Friday 29 January 2016

Lots of friends and water

It's raining this morning!!! It feels so lovely and refreshing and I feel a great sense of relief. For the last 48 hours the forecast has been for a very high probability of rain - and it has rained lots in some areas of Victoria (and around Melbourne even), but we kept missing out. I've been watching the radar and the rain has moved just to the north or south of us, or died out before it got this far east - it's been so frustrating, and the humidity has been building... So it's wonderful to finally wake up to steady rainy this morning.

On Wednesday morning we still had the kids over from the sleepover the night before. The boys crashed in the early morning after staying up so late, and slept for a few hours each. The girls were surprisingly happy and active. They played the Harry Potter Scene It game for a while, and went for a bike ride next door to pick blackberries, came back and filled up the paddling pool with water to cool off, played on their iPads for a while, and were fading by about lunch time. I took them home on our way to meet up with some other homeschooling families at Lillydale Lake. (We called in to the op shop on the way through and found some more My Little Ponies for Millie, she was very happy).

We got to the playground and I couldn't believe how hot it was! Very oppressive heat and not really fun for playing in the sun. We set up a picnic blanket in some shade and for most of the afternoon the kids (mine and the others) lay on the rugs and only occasionally ventured out into the playground. One family had brought their dog along so she provided a bit of entertainment. I had a good chat to the other mums and one dad. Most of those who were there have only been homeschooling for a short while so it was good to chat about how things tend to progress. As most of the others were leaving our good friends the Hs arrived, and after a while we and one other family moved down to the lake where the kids could swim and cool off. The parents stood in water about shin deep, and the kids played for ages, the big kids as far out in the lake as they were comfortable, the smaller ones in and out a bit and playing in the sand as well. It was such an improvement to sitting in the shade and feeling exhausted!

We headed home when the storm clouds threatened. I was thinking my washing would get wet so I grabbed it off the line straightaway but we didn't get more than a few drops. Tony worked a few extra hours at work then raced in for a quick shower and a bite to eat before heading off to darts - he hasn't played competition darts in over 10 years so was excited to be getting back into it. LiAM and Caitlin fell asleep early so Millie and I played games and then made a tiger mask of paper plates and pipe cleaners.

On Thursday LiAM woke early and came on my walk with me. Instead of going around the dam we went down to the water's edge and looked at the plants growing there and the types of animal footprints we could see. We came back and he played his monster game on the iPod . When Millie woke up she played on the computer for a while, then they watched some tv. It was still hot and muggy and no one felt like doing much. We popped into town at one point to return library books (but the library wasn't open) and to get Millie some chocolate milk which she'd been craving all week.

In the afternoon our friends from Sydney arrived in their bus to spend the night at our house.  The girls went blackberry picking and then spent the afternoon dressing up and playing role playing games. The boys played Halo on the xbox and after an initial discussion about who was going to play first, quickly figured out a way for the 3 of them to happily play with 2 controllers. I had a wonderful chat with L. Once the sun had gone behind the clouds the girls and L and I went down to the dam for a swim. It was so lovely to be in the water. I didn't stay in long, L and I sat on the shore and watched the girls play and swim and cover themselves in mud, it was a lot of fun. Back at the house the girls set up a graduation ceremony for Caitlin and Millie - they made outfits and hats and certificates. There was also a wedding, and then lots of craft, the girls made some really pretty and creative creatures.

We managed to convince everyone to go to bed around 11.30 - they were all exhausted and so were we! It's so great how easily our 2 families fit together, we only see each other a couple of times a year but it's as if no time has passed when we get back together.

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