I can't believe another week has gone by already. We have been really enjoying Coffs some days, and other days we have spent at home unpacking and organising. All of our paintings are hung, and we have about an hour left of organising to do in the garage, and then we are done. We have donated a lot of stuff to charity, things that don't fit and that we have been living without since we moved here. We purged so much before we left, I can't believe how much stuff we have gotten rid of since moving here. It is amazing how much you can accumulate without realising it, and how little you need so many of your possessions!
The weather has been incredible, so hot one day that the kids decided they wanted to try the Sawtell sea pool. We went out there, and as beautiful as it was, the water was too cold. But the kids were determined to go swimming, so we took them to an indoor pool for a swim, which reminded us all of old times. We are really looking forward to going to the sea pool in the summer - Sawtell is amazingly beautiful!
We also took the kids to the Dolphin Marine Conservation Centre, and they loved it. We saw the turtles that have been rescued and are on their way to being released, we saw beautiful dolphins, penguins, and we had a close-up encounter with a sea lion. It was all really interesting. Afterwards we went to Sawtell for morning tea, and it was a great way to spend a morning!
One morning we went back to the park and cafe at Sapphire Beach, because the kids love it there. It has a great park with a zip line and a tall climbing tower, and good coffee and ice cream at the cafe. Win win!
The kids spent two days at Alithia this week. Next week we are hoping to extend it to three. Arley is not as sold as Carmie is on it, but I think that is only because he suffers some anxiety whenever he leaves the house. He would much rather stay home all day every day. However, he did come back smiling on both days. The kids are still asking us to pick them up a little early, but the hours are totally flexible there, so it's all good. On Wednesday Arley fell in the creek and spent the day all wet (as did three other kids), but he didn't seem to mind. They played in the bush, they did drama, a Spanish lesson, they made 'fossils' out of dough, drew, played games...how could they not love it?
Arley has been really great. Jeffrey and I keep talking about how well he has taken this whole transition. We were expecting rages and tantrums, but we've just had a few minor battles here and there. Part of the reason is that we are giving him two hours of computer time every day. We have withheld Minecraft and Roblox from him for so long, because they used to make him utterly crazy, but now they seem to give him an anchor point in his day and he is satisfied. He knows that every afternoon he gets to have his computer time, and he is a happy boy these days. I wish he would look forward to other things too, but it is what it is. He is in control of that little world, and there is no anxiety there, so he loves it.
Carmie is as sweet as ever. She was very nervous about Alithia this week, but she has come back both days so happy. She spends a lot of time still with her head in a book, and just tonight she has asked for our copy of Lord of the Flies to read. I'm not sure if it's appropriate for a nine year old, but it is the second time she has asked, so I told her to come talk to me about it when she has questions.
Tomorrow we are going to meet some other homeschoolers at their weekly tennis session. We were supposed to do this last week, but Carmie slipped and fell in the bathroom and banged up her knee really badly and couldn't walk properly for a few days. So typical!
I am really relieved that the house is coming together. I have run back and forth to K-Mart so many times to get odds and ends! Luckily it is only five minutes away, as opposed to 45 minutes away like it used to be. We have also bought a new lounge suite, coffee table and tv stand. We have to wait another three weeks or more for it to arrive, except we got three pieces of the lounge suite today (it is a five piece modular). So, that part of the house looks a bit like a college dormitory, and we can't wait for the rest of our furniture to arrive. That will be when we are finally all done!
Sawtell
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