True Blue

A summer ritual

Pack the car full with boogie boards, fold up seats, sun shelter, inflatable boat, towels, esky (containing water, mineral water, a couple of beers, a punnet of strawberries, peaches, grapes, apples, a greek style salad, vegemite sandwiches, barbeque shapes and mixed nuts) Don’t forget your hat, and where's the sunscreen? And kids, bring your spades.

A short drive later

We look with anticipation, is there any surf today, how busy is it?

The road changes to soft sand. Where will we make camp?

Park at the end where there’s no through traffic

But the surfs good here

We marvel at how much stuff people bring with them to the beach

Look they have a barbeque

Wow, they have 3 big sun shelters put together

Some families just have their car

Others have tarpoulins doing tricks

A simple umberra there or just a towel parked next to a car

I love checking out each little home by the sea as we drive by

Here’s a gap

Just a bit further up

We finally stop

Up goes the tent

Unfold the chairs

Admire your view, suck in the sea air

Feel the sand in your toes

Lather the children in sunscreen, implant their hats

Dad pumps up the boat

Mum fusses over chair and towel placement

Children are excited moving fast they dig the sand

Enter the water, ahh it’s so warm we can’t believe it




















 Our cares are washed away, we are refreshed

The water is clear as glass, little white fish dart from our feet

Clamor in the boat

Dad rows

Here comes a wave

Weeeeee we smile

It's magic

I feel like a real true blue Aussie doing this

We leave really chilled out

Summer loves

The children and I have really been enjoying summer. It has been unseasonally hot, but it's just such a beautiful time of year. I am just loving the following things...

Fresh raspberries (especially Nana's)

 Little legs in shorts

Just a light sheet covering me at night

Salads, but I have to expand, recently we have eaten caesar salad, tandoori chicken salad, lamb with yoghurt and garlic dressing salad, chickpea, roast pumpkin and spinach salad, any salad with sticky balsamic dressing, chicken and mango salad, and any Asian style salad.

Sun bleached blonde beach hair (particularly on the kids)

Entering cool fresh crystal clear sea water

Home grown tomatoes that taste real (particularly with basil)

Sporting bare feet

Feeling the rush and power of catching a wave

Being outside everyday

My husband's seawater kisses

Warm juicy peaches

Cool shade

Sand between my toes

Sun kissed skin

Catching a cool breeze

A mouthful of sultana grapes

The smell of someone elses BBQ 

No socks

Eating alfresco

Cool showers

And particularly time all together on holidays

More good stuff

Some more good stuff that happened on holiday that is too good not to make a record of.

The scene:
We are lying in bed early Christmas morning, Little Miss lies in her cot next to us with her Christmas stocking left by Santa, as she reaches in and pulls out the contents, we were more than a little surprised by what she found.



She states,
"Ringlets” as her hand pulls out a colourful bead necklace.
“Snappers” as she reveals a pair of children’s scissors. I am sitting up looking to watch this unfold.
“A book for drawing” she wisely states
“Santa Ice cream” Dad sits up with a “What the?” But she grips a Chocolate covered marshmallow Santa.
We are looking at her in anticipation as to what will be revealed next.
“I found a frog” as she brings out a foiled covered chocolate frog
“Space shooter busy bee” she states as she holds a yellow wooden toy bug with wheels. We are now in fits of laughter. Nice descriptions I think and wonder if its just a little early for her to find the right words, but I reach or a pen to write them all down anyway, then I hear,
“Christmas, Father Christmas” and I look to see Little Miss sitting up in her cot surrounded by her loot eating up some chocolate.

Now that is Christmas bliss.

NOTE: We don’t have any scissors in our house anymore. From 25/12/09 they are now know as snappers.

Boring

I can’t help but feel daunted by the next few weeks of school holidays. With Dad back at work and the grandparents overseas, I feel I am flying very solo in the main parenting role.

At two and a half Little Miss is relatively easy, amusements are simple, brother B is her idol that she follows everywhere, and she does and plays as he does. But the boy himself is another story. After the last few action packed weeks away his expectations are high. Every day he wants something to be planned and organised.

"What are we doing today?" He inquires first thing over breakfast cereal.
"Nothing, staying home" I reply.

I am eager to get back into a normalish routine. After living out of suitcases and being relaxed about the “routine” I need to get a grip on this parenting life again. And after being away, I really want to stay home. The washing is at crisis point (Little Miss sported a pajama top the other day, then had to wear B's huge pajamas to bed) plus the housework sadly beckons.

