Home Again From Holiays

Ever feel like sometimes writing it all down feels a bit like work? That's how I've been these past few days. But I must get off my rear end and jot this down as we are heading off again this weekend, and that'll be a fresh story!
So we opened our presents on the 24th of December, and there was just enough time to bask in the excitement of all the lovely new things when the had to be shoved off to the side and the car packed.
My brother Nath had come down a few days earlier and was to travel to Mum and Dad's with us, so we had to pack the car around him, which took a bit of doing, but in the end we were fine.
Then the plan changed! Michael suddenly got it into his head that he wanted to go that evening!! Wha-at? Okay, well, I already buggered but if he was sure.... so we pack up the car, load the children into it, and Uncle Nath, and off we go, stopping only in Traralgon for a Hungry Jacks dinner!
That drive was very long and hard, with Mister Michael not doing much to help my aching eyes and back, but Nath came to my rescue! He managed to keep me and everyone else entertained all the way there, keeping me awake in the process. I can honestly say that without him I do not think we would have made it!
We left at 6pm, and got to Mum and Dad's place at around 9pm, and I'll admit by this time I have swimmy fireworks in my eyes, but we dropped Nath off, I hugged everyone who came out to greet us, and then we drove back up the road a few k's to the house we were staying in.
Naturally when we got there the children were all bundled into bed, but Eli and Phebe had been woken up by the departure of Nath and didn't want to settle, though by the time Michael and I had unpacked the car and settled in (11pm) Phebe had settled down.
(btw, unpacking was necessary because we had food stuffs thoughout the car, wherever it would fit, and as it was a warm night, it had to go away!)
Not so Master Eli! He was still bright and sparkly -- and might I say he remained so until nearly 2 in the morning when we finally got him to sleep!!!!!

Okay so next morning we get up rather wearily, and have breakfast around, of, 9 or so? Then we fall back in the car and go down to the pink house where presents are waiting, and fresh excitement is experienced as we see what the Uncles and the Aunties have made/gotten for us! Lovely!

 
 
 
 
Miriam and Ryan arrive for lunch, and there is plenty of delicious food spread out on the table, and the afternoon is idled away eating and talking and not much else!
That night we slept a bit better, and the next day Michael and I had decided that since I have a lot of trouble breathing while the cleaning stuffs are being used, I should go down to the pink house while he cleaned the bathroom, and I come back for him for lunch.
The plan for our visit was to clean the house that we were sleeping in for Mum. It was the first house they bought when the moved into the area. Later they bought the pink house down the road and moved into that one as it is bigger and has wheelchair access for Dad. This house hasn't had any one live it it recently (though the past few years two brothers and one sister have resided in it for periods of time as they moved from one place to another) and Mum asked us if we'd clean it. The original agreement was for a week, but we lengthened it to two, and did some yard work, too.
This plan worked out well for the first couple of days, but my children are rather more noisy and rowdy than my younger siblings are, and both my nerves and my Mum nerves atarted to get frayed by the second day, so we arranged it so that we could have our lunches at the other house and only pop down the pink house for dinner and baths. LOL, then baths started to get stressful, so I managed to work out with Michael for the children to have really quick showers every evening (the hot water wasn't connected to the bath, but even that didn't matter after a while, as they days grew so hot that the cold water was a Godsend!)

so by the end of the fortnight we were pretty much only going down for a couple of hours every evening for dinner and catch up. The rest of the time we spent by ourselves, and it was really nice :)  


 
 
 
Mid visit Mum and I drove to Miriam and  Ryan's house to visit, and took Phebe, Eli, Zibbiah, Keziah and Hannah with us, and spent some time with them. It was a lovely visit. We had a lunch that Miriam prepared, followed by cake, then finished the visit with a walk on the beach, with talking all the way through it :D


















 By the second week Nath had gone back home, and Ben celerated his birthday early, which was a riotous affair!













By this time Michael and I had cleaned every nook and cranny of the house and taken the excess stuff down to the pink house for Mum to sort through and either put away, or give away, and we had started on the outside.  

Adon helped me mow the large lawn, and Michael threw his weight into pulling the weeds out of the pond. Unfortunatly Michael didn't manage to finish the pond before we left, but he did most  of it.
The hottest day we encountered was actually on my Birthday, the 4th! We were anxious to attempt to spend the day in Lakes Entrance, as the house warmed up quickly, and was very hard too cool off again, so we were working on the theory that if it was shut up and empty it would stay cool longer..? Any way, we had quite a good time in Lakes Entrance, even if we did sort of stagger from shop to shop, rather than go down the the water (WAYYY to hot!!). I was given leave to buy whatever I wanted, so we went to all the second hand shops, and I picked up a few things of intrest, but mostly just enjoyed the retail therapy, LOL!!
Lunch time would have to have been the most interesting part of the day, as we headed to Macca's, and it was FULL!  We managed to scavange a bench with two stools sandwitched between one of the doors to outside and the McCafe, and Michael and I stood, while Malachi and Hadassah sat on the stools, Phebe squashed in a high chair, and Eli stayed in the pram. It was cramped, to say the least, but boy the air-con was nice!!
When we got home the house  was warm, so we put the children straight into the bath, and headed up to the pink house, but it wasn't actually a bad day, all in all.
The day before we left I went over the house with a vaccuum cleaner a final time and changed all the beds, and that night we slept in the caravan at the pink house, sos I could be sure we were leaving the house up the road clean.
By the time the fortnight was up we were all very eager to get home. The children were extreemly anxious to get back to their toys and Michael and I to our beds, so it was a happy parting, and the trip home seemed swift. Unfortunatly we had aquired some stuff in our stay, and couldn't fit it all in the car, which is why we are going back again tomorrow, bit it is only for the weekend!!
Once here we got home I was able to see what the heat had done to my poor plants, and was unimpressed by how burnt many of them were, but I haven't lost any, so this is good!
Also the animals were head over heals happy to see us, Butch and Fred did their little terrior dances, Dexter the mouse looked at us with happy friendlyness, and Puss and Cat were purringly delightedly . Only Catty was not good. I ended up rushing her to the vet day before yesterday as she had nasty discharge from her nose when we got home and we were watching her closely, but that morning her jaw was clicking, so we wisked her off! It turned out she has an ulcer on her trongue caused by a touch of cat flue, and the vet fixed her up, so all is well :)
So this past week I have mainly spent fussing over the garden and sleeping, as have we all have, lol!
Now we are preparing to head off again for yet another couple of nights, and I have to be honest, I cannot WAIT to be home again!!!