Gone Glamping
Way back before the last school holidays, David went to China for two weeks.
Obviously, we survived. My mother came up for a few days to mind the kids while I finished my fencing commitments for the term, and after that we muddled through on our own.
Complications included Ms4 going through a faze of waking up during the night, every night (and therefore waking me up), and then me getting sick with something vaguely cold&flu like but with less sniffles. (She had started the night waking before David left, so not sure what was causing it but it didn’t seem to be directly related to his absence).
On the whole we did pretty well I think, but glad I don’t have to parent solo all of the time.
Then it was school Holidays. I had planned to try and take the kids places this time ‘round, but then got lurgified again, or possibly still, and had no energy to do anything. So there was a trip to Base Camp at the start of the holidays, with a baking workshop for them both, and a science workshop for Mr7. Then mostly lounging around at home until I managed to recover in time to go camping.
Or possibly glamping. We spent a couple of nights in a cabin, rented with a couple of other mums&kids. It was quiet comfortable, and I kept myself happily occupied tending the fire, which is apparently an activity I find very relaxing. The youngest boy present was very interested in watching me split the wood.
We detoured on the way there to visit the train at Walhalla. I prefer Puffing Billy, but the kids gave it a thumbs up and thought it was worth the extra driving (even though they spent half the journey paying more attention to their lunches).
Despite a couple of wrong turns we got to the cabin first, kids claimed their bunk in the shared kids room, and I got the fire going and worked out how to light the gas lamps. So things were warming up nicely by the time the others joined us and dinner got underway. I’d packed for cold conditions, so naturally it ended up being surprisingly mild for somewhere in the foothills of the snowfields.
First night went quite well, although the mums stayed up way too late eating chocolate by the fire. I suspect the kids were all too exhausted to make much fuss. The second night saw Ms4 much more restless and scared of the dark, eventually she came to share my bed. So I wasn’t particularly well rested by the time we left, but nonetheless felt de-stressed.
Ms4 said her favourite part was going for an evening walk before dinner. I’m not sure what Mr7 liked best, but he did spend most of the weekend shouting “expelliarmus” a lot with 2 of the girls as they played Harry Potter. (Ms4 spent some of that time drawing in her scrap book on the floor, completely ignoring all the the spell-casting going on around her).
There was also some pleasant time spent doing Ms4’s Princess puzzles. Group games didn’t quite happen, but various combinations of mother&child games sporadically broke out.
Going home, we all detoured again to stop by a trout farm and introduce the kids to fishing. Fortunately the rain took a break for a bit so we weren’t completely soaked.
Mine were both very interested and insisted on having their own rods, but when the reality of lively fish was discovered Ms4 wasn’t coming anywhere near them. Mr7 was prepared to hold the rod as long as I also held it and did all the actual work. Then decided it seemed to work better if I did it myself and insisted I do so.
My fishing supervisors were not satisfied until I had caught 6 trout for the bucket.
We toddled in to get them weighed and cleaned, I pointed out the bucket of fish guts under the sink to illustrate that this was the bit I didn’t much fancy doing myself. Picked up a small tub of smoked trout pate’, then continued our journey back to Melbourne without incident.
Kids were very keen to have our fish for dinner, and decided we would cook them without the heads, thanks. On eating… they prefer the bought fish&chips really ;-)
Fortunately I like trout. Still have one frozen for later.
Then it was time for the new school term. I don’t know where the time goes.
After getting lost periodically on the country backroads for camping, and more urban ones trying to find fencing locations, I finally decided to give in and buy a GPS navigator. Up until now I’ve been very “I know how to read a map damn it”, but sometimes you really want a navigator who knows where you are and can tell you if this is the un-signposted turn you want or not.
The TomTom arrived today, now I just have to figure out which bit of the car to attach it to for minimal annoyance.
Obviously, we survived. My mother came up for a few days to mind the kids while I finished my fencing commitments for the term, and after that we muddled through on our own.
Complications included Ms4 going through a faze of waking up during the night, every night (and therefore waking me up), and then me getting sick with something vaguely cold&flu like but with less sniffles. (She had started the night waking before David left, so not sure what was causing it but it didn’t seem to be directly related to his absence).
On the whole we did pretty well I think, but glad I don’t have to parent solo all of the time.
Then it was school Holidays. I had planned to try and take the kids places this time ‘round, but then got lurgified again, or possibly still, and had no energy to do anything. So there was a trip to Base Camp at the start of the holidays, with a baking workshop for them both, and a science workshop for Mr7. Then mostly lounging around at home until I managed to recover in time to go camping.
Or possibly glamping. We spent a couple of nights in a cabin, rented with a couple of other mums&kids. It was quiet comfortable, and I kept myself happily occupied tending the fire, which is apparently an activity I find very relaxing. The youngest boy present was very interested in watching me split the wood.
We detoured on the way there to visit the train at Walhalla. I prefer Puffing Billy, but the kids gave it a thumbs up and thought it was worth the extra driving (even though they spent half the journey paying more attention to their lunches).
Despite a couple of wrong turns we got to the cabin first, kids claimed their bunk in the shared kids room, and I got the fire going and worked out how to light the gas lamps. So things were warming up nicely by the time the others joined us and dinner got underway. I’d packed for cold conditions, so naturally it ended up being surprisingly mild for somewhere in the foothills of the snowfields.
First night went quite well, although the mums stayed up way too late eating chocolate by the fire. I suspect the kids were all too exhausted to make much fuss. The second night saw Ms4 much more restless and scared of the dark, eventually she came to share my bed. So I wasn’t particularly well rested by the time we left, but nonetheless felt de-stressed.
Ms4 said her favourite part was going for an evening walk before dinner. I’m not sure what Mr7 liked best, but he did spend most of the weekend shouting “expelliarmus” a lot with 2 of the girls as they played Harry Potter. (Ms4 spent some of that time drawing in her scrap book on the floor, completely ignoring all the the spell-casting going on around her).
There was also some pleasant time spent doing Ms4’s Princess puzzles. Group games didn’t quite happen, but various combinations of mother&child games sporadically broke out.
Going home, we all detoured again to stop by a trout farm and introduce the kids to fishing. Fortunately the rain took a break for a bit so we weren’t completely soaked.
Mine were both very interested and insisted on having their own rods, but when the reality of lively fish was discovered Ms4 wasn’t coming anywhere near them. Mr7 was prepared to hold the rod as long as I also held it and did all the actual work. Then decided it seemed to work better if I did it myself and insisted I do so.
My fishing supervisors were not satisfied until I had caught 6 trout for the bucket.
We toddled in to get them weighed and cleaned, I pointed out the bucket of fish guts under the sink to illustrate that this was the bit I didn’t much fancy doing myself. Picked up a small tub of smoked trout pate’, then continued our journey back to Melbourne without incident.
Kids were very keen to have our fish for dinner, and decided we would cook them without the heads, thanks. On eating… they prefer the bought fish&chips really ;-)
Fortunately I like trout. Still have one frozen for later.
Then it was time for the new school term. I don’t know where the time goes.
After getting lost periodically on the country backroads for camping, and more urban ones trying to find fencing locations, I finally decided to give in and buy a GPS navigator. Up until now I’ve been very “I know how to read a map damn it”, but sometimes you really want a navigator who knows where you are and can tell you if this is the un-signposted turn you want or not.
The TomTom arrived today, now I just have to figure out which bit of the car to attach it to for minimal annoyance.