Holidays are over....again!

 Term 1 of school absolutely flew by this year.  It was a very busy term with lots on at my school (learn to swim, athletic carnival, school photos, excursions, public holidays, assessments and reporting) and by the end of term I was absolutely exhausted and ready for a holiday.  My boys felt the same and we couldn't wait for a couple of weeks off. 


It's been a different year with Jalen home having a 'gap year' and he's been getting enough work at Maccas to keep him busy,  but over the holidays they always seem to put the younger workers on which works out well for us, as it meant he had a lot of time with us over the holidays.  I already feel sad that he'll be going away for Uni next year, so I'm grateful that we get to spend lots of time together this year.   I still have lots to catch up on my blog (including Easter) but will catch up on that later on.


I actually find it really hard to relax the first three or four days of holidays. It's hard going from running on adrenalin for 10 weeks, to just being able to relax.  On the first Saturday of the holidays I went to help my friend Simone paint her Mum's rental house, and when I got home I was full of energy and on the spur of the moment I decided to paint some of the rooms in our house!


Our house has needed a fresh coat of paints in some of the rooms for years, but I'd been avoiding it but thought it was time to tackle it while I had the energy.   Our house is older and has a lot of movement in it, so there are a few cracks in the walls. Kobe had also recently pulled the towel rail off the wall accidently, so I googled how to fix cracks and we went on a shopping trip to Bunnings.  Harri actually laughed at me, as he didn't believe that I could fix the cracks or paint on my own and said I needed to get Uncle Eden to come and do it!


Three days later (I felt like I was on The Block as I stayed up till 2.30am the first night to finish off fixing the cracks and getting the first coat in the living room done) I had painted the living room, bathroom and Harri's room.   I would like to paint another couple of rooms, but decided to save them for another holiday as I really needed to have a break before school went back.


Harri has grown SO much this year and his feet were touching the end of his single bed.  He kept complaining about how uncomfortable he was in bed, so over the holidays we also bought him a new bed and I spent 5 hours putting it together.  Harri kept asking me if I regretted painting and buying the bed as I was exhausted by the end of it,  but I was so happy that the painting was finally done and I was proud of myself as well! Harri is stoked with his 'new' bedroom (he shaved his head for the World's Greatest Shave at school).

The first week of holidays we headed to Hobart for a couple of nights and stayed with our friends Sarah and Joe.  We love catching up with them and they always make us feel so welcome. 

A month ago my brother Jared and his wife Becky had their fifth (!!)  baby - a gorgeous girl named Bridey.  She was born on Easter Monday which was awesome, and it meant we had the day off school and were able to make a trip to Hobart with my Mum that day and meet Bridey as soon as she was born.  Jay had to work so he wasn't able to come with us, but he got to meet Bridey on our trip to Hobart last week.  He is the eldest grandchild and Bridey is the youngest (and probably last) so it's so special to see them together.

The main reason we went to Hobart was to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I was so excited when I heard they were coming, as I saw them twice when I was a teenager and have never forgotten how clever and funny they were and always wanted to take my boys to see them.  I booked tickets for a group of us and it was lots of fun to go together with Sarah and Joe and their boys and my cousin Tim and his wife Helene and their kids. Before the Globetrotters we all went out for tea and caught up with our friends Dan and Lou who live in Hobart.

The Globetrotters were just as I remembered them, and it was lots of fun but I also think that the boy's probably weren't as amazed at their tricks as we were 'back in the day' because of all the trick shots that you see on YouTube now.  They did love it though and we had a really fun night.

Kobe was very excited that they hung around to give autographs and take photos with the fans afterwards.




Sarah asked me if we would like to go on her Mum and Step Dad Andrew's boat before we went home. She said we could go fishing and kayaking which sounded like heaps of fun. Kobe has literally been begging me for years to take him fishing and I just don't feel like I know enough about tackle and bait to take him on my own, so had been putting it off. When I told Kobe that Sarah asked if he would like to go fishing on her Mum's boat he was over the moon!


I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the 'boat' was going to be. It was such a beautiful yacht and we had the most amazing day.

We felt very lucky to be able to spend the day on it and had so much fun. We drove south and met the boat near the Peppermint Bay restaurant and spent the day at Simpson's Bay near Bruny Island.  The weather was beautiful (for autumn in Tasmania) and the water was so calm. 

Kobe was so excited to go fishing and Fran was lovely and very patient with him - teaching him how to do it. 

Kobe and I spent some time fishing out the back of the boat, and everyone else went up the front.  We heard a few people up the front having some luck and suddenly Kobe was very down and complaining that 'we need to move up the front as there's no fish back here'. 

He cracks me up and drives me crazy at the same time, as he wears his heart on his sleeve. If things are good he's having the best time, but he didn't have any patience and was so pessimistic saying 'I'm never going to catch anything!'.  I told him that he just had to be patient and that the fish were everywhere and that he shouldn't be so negative as it's not going to help. 


