The Evans' go camping!!!!

Paul has been keen to go camping since we first moved here a year ago. Quite a few of our friends camp and eventually it became an unavoidable issue I could no longer put off. I did, however, have a few conditions that needed to be met before we went anywhere near a camp site. I always have conditions!

Number 1: No dodgy camp sites! My biggest aversion to camping is the whole public ablutions issue so they had to be clean and tidy. In fact, you actually get camp sites with your own on-site shower and toilet. That's definitely on my list of places to go camping!

Number 2: We had to be organised! There was no way I going camping with some poky tent and a few sleeping bags. We needed to have all "the camping gear" necessary to make this a pleasant experience.

And so with all these requirements met we set off on our first trip! Not too far away from home (an hour) and only for one night, our camp site of choice was Moore River. Our friends, Vaughan and Roelinda, were the chosen victims to witness this very first mission. I figured that there would be safety in numbers in case Paul and I couldn't get the tent up or had forgotten some vital piece of equipment to ensure a fun-filled experience.

I needn't have worried though! The tent went up with relative ease and no arguments!





The children had a ball - excuse the pun!



Between the two camping families we set up a pretty mean camp kitchen and ate like kings!



No camping experience is complete without marshmallows!



The children couldn't wait to sleep in the tent and I've never seen them so keen to go to bed! I must mention, that we probably had the cleanest tent in the whole camp site. Not only because it was a new tent, but also because Paul and his ocd ways wouldn't let anyone in the tent unless they had removed every possible speck of dirt from under their feet. This involved picking the kids up and vigorously dusting their feet and then depositing them into the tent without their feet touching the ground.





The camp site was set in a beautiful location with the beach only a short walk away.




And so, this is how I survived our very first family camping trip.



xxx

One year on ....................................

I really shouldn't wait until late at night to update my blog. Usually, when I'm out and about, I think up these amazing blog posts but NOW that I am actually sitting down to write, my inspiration escapes me!!!
Oh well. Let me continue on and bore you with some mundane details of our life.

We have been in Australia for exactly one year and 8 days! Can you believe it? Does time really fly by at such a rapid speed? Apparently it does.
And so, instead of boring with you all the minute, drab details of the past year I shall instead endeavour to enlighten you with some interesting facts I happened upon in the last year. Here goes......

* The grass is not always greener on the other side. I mean that literally and figuratively. I don't think we realised "how good we had it" in Wales and in the first few months we very quickly realised "how many good things" we had left behind. Literally, it is very hard to grow "green" grass in this place! Now weeds are not a problem - they flourish in abundance on our lawn but that lovely thick green stuff we like to call grass! Uh uh - no way. In fact many people resort to the fake stuff to get the green effect!



* Thongs (previously known to me as a g-strings) are what they call flip flops/slops here. Sweets are lollies and after spending 8 years in the UK trying to remember to call chips (the snacky type things) crisps, I now have to revert back to calling them chips.



* My children are no longer tv addicts and have managed to kick the habit without any serious side effects - phew!



* I can still ride a bike after 8 years of not riding a bike.



* A teacher is a teacher whether you teach in South Africa, Wales or Australia.



* A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house on one level stays a lot tidier than a small, poky 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 3 level, terraced house. Funnily enough, my children say they preferred our small, poky house in Wales because it had stairs! I hated those STAIRS! But I think I might just be coming around to their way of thinking since I think those stairs helped me keep off a few kgs. without doing any form of exercise.



* Internet shopping over here is lagging far behind the UK :-(
I loved the ease with which I could shop online in Wales and I am also sorry to say that the normal shops here, do not always meet up with my shopaholic standards.

* I have a new favourite coffee place. Its not quite Starbucks but on the whole its pretty good - Mc Cafe. Coffee is good and cheap and the kids always love Mc Donald's! They make the most delicious banana bread!



There we go - I'm sure you get the picture. Some good things and some not so good things but on the whole - not a bad idea! So I guess we'll stick around this place called OZ a little bit longer!

Have a good week.
xxxx

PS. The pics are from our Anniversary and Father's Day weekend.

She's 4!

The Princess is 4 years old today! Really and truly a BIG GIRL! From this



to this



to this



I just love her to bits. Many people say they don't mind what the sex of their children are and are quite happy with only having boys! NOT ME - no way!!! I've always said I wanted a little girl and I think the good Lord knew that I was serious. Don't get me wrong I love "my boys" but I'm so blessed to have Maddy to share all those lovely little girly things with.

4 Things I love about my princess:

1) She very often randomly pipes up, "I love you mommy" when I'm least expecting it and very often when I'm needing to hear it the most.

