Lightening Online

The boys in our family headed off this weekend for a Father/Son camp leaving the house somewhat quiet and Testosterone Free.

In true “girlie” style, I cried when I said goodbye to hubby (I’m a big sook like that).

We made pizzas, opened the chocolate and settled down to watch some Zac Effron (as girls do).

By Saturday morning we were used to having the house to ourselves and cooked up a storm in the kitchen, covered the table in paints and kept the “girlie movies” cranking pretty much all day.

After another night of chips and chocolate and cuddles while watching TV, I started wondering how many hours of exercise it was going to take to burn off all the crap we were eating (nothing like teaching your only daughter that the way to celebrate your femininity is to eat chocolate!!!).

Sunday we decided it was time to start the “burn” and get cranking into Dance Party on the wii.  That sure gets the heart pumping!

DD beat me quite convincingly.  Gonna have to sneak in some practise while Singstar Princess is at school.

Plus, of course, a weekend with Singstar Princess (my nickname for my 10 year old DD who LOVES to sing for those not familiar) wouldn’t be complete without getting into some Singstar.  And after watching Mamma Mia on DVD, it HAD to be ABBA.

She beat me at that too!

By Sunday afternoon I was pretty exhausted.  I love spending one-on-one time with my kids but it certainly wears me out.

Singstar Princess was happy to potter around playing on her own while I had a nap.

Late afternoon, the ute pulled up.

“Brace yourself, the Testosterone is back”, I said to DD.

The boys were full of stories about getting bogged in sand dunes, covered in smelly water from a creek, swinging on ropes and generally doing all those “testosterone filled” things.

It wasn’t easy to be apart for the weekend but I think it was a worthwhile investment in our children’s lives.

We’re big on games in our family.

They’re great for quality time, lots of laughs and have many educational benefits too!

In fact, we have an entire cupboard full of games (not so full now that I’ve shifted some into the caravan for when we go away).

Some are more popular than others.

One game we all seem to enjoy is…

It’s a strategy game where you each have a colour and can only add on to the corner of your own pieces.

The idea is to get as many of your pieces on the board as possible before you are completely blocked (and some of the pieces are shaped quite strangely).

It’s one of the few games we have that seems to balance out the age gap between our children (it does involve strategy and thinking but also quite a bit of luck that someone else doesn’t play where you want to go).

Right now, the kids are asking to play it most nights!

Aren’t I a self sacrificing mother, letting Singstar Princess have the red while I get boring YELLOW!  LOL.

While the game is designed for 2-4 players, my kids also like to play it solo.

Trailer Boy can spend hours just playing with the pieces like a puzzle, trying to fit them into the board and making patterns with the colours.

I do like me a game that can be used in more than 1 way!

What about your family?  Do you play board games together and which is your favourite?

I’m always interested in what works for others and always on the lookout for new games to add to our cupboard.

It’s been a while since we’ve used our camper trailer.  More than 2 years (that’s how long we’ve had the caravan) although I’m not exactly sure when the last time we used it was.

We kept it thinking we’d still use it for camping but hadn’t used it since we bought the caravan.

So in the school holidays we dragged it out of the shed, dusted it off and decided to take a trip.

Trailer Boy was particularly excited as he can’t even remember going camping in the Camper Trailer.

We decided to head north with some friends to see the Cooper Creek in flood and the ferry that has been reset up for the first time in 20 years to take traffic across the creek (the Birdsville track is cut off where the Cooper has run over the road).

To make it lots more fun, we went with another family.

To make it more challenging - we told the kids they had to go “electronics free” (okay, we did let them have their DS’s for a while in the car but then locked them in the glove box).

So the kids didn’t feel totally “abused”, we also went phone free and I went make up free (well, Farmboy went make up free also but that’s normal for him! LOL).

Stupid phones didn’t work out there anyway (yeah, we did try and send 1 text as a friend went into hospital just before we left and we thought we’d better check if he was still alive - he is by the way).

Our kids are used to caravan parks with lawn and jumping pillows etc etc.

This one just had dirt.

Yet another challenge.

But they were up to it.   It did take a little while but they soon figured out ways to turn dirt and stones into games:

This had disintegrated a bit by the time I got a photo of it but it was a hopscotch of sorts.  Half the fun was in the making!

