Sunday, January 01, 2006

Camping

We finally used our tent!

Nate has been trying to organize a day at the beach, and on Christmas we organized to go camping with Simon and Esther and all the kids. So on Wednesday, 28th we loaded up the car. Mum and Dad arrived with Abby and Tim, who were going to come with us, and Simon, Esther, Ben and Ezra arrived soon after. We drove all the way to Port Fairy, stopping for lunch, and found our site (which someone had camped in!) Then we were given a better site, and we popped up the tents. It was hot work!!! And we didn't have to look after 4 kids age 5 and under!

Then we wandered across the road to where SUFM beach mission was setting up for their first night. It was a little unorganized; apparently they didn't have many volunteers that year. And the mozzies were swarming! I thought I slapped them pretty quick, but I still have 6 bites on my arms and legs.

Abby was a bit disappointed that we didn't go to the beach right away! She's the only one who'd been to the beach, at 10 months of age, and she was kind of excited!

We had tea in our tent, as we have a little front area we could all sit in with a little table, and we could limit the number of mozzies allowed in (like Bouncers). Then, when the kids were asleep, the four of us adults played Canasta until after 1am.

After taking the kids to Beach Mission again, we had lunch and headed to the beach. It took 5 minutes to walk there! There was lots of grass, lots of flat, nice sand with shells here and there, and little waves that came in a fair way on the flat beach. Out further, there were bigger waves; just big enough to push you all the way in on a boogey board, but not big enough to push you under. I held Ben's hand, and we went in up to about his knees. He was so excited about the waves! He'd scream, then laugh, and grip my hand tight. We stayed there quite a while, until the poor boy started shaking with cold. It was a nice warm day, and you'd be pretty much warmed up by the time you walked to the towels. He wanted to go straight back in, but his lips were a bit blue!

Tim was another story, of course; he lasted about 30 seconds before he ran. Simon and I looked around, after we'd been in the water for about 2 minutes, and Tim was gone. (I tell you, it was not the first time either of us lost a kid we were keeping an eye on! Those tackers are quick!!) When we spotted him, he was heading up the ramp, presumably on his way back to camp! He spent most of the afternoon digging and building, though by the end of the day he was wading in up to his knees for short periods (to clean shells.) I was proud of him!

Abby was braver, of course, and went out a bit further with her dad and her Uncle Nathan. Uncle Nathan tried to teach her to boogey board, but it was a bit much for a 5 year old... she gave it a good try, however, and thought "swimming" with Uncle Nathan a bit of a high-light.

When Esther and Ezra came with the car (after his "lunch") she set up a little tent, and he laid in it the rest of the day. He's only a few months old, after all. Esther had a bit of a swim later, but keeping track of the kids, as I said, was rather a full-time job.

I had a good go on Nate's boogey board; the waves were great! I got lots of sore muscles and just a bit of sunburn, but it was definitely worth the trip, just for that swim.

After tea, when the kids slept, we four finished off the Canasta game we'd started. The boys won :o( but we had lots of fun, and didn't finish so late. And in the morning we packed up and were gone by 10-ish. We stopped in to see Auntie Sandie and Callan in Warnambool on the way home. Once Nathan and I had dropped Abby and Tim home, we dumped our luggage and watched 3 DVD's; we felt wrecked! It was still boiling. It's only just started to cool off this afternoon (Jan 1) after a bit of rain.

New Year! I stayed up until after midnight, but not to see in the new year; I was playing the Sims 2, and didn't even realize it was 2006 until about 1am as I went to bed. However, I got up at 8:30, which I'm planning to do most days, and had a healthy breaky, made my bed, did my hair and gave the kitchen a quick clean. I did all the things on my FLY list for Sunday, and now it's Free Time until I cook dinner. I weighed a bit less this morning than I did on last Jan 1. But hopefully I'll be quite a bit lower by the end of my holidays.

Well, I might go play Sims 2 again. It's a bit of fun!!

Happy New Year!

1 comment:

kelgell said...

Yay! Sounds like you had fun. I'll have to come out for a visit some day soonish--watch Robots!!