Our routine way of life

We have settled into a real routine now and I must say I'm loving it. No appointments or committments other than those we choose to make. Lots of free time to play or do absolutely nothing at all! Chris is loving his job and the kids seem to enjoy school most days. All in all life is wonderful for the Stevenson family and every day I am grateful that we have the opportunity to be on this exciting adventure that is our life.

We are now counting down our time here in Mirani, having heard only this week that the "crush" (or cane season) will be finished by the end of October, if not sooner. We had a look at the map this morning, one of my favourite things to do, to plan our move across to Darwin and I'm getting so excited now! Have been on the phone to Caz and she thinks we would be better to stay at her place in the bus rather than spend all our money on site fees at a caravan park for 6 months. No arguments there, but I don't think she realises how BIG we actually are. Waiting for some photos of her driveway to see if taking down the front fence will give us enough room to actually get up the drive. Luckily she wants a new front fence anyway, so Chris is the man for the job!
My beautiful children with Laura's new "puppy".
Had a visit to the skate park last week, just up the road from where we live. As you can see Will was a natural (as long as he didn't go near any ramps!), then he hit the deck pretty quickly, but to his credit he got back up and tried again, and again...and again! Glad to report there were no major injuries, despite all the crashes, but I had the ambulance ready on speed dial, just in case.

Laura and Chris found a safer(?!!) way to go down the ramps which was just as exciting and with only half as many spills.

I captured this special moment while the kids were getting ready for bed one night. Both of them crammed into Laura's bed reading a story. Awww, cute hey?
Yes, I know this photo is a bit blurry, I didn't realise the night setting had to be still for a few seconds before it took the shot. But ignoring my lousy camera skills I still think it looks amazing! This is the cane field out the back of the caravan park which had been cut that day and was being burnt off to remove all the rubbish.

We went to the beach at Dolphin Heads on Chris' last days off. The tide was out and had left a couple of big "puddles" so the kids jumped in for a dip on their boogey boards. The poor things didn't realise the rocks at the bottom were really sharp and they came out with cuts and scrapes all over their hands and legs. Lucky for them there were no sharks in the puddle!
The kids were more careful climbing around these rocks looking for "treasures".

The fisherman, waiting for that elusive fish, which just won't come!!!

So today Chris is off to the river to try his hand at some lure fishing instead. Then tomorrow he hopes to go out in a boat with a bloke from his work to try for a barra. You have to give the man credit, despite his crappy track record since we left Colac, he just refuses to give in. I have the freezer emptied in the hope that tomorrow night it will be full of barra fillets. And I have all of my fingers and toes crossed too!

I will finish off with some very exciting news...just heard yesterday that Tanya, Elliott and the kids are going to come up here for a short visit before we leave Mirani. Haven't heard actual dates yet but I'm already making plans and getting things organised. I can't help it, I'm an organiser, that's what I do! It will be after the pool here has opened and if yesterday's weather in Colac is anything to go by, they will be thrilled just to lay by the pool for the 4 days, soaking up the beautiful rays. Ah, the serenity!