While we were packing up, the kids invented some kind of game which had them exercising to become “strong men” or something like that:

It was a GREAT experience for them and I was tempted to come home and throw out all of their toys.  Kids don’t really need toys do they?

Of course, camping wouldn’t be camping if you didn’t have to share the facilities with a few Australian natives:

This little lady had taken up residence in the Female Toilet Block.  She didn’t really bother us though (at least she wasn’t on the toilet seat!).

The facilities in Marree were basic but at least the water was hot and the toilets flushed.  I’m not a huge fan of the whole “bush camping”. 

More photo’s of Cooper Creek and Lake Eyre to come.

We recently went to a 40th Birthday Party where the invitation said “wear a funny or fancy accessory”.

I thought it was a great idea as it was very simple and yet you could go “all out” if you wanted to.

We had a lot of fun in Cheap as Chips.

If the above photo doesn’t look “quite right” to you, that would be because we swapped kids with another family so Lleyton isn’t in this photo but we have a bonus girl. 

I’ve always wanted and excuse to try a blonde wig!  Here’s what I look like as a blonde:

The little pink bag was my favourite part of the outfit!

And a close up:

Think I might stick with brunette with a few blonde streaks!  LOL

It was hilarious on the night because people kept doing a double take, not realising who I was.  And the poor kids I spoke to that I knew but they didn’t have a foggy who I was!  Freaked one little boy out I think!

And to finish you off with a smile:

Trailer Boy wanted to try on my dress ups. 

Isn’t he just adorable?

Here are a few photo’s I took on Sunday while we were in Adelaide.  We ended up getting home at around 1am Monday morning and yesterday I was pretty much EXHAUSTED!!!!

It was SO worth it though.  We had a wonderful day.  Very jam packed full.

In the morning we went to see the purpose of our trip - our twin nephews:

Yes, this is 2 different babies!!!  I had to take photo’s of the little name cards so I could remember which was which.  They are still being tube fed (although I think they’re starting to give them the occasional breastfeed as well).

Farmboy’s aunt and uncle took the kids shopping so we had some time with his brother and wife to chat and catch up which was lovely.  My sister in law seems to be doing well and is quite relaxed.  At this stage it looks like being around New Year that they’ll be out of hospital.

After some time at the hospital, we went out for a family lunch for my mother in laws birthday:

You can kind of tell there’s several cameras going at once.  Everyone is looking in different directions.  But it took a LOT to get those big boys to even be in the photo so we weren’t taking chances that they’d bolt on us.  LOL.  That’s Farmboy in the middle with his sister (the other kids are her kids) and the twins daddy on his other side (none of his kids are in the photo and 1 sister and her 2 kids are also missing).

My mother in law is always commenting on how she seems to be able to get 3 of her 4 kids in the one place at the one time but very rarely does she get all 4. 

After lunch we took the kids to the Magic Cave:

We waited in line for over an HOUR to see Father Christmas!  What a nightmare!!!  The kids were so good though.

And the Father Christmas they saw was fabulous.  He even had an intelligent conversation with them about the farm and where we have come from.  Neither Trailer Boy nor Singstar Princess had originally wanted to sit on his knee (when we talked about it) but he broke the ice really quickly so they were happy to pose for the hideously expensive photo (but I doubt we’ll get back there again and they no longer allow your own photo’s so I decided to buy them anyway):

And while we were still in line, I looked up to see someone taking a photograph of me on their phone.  The family we met in Port Douglas on our big trip was there!!!!  LOL.  Talk about a small world!!!

We had ummed and ahhed about trying to squeeze in a visit to them while we were in Adelaide but it just didn’t seem possible.

We ended up having a pizza tea with them before we headed home.  It made us an hour or so later than we were planning but it was SO worth it!!! 

Oh, and I managed to squeeze in about 20 minutes of Christmas shopping in the city.

It was a great day full of fun and celebration!!! 

Last night, Farmboys Grandfather passed away. He’s been very ill for a few weeks so it was really a matter of time rather than it coming as a surprise. It’s one of those situations where it really is a blessing. He’s at peace now, free of pain and frustration and going to a much better place than earth could ever offer him. He’s lived the past 11 years without the love of his life which hasn’t been easy on him.

