Loving Summer Holidays

It's hard to believe that we are half way through our summer holidays already.  I used to dread holidays because the days can be so long at times, and they still can be long, but now I'm really starting to enjoy the time off.  I think now I just dread 'celebrations' such as Christmas and birthdays, rather than actual holidays, because celebrations can still be hard.

It's nice to have some busier days when we go out and about, and then some quiet days where we just hang out at home.  The boys would hang out at home every day if  I let them (except for Kobe who asks every day 'are we doing something fun today?' meaning 'are we going out somewhere'), but after a couple of days at home I go a bit crazy and have to get out.

It has been nice to just do things on the spur of the moment and I've decided to keep my good camera at home, so we can just enjoy the time.  I hate it when I get back that I don't have any really nice photos, but usually get photos on my phone.  I'm sorry to anyone who follows me on Instagram as I tend to just recycle a lot of my Instagram photos on my blog, but my blog is really just my family journal so I want to make sure that I record what we have been up to. 

I'm very lucky because all my boys love to sleep in.  This morning we had plans so I woke them up at 9.30 am and got into trouble for waking them on school holidays! It's nice to sleep in and I don't know how we are going to cope when school goes back.  I love my bed all the time, but especially now with my gorgeous 'A' and 'L' cushions that my friend Simone gave me for Christmas. 

The boys were keen to see 'Big Hero 6' at the movies, so that was one of the first things we have did on the holidays.  We loved it and Kobe is already asking me to buy it when it comes out on DVD.

Harri and Kobe have become obsessed with soccer and cricket lately, and it's been fun listening to them in the backyard together.  They usually last about five minutes before the fighting begins about whether or not they were out, and then they come in for about twenty minutes, before they decide to go out and play together again.

We spent New Years Eve with my friends Lisa and Simone and their families, and had a lovely time at the Gorge before going to watch the early fireworks. 

Three old grannies with their glasses!

Kobe was so excited that he got to stay up till midnight for the first time.  When I put him to bed we decided to celebrate with a selfie or two. 

Whenever it's a warm day the boys ask if we can eat tea out on the deck. 

We've taken a lot of day trips different places, and always love going to the beach near where my Mum and Dad and brother's live. 

The boys had lots of fun at the beach with their cousins.

We love this beach when the tide goes out, because it leaves lots of little pools to play in.

We finally took away all of the Christmas decorations from Noah and Aaron's graves.

While my sister Nicki was here, we got together with her family, my Mum and my sister in laws and their kids.  We had a lovely day at Bakers Beach - going for a short walk with all the kids, and then hanging out at the beach.  The boys couldn't remember when we went there about six months before Noah passed away, but once we got there they remembered a lot about that day. 

My boys with all of their cousins on my side, except the one on the way.

Kobe came over to me with this awful fish that one of the boys had found, and loved waving it in my face.

Mum captured it on her phone :) 

Obviously the thing to do when you're a teenager is to pull a silly face for every photo :)

We have loved going to the Gorge for a swim on really hot days.  I was especially excited to see one of my EAL families there swimming.  Their Dad doesn't know how to swim yet, so it was lovely watching some high school boys trying to teach him how to swim. 

Harri and Kobe have been loving watching the T20 cricket on TV every night, and have been asking me if we could go to a live game in Hobart.  I'm not a fan of watching cricket, but have actually been getting into some of the exciting games, so thought it would be fun to go to a game with them.  Kobe was so excited because he has never been to a live game before. 

While we were in Hobart we visited our friend Clare who is staying at Ronald McDonald House as she has been having trouble with her pregnancy.  It was lovely to go back there, and we had a lot of nice memories of staying there, even though that's where we were when Noah passed away. It was nice to see that they were actually staying in the room that we stayed in a few times.

The boys were so excited to go to the cricket...or two of them were :) Jalen wasn't very thrilled about going, but actually enjoyed the game in the end. It was fun with the crowd getting into it, flames of fire lighting up whenever someone got out, and music the whole game.

They loved the Mexican wave which seemed to on forever, as it went around the stadium many times.

When Harri saw this he straight away remembered being there with Aaron.  Both boys wanted to have a bowl, just like Aaron did when we went there together.

The boys desperately wanted their own hurricanes gear, and were very excited to get a t-shirt.

We stayed in Hobart for the night with our friend Sarah and her family, and had a lovely time at their home.   The boys were especially excited about their cool rumpus room with a basketball shoot out game.  We had lots of fun playing off each other.

Harri gets along so well with her son Taj and wishes that they lived closer, so they could hang out more. 

The boys loved checking out Sarah's recording studio.

This morning we tried something we haven't done before and went geocaching with some friends, who do it often.  It was fun to learn how to do it, and also a lot harder than I thought it would be.  We ended up finding three caches.

I hope that the next few weeks of holidays don't go too fast, because we are just starting to really relax, and have a lot more that we want to do before school goes back.  I'm starting to panic because I know that we will be back at school before we know it, and I want to make the most of the last few weeks of holidays.