The big news this week is that we have some seriously scary fires burning near us. They are absolutely huge, so big in fact that if the fire was a country, it would be the 18th smallest country in the world. The fire chief is saying that they can't put them out, that the only thing that will put them out is rain. There is rain forecast for a week from now. The fires are 13km away from Ulladulla, but there are a few small towns in between that are in imminent danger. And Milea and the horses - it is less than 10km from them. It is just the saddest thing, and we all are feeling extremely helpless, just watching and waiting. The sky is just grey and smokey, and the light is really strange. The loss of wildlife and properties is crushing, I can't even think about it.
On a positive note, Arley finally learnt to ride a bike this week! I have secretly been giving him lessons for over a month, about 4-5 times a week, so we could surprise Jeffrey. It was back-breaking for me, and the biggest lesson in patience I've ever had! The amount of times I got yelled at, oh my goodness! He was constantly in panic mode, so every time I let go he was a screaming lunatic. And then it just clicked one day, and typical Arley, a minute later he was riding like a pro. He is super happy, and I can actually entice him outside now without any drama! He is so proud of himself, and it's great, because now I have a really good example of trying hard at something and not giving up.
Before the fires hit, we got to Collers Beach again, but it was seriously windy down there, so we just played a few games of bocci ball and called it a day. The kids kicked butt at horse riding again on Monday, and on Tuesday they had tennis. Arley lost the plot because he kept missing the ball, but their instructor handled him well. Afterwards their instructor told me that he is super happy with Carmie's playing, and that these last two weeks, she has really stepped it up a notch and she's doing fantastic. She is so stoked!
We spent most of today housebound, but amazingly the kids played together really well. They even built a fort together in the lounge room. Tonight they got their walky talkies and played spies, and I pretended I had no idea they were spying on me, for a good hour. They were the noisiest, clunkiest spies I have ever heard, but I never let them know that I knew what they were up to, because it was the most peaceful hour I've had in ages! I've got to get them to play that game more often. I kept hearing really loud whispering of things like, "Arley, she's wiping down the counters! Write it down!". Ha ha.
Video of Arley riding a bike!
Family handball and bike riding sesh
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