2) She loves shopping!

3) She can now strap herself into her car seat by herself. This grand feat was accomplished today and she's so proud of herself. I did ask her to try and strap herself in the other day to which she replied, "I can't do it - when I'm 23 I'll be able to do it"! I'm so glad she got it right before the grand old age of 23!

4) I love the excitement she has for reading and writing and drawing. This girl is so ready for "big school".

We've had a wonderful day celebrating her birthday. First, it was presents.



Then morning tea.





Followed by a nice lunch at Sizzlers and then off to the park to ride bikes.






A perfect way to celebrate a special day!
xxxx

July holidays

Some scrapping





A trip to Sci-tech, which the kids just loved. We spent ages in there as they had so much fun playing with all the interactive science exhibits.













Gethin has taken on a new career as barman deluxe. He very carefully unpacks his father's precious wine collection from the wine rack and positions them in lines on the carpet. Stocktake - I presume. Apparently, he also stocks beer in his bar. Must take after his grandad!




Managed to get "The Princess" to wear season-appropriate clothes.



Then "The Princess" had a fight with the windowsill and came off second best.




A new ballerina duvet cover for "The Princess".



And thats about it.
xxxx

What does a kangaroo do?

I have tried at least a million times to upload a video of Gethin. But alas, this stupid blog will not allow it!

SO......if you'd like to know what a kangaroo does you shall have to mosey along to my facebook page and check it out there.

xxx

AWOL!

Miss me?

As per usual, no real excuses apart from life, kids, work ..........
Actually this isn't too bad - you should see all the e-mails in my inbox waiting to be replied to. Sorry to those waiting for a personal e-mail from me!

The older the children get, the more activities they do and the less time we have after hours. Weekends are no longer relaxing times for us, instead its a get-up-and go-rush of ballet and footy.

Thank goodness for school holidays (at least I got one thing right when picking my profession)! I cannot tell you the relief I feel, knowing that in the mornings, I don't have to get up and go anywhere! No rushing around trying to get 3 kids and myself dressed and out the door. Then dropping Ross at a friend, then dropping Maddy and Gethin at daycare and then getting myself to school! And that's all before 8am. I could go on and on about this as its a rather sensitive issue with me!!! But I won't!

Right now its 9am and I'm sitting in bed with my cup of coffee, writing this while the kids play happily! Aaaaah heaven! It probably won't last (the happily playing part that is) but for now its good.

What have we been up to in the wonderful month of June?

Ross played his very first footy tournament. It was really exciting to watch him get into the game. We also discovered that Paul and I are those annoying parents who stand on the sidelines shouting - good shouting if that makes it any better! Ross' little team did very well and won nearly all their matches.





Poor Gethin has also had to bear the brunt of Ross' sporting skills lately. Couldn't resist a quick pic before we cleaned him up.





Maddy had her watching week at dancing last week. Unfortunately the pics didn't come out too well as its so dark in there.






Doesn't she look sweet in this picture! I had to take a picture of her looking so cute in her winter coat as this was a very rare occasion.




You see, we have some rather serious dressing dilemmas in our house. Boys are a dream when it comes to dressing them - you pick their clothes and they wear them! But not our Maddy! Oh no! She started out being a very independent 2 year old who would dress herself and with that independence came the problem - she now believes she can actually pick her clothes, which on most days is a pair of shorts or summer skirt and a t-shirt regardless of the outside temperature! If she can see the sun, then in her eyes its going to be sweltering hot! No amount of bribing or "so and so wears trousers like this" would help. Then after weeks of fighting and trying to get her to wear trousers or at least tights with her skirts, we have now regressed seriously!
The latest thing is that she won't dress herself at all! How did that happen? This is not good when you're in the morning rush and you have a quite capable nearly 4 yr old refusing to get dressed! So we have had some dressing training this holiday which involves a lot of crying (and shouting)and me refusing to dress her! Quite fun really - NOT!!!

Last but not least, I have some good news to share. I have been offered a part time (3 days) teaching contract for the next term at Campbell Primary School where I do most of my relief teaching. This will more than likely be extended to the end of the year which is really good for me. I feel like I'm finally being rewarded for all my hard work and will also make the daycare issues for Maddy and Gethin a lot easier!

Ok, the washing machine is calling so I shall be off and hopefully I'll be back soon. Don't hold your breath! xxx

Ross' Story

Awhile ago I posted on facebook about Ross' story which was on display in the front office of his school. We were very proud of his work and yesterday he brought it home from school so I can now share it with you.
xxx