Thank goodness this term went a lot faster than last term. It was nice to have school pretty much back to normal (other than the having to sanitise and wash hands many times throughout the day, having to disinfect tables and having to get parents to fill out Covid screening forms whenever they came to school for something).
I feel so lucky to live in Tasmania as the government was able to close the borders and we were able to get down to zero cases of Covid 19 after a few months. We still have restrictions of numbers at events and many events have been cancelled for the rest of the year, but we are very lucky.
We still have no cases and we are happy but also nervous that borders will be opening back up at the end of the month. I just hope that we will be able to contain Covid so we can still go about a fairly normal life.
The boys were so happy to be able to play club basketball, even though it was a shorter season than normal. They both had a tough season but just being able to play helped their mental health so much.
Jay came home for mid semester break during the week of his 21st and Harri's 16th birthday. We went out for tea for both of their birthdays, before Jay headed back to Hobart.
We celebrated Jay's birthday with him early, as he was going to be back in Hobart for his birthday. While he was home he caught up with his friends from up here. I love that he is still friends with Rani and has been since Kinder.
Jay was actually really excited to be in Hobart for his birthday as he's made a lot of friends down there this year, and it was the Christ College ball on the night of his birthday.
He sent me photos from the ball and I loved seeing how much fun he was having. I haven't met any of his new friends, but he talks about them a lot and has done lots of fun things with them like going camping on Bruny Island and has been playing lots of sport and is also in the Christ College play.
We visited Aaron's Dad and step Mum before the boys birthday and they're always amazed that the boys have grown so much. Kobe was very excited to be taller than Nanna now.
Harri passed his Learners drivers test a few days before his 16th birthday but couldn't get his license until the day of his birthday.
He was very hesitant in going for his license, but I didn't want him to be like Jay and take ages to get his drivers license so I put the pressure on him to go for it, so he could get it on his birthday. Even after he got it, he wasn't keen to drive and I wasn't keen to teach him how to drive either so we didn't go driving for a couple of weeks.
We started on the quiet roads near mum's house and at first he was very nervous, but he quickly got some confidence and now loves driving. I thought we would clash a bit as Harri is very strong headed and I thought he would find it hard to listen to me, but it's been surprisingly easy so far. He takes it very serious and listens to everything I say and so far we haven't had any arguments :)
Before Covid hit Tasmania, Harri asked me if he could play footy this year. He's only ever played school footy and I had said in the past that the boys couldn't play because I was only just coping with working full time and running them to basketball and work, let alone adding another sport on the weekend.
Even though I'm always busy and often exhausted, I agreed that he could play this year as I'm feeling on top of things a lot more lately, but just before the season started he decided he didn't want to play. Towards the end of the season the team he was going to play for were short of players, as they had a lot of injured players. They asked Harri if he could fill in which he was happy to do.
He played four games at the end of the season, and I actually really loved it. I would get scared every time he was near the ball that he was going to get injured, but once I got over that I really enjoyed watching the games. The best thing was that Kobe and I could sit in the warm car, eating and chatting while we watched the games.
On Father's Day he played at Deloraine which was a nice chance to go to Dad's grave at the same time. We also went to Aaron's grave in the morning. Jay headed back to Hobart that afternoon.
I cleaned up Dad and my brother Daniel's graves while we were there. Daniel would've turned 40 years old that week, but passed away when he was nine months old.
Most of Harri's footy matches were close by, but one week he had to play at St Helens. It's still a special place to us even though Aaron passed away there, so I was happy to go down for the day. We had lunch on the wharf before the game and the boys talked about the times they had gone fishing there with Aaron. Even though Kobe was three when Aaron died, he still has a few vivid memories of him and one of them was when we were at the playground near the wharf and Aaron texted me a photo of the fish he just caught.
After the footy we went to Binalong Bay for a walk, even though the weather wasn't great. We couldn't go all that way and not go to the beach.
The waves were huge, which Aaron would've loved. We will always love this beach as it was where we spent our last day with Aaron.
This was the boys being silly while I was trying to get a decent photo.....'no thumbs up Kobe', 'stop standing like a statue!'. 'give each other a hug'. Boys!
We also went for a quick drive to the lookout at Beer Barrel Beach.
Harri has loved playing school footy this year. He got to play his last game for the year on Aaron's oval which he was so happy about.
It's also hard to believe that Kobe will be leaving primary school soon and going to high school. He's definitely growing up and can be very emotional at times, but he's hilarious and lots of fun. 
We had to take our possum tree photo without Jay this year which was a bit sad, but it also tells a story about how our family is changing and it's a good change. I am happy that he is at a stage in his life where he is happy to be independent and is following his passions.
Simone and I only get to catch up every few months, but whenever we do it's always the same. I'm grateful to have such a good friend who has stuck with me through everything and has been there for the hard and good times.
I have adrenal fatigue (I'm blaming Noah and Aaron for that!) so I have to take things pretty easy, so there's no more high cardio classes for me like Step or Body Attack as my body just couldn't cope with it. I'm having to really listen to my body or I find I'm exhausted for a week or two if I do too much. Instead I'm doing lots of Yoga and Aqua Fitness classes and am loving it. It's also been nice to have had an old gym buddy in lots of my classes, who I haven't seen for a couple of years.
It's been such a strange year and it doesn't feel like it should be the end of the year already. The boys and I are loving being on school holidays at the moment and know that next term is going to fly.
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