Willbanks' Down Under: 389 + 285 Weeks

I didn't realise how much we did this week until I went through all of the photos. Arley has been a little ratty the last few days, and now I know why. We got to the beach for our morning walk a couple of times, which is good. The kids' Uncle Jay has arrived from China. We haven't seen him in over two years, so we have been spending a lot of time with him. We've had family beach day at Mollymook beach (see the photo of Arley and his Dida below), we had morning tea at the Golf Club, lots of games (as we've been indoors a fair bit, as the weather has been hit and miss). Jay came with us to the water park, and the kids couldn't get enough of him playing with them. It has been really lovely.

The kids had their last horse riding lesson until their horse riding camp in a few weeks. While we were watching Carmie ride, Arley got mauled by two horses that wanted his popcorn. It wasn't a scary mauling, but a very persistent and very funny mauling. They just kept coming back for more, and Arley was loving it. Afterwards we went to our weekly lunch at the Heritage bakery. I love our Mondays.

Carmie's drama crew had their end of year performance, The Paper Bag Princess. It was very cute, and she told me afterwards that she couldn't sleep the night before. Arley was very upset that he didn't get to put on a play too. Carmie had no stage fright at all, so huge improvements! Afterwards we went to Collers Beach for dinner, and it was a great end to the night.

When we went to the zoo last week, the kids saw the Trees Adventure place, and I promised them I'd take them to it before the school holidays hit, so we went up yesterday. It was awesome. The kids got to try their hand at zip lining, and they walked on suspension bridges and over boulders. They both absolutely loved it. The problem was that by the end Arley was very tired, and started getting frustrated with his harness and the tools, and he took it out on me. While he didn't want to stop the adventure, he was very cross and mean to me from up in the trees. He told me he didn't love me, didn't need a mother any more, and that he is moving out of home on January 27th (a very specific date!). It took some good lunch and a sleep in the car to level him out again. However, both kids loved the adventure and want to go back.

Today we went back up to Nowra for the kids' friend Aska's birthday party. It was being held at the trampoline place, and the kids got very hot and sweaty but had a blast. I wasn't going to take the kids, as we have family in town, but I felt too guilty, so up we went. It was just one more huge activity tacked onto a week of huge activities! And that's why Arley has been losing the plot.

There is one other reason. His best friend and neighbour Jemma is moving away tomorrow. Her family is moving to Wagga, so he is likely to never see her again. We have been preparing for this day for a while by talking about it, and he has actually been counting down the days in hours according to how many he has left with her. She came over this afternoon for a final play, and they had a really good one. He does not remember life without Jemma in it, and they are so close, they play for hours together, several times a week. They are two peas in a pod, and Arley's therapist told me she is the best type of friend for him (tough, and just shrugs off his aggression and doesn't put up with his nonsense). I am so sad for him, because they love each other so much, and now she is moving away. And I'm sad for myself, because she has been such wonderful entertainment for him!

Anyway, below is a video of the kids zip lining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsXczxVXjo&feature=youtu.be