Summer Fun

Over the last eight years I've gone through different stages of how I feel about holidays.  Sometimes they're really hard and long and it's hard to fill in the days, other times I am just so ready for a break that I don't mind that the days are long.  

Summer holidays are a mix - I dread the week or so after school finishes and up until Christmas as Christmas just isn't a happy celebration when you have loved ones missing.  Out of all the school holidays that we have, I find summer is by far the easiest one, because it's so easy to keep busy when the weather is nice. I really feel like I can start enjoying summer holidays on the 27th and I'm grateful that I have another five weeks or so to spend with family and friends.  

This summer has been the best we've had for years as all of my family have been around, including Chrish who came down from Sydney and Nicki and her family who came over from the USA (they now live there permanently). 

I actually enjoyed Christmas for the first time in many years this year, as we got to spend it with most of my family.   Chrish arrived on Christmas morning and was here for almost two weeks.    We always love spending time with him in Sydney, but we love it when he comes to Tassie and we get to play tourist with him.  

It's great that there's such a good dog beach close to Mum's house.  Chrish drove from Sydney and caught the ferry over, which meant he could also bring his dog Tess with him. She was loving all the space to run around with Mum's dog Josie. 

One day we went to Lilydale Falls.  I decided to climb up to the first falls, and everyone had a great time laughing at me trying to get back across without getting wet! 

Years ago I'd heard about the abandoned train tunnel near Lilydale.  A friend at work recently reminded me of it as they'd been and she said she thought my boys would love it.  Jay had been with friends a couple of years ago, so we thought we'd finally check it out.  

It's 700 metres long and we decided to walk the whole way through.  It was so wet and muddy inside (it wasn't a good idea to wear sandals in there!) and there was water running down the walls and dripping onto us in some spots. It was so dark in the middle that we had to turn our torches on, on our phones so we could see properly (and avoid as much mud and water as possible). 

It was a really fun adventure, despite all the mud. 

That same day we kept going to the Bridestowe Lavender farm.  We caught it at a great time as the flowers were in full bloom.  It was mum's first time there. 

You can't go without trying the ice creams. Mum, Chrish and Kobe got lavender, Harri got blueberry/lavender and I got honey/lavender.  Next time I'm keen to try the chocolate/lavender. 

Most days these holidays Kobe and I have either swam at the beach or the Gorge, so when Chrish came into town, so had to take him for a swim at the Gorge. We always swim in the river and have a quick dip in the pool before we leave.  Kobe and I have been swimming up to the bridge and laying around on the rocks like seals in the sun, and sitting under the waterfall.

We swam with Chrish up past the bridge and took him to the rock with the hole in it, which we did last summer for the first time.  The only way you can get into it, is by swimming under the water, or jumping from the top.  Chrish and Kobe had fun jumping in to it, and I was only brave enough to swim up into it.

We went to a Big Bash cricket match with Mum and Chrish which was lots of fun, except that there were lots of rain delays and then it was finally called off half way through.  We were laughing the whole time because they'd pull out the covers and then the rain would stop, so they'd start play again, and then it would start raining again! There were lots of boos and cheers from the crowd which made us laugh. 

On New Years Eve we met friends down at Riverbend Park for a play and then watched the early fireworks from the riverbanks near the Silo Hotel. It was a great spot for it, and we know it'll now be our new tradition to go there every year. 

We've been loving all the summer fruits and discovered a place that you can get seconds strawberries for $5 for 2 kg, so we've made a couple of trips out there and come back with heaps of strawberries to eat and freeze.

We caught up with Alison (one of Noah's past in home support workers) while she was over from Melbourne for a bit, and Harri and her went for a mountain bike ride at Hollybank Forest.

Kobe and I had an explore while they were riding and Kobe rode his bike around the flat parts.

Nicki and Alex and the kids arrived a day before Chrish had to leave, so they had one night together. before Nicki headed down south to spend a week with Alex's family.   We went to Riverbend Park for a BBQ and play.



It was so nice to see their kids again after two years.  They've grown up heaps.  Nicki, Alex and Maddi have kept their Aussie accents but the others have a mix of Aussie and American.

We then came back to our house for dessert.  Mum bought some raspberries and strawberries from the place we had been getting them from and they were so good.

We did a couple of day trips to Bridport while Sam and Clare were camping there.  Tim and Helene also did day trips with us.  The first day we went out it was really smoky for most of the day, as the smoke from the bush fires on the mainland was being blown over.  It was awful and you could taste the smoke in your mouth.  I can't even imagine how bad it was for being in the fire areas. 

The smoke finally started to clear away, and we had a beautiful day there.  

We went back another day and had lots of fun walking over to the island. 

 We always spend our time between swimming, getting warm in the sun and beach cricket.

We drove out to celebrate Mum's birthday with her and met up with my brother Eden and Steph and the kids at the beach. It was such a beautiful day.

