Back to School

We usually dread school holidays because being out of routine just reminds us how different life is now.  Each school holiday is getting easier though, and these school holidays have been the easiest so far.

I think working a 0.8 load (the equivalent of four full days, but spread out over five days) helped as I was just really tired, which meant I was looking forward to having some time off work.  My hours at work have dropped for this term because of funding (or lack of), but I'm hoping that I can make the most of it and catch up on things around the house that I never seem to find time to do when I'm working, and can stop making excuses not to exercise.  We will see how that goes, because I always have big plans in my head, but my body never seems to be motivated enough to do anything. 

The last two weeks of holidays have absolutely flown by, and we can't believe we have to go back to school next week.  I planned out the holidays so that we had days where we were busy, days at home to get a few things done that I never seem to find time to do ( like planting my winter veggie garden and getting the car serviced) as well as days to just do 'nothing'.   We went to see the Lego Movie and now I want to kill Kobe as he won't stop singing the annoying song from the movie ;)

Because Easter and Anzac Day were during the holidays, it feels like the time went extra fast.   We had a lovely few days at my Mum and Dad's house over Easter.  Luckily the weather was nice enough to go for walks along the beach.
 


For Easter we often get together as a family for brunch on Good Friday.  This year every one was away camping (or living on the mainland) so instead we had our 'Good Friday brunch' on Easter Monday for tea.   We thought it would still be fun to eat food that we would normally have for brunch, so for tea we had pancakes, eggs and bacon, tomatoes, hashbrowns and mushrooms. 

When we got home we had a lovely surprise of heaps of Easter treats at our door. 

We often save up money for a special trip to the mainland but there is so much to see and do in Tasmania, that I thought it would be fun to spend a few days in Hobart during the holidays.   I knew that having a few special days to look forward to, would also make it easier during the holidays.

We headed down to Hobart this week and had a lovely few days away.  As we got into the city Harri yelled 'that's the hospital where Noah died!' as we drove past it.  Kobe said 'is it!?' and seemed surprised.  I asked him if he could remember being in the hospital in Hobart, and he started crying and said 'I can't remember very much about Noah or Daddy anymore'.  I looked at Jay and we both felt so sad for him.  Just after he said it a rainbow appeared in the sky.  I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I like to believe that maybe Noah was sending it to us.

We stayed at our favourite hotel and didn't want to leave.  We love that it's right in the city, and love being able to use the pool and sauna.    We were lucky to have the pool to ourselves each time we went swimming. 

 This was the view from our room.

At night we would walk over to the wharf to get yummy fish and chips for tea.


It was so lovely to catch up with my friend Sarah and her boys while we were in Hobart.  We used to have heaps of fun working together in Stake YW at church, and haven't seen each other for a while.  Her boys have grown up so much, and my boys got along great with them. 

We met at a cool playground which was right on the water.

We had a lot of laughs together.  Sarah couldn't believe how much Jay had grown up and said that he was so much like Aaron, and joked that he was funnier and better looking which Jay loved :)

We had a lovely few days away and did some really cool things, which I will blog about another time.

Even though school is going back on Monday I know we must be ready because today Harri yelled at Kobe and said 'please stop breathing in my face Kobe!' and Kobe yelled back 'I'm not breathing!'.  It cracked me up and Kobe said 'what!!? I'm not breathing Mum!!'. 

The boys aren't looking forward to going back to school which is good in a way, as it means they have also found these holidays the easiest so far.  I would love another week off, but am ready for a good term, and am so glad to have a job that I love so much.


P.S:  I have recently heard from a Mum whose baby daughter has a very rare syndrome called Prader-Willi Syndrome.  I had never heard of the syndrome before, but have found out that one of the many challenges of PWS is that the brain does not receive signals from the body that the stomach is full. Consequently, people with PWS are always insatiably hungry. If left unattended, PWS can cause people to eat until their stomach ruptures, which is fatal. They can feel so starving and desperate to get food that sometimes people with PWS will shoplift food, eat from the trash, eat pet food, or even eat inedible items.

Because it is so rare there is very little funding and research for it.  Please visit their blog to learn more about the syndrome and if you are able to please consider donating to a cause which needs a lot more help to find a cure.  Their fundraising page can be found here.