38 degrees

It's HOT!

Too hot to do much else other than chill at our local pool.

8am and the tempreture outside is already 30 degrees, yup it's gonna be a HOT day.

How is your day going?

Easter gifts

The boys left out a little Easter basket for the Easter Bunny in hope that they would wake to find a yummy treat, and sure enough they DID!

Easter bunny had a munch of the carrots we left for him and had left these cute little bunnies for the boys. Yep that Easter Bunny knows they can't have milk and brought them a special one.

The boys got a little gift from us which had their ultra cute Easter Jammies to get us through the coming months and a teeny tiny egg!

Grandma and Grandpa had sent down some really cute chicks that Grandma had made on her embroidery machine and also a chefs outfit each. Needless to say we had to do some baking Easter day.

I just love me a Chef in uniform!

Child labour

On days like today when I begin cleaning the house I wonder why I go to the park sometimes and don't just pull out the vaccum. I am followed everywhere by Little Brother who just LOVES to help.

Being a wee bit smaller than me and a touch more agile he is able to get to all those 'hard to reach places'



Cartoons? Bleh... there's cleaning to be done Mum

What to do when Mum takes to long to get the vaccum for you.

Everything is done with extra GUSTO

... and the best part? When all the cleaning is done, we have spent a fun morning together, house is clean and Little Brother should hopefully have a rest, so the Mama can sit, take off her shoes and ENJOY the cleanliness before you can blink and it's gone!

Here's cheers

 to you my little Man on another birthday!

I have kept this one out of Little Brothers birthday post just so I could

So why not pop over and join in...



Camping

I am so happy to say that this most recent camping trip went soooo much better than our first! This time we grabbed a friend or two and all headed over to the Warrumbungles National Park. It was a quick trip but we had a great time.

We threw in the boys bikes and ever since Little Brother has been obsessed with his bike insisting on riding it practically everywhere. The boys love being outdoors and thought it was great fun trying to sneak up on these unsuspecting Kangaroos!

Right on our backdoor we had a little creek that was flowing. Trying to keep 'Red boy' outta that water with those super cute Cowboy boots proved to be a little difficult.

I love this picture of Little Brother taking a swing. The world is whizzing by and I get a little motion sick each time I look at it. Oh dear, I can't wait to get to the theme parks when the boys are older and scream my guts out on all the fast rides but each year older I get the more queezy I get, just looking at swings. Gulp.

We went to look at the exploratory. Boys didn't seem very interested in doing anything other than running around like headless chickens.

Bushwalking was great. We headed up the experienced track, yep because that was the silliest thing to do but anyways, and stopped when we reached this point. Scrambling up rocks on my knees and sheer rock drops with 3 very excited little guys who loved to be 10 steps ahead all the way, was just too nerve racking, thank you.

 Big Brother and Mumma having a rest before making the long hike down again.

Yep, the long hike down...

We also packed water pistols and the boys had a great time, they just need to spray AWAY from the tent please! Oh and that fire cooked some delicious marshmallows, I just forgot the crackers and chocolate for SMORES. Next time I will certainly not forget that one!!!!

But all in all this trip certainly didn't feel like camping, not with a nice warm shower (road side in my underwear - that bit mighta felt a bit like camping, but not the cleanliness that followed)

Dinners were beautiful. Stew the first night and then a delicous salad the second. Mmmm this tasted so good.

Even dessert was covered each night we were there! Thanks Ruthy for a yummy camping 1 pot recipe.
So after this weekend I am super happy to say that camping was a good time, just needed to pack those crackers, chocolate and my knitting next time.

Zoom zoom

A few weeks ago My Man headed off to Nth QLD to get his new glasses sorted. I had BIG plans for when we left the airport (shopping) but because the boys had been awake since about 5am they were pretty grumpy. So I ended up acomplishing nothing. Hmmm. After that though, when we got home, the boys were so, so good for me the whole time that MM was away and I am so thankful for that!

There just seems to be something about Trucks, Buses, Motorbikes, Diggers and AEROPLANES that drives boys nuts!

Candles

I won't say how many candles but this gorgeous Mummy just had another Birthday! Followed closely by my Dad which means that we just had to have a lamington tower to celebrate...



Nyngan...

...was a an experience.

We headed out yesterday lunch time for Nyngan, our first campout with the new trailer since we got it before Christmas. All set for a fun filled, family adventure. We knew, being our first camping adventure that it would be a learning experience. But really? Did we have to learn so so much in just 24 hours?

Lesson 1 – Be sure to pack the gas bottle. I’m sure this seems obvious, especially since they have those nifty little holders on the sides of the trailer but hey, I’m just saying, check that you have that little bottle of ‘dinner’ firmly attached.

Lesson 2 – Always inspect childrens play area, with them well away, by bashing the bananas out of it with a big stick, if a large swarm of wasps DOESN’T come out and bite you and your babies all over, then send them in, it’s SAFE.

Lesson 3 – Ice makes wasp bites better

Lesson 4 – Do not determine your camping spot based purely for shade. Even if the chance of rain is slim to none. Large dips are not good places to be.

Lesson 5- If your can makes a buzzing sound, you are not just being paranoid, there might actually be a Bee in there.

Lesson 6 – If you are camped by a beautiful river, then go swimming first. It just might be awesome and the absolute highlight of your trip!

Now I did add a few more points to my list of things that need to be repacked in a better position for us but these are the biggies that I think might apply to others as much as they applied to us.

I am pretty sure that this is the kind of camping trip that could make or break establishing new family traditions but we (I) am willing to give it another go. But if our second trip is this chaos (and pain) filled then I will swear off camping and be selling off an almost brand new camp trailer.

We didn't check out these play areas before the kiddies headed off, while we unpacked, but in hindsight I should have.

 The dreaded slide that harboured a wasp nest and stung me moments after I took this picture on  my back and leg, and then poor Big Brother was stung 3 times on his feet and once on his back. Little brother was screaming and crying too but no bites could be found on him, thankfully.

 This was the sting on my back after it happened.

 This is the sting today, still very swollen and sore. Man these guys hurt.

 And then it rained, who am I kidding, it POURED!

 Our nice shaddy spot under a tree, but in a dip.

A good chance for the boys to run and play in the rain and puddles though. Definetly a highlight.

Then to warm up we headed to the shower, which was home to many little green frogs. Fine by me, but not so fine by Little Brother who screamed through his whole shower and mine. There weren't even any frogs in our shower at the time, it was just the fact that they were next door. But by the end of the camping trip he was very gently, with wet hands of course, patting the little critters. Talk about leaps and bounds!

Some of our other froggy friends who tried to come home with us. Check out that little teeny tiny brown frog. Camo or what?

The caravan park are home to a dwarf shetlan pony, many colourful birds and a friendly guinea pig or two.

A lovely swim in the river before a BBQ lunch, then the long drive home.

 But I had to show hubby that I had not just become a paranoid worry wort from the swarm of wasps. When my can of drink made a buzzing sound I just had to tip it out into a bottle to show him that there was in fact a bug in my drink. Not just a bug though, a BEE. Like I hadn't been stung enough already.

Home Sweet Home

Have you been camping lately? Please tell me that you trip was better than mine and give me something to look forward to...