The Holidays, Part 1

We are currently in the school vacation between second and third term.
2 weeks of not rushing around in the morning to get to school, no lunches to be made...
Not having to remind Jasper 47 times (before 8am) to remember his glasses/shoes/sweater/bag/library book/homework folder (well, you get the picture...)

Ok, so On Friday (first day of holidays for our school), we went to the gym (well, I went to the gym.. the kids went to the creche). It was Jasper's first time.. he said it was "kind of awesome". Pays to be the big kid there!!! Then we went to a friends house for a quick cuppa before the airport run to pick up the man of the house.
The weekend saw some football played and won (but I think both teams think they won... it was perfect winter weather. Blue sky, and a freezing, bone chilling wind...

Monday saw some of the babies (and their mummies) coming to our place for playgroup. Again, Jasper was king of the hill, when he felt like it... and after distracting him from some inappropriate talk (he was oblivious anyway), we had a pretty chilled out afternoon.

Tuesday was the BEST day so far.
We took Molly to our friend Carly's house for looking after, as Jasper had an Ophthalmology appointment at the hospital.. He was scared out of his wits.. Every other time, he has had these drops put in that make it feel like broken glass is being rubbed in his eyeballs. Last time I had to physically restrain him while they put them in. Not pleasant.
We talked about just not stressing, and that the mind makes it worse than it really is... like blood tests USED to be a screaming fight, now it is almost fun (for Jasper at least, I still feel faint!!), and he likes to watch and learn. He calmed down, and at the result  was that he didn't need the drops this time, and they...

DISCHARGED HIM FROM THE CLINIC!!!!

that means we dont need to go back. EVER!!! He still needs to see an optometrist every 6 - 12 months, but we can do that locally.

We LOVE it when we lose a doctor, or clinic. It is rare, but it has happened twice for us so far!!!

This what being discharged from Ophthalmology looks like:

(he dressed himself - the hat anyway... I am not accountable for my little Amish boy...)

Wednesday saw Jasper have a friend come to sleep over... they watched a movie and were in bed ASLEEP by 9pm!!!! Jasper woke at 5.30am (OUCH), but I made him leave Coll til 7am.

Then we went to AQWA. That is the aquarium near us. We met my mum, and 2 of the kids cousins there (there are 3 WA cousins, but one was feeling sick, so did not stay :(.  ).

The kids (well, my lot) were exhausted, so it was home for Coll at 1pm, and an afternoon of rest for us!!
Here are some shots of our day... it was really hard to take good pics in the aquarium, it is really dark, and no flashes allowed!

The kids thought this was pretty awesome... it was above us as we went down the stairs... (it wasn't real, but we did have real ones over us in the tunnel, but it was too dim for decent pics without a flash!)

Jasper and his mate Coll (plus the back of my mum and nephews head) sussing out some seahorses (before I saw the "NO FLASH" sign - not that the flash helped here!)

 Smoochie loving time with Molly and her grandy!

 Flash was allowed here, and probably not needed!! My babies

 My nephew looking brave with his hand in the crocodiles mouth... Jasper and Coll watching on, not as brave!

 Molly and her cousin.

 My brave niece with her arm in danger...

 Jasper magnifing some clown fish

 Grandy and grandson with 2 grand daughters following. There was much love to go around!

 Loving cousins.
They dont see each other that often, but when they do, it is always fun!!!

 Molly loves her cousin.. he wasnt so co-operative all day... she kept holding his hand, kissing his shoulder and basically crowding him!! (it was super sweet!)

 After the aquarium, we had lunch at the grass area next to the aquarium.. I packed ham or turkey sandwiches with fruit, crisps and other snacks - along with "rock solid frozen" juice boxes!

I asked for nice pics of my kids... Jasper started off nice, but I thought this was more fun to share... the REAL Jasper...

 My girl being a super model (biased I may be, but try and tell me she isn't beautiful... I'll know you are a liar!)

 There was running and frivolity

 A certain young man chasing seagulls for all he was worth..

 He looked like he was having so much fun, so Jasper joined in...

 and Coll joined in too! 

 Molly chased her best boy-cousin down.. again!!

there was hide and seek (but I couldn't take pictures for fear of giving away their awesome hiding spot...) tree climbing and general crazy fun.

It was a fun day, and was capped off by a good afternoon sleep by Molly (and a nice 15 minute kip for me!)

There will be another post next week at some stage... Jasper has his 3 monthly blood test Monday, so depending on the results, and the time I have, the results will be up, as well as some more school vacation tales.

Thanks for reading

Brooke