Winter Holidays Are Over

We were all really looking forward to having a couple of weeks off school, and it's hard to believe that we only have one more day of holidays before we all go back.  Winter holidays can be hard because of the weather, but I wanted to make sure we kept busy so that we didn't get too bored and go crazy at home, but also wanted to make sure we also did spend enough time just catching up on things at home as well as getting lots of rest so we felt refreshed when we went back to school. 

On our first day of holidays it was lovely to catch up with Aaron's sister Trudy and her husband Ashley and their son Charlie. They were over from Melbourne for five days, and we met up with them at Airtime which is an indoor trampolining place.

Because the boys have quite a big gap between their ages it's hard to find things which they all like to do, so I love hearing Jay and Kobe playing video games together during the holidays.

Going to Hobart for a few days in the middle of holidays was a great way to break things up and we were lucky that Mum was able to look after Milly for us.  We took her out to her house and Mum offered to cook us tea.  It's always nice to have a break from cooking and even better when Mum asks what we would like.  I requested roast lamb and we had a great time rubbing it into my sister Nicki who is now living in the USA as it's not something they will have a lot over there.

Jay is always good at helping Mum with her technology issues when we see her. He's got Aaron's mind with things like that which is also helpful for me.

While we were in Hobart it was fun to see Mum's Instagram photos of what she was up to Milly.   She was taking her for lots of walks at the beach and around Devonport.  

I don't think Milly really wanted to come with all that attention!


Even though it's winter we did have a few sunny days that were actually quite mild (for Tassie anyway!).  We made the most of it to go out walking.   Everything is pretty much back to normal now after all the flooding. 

Jay downloaded the Pokemon Go app (like the rest of the world) and had a great time looking for Pokemon when we were out and about.

The boys were very keen to go climbing along these rocks. 

I couldn't stop laughing at Jay as he tried to avoid getting his new shoes dirty as we had to walk through a puddle of mud.  He bought them with his work money while we were in Hobart and was not at all keen on getting them dirty.  In the end he decided to just walk through.

Both Jay and Harri kept busy catching up with friends during the holidays.  Harri went to a couple of sleep overs, played in a 3x3 basketball tournament and went to the movies with a group of his mates from school.  Jay is very independent now and would often go into town to meet up with friends and caught up with his 'squad' as well.  I saw the squad taxi one day and I just had to take a selfie with them doing the usual teenager pose.

Kobe found it hard to see the boys going off to do things with their friends a lot and kept complaining that he didn't get to have any fun.  I kept reminding him that we had done a lot in the holidays already, but he didn't think that made up for it.  He did think that getting 123 Yo while Harri and Jay were with their friends was great though.

Yesterday we met up with my good friends Bec and Pip and their kids to go roller skating.  Bec, Pip and I went to Kindergarten together and still see each other all the time.
 
We used to go skating with the school holiday program that was put on by Family Based Care for families who have children with disabilities, but the boys were all really young then and they never skated, but just went on scooters, while one of us would push Noah around in his wheelchair.

The boys didn't really remember much about going skating with Aaron and Noah and hadn't been on skates or blades before so we were all very anxious about how it was going to go.  Harri gave up very quickly and stuck to just using his scooter (which is surprising since he's the sporty one in the family), Jay was wobbly for a little while but quickly caught on and did pretty well and Kobe surprised me as he just kept wanting to keep going on roller blades even though he kept falling over. I helped him a lot and he held onto the wall for a long time, but by the end of it he was letting go and balancing on his own. He was so excited and kept asking when we could go again.

I used to go skating a lot when I was a kid (must've been an 80s thing) and loved it so it didn't take me long to pick it up again. Harri was so surprised that I could do it and kept saying 'you're actually sick at this Mum!' and was giving me high fives. 

When we weren't out and about I spent a lot of time at home getting things done around the house, and catching up on shows on Netflix and having way too many treats! It was a nice way to just relax though.

Earlier this week we had some wild weather with lots and lots of wind and rain, and then snow on the mountains and highlands.  We don't get snow where we live, but decided to go for a drive to see it which takes about an hour.  We were lucky that our car is 4wd as the road was closed to other cars, and we could keep going until we reached the snow.

Harri wasn't with us which was sad as it would've been fun to all go together. Jay wasn't keen to come, but I told him he had no choice (as I wanted to make sure we all got out of the house each day) and the thought of finding some Pokemon on the way made it not such a bad trip. Kobe on the other hand was so excited to go and ran to the kitchen to get a carrot for a snowman's nose before we left. It was the smallest snowman ever, but he didn't care at all. It made his day to be able to build a snowman and have a snowball fight!

Jay took off his gloves so he could use his phone to see if he could find some Pokemon, but didn't have any luck.  He didn't think it was worth freezing off his hands for it in the end.

This is our 'excited faces because we are in the snow' pose.

Kobe would've stayed for hours if we let him. He was loving having snowball fights and didn't care at all when he would get hit in the face.

Searching for Pokemon!

It was such a beautiful day to go as the sun was shining the whole time. 
I wish we had another week off so we could really be ready to go back to school.   I have a heap of things I want to get done around the house still, but they'll have to get done another time. I'm feeling anxious about starting at a new school again next week and feel really sad that I'm not going back to my old school with the kids, families and staff that I love, but I hope I settle in quickly and grow to love it.