He cracked me up as he then said 'well the fish don't know if I'm upset or not do they! Being positive isn't going to make me catch them!' and I couldn't help but laugh because that was true!   I told him that he's making the day miserable by being so negative about it all, so he stopped complaining for a little bit, before decided to give the front of the boat a go.

I caught a couple of fish at the back of the boat, and a few people up the front were also catching them but they were all undersized except for one that Jay caught.   Once Kobe went up the front he had a lot more luck and ended up catching 4 fish. He was so excited and absolutely loved it.

All the boys except for Jay were brave and went swimming in their wetsuits. 

They also had heaps of fun kayaking.  Kobe flipped the kayak after a little while, but Sarah was out next to him and was very good at talking to him about how to get himself back into the Kayak. 

Sarah and I went in the double kayak together which was heaps of fun. I used to kayak a lot as a teenager, so it was fun to be out in one again.

The boys had the best time jumping off the side of the boat.

I felt very spoilt as Sarah and I laid under blankets out the front as we headed back in after a long day on the water, and Fran brought us out hot chocolates.  I didn't want to have to go back to reality!

We had such an amazing day. Thank you Fran, Andrew, Sarah and boys for taking us out.  It's something we will never forget.  Jalen even said today that he's very keen to go fishing again soon!


Kobe told me on the way home that Fran told him he was a very good boy, and that he was welcome to go on the boat anytime.  He took it literally, and has been begging to go back ever since!

A few days later we headed back to Hobart without Jay (who had to stay home to work) and had a lovely time catching up with family for Bridey's baby blessing at church.

I can't believe that my brother Jared has five kids!


It was so lovely that my brother Chrish flew down from Sydney for a few days and most of us were all together for it. We miss my sister Nicki and her husband Alex and kids who are in the USA.

 The grandmas together.  Both of the grandfather's have passed away.

Bridey is such a cutie and we had a lovely time staying at my brothers and spending some time snuggling her.

Chrish, Mum and I took Jared and Becky's kids to the Tahune Airwalk.   It was the first time Chrish had been there, and we hadn't been for a few years.

Kobe usually has basketball training on Saturday mornings, so it was nice over the holidays to not have to go to training as it meant we could do Parkrun.   Kobe and I just walk it but it's still nice to get out with a big group of people.  Poor Harri is really struggling with sore knees lately (we think it's from all his growth spurts) and has had to rest up lately and is missing not being able to run it.

 

On ANZAC Day we went to the march in town and met up with Tim and Helene and their kids.  As kids we always marched every year in Deloraine and I wish my boys would march with their schools, but they haven't chosen to yet.  Maybe next year.



It was lovely to have Erin spend some time with us over the holidays and Jay also went and spent some time with her family.

6 years ago on ANZAC Day I took Jalen to see the first Avengers movie. It was just a few months after Aaron died and he had promised him that he would take him to it.  He's been obsessed with superhero movies ever since then, and Avengers Infinity War came out on ANZAC day this year, so we went to see it that night.  Jay went with Erin and his friends and I took Harri and Kobe to the same session.  It was awesome and shocking and Jay is keen to go and see it again this week with some of his mates.

We had a great time bowling with my friend Bec and two of her kids. Bec and I went to Kinder and all through school together and it's lovely to have such a good friend still who I see regularly. We often go out for tea, but we don't often get the kids together.

Kobe went to a basketball 'camp' for a couple of hours with Devils basketball club on the holidays. It was awesome that a lot of the Under 18 boys came along to help out and the little boys loved having them there.

 

Kobe was very excited to be asked by one of Aaron's ex students who works at the Examiner Newspaper, if he would be in a photo to go on the front page of the paper. It was a photo with a St Kilda supporter as Hawthorn were playing the Saints the next day and it was the first AFL game in Launceston for the season.


They were so cute and Kobe did a great job playing up to the camera, and doing what the photographer asked him to do.

 

 

When we were leaving the stadium Kobe spotted Alistair Clarkson (the Hawthorn coach) so we grabbed a photo with him and wished him a happier 50th birthday as we had seen it on Hawthorn's Instagram page that morning.

 We are excited that footy season is back and we get to see live games in Launceston again.

 We were excited to see the front page of the paper the next day. The photo was so cute. I said to Kobe 'why are you so cute Kobes?' and he cracked me up as he said 'I think I'm more handsome than cute!'. Oh he cracks me up!

 There was also a photo inside the newspaper.

Last night we went to the game and had a great time. We made a quick trip to Kmart before and Harri kept commenting that we looked like 'bogans' walking around Kmart in our footy gear, so I  made sure we got a photo of the Kmart bogans (I've definitely seen worse!).

 The game was lots of fun with fireworks before the game, Samantha Jade singing and Hawthorn winning.  We also loved having a kick to kick afterwards.

Kobe has been asking for a while if we could go to 'Dad's oval' for a kick so we finally made it there today, on the last day of holidays.   We've had a lovely break and I don't know if I'm really ready to go back to work just yet, but then again you never feel ready. I'm sure once I'm there I'll be back in the swing of things within the first 10 minutes. I just have to remember that it's 10 weeks before the next holidays.  Hopefully this term won't be quite so hectic.