I am liking that little Miss is having a regular daily one and a half hour sleep after lunch. The better she sleeps during the day the better she sleeps at night. Plus I am making sure I use this time to spend one on one with B, but part of me wants him to get bored. I want him to use his own imagination and be inventive. I think it is important for him to not be entertained with activities all the time. He needs to learn to find his own way, to make up his own games, to use his brain, to be active in his own entertainment and not just a passive audience in someone else’s ideas.

Given some time with the TV off, B rediscovered old forgotten toys, an obstacle course is made for his bike, drawings are done and he wants to make biscuits. We do this together, he eats way too much icing.

I am telling myself it’s ok for him to get bored, he has to learn that life is what you make it.

Food face #4

Big nose food face made from, carrot, capsicum, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, corn on the cob, baby spinach leaves, rice and steak.

Good stuff

A conversation that happened on holidays that was far too good not to mention.

The scene:
We are driving in the car from Launceston to Hobart in Tasmania. Tasmania is blessed with lots of wildlife, so unfortunately lots ends up killed on the roads. As we pass a large kangaroo in the middle of the road.

B asks, "What was that?"
"A kangaroo that has been hit by a car" I state matter of factly.
"Why isn’t anyone stopping to help it?" B inquires with a worried tone
"Because it is dead, its probably been there a while."
"But shouldn’t someone help it?" His compassion is beautiful
"It can be too dangerous to stop on a main road."
"That’s not very nice. It needs our help."
"There are people who help injured wild life as lots of animals get hit by cars on roads."
"People should stop for them." B remarks
"It's not that easy it can be very dangerous to stop. A driver may have to choose between crashing into another car with people and children in it or hit the animal. It all happens very fast."
"The animals shouldn’t cross roads. There should be fences all along the roads to stop them." B's brain is ticking away with ideas to solve the problem.
"The road makers can't build fences as that would cost too much, and the animals might need to get across to the other side." (What else could I say?)
"Everyone should build fences all along the road, not just the road makers." B believes in his community.
"But then some people might build really bad fences that might be dangerous and fall down, where some others will make great fences, it would all be different. And then the animals couldn’t cross the road at all." I feel like a pessimist with that statement.
"Even dogs?" B has had an idea that a dog would be good for us
"Yes," I state, "All animals would be stuck either side of the road."
"Can we get a dog?"
"When you are old enough to help me look after it. A dog needs to be walked everyday. You would need to feed it as well. Do you feed your fish everyday?" I try to remind him of responsiblity.
"No, you do though." He remembers
"Exactly, and a dog also does poos that are large and smelly and need to be picked up and put in a plastic bag then put in the bin.Would you want to do that?"
"No, but that’s just like my sister."
"Yes, exactly." We laugh at the accurate comparison he recognises between his sister's nappies and a dog's business.

Great Roo photo from here

Christmas Holiday

Holidays with kids aren’t real holidays. Not like holidays where you get to relax and unwind and think about yourself and your wants. No, holidays with kids are just about transferring the work to another location. A location you might not have any control over.


At best holidays with kids can be fun and adventurous and at worst this can be a nightmare of no one’s needs being met. Meeting up with B and Little Miss’s twin boy cousins and their parents at Nana’s house was the plan. The kids were all in hyper drive with the excitement of it all. It was a shock for the hosts and they kept their brave faces on as best they could. Routines went out the window as sleep only happened when everyone crashed from sheer exhaustion.

The courageous hosts made a few little comments about the washing machine getting a work out with at least two loads a day (the record was 5) and the dishwasher ran twice a day, but there was enough plates, chairs and beds for us all. Parenting styles conflicted and children stated, “But that’s not fair,” and asked “Why?” and “Why?” and “Why?” again. Eating was an issue for one whereas sleep was for another, one went to bed really late, where as one woke up with the birds. Discipline took on different forms. But the children were having the time of their lives and loving every minute.

Nana’s usual Christmas routine was completely shot, she usually gets to enjoy the labours of another, but this year she and her husband hosted a Christmas Eve dinner for 8 children under 6 and 9 adults. It wasn’t surprising that she announced, “I don’t do cooking on Christmas day”. Instead we ate left-overs for lunch then took the whirl wind of us to the beach. The beach was relaxing, allowing us to spread, seek solitude, walk, create, explore and swim. The beach all to ourselves, we were all happy there.

Like Weddings, Christmas holidays bring the best and the worst out in us.

There was;
Happy hellos, brotherly conflict, a meeting of minds, hidden adult tears, hysterical laughter, children’s tantrums, pure childish play, amazing wild life, too much food, someone who drank too much, inspiring conduct, embarrassing behaviour, a broken lamp, clever workshop creations, an electric conversation, an iron that blew up, a very messy floor, an unwrapping present fenzy, beautiful fresh morning raspberries and sad good-byes.

A really happy Christmas.