Home again!

I have actually been home for 4 days now, but only now getting the chance to update my blog. And that's only cos I am ignoring housework!

It's really great going away, but it sucks coming home cos there is soooo much to do. All the washing, restocking the pantry and fridge, trying to gets kids back into a normal routine, and just general day to day stuff. But we are slowly getting there... slowly but surely.

Well, here I am to update the rest of our holidays. I have not got the photos yet as they are still on Izzy's computer, but I will be hopefully getting them tonight. There are a lot of photos, so I am planning on just putting them on a web-album instead of on the blog. So watch out for the link in upcoming posts.

So, when I last wrote I was at Dunja's, just basically bumming around on the thursday. I noticed that I mentioned we were going to go on the zig-zag railway... well we didn't end up doing that. The Blue Mountains are just too darn cold at this time of year to be doing outdoorsy stuff like that! I ended up having a day sleep, and Izzy and Sean just played computer games. Then on the thursday night Dunja and John came home early as it was John's birthday and we had a nice dinner and some cake for him.

Friday morning we packed up and left Little Hartley and headed just a short distance away to Kurrajong. I think it's only about 30 mins away. Izzy's aunty and uncle live there so we spent a couple of hours with them having lunch. It was a gorgeous day so we had lunch outside in the sun. The kids loved playing around there and we got some gorgeous photos.

Friday afternoon we headed to my aunty and uncles place in Castle Hill, but on the way there, dropped in to see my uncle at his Video Ezy store, and he gave Chloe a free ice cream which she loved of course! Friday night we had a nice dinner with my aunty and uncle, and also my cousing Heather and her GORGEOUS family. Unfortunately my other cousins Fiona and Doug were not able to make it. It would have been great to see them, but hopefully next time! My kids and Heather's kids all played so well. Jordan, Heather's son who I think is 5 or 6 said he liked Gemma the best - it was so funny!

Saturday we packed up again, and headed off to Bicentenial Park in Olympic Park for a picnic lunch with Israel's family. Not everyone was able to make it unfortunately, but still a lot did make it, which we are thankful for. It was a fun day filled with baby talk (2 of Israel's cousins are pregnant), kite flying and lots of yummy food. We don't see Israel's family a lot, but it's great when we do.

After the park we headed over to my Dad's place in Dee Why. We didn't get there til just before the kids dinner time, so when we arrived it was a bit chaotic trying to get food prepared for them. But once all that was done we had Christmas in July. In true Dad style, we all got spoiled! Then we sat down to an amazing dinner with 4 types of meat! It was very extravagant, again typical of Dad! It was wonderful. I was thinking of staying up and watching a movie that night, but I had too much wine and just crashed in bed instead.

Sunday, we decided to head over to Bondi so Izzy could have a skate, but just as we arrived there it started raining - which isn't good for skating! He did manage to have a bit of a skate, but nothing too much. We ended having a lovely cafe lunch though. I had a mushroom omelette which was yummy yummy!

Sunday night we went to my Aunty and Uncles for dinner. I love spending time with Steve and Pip and there family, they are such a crack up! I always feel very comfortable there, it's great. Chloe was very well behaved there too, which is always a bonus! Hehe!

Monday we had to head off from Dad's early, well 9am, as we had a 3 hour drive up to Nelson Bay to see Israel's grandma. It was really lovely to see her again, but unfortunately I was very sick with a head cold. I had been sick for most of our holiday but this particular day was my worst. I was so clogged up in the head I couldn't think, and of course the kids were still sick too, so not too easy to deal with, so it was a bit uncomfortable at Grandma's. Having said that though, I am still very happy we spent some time with her. I just hope she doesn't get sick too!

Monday night, we drove down to Gwandalan which is just on Lake Macquarie and spent the night with Israel's cousins. On the way there, we also drove through Cooranbong, the town we lived in before moving to Melbourne. Not much has changed, except for the damaged caused by the floods. Oh actually the Mobil service station that Izzy used to work at is now a United, and owned by different people!

Anyway, back to Israel's cousins - Steph and Steve. They are a truly wonderful family to be around. So calm and easy going - I love it! There kids are just gorgeous too. They adored our kids and all played so well together - it was beautiful to watch.

We were meant to spend Tuesday night with my Godmother and her family back down in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, but they were too sick, so we ended up staying another night at Steph and Steve's - so that meant that we could relax on Tuesday, which was super nice. We ended up going to Frazer Beach. The bigger kids and Israel made a dam and Ash and Gem ate sand. It was the first time Ashca and Gemma had been on a beach I am pretty sure, so it was all new to them. The sun was out so we managed to get some really nice photos there too. But it did get too cold eventually, so we all headed home again. We had a lovely BBQ lunch and then headed off to Tuggerah for some retail therapy. I bought a few things which I am really happy with. But my fav thing is my neice's 1st birthday present. I bought her some clothes, which I think are gorgeous! I can't wait til summer and she can fit them!

Since we were still up on the coast on Tuesday night, we decided to visit some friends of ours in Cooranbong after dinner. We left all our children at home with Steph and Steve, and headed out for about 2 hours. It was great to see them again. Donna is pregnant and starting to show a cute little baby bump. It makes me clucky again! No Dannii! NOOOOOO!

Wednesday we had a huge day of driving. We had to drive all the way from Gwandalan to Jindera, which took us about 10 hours! We stopped a lot though. Fortunately for us, our kids are pretty good travellers.

Wednesday night we arrived Cynthia and Paul's all starving hungry and a bit wild from our long drive. Our hungry was quickly met with a yummy meal of Corned Beef - oh I love corned beef! Then once the kids FINALLY went to bed, we played Bang, which is so much fun. I so have to buy that game!

Thursday we spent the afternoon at Beechworth, which I must say - I LOVE THAT TOWN! I could have spent forever there! The toy shop and lolly shop there are both amazing! Along with spending up at the toy and lolly shops we also went to the old brewery which now does cordials. We taste tested a few and ended up buying the Rhubard and Apple one and the Portello one. Very noice!

We ended up staying in Beechworth for dinner and having a scrumptious chinese dinner. Then once the kids had there bottles, we headed off for the last leg of our adventurous trip. It was just a 3 hour drive back home, so it was quite easy. The kids all slept the whole time and Israel slept a lot of it too. But the best bit was at the end of it... we were HOME!

Sorry it has taken so long to update this, I hope you weren't bored, sorry if you were!

I will try and get this web album up and running asap for you all to see.

And I will try and be back in the next few days to chat about other stuff too, until then... keep smiling!

Dannii xx