Playing Tourists

The first couple of weeks of summer holidays were really hard.  When the four of us are home together all the time, we miss Noah and Aaron even more, as we used to love spending the whole holidays together.    I told the boys that we needed to just jump in the car and go and do something every day, so that we don't get too sad and so to try to actually enjoy the holidays a bit.

It was lovely to go and spend some time at my Mum and Dad's new house and spend time at the beach, but it's also nice to be back in our own beds.  When we were coming back home after being away for a week Harri said 'I love our new house Mum'.  I think it's always going to be known as 'our new house'. 

We live in such a beautiful state, and I keep saying to the boys that we take it for granted too much.  There is so much that we haven't seen or done that is so close to home, so yesterday I told the boys were were going on a road trip.  I had always seen beautiful photos of the Bridestowe Lavender Farm but had never been there, even though it's so close to home, so that was our first port of call. It is the largest privately owned lavender farm in the world. 

Kobe was loving smelling all the lavender products in the shop, but Jay wasn't impressed.  He hated it and kept wanting to get out of the shop. 

We couldn't resist trying a lavender ice cream - or at least Kobe and I did.  Jalen and Harri had a lavender and blueberry which was really yummy, but I loved the lavender one.  I was scared it was going to taste like lavender body lotion or something, but it was really yummy.  The lavender flavour was very subtle.

I hate photos of myself, but realise that I hardly have any and the boys will probably want to look back in years to come, and actually see photos of their Mum. 

We also couldn't resist trying the rhubarb, apple and lavender drink.  Harri and I didn't mind it, but Jay wasn't a fan (fussy like his Dad!). 

 We did the self guided tour. 

The man who worked in the distillery told us that when this beaker of oil was full (it would be three liters) it would be worth $2500!

 A third of the lavender has been harvested already, and a lot of it has dried off, but it was still amazing to see.  The dirt was so orange and Kobe fell over in it a few times, so he came home very dusty.

 This patch was still quite purple, and so pretty. 
On the way home we stopped at the blueberry farm to pick some blueberries for home.  The boys kept talking about the last time we went there four years ago, when they had gone on a school excursion as book buddy classes, and Kobe and I joined them as 'parent help'. 

 Kobe was getting very stressed that his bucket wasn't filling as fast as ours, so we kept telling him it didn't matter because we were working as a team and were all trying to just fill up a big bucket together. He was happy with that, until we tipped his into the big bucket! He ended up bawling and I ended up tipping his back in his own bucket, just to shut him up!

They are only $6.50 a kg which is a bargain, and we ended up picking about five and a half kilograms.  It's nice to have them in the freezer, ready to use whenever we want them. 

 As we were driving through Lilydale I spotted the Lilydale Falls sign, so we stopped to check them out.  It was a short ten minute walk to get to the first falls which were so pretty.  The boys had fun having a splash in the water.

This photo makes me smile. Kobe is so nervous that Jay isn't going to make it back without getting wet!

Just a couple of minutes from the first falls are the second falls. 

We had such a lovely day together. It's a pity that school holidays are almost over, because we are finally starting to enjoy them.  We look forward to playing tourists every school holidays, and discovering more places we have never been to.