A Tent, a Table, and a Thank you Mum!

I feel extravagant in our spending lately. Especially when our purchase list includes a tent and a massage table! We tend to buy a lot of our bigger purchases off eBay (as our families can attest :)). But not these. Jonathan wanted to get good quality to ensure they would last the distance. And I am very pleased with both. We call these our investment into our family and our marriage.

We have gotten ourselves a tent with the plan to go away regularly throughout the year for little camping holidays. A break from home (and it's constant demands of upkeep) to enjoy ourselves together as a family - at low cost (hence a tent). I'm really looking forward to it! One of my best holiday memories is from a couple of Christmases before I got married. My brother and I went away camping at Shakespeare Bay on our own. We tramped around the peninsula, explored, swam in the ocean. And ate way too many marshmallows. It was a great time and I have very fond memories of it. Now I know it's not going to be quite the same with two little ones, but I think we will have great fun. Jonathan and I set the tent up on the weekend (to practice), and the kids love playing in it. I like going out and lying in there too (Jon blew the air mattress up and put it out there) - I could happily go to sleep (if I wasn't being jumped on by two little girls)! Now to learn where the good camping spots for families are!

Jonathan set his will on getting us a folding massage table. So Friday found me making a trip to the Valley to purchase the one he had hunted out. (Yes, I got lost coming home; hate Ann Street! But getting the first massage on it that evening compensated :)). Jonathan and I both have back trouble, and I have trouble with my calves, so regular massage would be wonderful - but it wasn't happening. Tiredness, awkwardness of working on a bed and so forth. Now we expect it to be a regular part of our week. Jon made sure we got a face cradle with arm support so that the person getting the massage can read out loud - currently we're working our way through a great parenting book, "Don't Make Me Count To Three", and the book of Enoch together. I have a therapeutic massage book, and Jonathan has (finally!) been studying it to learn how to do a good massage - I'm quite willing to be practiced on! Time for me to put in some practice too (yay! says he).

(A big thank you to my mum who gave me so many massages for my back and legs in my late teens. I didn't fully appreciate the time and effort it cost you at the time, but now I do! Thank you so much!)(My mum is great at massages).

So, in future if you visit us, you might just get to sleep in the tent (kidding! unless you want to, of course!) and get a massage!