to leave, so I had a shower and that refreshed me enough.

Blowing out more candles in her new outfit

We got home about 8.45 and unpacked the necessary things from the car. Caitlin watched some more Dance Academy, LiAM played on his iPod, Tony watched the football, Millie went to bed. I pottered around a bit, settling back into home and feeling good to be here. Weird though to have no animals here – we’ll get the cat tomorrow and the other animals in a few days.

It was a great trip and I am feeling so much more relaxed and re-energised after it. Looking forward to whatever comes next and hoping I can carry my current state of mind into non-holiday activities. To keep up with what we’re doing day-to-day you can check out my other blog at seekingjoyeveryday.blogspot.com.au

NSW Trip - Day 18

I was up early this morning to do my monthly shift on the Breastfeeding Helpline – I had thought about swapping but that’s always a bit tricky and being an early morning shift (6-10am) it was easy enough to fit it in to our holiday, especially on a morning when we weren’t leaving to go to the next place. I took 8 calls in between hanging out with the kids and Tony, and they watched tv and used their activity books and played with Millie’s birthday toys.

The rest of the morning was spent in the caravan park, catching up on a bit of housework/laundry, and playing. The kids rode their scooters and played in the playground.

After lunch we got ready and went to Homebush Aquatic Centre. This was intended to be Millie’s birthday activity, but the Centre wasn’t open on the long weekend Monday, so we postponed until Tuesday. I had taken the kids here 2 ½ years ago and everyone was excited about going back and playing at Splashers and on the slide.

We arrived just before the water play area was turned on, so started off in the small pool and then went into the rapids pool for a couple of rounds. Caitlin was the first person down the big slide when it opened, then LiAM then me – it was a bit scary but lots of fun. It was especially exciting for LiAM because he was only just over the height limit of 120cm so it was the first time he’d been able to go on this slide. For the next couple of hours we all moved between the little pool with fountains, the adventure water playground, the big slide, the rapids pool, the spa and the lap pool. The rapids pool was a lot of fun – a channel of water that is running fast enough to propel you around without having to swim – and it was also really exhausting. LiAM really loved (as always) the massive bucket of water that tips onto the roof of the play area and splashes over in a huge wave. Tony thinks it would hold about 500L. Everytime the bell rang to warn it was going to tip, LiAM tried to get there in time to be dumped on. Sometimes he sat there waiting for it in between times so he didn’t miss it. Millie used the warning bell to help make sure she was far away in the other direction before it tipped. I was starting to wonder how long I wanted to stay and what inticements I could offer the kids when it was time to get out, when all of a sudden the water was turned off, and the lifeguards asked everyone to get out of the pool. They said it was a water quality issue (probably translation – a bit of poo leaked out from someone’s nappy into the water) – I saw them cleaning it up and it looked like a very tiny amount – but it meant that we were out of the water so it was time to get dry and dressed. Afterwards we went upstairs for hot chips, and on the way out we stopped briefly to watch the divers training on the big diving boards and high platforms – quite impressive.

On the way home we stopped and picked up some groceries for dinner and Tony cooked a lovely butter chicken type meal. We watched some TV and had another very quiet evening.

NSW Trip Day 17: Sydney

Millie’s 5^th Birthday!!!!!

Millie woke up fairly early and came and jumped into bed with me for some birthday cuddles, then went and snuggled with Tony for a while, then Caitlin joined them. The girls got dressed in their party dresses and Caitlin did Millie’s hair, then they played with Millie’s puzzle gifts from last night until LiAM woke up. We all jumped on the bed for present giving – Caitlin gave her a loom bracelet in a design that she hasn’t made for anyone else, and a Lego Friends penguin set. We gave her a plush magpie toy, a pop cake maker (and Caitlin gave her special sprinkles to use when decorating the cakes), a Barbie doll with chalk she can use to change the colour of her hair, and Tony’s old iPhone for her to use like an iPod Touch. She said it was the best birthday ever and was so excited about ALL of her presents.

 

Dressed for a party day with her new iPod Touch

Playing with Colour Chalk Barbie

On Saturday morning Millie had woken up before sunrise and I had wanted to sleep in, so Tony took her for a drive and they had breakfast at McDonalds and had a play at Blacksmiths beach. When I asked Millie what she wanted for breakfast for her birthday she wanted pancakes at McDonalds, so we decided to go to Maccas for breakfast as a very special treat. I knew there was one at Thornleigh, about 20 minutes away, so we went there without checking to see if there was one at Dural, only a few minutes down the road – found out later that we are very close to one so the morning could have been a bit less hectic – but it was a fun morning anyway (just a bit tiring). The kids all had hotcakes and frozen drinks and Tony and I had McMuffins and hot drinks and it was a fun atmosphere to be in. The playground there was huge so after eating the kids had a long play, including playing hide-and-seek with some other kids. After a while Caitlin and I popped down the road to buy Millie’s birthday cake and some other groceries, then we picked up the others and headed back to our cabin.

