Picture post of our Cruise

Setting up her bunk bed, had to bring the farm.

Ocean watching on the way to the island

Island hair!

Japanese dinner



Japanese dinner fun!

Daddy photobombing!

The tour at Lifou

Japanese dinner fun!

Ocean watching

TC and Skipper, kids mascots

Japanese for dinner

On the boat to Lifou

Reading the Japanese dinner menu

TC, the kids room mascot.

Finally got to it!

After many years of contemplating to get it done, I finally took Master 6 to a Naturopath to get allergy tested.
Without waffling on, he is intolerant to eggs, yeast, wheat, cows milk, rye, oat, gluten, beef, shellfish, peppers, legumes, peanuts, strawberry, tomato, and ginger.

So, I want to ask you, if there are any recipes floating about could you send them my way please? Life is going to get hard quickly, trying to feed my hungry Little Man.
I have already stocked up on the grains, buckwheat, quinoa, chia, nuts, seeds, and a few others now easily available at the supermarket. If there are any online healthfood shops which deliver, please send me a link. Living in our location, it is not easy to source a lot of stuff, and I find the freshness of groceries questionable at times.

So, in the meantime, I am pigging out on the rest of the junk (with the help of Little Miss 5), to eliminate it from the household! This means a lot more thought on my behalf to keep the diet varied (there is only so many times I can feed the family fish and salad!), and a lot more exercise!!!

I am hoping this will eliminate Master 6's reflux issues, as well as the eczema he gets when eating certain foods. We were also told, if nothing was done, his immune system would decline, so I am super keen to get on top of this issue.

I can officially say I am not a paranoid parent, my concerns all these years have now been justified, and as much as it will be difficult, I am happy to finally know what to do to help my son!

Helping or hindering??

How do you know when to step in for your kids?

For me, today, a moment came when Master 6 had lined up for about half an hour to get on a duel jumping castle (where you challenge other people off a podium). All of a sudden he came over to me in tears, because the other kids wouldnt let him have a go because he didnt have someone to challenge him.
So, using my best kind Mummy voice, I told those kids they were not being fair. Just beacuse they didnt really know Master 6, didnt mean he had to miss out. I mentioned how I had seen him waiting while other pairs of children just pushed their way past Master 6, and he watched them waiting for his turn. So then I mentioned if anyone would go on with him, and the boys at the front just stared, and a girl half way down the line stepped up and agreed to go on. And because they had pushed past Master 6 and made him wait so long, I also made the kids let Master 6 go on next. I dont think they were too happy about my interruption of their dictatorship, but as the ride was a free one and being monitored by juniors, something had to be said.
I was so happy this girl was mature enough to give up her spot in line with her friend, to help my son get his turn, and we made sure she was thanked at the end, Master 6 shaking her hand for a good game.
I am proud of my son for his patience to wait so long, and I think he learnt a big lesson too. He didnt get angry, he was patient and waited his turn (never giving up his spot at the front of the line!), and when, eventually, things got beyond his control (older kids can be intimidating), he came and asked for help, albeit upset.

There are no rules to say when you should help your kids, or let them learn the lesson coming, but I believe as a parent, you know when your child needs help, and it is our responsibility to show them the right way to do things. I know we cant always be there for them, but just sometimes, it is good to show them we have their back!

Obstacles!!!

When we did tough mudder earlier in the year, Master 6 was jealous and wanted to participate also. Unfortunately he was way too young.
Since then I have learnt of several OCR's he can participate in, so on the weekend I enrolled him into a 5klm mud run obstacle, being held in february next year. Initially he was excited to hear all about it and wanted to do the event, but he does not want to train. 
It will be a family event, so we will do it together (hopefully DH can get some time off to join us), but I do want the kids to train a little bit, even just to be able to go the distance without hurtung.
So today after picking Master 6 up from school, it was just the two of us, I enticed him for a run around the block. Dont get me wrong, I am not expecting marathons out of him, god knows I cant even go that far, but I am at a point now, where he tells me something then backs out of it. I usually follow through with everything I tell my children, and now I want them to see how their words have consequences. If they tell me they want to do something, I am going to do my best to follow through with their requests!

Smiles all round!

Today marked the junior golf end of season in our small town, which means family day at our club. We played two holes then had a small presentation session. All the kids got a little something from the club, and they were so happy. We did not play many games this year, but I plan to make more of an effort next year for the kids.

