Back to Civilisation

I know it's odd to come from Sydney and call Wagga civilisation but as I have had no Internet access for two weeks I feel like I have been in the wilderness. Two busy, people and excitement filled weeks away.  Now that I have hung out three loads of washing, I can sit down and share a few photos.

Last year Andrew and the kids went to Gloucester before Christmas to spend some time with Andrew's sister and her family in their new house while I was at work. This Christmas I was able to go too and found Gloucester a lovely little town. The house is on a hill just out of town and has views like this from every angle.

We went for a drive to the river with a plan to skim stones. My children, however, never miss an opportunity to get completely soaked. The three youngest cousins went home in their undies.

The cousins had so much fun together. Toby and Holly raced down to the long grass and back.

This is the moment Toby realised he had lost. Go girls!

Andrew's sister and her husband don't get up early so we found ourselves up with six excited children on Christmas morning and were running out of ideas when we remembered the huge television. That kept them going until everyone was awake and ready for presents.

Christmas Day was lovely. We had a fabulous lunch and really enjoyed spending time with the Gloucester contingent. We said goodbye to them on Boxing Day morning and drove over Barrington Tops to Mum and Dad's.  A few days with six excitable kids was nothing compared to the sweet chaos at the vineyard - there were around thirty two of us for lunch.

We met our newest nephew - he is so sweet.

Bethany enjoyed time with Granny and Sunny.

The traditional game of cricket was played. Even I had a bat.

Later, after all the aunts, uncles and cousins had left there were just sixteen of us left - so quiet! Mum and Dad, three children and eight grandchildren. Three babies so there were lots of cuddles. Doesn't Henry look like he's trying to escape his wrap?

Staying at Mum and Dad's means sitting at the long kitchen bench eating fabulous food.

So many people, so much noise. Even the cicadas were so loud that you could hardly hold a conversation outside. Every day Mum and I would go up to the chooks with the girls to collect the eggs. My Nanna used to take me to collect the eggs at Weetaliba when I was a little girl and I have always loved it. I cannot, however, be trusted with the eggs as I attempted to juggle a couple and dropped one on the first throw.

The last leg of our trip was a stay in Wahroonga with Andrew's parents. Andrew took Jossie and Toby ice-skating, a long promised adventure. Bethany and I went shoe shopping. She tried on every size 13 pair of shoes in Macquarie Centre and rejected them all. Not fun. Thankfully I discovered that T2 teahouses have scones with clotted, rather than just whipped, cream.

They were very busy so we had to wait a while. The teapot above did not contain scalding tea but was the marker for our table.

Wagga really needs a T2 teahouse. Andrew took Bethany to the zoo, which she loved, and her hat fell into the elephants' pool. Jossie and Toby saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Nan, as I decided I really couldn't stand to see my favourite of the Narnia books messed with. We went to the beach with the whole clan on a windy day, went ten pin bowling and saw Gulliver's Travels.

So now we are home. Milo was very happy to see us and we were all excited to see the baby Willy Wagtails that hatched while we were away. I don't go back to work for another week and a half. This will be the part of my holiday with lots of sleep (hopefully)!