Of course, there is still the grief and sadness and loss, no matter how much of a positive spin we put on things. We were hoping to have a big family celebration over Easter to celebrate his 90th birthday. He has 5 children, 17 grandchildren and possibly 30+ great-grandchildren (I’m not sure on the exact figure but he always knew. Trailer Boy was number 21 and I know there have been quite a number born since then - guess I’ll find out the figure at the funeral).

Lleyton was the first male Great-Grandchild bearing the “family name” (same surname) so his birth was quite special to Poppa. We have photographs of the 4 generations of males. Even now there are only 5 great grandchildren who are male with the “family name” and 2 of those are my boys.

Poppa’s legacy will remain in our family for more than simply our boys carrying on his name. The farm we live on was owned by him. We had the opportunity to buy it with very reasonable terms some time back. If it weren’t for this opportunity, we wouldn’t still be farming. It has really been a huge blessing in our lives and from the day we found out he was going to sell to us (which was a few years before the paperwork went through).

He wasn’t an easy man to get to know. A man of very few words who worked hard right into his 80s. He only fully retired 3 years ago although leading up to that he was gradually cutting back his workload and responsibility.

I remember the early years of our marriage when we’d have nights where Farmboys father would wake us up after we had gone to bed and his grandfather would wake us up before we got out of bed. It wasn’t that we slept for long hours, just that his father and grandfather seemed to operate at the extremes.

In an interesting final legacy, the phone call that came this morning to let us know he’d passed away last night woke us up. Farmboy had a good chuckle that Poppa’s final legacy was one that we’ll remember him well for - pulling us out of bed way too early!!!!

Our plans for the long weekend have now changed but that’s really the least we can do for the man who has given us the opportunity to be where we are today (in more ways than one).

R.I.P Poppa. We love you and will be forever grateful for all you’ve done. Your legacy will live on in our hearts, minds and lives.

I had so many plans for when we got back from our trip. I was going to enthusiastically unpack and clean the new caravan, get the washing and ironing up to date, declutter and few cupboards and play with the kids on their last few days of holidays. Oh, and of course, blog on all my blogs, catch up on my blog reading, read and respond to 2 weeks worth of mail and maybe even relax and read a book or two.

LOL. Maybe being away from home puts you in la-la land. Or maybe not having to do housework for a couple of weeks actually makes you WANT to do some. I’m not sure.

Anyway, yesterday morning when I woke up, I couldn’t walk in a straight line. Oh-oh. And no, alcohol was not involved. My inner balance was all out of wack and every time I walked, I had to aim right in order to not bump into something on my left.

Not having learnt from the last time this happened, I decided to have a shower (no, the shower bit was okay) and then tipped my head upside down to wrap the towel around my hair. BIG mistake. Straight to the toilet, shutting the sliding door on the way because I was still wearing my shower outfit and relieving my body of the contents of my breakfast.

Not. Fun.

Last time this happened I was diagnosed with viral labyrinthitis (or something to that effect). I have tablets for the nausea although they weren’t all that helpful this time around.

I then spent most of the day in bed. Lying still stops the head-spins and the nausea.

Food doesn’t affect me. Well, not too much. I can mostly keep it down until I move suddenly. Sitting up last night for the milo I really felt like was a mistake. But then having re-emptied the contents of my stomach once again, I proceeded to drink the milo quite comfortably. So I’m pretty sure this isn’t a stomach bug.

I’m not sure whether to be SO relieved that this happened when we got home and not along the way somewhere or whether to be extremely ANNOYED that as soon as we get home I get sick and all my plans go out the window.

Today I seem to be doing marginally better. As long as I keep my head perfectly straight, I seem to be managing. At least that means that I should be able to do the computer stuff I need to do (well, some of it anyway).

I’m pretty disappointed though. It’s taken me over 2 years to get to the point where I can actually cope with having my kids around during the holidays and I really wanted to make the most of their last few days before school goes back. *sigh* Maybe tomorrow.

