Camping at Cedar Grove

After Christmas I took the girls camping for 11 days at Cedar Grove camping ground, which is just past Amamoor. Amamoor is this little "don't blink or you'll miss it" town but I love the corner store they have there.

I've been camping at Cedar Grove every Christmas since I was 9, only missing two years, I think. Most of my family were camping there as well so it was good to catch up with them and for the girls to have time to play with their cousins, who they don't ge to see very often. They also came to my rescue on the first night we were there when we were hit by a severe storm and my campsite was literally flooded. My tarps were blown down and the water was halfway up my calf and things were washing away. Even though they got drenched my family all came over to help me out. I actually gave up and drove home at 10:30 at night to sleep. Luckily we don't live too far away. It turned out that I was just camped in a really bad spot where all the water from the camping grounds just flowed through like a mini river, while everywhere else barely had puddles, it seemed. When I came back the next day my wonderful Dad had moved my tents and stuff to a better site for me.

The rest of the time was great although very hot. We found a swimming place away from the main waterhole which was shady and less crowded and we would spend most of the day there.

I'd bring a chair and read when I wasn't swimming and the kids just mucked around in the water all day, swimming, making dams and catching tadpoles and fish.

I just love getting away from the house because I find it hard to relax at home or I feel guilty if I do, because I'm always thinking "I should be doing this" or "that really needs to be cleaned". At camping I don't have to worry about any of that. I went riding with Ella, had balancing competitions on the air mattress on the water (I sucked...my record was 7 seconds, Rosie the gymnastics queen stood up for over 2 minutes), sat at dusk with the girls looking for turtles and platypus but also just enjoying the evening and the silence. We took turns trying to take creative photos in the dimming light.

A Christmas Summary

I'm baaack. (See Mitch, I don't spend all my time on the computer.) It's been a month since my last post. I feel like I've been very busy since Christmas and I've been thinking "I'll have to write a post on this and a post on that" but time has passed too quickly, so I'll try to do a few short summaries over the next few days to keep you up to date. I was going to try to do it all in one go, but that would have been one mammoth post.

Here's my recipe book that I made for my sister, Veronika, for Christmas but I tried it in a different colour scheme. I like it, although I think I prefer the pastels. But I might do these colours for my meal recipe book, which I've yet to make.

For my nephew, Isaac, I made a photo peg puzzle. I did get the idea off a photo I saw on someone's blog, but I can't remember where. Contact me if you know so I can credit them properly. He was very excited pulling out the pieces to see which photos were underneath.

It was great to see all my family for Christmas. We spent it together on the weekend before, which is great because it makes the actual day nice and relaxed with no travelling. We did the obligatory family photos but not many of mine worked out, except this one of me and my sisters, which I love.

I did very well present-wise for Christmas, being showered with all manner of gorgeous red things for my kitchen, from hubby and the kids. I also got some red bowls from my brother and his wife which go perfectly. And don't forget the packet of jellybeans, my favourite lollies, from Ella.

The decorations are all down now, which should mean that I go back to my pastel decorating, but I couldn't put all my red things away without using them, so the red's here to stay for a while. Here's my hutch in it's red, white and blue. Very patriotic.