Lockdown 2.0, Day 32

I was enjoying being in a little news bubble (or maybe it's a no news bubble) - happily existing in our little family group and not being impacted by what was going on in the world beyond our driveway. I did see the numbers today when I was looking for something else (always dangerous to go near a news site if I don't want to see the news) - new cases below 400, but 17 deaths, so not good overall - but with no idea what the case numbers have been over the past few days, I was pleased to see that bit a tad lower. I'll keep up my news hiatus for a few more days and see how I'm feeling.

I slept really badly last night, so woke later than I'd planned. I'd wanted to go to Aldi at 8.30 and do an early morning shop - I left here after 9 and popped into Coles first, then the bakery, then did my main grocery shop at Aldi. It was pretty quiet and an enjoyable shop. Everyone was wearing masks, even the walkers I saw as I drove in and out of town. I was amazed at how much better I'm feeling this week than last - then I needed the girls to push the trolley and load and unload the groceries and I was still exhausted, today I was fine doing it all by myself. Back at home I worked in the yard for a while, chatted to Tony while I sorted our large pile of socks, then Amelie and I did some baking - she made snickerdoodles and I made waffles. I had a shower then a nap, then worked on my Facebook page for a while https://www.facebook.com/AnnieLouCreative/

I chatted to Tony's family on their Zoom call before going for a walk - I deliberately did not take my camera because I wanted to focus on walking and looking at the late afternoon sun - it was SO beautiful, the light was incredible - golden light with dark clouds to the north and east which created an amazing mood. (And I did wish I had my camera with me. I walked to the other side of the creek, I haven't done that for a few weeks and the trees over there have all grown a heap, the gap between trees and fence is much narrower than last time I was there. Luna loved all the smells, looks like there's been lots of animal activity over that side of the property (and we saw a fox).

Tone cooked a lamb roast for dinner - so delicious! We spent a bit of time trying to get my car started - I've been having battery problems and I ended up taking Tony's car to the shops this morning - it seems to be working ok now. We all watched Ninja Warrior together - 1st part of the Grand Final and a very exciting night to watch.

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.