Neurum Creek Bush Retreat Camping - Part 1

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend for us as Monday was a "pupil free day" so we took advantage of our long weekend and went camping to Neurum Creek Bush Retreat with 5 other families.  We had a wonderful time and with lots of kids all different ages James and Sienna had plenty of kids to play with.  We've been there a few times before but not for ages.  We will definitely be going back as it has a beautiful creek bed that you can just sit on the rocks, or stand in the creek (or in the case of the adults, you just bring your camp chair down to the creek and plonk it right down in the creek bed on the rocks which is what we did and kept very cool.  One end of the creek is lots of rocks and about a foot of water and then it moves into about a metre of water so you can just stand up in it.  We saw several catfish  and the kids paddled with kayak's and swam in blow up rings (along with the parents).   There are lots of photos so I'll do a couple of posts.

 

Photo Book of our Veggie Garden

During the Easter holidays in 2010 we set up our first veggie gardens at our old house and had a bumper season which we were thrilled about.  It was the first time I had really grown veggies for the family and we produced some amazing tasting food.  I wanted to document our veggie growing experience so I used a company called Paper Coterie to print a photo book which was made from and recycled paper.  The pages aren't shiny like glossy photo paper but are a cream coloured textured paper which is very organic and very suitable given the nature of the book.  The book was relatively easy to produce and turned out better than I had expected.  James was 6 and Sienna was only 4 years old when we took these photos and they look so adorable as well.  Hope you enjoy a look into our veggie growing in 2010.

Paper Coterie is a USA company and whilst the book was reasonably priced the postage on top made it no so reasonable.  I did wait until there was a 60% off photo books before I ordered it which made it reasonable.  I really love the book and the quality but I would only use them if there was a special on due to the additional postage to Australia.  I'm thrilled that I have documented our veggies because it was such a great experience for the kids and I back then.  I had one of the best tomato plants in history and haven't really had a good plant since then.  I've got a couple of tomato plants now to plant out in our garden so hopefully by Christmas we'll have lots to eat with our summer salads.

And as a side note I have finally processed and ordered my Week in the Life 2012 book (WITL) from Blurb yesterday so I will be looking out for the postie over the next few weeks.  I'm very happy with the photos, stories and pages I did using Lynette's designs and templates and will do a post when the book finally arrives.  WITL was earlier this year from the 23-29th April, 2012 but I figured it's better late than never.  I did the process over a few stages which I'll explain when I get my book but there was some rather big time lapses during those stages.

Around Here

We have been enjoying down time during these holidays and just hanging around the house doing not much.  A few videos, kids playing in the backyard and lots of toys from one end of the house to the other.  I love the break from the early morning school day rush of lunches, library bags etc. and enjoying the slower pace.  On Tuesday I was in my pj's all day and had a shower at 4pm.....you've gotta have days like that as they can be very good for you.  This is what it's been like around our place lately.

Finally cutting up fabric which I purchased two years ago to the month to make a bunting...ummm what can I say, life sometimes gets in the way of craft projects.  I had to dust off the sewing machine which hasn't been used in 12 years.  I was once a big sewer, making my own clothes, sewing quilts etc. and my sisters and I first learnt how to sew on an old singer treadmill sewing machine which we had in our downstairs laundry.  Hawaiian flared shorts and crop tops were all the rage back in the 70's and I made my fair share of them and wore them proudly.  All the neighbourhood kids had them made and we would ride our bikes with big banana handles and think we were so cool.  Those were the days when you would hang around with the neighbours all day and come home for lunch and dinner.  Things are a bit different these days but I have lots of fond memories of my sewing exploits.

Some circus acts performed by some circus animals...or are they really my kids!!!

We have been indulging in home made some nachos during the holidays, complete rubbish food but totally yummy and I think we had it 2 days in a row for lunch.  Thank goodness the 10-11 weeks of the school term it's healthy eating.

Here's at least some healthy eggs on toast for dinner....we decided to put our empty shells on top of one another as we finished them.  The eggs are done in the Thermomix which take 10 mins and are just perfect.

Toys, toys and more toys....they seem to make their way out of boxes all by themselves but never jump back in their boxes.  It's a constant battle to get the kids to "tidy up the toy room".

Last night's dinner, sun-dried tomato chicken (YUM) with home grown roasted potatoes.  Seriously these are just so great to eat and it puts smiles on all of our faces.  I love teaching the kids to grow food and I get just as much of a thrill out of it as they do.

School Art Show

During the last week of school we had an Art Show and Concert which consisted of kids art work, Choir and Dance.  When I picked the kids up from school we headed down to the hall to look at all the art work which was very impressive indeed.  Grade 3 did their artwork based on "What if" theme and James did  "What if Birds laid all kinds of balls".  Some of the other art work was based on the "What if" were "What if puppies were pillows", "What if Monsters were Teachers" (ummm some of them may be, we have been lucky so far) "What if dolphins could fit into fish tanks", "What if Soccer Balls were heads" "What if candles were fingers" "What if Fishing Rods could write on Water".  I just love their imagination and the matching artwork that goes with it,  awesome stuff.

Sienna's grade 1 class did artwork around "Do you have a Hat?"  The kids each had to bring a fancy hat to school and then draw a picture of them wearing the hat.  We only had a few caps at home and Sienna didn't want to take one of those, so James helped her make a hat out of newspaper (great job James, you were a lifesaver on this project).  Here's some photos of the Art Show below.

On the left below is Sienna with her paper hat that James helped her make.  The kids then had to draw a picture of themselves wearing the hat.  I think it's such a cute idea and she had fun doing it.  

 

                        

Some of the other grades artwork which looked great hung up around the room.