Dancing and swimming

I woke early to the sound of hot air balloons being inflated - there were 7 of them in the paddock next to our house, it was a particularly spectacular sight. They take off from here often enough that I don't bother waking the kids to see anymore - I've never seen 7 at once though, and there were 4 all in a row with their fabric pushing into each other as they inflated, it was a great wall of colour beyond our little pond.

The kids all had a bit of a sleep in, and when Amelie woke up she didn't really want to get out of bed and wasn't talking much. I was feeling tired and so I jumped back into bed with her and we played Hungry Babies and then Township on the iPad. It was really lovely, snuggling in bed and chatting about the games, working out our strategies, me relaxing my desire to 'just get on with the game' so that she could have fun just exploring and looking at things and talking and thinking about them. LiAM came in and watched for a while then the 2 of them went out to the lounge room to play Minecraft and I had a little nap, which set me up nicely for the rest of the day.

When Caitlin woke up she did some more manga drawing, she's now able to create her own characters rather than copy them, and she's really getting the hang of it. She and Amelie looked through a loom band creatures book and talked about which creatures Caitlin might make.

I'd borrowed a Just Dance game from the library so when the kids found that they cleared the lounge room floor and spent 3 hours dancing and singing. They took it in turns to be the main dancer and the rest of the time joined in as backing dancers or encouraged those who were dancing. LiAM was good at picking which moves gave good feedback so could help Caitlin maximise her points. He also figured out the points structure and how many points were needed to be awarded each star. Once they'd had enough dancing LiAM and Amelie played Lego Marvel Superheroes for a while and everyone had something to eat.

It was a surprisingly hot day after a whole string of milder days, and a few hours of dancing left everyone feeling pretty warm. We went down to the dam for a swim, the water level was much lower than last time we'd swum, and there was a lot of pond grass visible below the water which freaked everyone out a bit. The mud was very slimy too, so it took us a while to get comfortable with being in the water - but it was lovely once we were in, a perfect way to cool off. Amelie came out as far as she could stand up, and swam around a bit, that is by far the most confident she's been in the dam.

We didn't stay long as the sun was blaring down and not everyone had been that keen on going, so a quickish dip was all we needed. Well, it was probably 40 minutes or so, which is quick for us when it comes to swimming. LiAM and Caitlin lay in the mud and covered themselves in it a couple of times, then rinsed off and we headed home. On the way we chatted about the grapes, whether they were ready, why we can't eat them, whether 'the wine making company that Daddy works for will pick them one day' (Amelie), when they might be picked, how they pick them, why it's ok for us to walk on the roads around the vineyard but not between the vines, whether Buckley is safe wandering off through the vines and how he could get away if a tractor was coming.

Once home I cooked some dinner and we watched Australia's Got Talent, then Degrassi, then Heartland. Tony finally came home around 9 and it was great to see him briefly before he and Amelie and I went to bed, while LiAM and Caitlin stayed up for a bit longer and played Lego Marvel Superheroes again.

Morning walks

Since we've been back from our trip I've been getting back into my rhythm of going for a walk in the morning before Tony goes back to work. It clears my head and helps put things in perspective, and increases my energy for the whole day. Sometimes it feels like too much of a bother, when I'm cosy inside with a warm cup of tea - when I get out there though I never regret it. I usually walk down to the dam and do a lap of the dam and then back home - takes about 15 minutes.

Yesterday Buckley and I met a fox on our way down the hill. Buckley chased him happily through the vines, the 2 of them zig-zagged through the rows until I couldn't see them any more. It actually looked more like they were playing than seriously chasing/running away, although I can't be sure. From the dam wall I could see 2 beautiful rainbows to the south - beautiful. As I walked around the dam there were dark dark clouds over the mountains - the rain hit when I was about 3/4 of the way around and it was icy and coming in sideways! I got wet pretty quickly and the wind was making me colder so I came down the outside of the dam wall to get some shelter, and met 2 kangaroos who'd been in the top block of vines (I've never seen any in there before). One panicked and went back up into the vines, one hopped around behind me and went around the dam. The wind helped me get back up the hill pretty quickly and into the warm cosy house, feeling quite exhilerated.

One morning last week when I went out the air was cold and crisp and clear and the sun was rising through a mass of red clouds. There were 2 hot air balloons drifting over the dam as they headed to their landing place somewhere to the south. It was a beautiful morning and I had my camera with me so was able to get some great shots.

2 ballons over the vineyard

Sunrise over Mt St Leonards

2 balloons above the dam

Balloon reflected in the dam

Mist and reflections in the dam