Party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wow, we have had a big weekend.

You see, it all started when I planned a trip to the big town (2hours away), for some school holiday fun, detouring about 3hours round trip to pick up a mates daughter so she could come visit for the weekend. I ended up booking in to the dentist and optometrist for the children, extending out day in town. We left home at 5am, and got back at 730pm. A long but good day.

So, the next day we were supposed to go to the other big town (an hour in the other direction), to meet someone, but they had to cancel as did DH. Instead, I took my kids to town for some more fun and playing, and a quick shop before everything closed for the long weekend.

Sunday was footy finals day. A big party was planned by some friends, which began not long after lunch. As Little Miss 4 was tired, I took her for a sleep before heading out, where we met DH and Master 6. After a lot of fun and no sleep from the kids, I decided to take the kids home. DH had had his share of fun too so we set off home around midnight.

Which brought us to today. No sleep in for my little trouble maker (aka. Little Miss 4), and as such we were up at 7. Today was the day of Little Miss 4's party, so my morning began with baking the cake (as I was a little busy last night!). As the day drew on, I felt like I had not left the kitchen, so it was a welcome relief when party time arrived!

Our guests came through the gate, and it was time to start (as unprepared as I felt), it turned out to be a great party, with the slip 'n' slide a huge hit (it was a little warm this arvo), most of the snacks gone, and the party cake devoured, the kids laughed and played the afternoon away.

Tomorrow, Little Miss 4 officially becomes Little Miss 5, and she can't wait to start school. Brings a tear to my eye! Oh well, off to wrap her present from her Mum and Dad!

 

Pleasantly surprised!

A little while ago I entered a competition to win a tefal opti grill. I thought, I never win but there is no harm in trying, right? So, I put in my entry, and a few days later when I was going through my emails, I nearly deleted the one from some stranger thinking it was spam, but it was tefal asking for my postal address as I had won. Wow, still thinking it was a scam, I sent my postal address off.
A few weeks later, I had not gotten anything,  but after seeing the pics of the other winners using their grills, I emailed tefal telling them I had not gotten anything.

Guess what arrived yesterday?

I was stoked when it finally arrived, so much so that it is all I have cooked on since! Dont get me wrong, I still love my thermomix, but this grill will hopefully eliminate the inadequacies of my small stove, and I will be able to cook those kebabs in one hit!

Work it!

Having recently discovered the source of my back/leg pain, I am on a mission to improve my core muscles, which in turn helps out with whole body fitness. Bonus, right?!

So, as most of you are aware, we are a fan of Tony Hortons P90 workouts. I recently discovered P90X2 and started on it today. A big focus of this program is core stability, so perfect for my current fitness goals. I have just finished the X2Core session, and I can say I am hooked! What a workout! And I am now a huge fan of form rollers, you basically roll over a foam log which in turn gives your muscles a 'massage'. Might just have to put that in the living room for when I am being lazy and watching the Tv! 

Something to know, I guess!

So, most weekends when we go to bed, we usually set the tv up for the kids for the next morning to ABC2 or ABC3.

Tonight, I changed channels. As I switched the tv off, I noticed something I would never expect from ABC2. I mean, Octonaughts and Playschool should set the scene, and popularly, Mister Maker. What I caught a glimpse of made me turn the tv back on and double check what I was setting my children up for!

I checked the channel, and then looked up the tv guide. It was definitely on ABC2, but not what I expected. The title of the show was: Can have sex, Will have sex, and must I say, good on the disabled population within the UK, but ABC2???!!!

So, if you are planning a late night with the kids watching tv, PLEASE CHECK THE GUIDE!

New Shoes!

Never have I been more excited to get a new pair of joggers than last week! My other 'new' joggers fell apart and went back to the shop, but they had to be sent away to get either fixed or money refunded so no joggers for just over a week. This meant no workouts, runs, or anything of the kind, which felt strange as that is what I have done most of the year.

So, last week when I went to big town, I got a quality pair of shoes, and I couldn't be happier. The day after I got home I did my first workout in 2 weeks and it felt great! Unfortunately the next day I came down with Little Miss 4's tummy bug and am still on the mend.

