Monday, January 12, 2009

Beach adventures

We have just returned from our 10 days away down the coast! Daisy had so much fun on the beach, chasing seagulls and scampering through the shallows. She turned from a dirty brown country dog into a bleached blonde surfie girl! (Remember that story Harry the Dirty Dog?)
One of the best things about being away I think is living more simply. At first I did miss my usual distractions & pleasures such as the garden, chookies, blogging, friends etc but after a while I did adjust. It's nice being away from normal routines, smelling the sea, seeing different skies, sunsets, trees, birds. There are also a lot of koala's where we stayed at Merricks Beach, gee they are lovely. Haven't got any photo's yet but we hope to go down again so maybe I will get lucky!


My lovely mum was with us alot and kindly took one or two kids off for Nan adventures nearly every day, and night! What a superstar.


The kids loved the beach of course and Billy was fascinated by all the marine creatures he came across. A puffer fish was found and lots of shells and crab bits. Exciting! (Stinky too...)



During our time away Lucy and I went to Melbourne for an appointment at the Royal Children's Hospital to discuss her learning issues. While we were there we made friends with Julie who works in the wonderful children's garden. This special garden provides a quiet and beautiful space for children, families & staff at the hospital. Lucy and I spent an hour or so helping Julie - Lucy watered the new vegie patch and potted up some succulents while I swept the paths. It was really fun and we'll definitely go back again. If you are visiting the hospital you should definitely pop by the garden and see this unique and lush oasis for yourself.

Rosie outside the cherry farm at Red Hill.


Back at the beach we found lots of fun things to do. Morning tea, playground fun, strawberry picking and of course I found myself in a few opshops! (If you are down at the Peninsula try the Balnarring Op Shop, the Flinders Op Shop and the Anglican Church Oppie in Hastings) I did try to be more thoughtful in my purchasing but couldn't resist two spangly sequined skirts for the girls and a super dog costume for Daisy! And some lovely books, a doll's wardrobe and a fabulous 1950's bride & groom cake ornament (for some bizarre & worrying reason I have a growing collection of these items!)


It was good to be away but holidays with kids are not really relaxing are they?? Sometimes I really crave some space for my own thoughts and ideas but it's almost impossible with seven people vying for attention at the same time. I'm not sure if it's all families but in a biggish one there seems to always be someone who is out of sorts. Is that the nature of life though? Something is always affecting us whether it's good or bad or in between. Perhaps it's best not to judge and analyse too much and just go with the flow. So I'm going with the flow, friends, what about you? x

3 comments:

susieqiloveyou said...

Sounds like you had a lovely but busy holiday. Its always nice to move away from your daily habits and go and do it somewhere entirely different. I think as a mum we end up accepting that our world has changed for good and that our concept of time and space has changed forever. Hope you get a much needed moment to yourself to collect your thoughts and enjoy some space. x

Cottage1945 said...

Looks like you've had a lot of fun. Great pictures of your family!

MarmaladeRose said...

Hello Beck. Thanks for popping by my blog. The sight of your little blonde pooch, sooo reminded me of our family dog when I was little. She looked just the same.
Glad you like my crochet squares, tried to pick retro-ish colours, but not to pale as it would always be in the wash with my grubby lot, teehee! Sounds like you had a lovely hol. Lovely photos. Fi x