460 + 356 Weeks

This week has definitely been better than last, but certainly not smooth sailing!  We did manage to get in an amazing beach day, which was awesome.  It feels very strange looking at the photos from that day because right now, six days later, I'm sitting in track pants, leg warmers, hoodie, scarf and beanie!  Our beach day seems so long ago!  The day after was just as hot, but instead of going to north Mollymook again, we headed south a little to Bawley Point to explore the rocks there.  We love it there, it is incredibly beautiful and we rarely see another soul.  The last time we went it was cloudy and stormy, and Carmie actually got really frightened, so it was good to go back in good weather, as she realised it isn't scary at all.

Monday was also a lovely day, and we had a great horse riding lesson.  And then the weather turned! The kids still got to tennis this week (while I celebrated my half hour of alone time for the week!).  Today has been rainy and miserable.  Horse riding was postponed until tomorrow, and we've been having an inside day with lots of reading and drawing comics and admittedly, some VR.

I have to admit, I am hooked on the VR!  It is so cool!  I haven't missed a day of working out since we got it, and my whole body is aching but I keep going back for more.  I can't help myself.  It is just too much fun.  We play a family game, where the person with the headset is a tree, and the other three of us are on our iPads, and we have to steal the acorns from the tree while the tree pelts us with different balls.  It is too funny, and I am so bad at it, but I keep going back for more.

Eh, and that's about it really.  We have a few crappy days of weather ahead of us, which means lots of inside time.  Hopefully Arley keeps his cool.  I can't seem to get his head out of his iPad recently, but he is reading books on it, so it's not so bad.  And the kids did help in a big home clean-up this morning, so that's something.  Small miracles!

North Mollymook Beach

Bawley Beach

459 + 355 Weeks

Well, this week has been some good, some bad.  The good is that we got an Oculus Quest Virtual Reality headset.  Arley has been wanting one for ages, so Jeffrey did some research (after I said no a dozen times), and then Jeffery wanted one, and I still said no a dozen times.  Until I caved.  It arrived a few days ago, and it is SO MUCH FUN.  Oh my goodness.  It is really trippy, you are actually in the game.  The kids have been playing something call Job Simulator, which they love, and Jeffrey and I have been doing workouts that have been kicking our butts, our favourite being the boxing simulator.  There is a dance game where you're in a club with other dancers, there's racketball, and we also bought a spray painting game where you can spray paint on a wall, and it is so cool!  I am pretty anti-gamer, but I honestly can't recommend it enough.  Workouts are so fun now, I just want to do it again and again!  So good!

We also got to Collers Beach again, as the weather has been pretty amazing.  We played bocci ball there, and the kids did running races.  We also had a surprise run-in with Lolo and Dida, which was nice, because the kids miss them so much.  We've had outside play, chalk shadow-drawing, ratty play, and the kids have been playing lots of their make-believe spy game.  The kids kicked butt at tennis this week, but have been more like rodeo clowns at horse riding.

And now for the bad.  Arley has had a rough few days.  It always makes things so much tougher.  The kids have been bike riding in the cul de sac, but Arley is really nervous about it.  I am trying to make him do it anyway, but I'm not sure it is worth it at this point.  He learnt how to ride without training wheels back in October, and he was great.  But then the fires hit for two months, and then it rained for three weeks, and the break from riding was just too long for his confidence.  He was convinced he couldn't do it anymore, and he is very fearful of riding, especially when Carmie is also riding.  He thinks she will crash into him, and in a moment of stress he actually pushed her off her bike while she was riding.  She wasn't hurt too badly, thank goodness.  He is so very impulsive, and needs to be entertained at all times.  He literally needs information to be fed to his brain continually or he gets bored and frustrated.  And a bored and frustrated Arley is a bad combination.  Basically if my attention from him is diverted at all he needs to be on a screen or he goes haywire.  Luckily he has an app called Epic on his iPad that is just a ton of books, so he reads a lot, but it is still a screen, which drives me crazy.  He is quite happy to be off them, as long as he is playing with me or Carmie, and sometimes Jeff.  It is very exhausting!!

This afternoon I took the kids to the Bogey Hole for some climbing and beach play, while Jeffrey did a workout and gave a guitar lesson.  We had a good time, and Arley actually said, "That was fun!"  We saw an autistic boy there who was stimming and making repetitive noises, so it was a really good opportunity to have a talk with the kids about autism and the different ways it affects different people.

Carmie is sweet as pie, as always.  She is definitely affected by Arley's aggression, but she spends a lot of time with her Dad and he showers her with love.  I think she is definitely a Daddy's girl.  She loves to run, and is constantly asking for running races.  Oh how different she is from her mother!

Today has been a good day, however we had a fair amount of drama tonight.  Arley doesn’t understand why he needs to ask nicely for a favour instead of demanding, and it got really out of hand.  We had a big chat about it afterwards, and he told me he is in pain when he is so angry, and can’t I just rescue him.  It broke my heart.  Poor guy.  I’ve got to figure this out.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day!

A short video of Carmie trying out the VR for the first time:

https://youtu.be/knREa1YofGQ

A visit to Collers Beach

 Making ochre paint for face painting

 Playing spies

 Gotta love ‘em

 “Raymond’ questioning me

 Surprise!  The kids get the VR

 Arley was first to give it a go

 This was Arley’s idea of an art project!  At least he has good scissor skills!

 This afternoon at the Bogey Hole