Even worse, just as I am typing this, Master 6 runs to the toilet to have a vomit. Bugger, looks like another lazy day. Thankfully, after Little Miss 4 had a reoccurrence yesterday, she has woken up happy as today, which tells me she should be better.

While the painkillers are working, I should go feed the puppy and take out the rubbish.

Slower pace? Lets think about that.

After tough mudder, we threw out our mud laden shoes. Unfortunately I did not yet have a replacement pair, but that was ok as we should have had plenty of shopping time in the following days. But that never happened, so I purchased a cheaper pair of running shoes until I could get properly fitted. Today (after 2 weeks) I had to return those shoes as the soles had come 'flappy', for want of a better narrative!
So I am now left without any form of joggers. I guess the world is trying to tell me to slow down with the exercise? Ok, I guess I can deal with the slower pace for a few weeks, but summer is coming up??!!!! Gotta get moving seriously again soon, especially if I want to be able to run the next obstacle course.

Thankfully I am off to town next week, so I will get my joggers, and a pair of hiking boots in time for our next camping adventure, stay tuned for updates!

A sad day.

We have kind of been preparing the family for this for a few weeks now. Tiger had damaged his knees a little while ago, the vet said surgery was not an option for a dog his size and age, so we tried the medication with no success.

Today we said good-bye to our much loved family pet, and best friend to Master 6. We have so many stories to share about Tiger, but above all he was loyal and devoted to our son. At 7 years old, he has had a fantastic life, and Master 6 will truly miss him, as will we all.

I have a tough afternoon ahead of me, seeing DH off to work just before school pick up, when I will have to break the news to Master 6. I am hoping the offer of pizza (a favourite for Master 6), for dinner tonight will help distract his thoughts!

RIP Tiger.

A little relief.

Last monday, I had a wisdom tooth removed, a few stitches in and had to take antibiotics for infection.

Yesterday I finished those antibiotics (yay, no more remembering to take medication!).

Today, I had the stitches removed.

Which means tonight, with DH home for the first night since our weekend away, I get to have a few glasses of wine!

And I might even go for a run tomorrow!

Our weekend in pictures.

A picture before we left, thanks for looking after us Oma.

Little Miss 4 wearing our new Super Mamma skirts (we have matching ones).

Little Miss 4, fishing.

Helping Daddy eat some crabs!

Master 6 fishing.

Chilling in the sunshine.

Tough! Mudders!

So the time has come and gone, the pain has subsided, more pain has come (in the form of a infected wisdom tooth which was extracted), and I am now waiting to get back into an exercise routine!

The next few weeks will focus on recovery. Even though I feel 'recovered' from our event on the weekend, I have to rebuild muscle strength, get over the pain of the tooth, and still have a few scabs healing from the obstacle course.

It was an awesome experience and I will do it again, but I know I need to put in a lot more work for next time.



And mud, wow there was some mud! At the end of the event, after a shower, I was still wiping mud from my eyes, nose and behind my ears! It took 3 days for my knees to look clean, and I washed our clothes about 4 times before giving up and putting them aside until we got home and I could soak them! Half way through the event it felt like I had put on all the weight I had lost this year. Thankfully there were a few water obstacles to aid in dissolving some of the dried up mud off the skin, but it was still everywhere. Our socks and shoes went to Tough Mudder heaven, may they RIP.

A LOT more work.

A few days ago I went for a quick jog around town, just 3klms to keep me going. Unfortunately halfway through I was almost in tears with pain. I did finish my run, but after consulting with my Husband I booked a massage and an appointment with the local Physio.

The massage was painful but great. It did leave me bruised, but the masseuse did a number on my sore spot (which happens to be my glutes muscle), and it gave me some relief for a few days.

At the same time I booked into the physio but I had to wait a few days for that appointment. When I finally got to see her, she saw straight away what my problem was, given my history. I described my injury (which occurred approximately 4years ago), and after a quick examination, the physio described my gluteus maximus as a piece of soggy cardboard!

All I could think of was, I am not crazy, the pain I have had all this time was real! No matter what my previous physicians had told me (I am sure they thought I was imagining my pain), it was real. And I finally had someone who believed me and knew what to do about it.

Unfortunately, she is not so keen on my participating in the Tough Mudder event on the weekend. We will see what happens with that one!