We always love doing our float down Hadspen River with Tim and Helene every summer.  The river is so low this year compared to last, and we were hitting lots of rocks where we normally wouldn't. 

Jay and Harri don't love swimming as much as Kobe and I do, so we've been going a lot without them this summer. It's actually been good though, because they've been off with mates doing what they love and we've been doing what we love, so we've all been happy.

One day while Kobe and I were swimming at the Gorge they had rehearsal for the Mona Foma show King Ubu.  It was funny watching it as we were swimming.  It was a really funny story about mainlanders who come to the Gorge and want to buy it, so they can put up apartments, so they try to find and kill the King of Tasmania.  

We went up and watched it one night and it was very different with all the costumes and lights.  

Alex had to fly back to the USA for work, so just Nicki and the kids came back up north for five nights before going home.   My sister in law Becky also came up to spend time with Nicki, so it was great having all the cousins together.  

The first day they were back up north was really hot, so it was the perfect day for the beach.  

They said that there's a lot of new food in the supermarket since they were here two years ago, so we got some of the new food for them to try.   They said that they really noticed how much better Australian food is this trip.

Kobe always has the best time when he's with his cousins.


The next day we walked out to Penguin Island while the tide was out.  Nicki was telling her kids the story of when Alex proposed to her out there (she refers to it as 'Romance Island' :) and the tide came in and they got stuck out there and had to call a friend with a boat, to come and save them.

Eden took everyone for rides on his jet ski, including random kids who asked him if he would take them. He told them he would, as long as it was okay with their dad so they were stoked! 

Nicki really wanted to take her kids to Pop's river (or the riverflats which Nan and Pop owned when they were alive).  Luckily Eden still knows the people who lease it, so he asked them if it was okay, for old times sake, if we took all our kids there for a swim.  

It was so nice to go back there, but the landscape of the river had changed so much since the big floods a few years back.  It was now very shallow till about half way out.  Before it would get deep after a few steps in.  

Josie was having a lovely time exploring. 

The water was actually quite warm (a lot warmer than the Gorge anyway) and we had such a lovely time being back there.  Kobe said 'I now know why you said you used to love this place Mum'.

The next day the kids went jetty jumping at Port Sorell (that was on Maddi's bucket list to do while she was here).

Then we booked out the Ulverstone Waterslide for a private booking. It was my nephew Eamon's birthday, so he had the best day.

Jay and Harri came along as it was the only chance that all the cousins would be together before Nicki and the kids flew back to the USA.  We love having a private booking at the slide because they let you get away with lots, that they normally wouldn't including having 14 people on a train! I don't know whether I like the normal version of the slo mo version better!

Jay and Harri were good sports and pushed the younger kids on the merry go round.

Last time we got a photo of all the grand kids together Bridey wasn't born yet, so it was nice to get a new photo with her in it. I know Harri is tall, but when I see photos like this one, it hits me how much he's grown lately!

Kobe and I stayed at Mum with Nicki and the kids on their last night there.  The kids had lots of fun picking out their favourite Australian treats at the supermarket for their last night and watched Harry Potter together.

The next morning we came into Launnie to go to the Architects of Air exhibit for Mona Foma at Royal Park, before Nicki and the kids flew out.

It was very cool! 

Nicki had never been to Burger Junkie before, so our (almost) last thing we did with them was to have a late lunch there. 

Harri was upset he couldn't come to lunch because he had to work, so we decided to call into Maccas for dessert and so they could see Harri before they flew out.   The kids didn't realise that you could now get two flavours in one frozen drink, so they were excited to try that. 

Kobe said goodbye to them at home, and Jay and I took two two cars to get them and their bags to the airport.

We had to get a selife at the airport before they left.  I felt bad for Nicki that they had such a huge trip home.  They weren't looking forward to getting back to snow and ice and freezing temperatures. It was so nice to have them 'home' again and to get to know the kids again. We had lots of fun in the car, taking turns to play our favourite songs (I put on lots of Aussie songs which I thought they should know).  We aren't sure when we will see each other again, but hopefully it won't be too long. 

We still have another week and a half of holidays, but they are flying by.  It's been my favourite summer in the past 8 years because I've been able to catch up with family and friends so much, while also having a nice break.  It's been lovely to be able to sleep in, catch up on shows online, get lots of sun, swim (I think swimming is my favourite thing ever - it's so therapeutic) and read some books (which I never seem to do when I'm working full time...I need to learn to relax a bit more when I'm working and read more even though I'm busy).

I finally decided to lash out on some outdoor furniture for my deck this year, and I've had fun doing the deck up by replanting lots of succulents in pots, sanding and varnishing the railing, getting a new BBQ and putting up some solar power LED lights (thanks to Bunnings' half price after Christmas sale - I scored two sets for $5 each!).

It's been so nice to have spend time out here during the holidays, just reading and relaxing.  I know that once school starts it's going to be hectic again, so I'm making the most of it while I can.