Happy at McDonalds

Caitlin went down to the tennis courts to play with some kids she’d met yesterday and LiAM and Millie played with Millie’s presents. It had been a beautiful sunny morning, then while we were getting lunch ready it started pouring – a bit of a concern since our afternoon plans involved going to a playground with friends – the clouds were moving fast though and the rain passed (then there was more, which also passed, and so on through the afternoon…)

We decided to risk the weather and went to Ruddock Park in Westleigh, which has a pirate ship to play on, and a bike track for the kids to ride their scooters. We were met there by my wonderful friend K and her two kids who are now 11 and 13 and SO much bigger than last time I saw them. T had a football so all the boys and some of the girls played football for a while, in the sun and the rain. We had Millie’s birthday cake with K and the kids – a Freddo Frog ice cream cake, which I had promised her as part of the compensation for not being at home for her birthday. It looked beautiful and she was quite excited about it – it tasted pretty good too. We were also joined by our friends A & N and their three kids (A is LiAM’s godfather – and I realized we’ve managed to see all of the kids’ godparents on this trip which is pretty special). Great to catch up with both lots of friends as its been 2 ½ years since we’ve seen any of them. They also had presents for Millie - more craft activities and activity books. Caitlin showed the other kids how to make some of her loom bands and they all played in the playground, and our kids rode their scooters.

Wet and happy at playground

Back to the cabin feeling rather wet and tired and happy, and decided to have a quiet night in rather than going out again. Tony and the girls went and got some pizza, from a restaurant that Tony said was one of the fanciest he had ever seen, and not one that you would expect to sell takeaway pizza. LiAM and I played cards while they were gone, then we ate pizza and watched TV and had a very low key evening.

NSW Trip Day 16: Newcastle -> Sydney

Packing to leave without a deadline was nice, I was able to take my time, and help clean up from the night before, play with the kids a bit, chat to P & K in between getting ready. Tony and P took the kids down the end of the street to the lake to go fishing – first time fishing for our kids – Caitlin caught a shellfish of some sort, LiAM enjoyed the fishing although was sad that he didn’t catch anything – and was reassured when I said it still counted as going fishing even if you didn’t catch anything.

We had left over BBQ food on sandwiches for lunch, and baby E joined us down in the back yard for a while (she is on oxygen so usually needs to be upstairs where her tube can reach the oxygen converter). By about 2pm we were packed and ready to go – sad to leave family and excited to be heading off on the next bit of our adventure.

It only took about 90 minutes to reach our caravan park in Dural. We unpacked the car and had a quick play on the playground, then back in the car to go and see some more friends. P and S have a 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl and all 5 kids had a great evening, playing on each other’s iPads, dressing up in jewellery and dressing up clothes, having sword fights, doing puzzles, watching Barbie movies, making loom bands and playing hide and seek. Tony and I had a very restful evening catching up with our friends. S had cooked a cake for dessert, and she put candles on it for Millie and we sang Happy Birthday again, and she even had a present (stickers and puzzles) for Millie – Millie didn’t really want to be away from home for her birthday so these extended celebrations are making it more fun than she thought it might be! S also took a photo of the 5 of us with the cake - the first full family photo we've had this trip.

We decided to drive home via the city so we could at least get a glimpse of the lights of the Vivid festival – and Millie really wanted to drive over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We saw several buildings lit up, including the Opera House which looked spectacular, and the Bridge itself looked great as we approached it – I still find it exciting to drive over it too. We spent about 10 minutes trying to find the entrance to a shopping centre on the way home so we could get milk and some other emergency supplies – when we finally got to the supermarket it was closed, so we popped in to a 7-11 to get some milk and then finally back to our cabin to crash.

NSW Trip Day 15: Newcastle

The rain had stopped overnight so I used the opportunity to clean out the car and get a bit organized before we leave tomorrow. The kids had a great morning climbing the tree across the road and Tony bought them ice creams from the ice cream van. Tony and P went shopping for tonight’s BBQ and Aunty L arrived in the early afternoon. The kids played basketball and loom bands and watched TV and played in their cubby. In the afternoon we did some baking, J helped me make some butterscotch cookies, and K made some gluten free chocolate mud cake – one big cake and some cupcakes. The girls decorated the cup cakes with pink and blue icing. The kids went foraging for flowers and greenery to decorate the tables with as well.

In the evening Poppy, D and D’s daughter L arrived for a birthday BBQ – it’s Poppy’s birthday next Friday so it was a great chance to celebrate with all his children in town for the weekend. It was a fun family night, with great food. The cupcakes were Millie’s birthday cake – its her birthday on Monday, so we sang happy birthday to her, then to LiAM (his birthday is Monday week), and then Poppy. K and Aunty L bought Millie some great craft activities for her birthday. After dinner the kids were planning parties and made signs and even sold tickets for us to come to their party. We wound down the night watching Ice Age 3 while Tony and P played darts. And Millie, after waiting all week, finally got to sleep upstairs with the big girls in J’s bed.

Cupcakes decorated by the girls

Table decorations

The first of Millie's 5th birthday celebrations