488 + 384 Weeks

 I have actually remembered to post on time this week!  Even though the time is arbitrary, I have been posting every Thursday night since just after Arely was born, so more than seven years now.  I feel that if I skip a post, then that will be it, the blog will end...I know that is ridiculous, but that is my uptight black -and-white thinking brain for you.

This week has been good, albeit with the usual dramas.  Arley has had a few whopping meltdowns.  I got one on voice memo on my phone so I can play it for the paediatrician next week.  My hopes are really up for this new paediatrician, I really hope he works out.  Otherwise I will have to keep searching, and waiting.

On Friday night last week we went to the Twilight Food Market which is an outdoor hot food market with live music that is held here in Coffs at Park Beach every Friday (yes, there are things to do here in Coffs!).  I chose Ethiopian food while the kids and Jeffrey shared a pizza, and we had a picnic on the grass.  Such a lovely, easy way to do dinner on a Friday night!

On the weekend we had one ‘home day’ and then on Sunday we took a trip out to Dorrigo, to Dangar  Falls, which is about an hour away.  It was SO beautiful there, with a great big waterfall that stormed into a swimming hole and a lovely river.  It was a bit too cold for us to take the plunge, but we have promised the kids we’ll go back on a really hot day (it is a bit cooler up in Dorrigo) so that we can swim behind the waterfall.  

The kids did homeschool tennis on Friday, and then on Tuesday we had our family tennis lesson.  It was our third one, and still so fun!  We love it so much, we’d do it every day if we could.  After three lessons we can really see improvement in all of us.  I have a pretty bad forehand but a surprisingly good backhand (for a novice!), so I’m not completely embarrassed out on the court :)  We also did a family swim session at the pool.  The kids love it so much when we do activities together - I wonder how long that will last!

On Wednesday we travelled up to the Promiselands so the kids could have a play in the Never Never creek with their friends Will and Charlie.  Talk about beautiful, and being immersed in nature. We went around the bend from where we went last time, and it was even more incredible.  The kids divided themselves into two groups, Will and Carmie vs Charlie and Arley, and they got a little nasty with each other, so I’ll have to get on top of that, but apart from that, it was a really lovely day.  Luckily I get along very well with Will and Charlie’s mother, so it was pleasant for me as well.

So, the one problem with living here in Coffs is that the weather is so amazing that we want to get out every day.  While this is awesome, it leaves a lot of chores hanging, and so today we wrote up a to-do list of six different big things to get done over the next week or so.  Jefffrey and I were so proud, because we actually managed to cross three things off that list, and get the ball rolling on one more task.  We were even high-fiving each other...until I realised that we forgot to take the kids to their private swimming lessons.  We had one thing that we actually HAD to get done today, and we forgot!!  I need a secretary!

At the Twilight Food Market

Walking to Dangar Falls

After a long family swim session

Giant bubbles!  That's considered science, right? :)

487 + 383 Weeks

 I'm late once again with the blog, but for a good reason this time!  Last night the kids and I spent the night at Opal Cove Resort.  Jeffrey's friend Gilbert and his son came to Coffs for the night, so they stayed over and had a boys night while the kids and I got away for a mini-vacation :)  We went to the resort early so that the kids could spend more time in the pool, and Jeffrey came too.  They had a blast.  Then Jeff left to spend his night with Gilbert, and the kids and I went to the gym, the arcade room, relaxed in the hotel room, and then went to the restaurant for dinner.  The kids were very chuffed.  After dinner they watched a movie in the hotel room while I got a bit of work done.  And then I spent the night getting whacked and kicked by Arley who I was sharing a bed with!  He was so happy to be in my bed that he had to sleep right up close to me, in the middle of the bed.  It turns out he is a restless sleeper, and I spent the night clinging to the edge of the bed with a wall of pillows between us to protect myself!  This morning the kids didn't want to leave, but we did, just in time to make the homeschool tennis group.

Halloween came and went.  The kids were SO excited, have been for weeks.  Arley dressed up as a zombie, Carmie as an angel, which is rather fitting, really.  At first we thought the night was going to be a bust, because the first few houses we went to had nothing, but then we found a few neighbourhoods where we could park the car and walk around and the kids got loads of candy.  Afterwards we took the kids out to dinner, still wearing their costumes, and they looked so cute, and received many compliments.  We had decorated our house too, but we hadn't put it on the Facebook list of houses for Trick or Treating (yes, that's a thing here), so no one came to our house, which meant that not only did the kids have all of the stash that they had collected, they also had all of the Halloween stash that we were supposed to give away!  It is ridiculous how much candy they each have now, and it is actually giving me anxiety!

We went exploring this week, up to the Promiselands, just outside of Bellingen.  We went to the Never Never Creek, and it was BEAUTIFUL.  We had the best day there, so much so that Carmie declared three times that night that she had a great day.  We waded in the river, the kids swam, we had a picnic, went exploring, played with river rocks, and tried to build a dam.  We took Bella as well, and she was almost crippled with exhaustion when we got home.  I simply cannot believe how many beautiful places there are up here to visit!

On Wednesday we met the Nambucca homeschool group at Urunga, and it was a perfect day.  The weather was beautiful, the kids all went swimming, they jumped off the jetty and the pontoon, climbed trees, rode scooters, played at the park.  It was brilliant, and us mums got to sit together on the grass and chat the day away.  It's a really lovely group of people, and we are fitting in quite well now.

The kids and I had a night time scoot and park play, which they just love.  Another day we met up with Will and Charlie at a park in Coffs.  There was a little drama between them all that day, but they were right as rain when we left.  After tennis this morning Charlie and Will were begging to come over again.

We've had the usual struggles with Arley this week.  He has a paediatrician appointment in two weeks, and I hope we can get him some help.  His intense anger is very hard to live with, and all we can do is pretty much ignore it.  But it really weighs on all of us.  And poor Arley just berates himself.

And as for me, I've been working hard.  About a month ago I decided to start a new business on top of ND Renegade.  It's another t-shirt business called Epic Earth Co.  I did the logo and all the designs, built the website, created an Instagram page, and then realised I am spread far too thin!  It was really stressing me out, so I put it on the Shopify Exchange Marketplace, and sold it the next day!  So I am feeling very relieved that I only have the one business to run again!  I don't know what I was thinking.  I will, however, be crazy sad if Epic Earth Co is a brilliant success using all of my designs!!

Waiting to play X-Box with Dad

My angel

My zombie

Out to dinner

Never Never Creek

At the grocers in Bellingen

Urunga with the homeschoolers

At Opal Cove Resort

Dinner last night.  Two little rascals.