So, armed with a lot of strapping tape, a crash course on how to strap my butt, and a few stick on heat pads, we journey off tomorrow for the event we have been training for all year. If nothing else, I will get a few solid nights sleep!

See you all on the other side! (and I am still undecided about that damned artic enema).

Stinky gross stuff, be warned!

So I was going to write this blog about how good my alone time was toda, but I think this is better.

Today I farted in the car. I got out and when I came back it was still in there!

Times a' ticking!

Wow, only 12 days till our massive Tough Mudder event. Don't know if I will ever feel ready for it, but we are attempting it all the same!

There is so much happening lately.

Today Little Miss 4 had a Mini School event where she got to go to a school and meet and play with other distance ed children in her program. I was a little sad when I walked away cause she kinda gave me a goodbye kiss (which I had to ask for), turned her back and did not once look back to me. To make up for this, when I picked her up she had the biggest grin on her face which showed me she was so proud of everything she had done today.

The one thing Little Miss 4 did tell me about her day was she made two pasta necklaces, one for her and one for Rusty, go figure!
She has one more day of Mini School tomorrow, then back to normal days at home, well as normal as we busy people could possibly get!

I am pretty excited because on Wednesday I am meeting with my 'boss' to sort out some details of the Kindysport programme I am implementing in our community. I will start that next term, after a trail day during the next school holidays, in all that spare time I currently have! I really can't wait to get this started, it will help to keep me occupied next year when I have both of my children at school.

I also have to consider planning Little Miss 4's next birthday coming up in a few months. She reminds me every day it is only 2 weeks away! Not far off, only 9 weeks to go, but if I am to do a party, planning is key out here!

With all that happening, the weather will warm up soon and we will start camping again, not that the temperature has stopped us, we have been a tad pre occupied with training to worry about camping, and DH was sick, amongst the silly roster his company maintains, and we have to remember Master 6 is still required to go to school (even though he had today off because he was a little weary from our weekend, and will have a week off soon for our tough mudder event).

Add to our list, jazz lessons, music classes, touch footy, golf, Master 6 wants to do Martial Arts, homework, my personal studies, the eKindy program I am trying to run, and housework. No wonder my house looks like a bomb hit most days! And thank goodness for my slow cooker, thermomix and fantastic Husband. I am going to relish my time off tomorrow (to do the grocery shopping alone over a period of 5 hours ALONE)!

Dessert, and our busy life.

Going through my handwritten recipe book recently I found a list of ingredients for some kind of pudding (desert), but it had no method to go with it. So, when DH asked for something sweet tonight, I decided to 'interpret' this list of ingredients!

And what we ended up with was pretty yummie! I would describe it like a choc-banana caramel-sauce self saucing pudding.

It had a perfectly crisp top (from where the caramel sauce ran over and 'caramelised' over the edges of the cake), lovely chunks of banana throughout and that all favourite chocolate flavour!

The only thing I didn't like, is that I did not know the caramelised sauce had dripped to the bottom of the oven where it has now dried and set hard.


On another note, when I picked up Master 6 from school, I came home to finish the mowing (I earned my desert tonight - I used the push mower). Master 6 quickly asked if he could mow for me, so once he finished his homework I let him loose on the yard (I had left one side of the house yard for him to finish). I must say he did a fantastic job, zigging and zagging about, but he managed to cover almost every long piece of grass in his section. I am very proud of the effort he put in, it took one hour for him to finish, and I had to tell him to stop (he was looking to keep going!).

Master 6 and I had a discussion about what we got up to today, I told him I went for a run and did the mowing and his response was 'so not that much then'. I had to laugh. Sometimes it feels like we don't do that much, but reality says we do way more than we think! I know I don't do as much as I should at the moment, but I do the essentials (laundry, kitchen, and I feed everyone - most of the time!). I only have 6months left with Little Miss 4 until she starts school, so the windows and walls can wait until then I think, I am having way too much fun playing with leggo, dolls and board games!

Addicted? Not anymore!

Not a bad addiction, but just a time consuming one. Yup - that stupid game called Candy Crush.

I would say I was addicted, but now I am at a level I can't complete, and I really just could not be bothered trying anymore! It is such a good feeling (not that I have gotten much else accomplished this week), to not want to play that game anymore!

Now I might be able to concerntrate on more productive things, like the laundry and cooking a good dinner more often than I have been !-)