Camping at Lake Somerset

Looking out from our campsite

A foggy second morning

Setting up camp

Breakfast in the bush

Our new camp stove; Abigail calls it 'the dangerous'

Monkey bar antics at the playground

On the weekend we went away for a couple of nights camping up at Lake Somerset. It was a much welcome break from an overload of housework for me and a couple of 6-day work weeks for Jon.We bought a camp stove and another air mattress, both of which elicited much excitement from the girls in the lead up to our going away, and amused them while away. In teaching them not to go to close to the camp stove, we explained that it was dangerous; now Abigail calls it 'the dangerous'. The air mattress made a wonderful trampoline.

The forecast was for fine days but cold nights, so we packed lots of duvets and warm clothes (a roof rack will soon be needed - it was a full car!). It got down to 2 degrees our first night; the second wasn't quite as cold due to fog cover (plus a jumper and second pair of socks!). The days, in the sun, were pleasant.

I did the cooking, Jon the dishes. Dinner (first night - sausages, onion, potato salad and coleslaw; second night - kangaroo steaks, boiled potatoes, coleslaw) was eaten by LED light out in the dark (it was pitch black by 6pm), and at such times we were visited by a rabbit and a possum - very exciting! It was incredible how many more stars we were able to see being away from all the city lights, so Jon and I spent some time spotting constellations once the girls were in bed. In the mornings, we sat in the sun to eat breakfast (bacon and baked beans, or poached eggs, on toast) and warmed up quickly.

Reading in the sunshine

There was a mini golf course and a kids playground on site, so we made use of those; walks along the lake; Jon took lots of photographs of the birdlife; and I enjoyed resting. It was so nice to be out of the city and surrounded by bush. Two nights wasn't long enough, but it certainly was lovely and relaxing. Abigail tells me we need to go camping again soon, and I agree.

Clean and Green

Sarah guzzling her green smoothie

It has been a busy week - lots and lots of cleaning and tidying! We had our second rental inspection yesterday morning, so I have been much occupied with making the place look it's best. I'm sure the rental agent wouldn't notice if the walls were clean of fingerprints or not and other such small details, but at such times such things seem glaringly obvious and must be dealt with just in case! And this weekend we are billeting a lady connected with Jon's work who is coming to a training conference they are having tomorrow (Jonathan is picking up 4 people from the airport as I type), so the beds have been rearranged (the girls are top and tailing tonight - very cute!) and our spare room prepared for her arrival tonight. I am thankful that we haven't had a rental inspection before now - I don't think I would have managed the all the cleaning up a few weeks ago; and having two occasions where a tidy house is needed right after each other is another blessing - thank you God for the timing of this!

I have passed the 12 week mark now and am feeling much better, but still feel quite unwell late afternoon/evening. Hopefully in a week or two all the nausea will have passed. I have had a salad addiction the past fortnight - I am devouring salads, lunch and dinner (my grocery shop this week consisted only of fresh vegetables and fruit and some salad condiments - olives and sun-dried tomatoes!). Hopefully the lettuce, kale, endive and pansy seeds I have planted in my garden will start growing soon, then I can simply pick my salad ingredients from the garden. I saw a few endive seedlings starting to come through this morning, so I have hope that there might yet be some green in my thumbs!

Sarah and Abigail have been enjoying lots of green smoothies lately, which I'm pleased with. I think green leafy vegetables are one of the best things for our bodies and smoothies are a great way to get them into my kids. I have to make sure to make a big blender full if I want to have any too or else it all gets begged from me!

Have a happy weekend - and don't forget to eat your greens! :)

Labour Day

We did go bush walking again over the weekend. On Monday we spent 2 1/2 hours wandering round a section of Karawatha Forest we hadn't been to yet; and we found 4 more caches along our way (one of them being the first ever cache hidden in Queensland - over 10 years ago!).

Signing the cache log!

It was a sunny day, but the first half of the walk was a bit boggy and slippery underfoot. Sarah slept that part while in the sling; Abigail observed the path from the pram. We passed quite an assortment of people on our way - a young couple, families with young children like ourselves, cyclists, runners - all sorts! Nice to see people out and about enjoying the bush.

On the way up a steep shortcut

At the highest point of the walk we stopped for refreshments -grapes and water- found the last cache on our journey, and came back down. I'm sure the path was much steeper than the photo shows! We passed a shorter steeper short cut further down the path -and because Jonathan likes to take the shortest route possible, I'm glad he hadn't known about that one earlier!

From here the girls walked and frolicked the rest of the way; it was nice to slow the pace down and not have a 11kg load on my back! As we neared the main path back to the carpark, we found a quiet shady parallel path that we decided to take instead. It of course did not take us back to the bridge we needed to cross but diverted around the wrong side of the creek. Thankfully we didn't have to back track too far before we found a little path joining back up to the main route. Across the bridge and to the car! (We had been late starting so it was 1pm by this time). 

Another fun adventure in the bush - may there be many more ahead! We will explore Australia yet!

May the Fourth be with you :)

On Anzac Day last week, we did some Geo-caching (GPS treasure hunting) at the nearby Karawatha Forest. We only did a 'short' walk, but it took us a couple of hours with all the off-road hunting we did for the caches. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves, despite coming away with various scrapes, and hopefully we'll get out this long weekend to do some more (Labour Day weekend).

We had a run of wet weather last week, so Jonathan brought the trampoline into the garage for the girls. It was great - they spent lots of time on it. Now that it's back outside, it isn't as fun of course! :)

As of the 1st of this month, Abigail is now officially weaned. We've been slowly cutting out each of her last few feeds over the past few months. Jonathan was keen to see her stop feeding and recently I decided I had had enough too. She happily accepted the dropping of each feed, and while she often comes up to me still asking for 'just a little bit', especially when she sees Sarah feeding, getting a 'no' hasn't and doesn't upset her. I am glad we took it slowly and I am pleased with how easily she gave it up.

As for Sarah, we are working on night weaning her. Sarah has fed 4-6 times a night for as long as I remember. Recently, during a cold spell, she cut back to 2-3 feeds (must be too nice and snug in bed to get up!). We are now working on cutting night feeding out altogether. As with Abigail's night weaning (around the same age), Jonathan is tending to her through the nights (for the most part); she goes back to sleep without fuss if Jonathan goes to her; she expects a feed if it's me and won't go back to sleep until she gets it! So hopefully over the course of the next month or so she will start to sleep through the night. The thought of getting a full night's sleep in the near future is suddenly very appealing (haven't had one of those since Abigail was born!).

Bean growing season is here and taking an idea I came across, I have made a tee-pee with beans planted at the bottom of each stake. In the next month or two, the bean plants should grow up the stakes and make a nice leafy tee-pee for the girls to play in. It is a bit flimsy (I joined bamboo stakes together with duct tape, and I've had to plant in pots), so try and find solid stakes and plant straight into the ground/garden if possible. I'm thinking of trying to grow some leeks next (love leeks!).

Happy International Star Wars Day - may the fourth be with you! :) :)