Happy 18th, Laura

On Wednesday we celebrated Laura's 18th Birthday.

We found a beautiful spot by the water for a late afternoon present-opening picnic. (We gave Laura a golden retriever necklace, some pens for drawing, and will buy her some new bedroom furniture). Laura met a swan. Then we went to a Thai restaurant for a delicious dinner, and Emily made us each a personal dessert in a mason jar, trifle for the birthday girl and Steve, and vegan/paleo chocolate coconut creations for her and me, yum.

It's hard to believe that this girl of ours has been alive for 18 years. And what a character she is:

We love you, so much, Laura!

Introducing ...

... our new addition to the family, Cooper.

We brought Cooper home 10 days ago, and life will never be the same.

A few days in the country

My parents generously hosted a family holiday at a huge house in the country. Actually, it was only 40 minutes from our home, but in an area I've rarely been in. The house sleeps 24 people, but there were 16 of us, my parents, siblings, and all our children.

It was just what I needed after a frantic few months. I taught in my regular library job for 4 weeks this term then headed to another school to be a student teacher again for 6 weeks. When the holidays finally arrived, we did a big overhaul of our stuff for a week in anticipation of a new arrival.

So a change of scene and pace was much welcomed. We ate, walked, read, played sports, card games, piano, drew with chalk, and hung out by the firepit for 3 days and nights, and just generally enjoyed the serenity and being together. 

All good.

Holiday at Salamander Bay

We've just had a restful week away at Port Stephens, staying in an apartment, part of a big house right on the beach at Salamander Bay. It was so good to wake up, walk out of the bedroom and look straight through the apartment to a window full of water, and to sit on the deck and soak in the water views, the ever-changing sky, the boats, the birdlife, and the quiet surrounds. The gardens around the house were lovely too, and I enjoyed going for walks and looking for landscaping ideas in the gardens of the modern houses along the beach. The apartment had some lovely artworks, some by the owner. I'd like to go back there again one day ...

When not walking, I did some crochet, some watercolouring, a little shopping and cooking. We went out for dinner one night, and had movie nights at home the other nights, it was all pretty quiet and lazy. Things have changed since family holidays when the girls were young - there were no sandcastles, outings to the park, or boardgames. We all had our phones and books and activities, which in some ways was unsociable, but in other ways was just fine and kind of what we needed, we're a pretty quiet family. Steve and Laura began a difficult 1000-piece puzzle but didn't finish it, it turned out that sections of the puzzle were missing! I listened to some good podcasts while out walking, and continued reading Ann Voskamp's The Broken Way, (which is great and helpful but the content of which has temporarily left my memory after a day of uni readings today). 

After a busy term with school and uni I was well and truly ready for a break. Actually this was our first proper holiday in a year, and the last holiday was shorter and I was sick. It's been a huge year with very few breaks from studying, and just a week at home in July when I didn't have school AND uni. This year I'm studying Teacher Librarianship, which is a much harder course, requiring hours and hours of reading. But the content is good and I'm excited about learning to excel at my job, which I continue to love.

The next few weeks will be very busy with school and uni, then mid-May I'm off to do a teaching prac at a local school to (hopefully) complete my primary teaching course, so it's a huge term ahead, I'm looking forward to July holidays when I'll really have a week off with no uni work hanging over me.