Summer is Over

Summer was a mix of highs and lows as we enjoyed spending time at the beach and pool with friends and family, but we also had the shock and sadness of Dad passing away.  I was already stressed before Dad passed away, as the whole summer holidays I anxiously waited to hear if I had a job teaching this term.  Dad and I spent some time together one day and he asked me about when I would hear if I had a job. I told him that it could be the day before school started and he said 'you'll have a job because you're my daughter and I love you'. It cracked me up and I told him that the Education Department doesn't work like that, but he was sure it would be okay. 

Even though I tell myself not to worry as there's nothing that I can do about it, and I just have to be patient and wait, it doesn't stop me feeling sick as I wondered what I would do if I didn't have a job.  I only found out five days before work actually started that I had a contract, and I couldn't even think about work then as we were planning Dad's funeral. I can't wait for the day when I can relax on school holidays, knowing that I have work after the holidays are over. 

We were looking forward to spending a few days at Mum and Dad's unit before Dad passed away, while Jalen went to a church youth camp.  Dad actually had his fall just a couple of days before we were going to stay with them, and ended up having to go to Hobart hospital but at the time we didn't know how serious things were and there was nothing we could do at the time to help anyway, so we ended up staying at their house on our own, while Jay was at camp.

He had a lovely time at camp with his mates, but Harri and Kobe were sad that Mum and Dad weren't at their house and that Jay was away. 

We ended up having a lovely few days on our own, even though we were anxious about Dad who was in Hobart hospital with Mum.   We spent some time with my cousins and uncle and aunty and had a great game of cricket with them one night.  It was good to have some laughs even though we were worried about Dad.

We were sitting on this beach playing, when we heard that Dad came out of his surgery well and said to Mum 'it's great to be alive!'.  We were all shocked that he came through brain surgery so well, and were so relieved. 

It's hard to believe that the day after this we would get the call from Mum saying he had gone into a coma and it wasn't looking good.   Life can change just so quickly.

Before Dad passed away we spent a lot of time swimming on hot days at the Gorge with friends.  Most days we would text each other, and would organise a time to meet there. We are so lucky to have this place to go to just a few minutes from home.

As always the weather really heated up once school went back.  Going back to school didn't stop us though.  Straight after school we would meet our friends at the Gorge for a swim most nights, as we knew we needed to make the most of it before the weather started to cool down.

Often our swims would then turn into tea at the park as we would grab food from the food trucks. 
It is so lovely to have great friends to hang out with. 


It's lucky I got a job to pay for all the burgers we were having at the park!

One night the missionaries joined us for tea which was fun.   Elder Nonoa has a few fans.

The weather started to cool down about a month after school started, but we are still keen to swim so we ended up booking an indoor pool with some friends. 

Nothing says summer like strawberries, so we were very excited to hear that a local strawberry farm had 'pick your own' berries for half price a couple of weekends ago.  

We were excited for a road trip and went home with kilograms of strawberries.  

 

 

  

We visited the Lilydale Falls on the way home.  Our friend's Gary and Lisa decided to take a nice selfie at the fall.  Jay cracks me up. 

Our summer has well and truly slipped away now, as we are having cool nights and are snuggling under blankets at night while we watch TV.   I hate that summer is over, but unfortunately it can't last forever.