Here are some photographs I took at the Field Days last Wednesday. The kids get the Wednesday off from school so they were our focus on that day.

Trailer Boy having some fun at the local Case IH dealer’s stand. Even better was having people in the “know” who made sure he got a free Case showbag with lots of goodies including a tractor keyring which he thinks is PERFECT because the wheels actually move and the keyring section makes a great “trailer” (I think he’s calling it a spreader). Shhh….don’t tell anyone that I pilfered the Case pen from his bag - it’s a good pen!!!

If Farmboy had a never-ending cheque book, this would be his next purchase. Well, one of them anyway. Isn’t it shiny?

This is “apparently” the tractor Farmboy would like to buy for me to drive. The look of terror on my face is REAL, even if I’m not really driving it!!! It’s BIG!!!

See!!! TOLD you it was BIG!!! Not as big as the one Farmboy is drooling over in the photo above but waaaayyyyy too big for ME!

Here is Singstar Princess looking beautiful as usual. I wonder how much Megafert will pay me for featuring their balloon on my blog??? I didn’t even get a free beanie or scarf from them either!!!

“Dad, can we buy one of these?” Trailer Boy would LOVE a 4-wheeler! We’d like to get one as they’re quite handy around the farm. However, it’s the kind of purchase that is very “non essential” during extended drought. One day….

So there is a brief glimpse into one of our days at the Field Days. It’s very red isn’t it? I have to admit I’m rather partial to the red coloured machinery myself (the main opposition to red is green - John Deere). Plus of course good coffee and good company made the local Case site quite attractive.

Yesterday my brother brought his two girls down to the farm for a visit. It has been almost 2 years since we’ve seen them. They live quite a distance away from us. The youngest has never been to the farm and the older one has only been to stay once, over 3 years ago.

So we thought it would be fun to show the “city cousins” a bit of what life on the farm is like.

Here are the kids on the back of the ute, ready to go feeding sheep.

My 4 year old niece hanging over the side of the ute watching the sheep eat the grain. The ute is barely moving at this stage (for anyone concerned about safety issues).

One of the great perks of living on a farm is that our kids get to “drive” the ute rather young. Here Farmboy is setting the ute in motion so that our 4-year old niece can have a drive.

“Look daddy, I’m driving”. A is very intense as she attempts to steer the ute over toward the sheep. That’s my brother hanging his head in the window, enjoying the fun his daughter’s seem to be having.

“I can’t believe I’m driving a REAL CAR” says my almost 7-year old niece. Mum might be in China but can you really top driving a REAL car????

Here’s Singstar Princess with her cousin Z playing with a couple of lambs we brought in from the paddock.

Farmboy showed the girls milk coming from the mother of one of the lambs. Later in the day the 4-year old stated “milk comes from a cow, not sheep”, with a very serious look on her face. She must have spent an hour or more trying to process that confusion. It was all rather cute.

Farmboy showed the visitors how a sheep gets shorn. And showed off his growing bald spot for posterity’s sake.

“A” thought the shearing plant was a little loud. My boys are taking it in their stride. Singstar Princess has seen it all before and is playing in the background.

Leighton showing the cousins how it’s done.

“A” decides she would like to have a go. As long as Uncle Farmboy turns off the noise!

Some things are the same - city or country. Cousins dressing up.

I think you could say a good day was had by all.

1. The way your eyes twinkle when you smile.

2. The way I feel so safe and warm when you wrap your arms around me.

3. How you snuggle your kids in their covers at night so they will feel warm and cosy and SAFE.

4. Your deep resounding Faith in God.

5. The way you always put your family before your own needs and desires.

6. Eating your Homemade Chips

7. The way you let me warm my cold feet against your warm legs when we’re in bed at night.

8. The way you massage my feet without expecting anything in return.

9. The way I can tell you anything and know that you’ll still love me regardless.

10. Watching you get excited when you’re passionate about something.

11. Seeing the way people look up to you and really LISTEN to what you have to say.

12. That you are my BEST FRIEND.

Happy 12th Wedding Anniversary honey. I can’t believe it’s been 12 years when it feels like just yesterday we were married. I can’t wait for the next 12 and the next 12 after that. Marrying you was the BEST decision I have ever made.