An exhausting school holidays

I always dread school holidays now that Aaron and Noah aren't with us because the days seem extra long.  These school holidays came a lot earlier than we are used to in Tasmania, because we have just switched from three to four terms.

We were all definitely ready for a break from work and school, and I was looking forward to not having a routine, but dreading it at the same time.   Having a routine keeps us busy and makes the days go a lot quicker.   Being on holidays means that we enjoy sleep ins (if only Kobe would actually sleep in) and get to spend lots of time together, but that also means that we miss Aaron and Noah even more as it's a lot more obvious that Aaron and Noah aren't with us.

To make the holidays as easy as possible I try to make sure that we get out and do something every day.  The boys would be more than happy to sit at home all day, every day on the computer if I let them.    I don't mind them having some down time on the computer and playing on the Wii, but I know how important it is to get out as it what helps me to feel half normal.

The boys said they wanted to do a few things that we would often do in the holidays with Aaron and Noah, like going to the movies and going ten pin bowling, but we also had fun doing things that we didn't plan, like going on a tour of the fire station, and playing in the hail.

It was the first time we had been ten pin bowling since Noah passed away and we had a great time, but Jay felt really sad the whole time as it made him think of Aaron.  We used to go ten pin bowling every school holidays, so it brought back a lot of memories for us.   Aaron was so excited when the prefects from school gave him a bowling ball as a gift one year.  We decided to take Aaron's ball for good luck. 

I now know why Aaron used to win all the time. It wasn't necessarily that he was better than us at bowling - it was the ball! It was such a good ball!   Check out my double strike at the end! I'm sure Aaron had something to do with that.

We love living close to school now. It feels like we have our own personal playground close by.  We have enjoyed going there to play basketball, kick the footy, throw the frisbee and ride bikes.

The boys put their footy and basketball tops on when they knew we would be playing some sports together.     Harri was so serious that he took two tops with him - his Atlanta Hawks one for when we played basketball, and then switched to his Hawks one for when we kicked the footy. He makes me laugh as he is so serious about anything to do with sports.

We are lucky to have some beautiful places so close to home.    On the first day of our holidays I dragged the boys out for a walk at the Gorge.  Jay surprised me as he is so much fitter since he has been walking to school, since moving to our new house. 

My boys have learned if they just quickly pose for a photo for me, I will then leave them alone :)

Posers :)

I cracked up at Jay who was taking a selfie.  Apparently if you are taking a selfie you are supposed to  open your mouth really wide!

Harri and I obviously forgot to do it in this one.

The boys always love going to the Bike Centre.  I think the last time we went there was just ten days before Aaron passed away.  I can't remember going back since then and it's such a fun, cheap activity that you can do with a lot of people, so I booked it for a couple of hours and invited lots of people to join us.  It was lovely to have so many people come and we also got to meet some new friends who we had only met online, but have just moved to Tasmania from Queensland.

The kids had the best time time playing together and the time went so fast.



We hadn't been to Agfest for a few years, and Jay and Harri couldn't actually remember ever going, so it was good that it was on during school holidays.  We had a lovely few hours there with Mum.  The boys loved doing push ups and sit ups with the army to earn a prize from them.

All day Kobe wanted to go back to 'watch the news'.  He loved the Southern Cross tent where you could sit at the news desk and read the news on the teleprompter.  There was a huge screen outside where you could watch people doing it and some of it was really funny as some people would go off script and say their own thing.

The highlight at Agfest was meeting Hawthorn legend - Peter Hudson. He was at the Hawks tent and was so lovely to the boys and even signed a ball for them.  Aaron would've been going crazy if he saw him there.

Overall our holidays were good.  It has been our easiest school holidays so far, and I'm sure that moving to our new house has helped that a little bit.  It was nice to spend lots of time together over the last couple of weeks.    Even though we just had holidays I'm actually feeling really run down and tired, and I think it's because I've been trying to keep the boys busy.

Because the boys have been staying up a lot later, I feel like I have no quiet time to myself, so I have also been staying up really late to enjoy some peace at the end of the day.  It isn't good though when Kobe wakes up at his usual time.

We go back to school and work tomorrow and hopefully getting back into a routine and having some earlier nights, will mean that I feel a bit better physically.  I feel like I need a real holiday! :)