Last week we had a lovely week at Phillip Island.  Sure, it rained at least once every day except for one and the sun wasn’t sparkling off the blue water like it usually is on the annual family trip to the beach but it was lots of fun.  The boys surfed every day (at least once per day, usually twice) and the rest of us managed to go to the beach each day bar one.

Why do children love being buried in the sand?????

Although the weather was a bit dull the mermaid was shining bright!

In between, there was lots of relaxing, book reading, board games and the other crazy activities that come with a holiday with all of Mal’s family……..

‘JUNIOR MASTERCHEF’

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Caught…..

Team 1 – The Little Cheflings

Team 2 – The Super Duper Three

The Winning Dish

‘ANNUAL FAMILY CONCERT’

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‘Wii JUST DANCE COMP’

And Ella was the innagural winner with BJ as runner up……Uncle Al was just unlucky he came up against Ella in the first round but he could be a hot favorite next year……

And 500 challenges….no photos but for the record the incredible team of Jan and BJ was joined by Nana (6 handed this time) and remained undefeated for the week!!!

And then, just in case there wasn’t enough chocolate in the creations from the young Masterchefs…..we had a visit to the factory!

And of course we can’t complain at all about a little bit of rain when you consider the floods in Queensland and now in Victoria.  Yet again the crafty community has banded together and there are heaps of ways you can help out.  Toni from Make It Perfect  has done an incredible job of organising fundraising auctions……..have a look, there are some amazing items up for offer, Corrie from Retro Mummy has lots of people quilting and Pip from Meet Me at Mikes  has a list of ways to help.  And we’ll be organising another Quilting Bee  for the LightHouse Quilters when everyone is back from holidays and making some quilts to send.

I do really enjoy New Year……it always feels like it’s a fresh start.  This year has been a fantastic year, even if I have ended up feeling a bit jaded by the end of it.

There’s been the blessing of lots of fun family holidays……

And the excitement of a couple of trips to the US………

A School Fair that was worth all the hours of effort……..

And the fun of seeing groups of women go to Sewjourn and enjoy it as much as me! 

AND I’ve been lucky enough to get to know so many of the amazing, talented girls who head for Sewjourn……..(and I’m working on a little idea to get us all together before the summer is out but more on that later…)

One of these is the gorgeous Suse who once again dropped a lovely package on my doorstep last week.  Thanks Suse, it’s great!  And if you would like one too you can find them here.

But there hasn’t been much crafting going on this year……well there was quite a bit for the School Fair, and there was some purchasing of supplies in America but my trusty Bernina will be rusting up if I don’t get the chance to use it soon!  So, that’s the plan for next year.  Along with the new adventure of No. 1 daughter starting High School and the excitement and challenges that brings with it, I’m hoping for some quality family time spent at home (or Sewjourn!) and lots more sewing time!!!  The plan is to complete one UFO a month next year…..but then I’ve made that declaration before……..

So whatever your dreams for 2011, I hope it’s really special.  Happy New Year!!

This is what the new walking shoes look like today.  But we are off for 11 weeks camping around the Northern Territory and the Kimberleys so not sure they will look this clean for long.  Mal has long service leave and the girls are taking the term off school…….Ella is in grade 6 so it seemed like a perfect time to have an extended family holiday.  It’s been a bit crazy around here lately getting everything packed and ready to go so apologies if you are waiting on a reply to an email or booking request……hopefully I will get onto it in the next couple of days.  I have wireless internet access (thanks Kellie!!) so will be contactable as long as there is coverage!  Not sure how good the access will be in most places so I may be reading your blogs but not commenting.

Whilst we are away there will be occasional posts on this blog…….some crafty discoveries or some guest posts from crafty peeps who stay at Sewjourn over the next 3 months.  Meanwhile if anyone wants to follow our travels I will be posting over here.

Meanwhile, this is what we’ll be living in….

Ciao!!

The girls REALLY, REALLY wanted to go.  Parents (especially the male one) were a bit more dubious – especially as it costs almost as much as the camping site for the week AND it’s 90 minutes drive from Byron Bay. 

BUT, I’m pleased to report, we DID go and the most amazing day was had by all. 

In fact, I say, all FOUR of my children has an absolute ball.  Even the youngest who is only 7 went on all the extreme rides! I was very proud of them (particularly as their Mum stood and watched for quite a few of them!)

It’s sunny and we are on holidays at Sewjourn…….yay!

…….And it’s only the girls and I so I guess that’s a lot of projects for just a couple of days! Oh well!

…..well they flew past with so much going on that I didn’t even have time to do a blog post!  But here’s a quick snapshot.

A nice surprise waiting for me when I went to Sewjourn to clean.  (More about this in another post….)

A few lovely relaxing days at the end of the school holidays spent in Ballarat with special friends……staying in her dad’s amazing house which is like living in an Art Gallery!  Eight girls, lots of laughs, heaps of olden-days fun, a catchup with some uni friends and a quick visit to a favorite shop.

(Don’t let the blue sky and sunshine fool you…..it was freeeeezing cold!)

My ‘baby’ turned 7, was bubbling over with excitement and had a fantastic pyjama party to celebrate.

A bloggy dinner, a beautiful wedding, a great netball win (I am so proud of the Angels who will make the finals next week in their first ever season of Junior comp!), some more gymnastic medals and ‘Christmas in July with some dear friends helped this weekend whizz by.

Back to school, work, cleaning and all the other activities this week.  Off to the Craft and Quilt Fair for the next few days………I’ll be helping out Karen on Somerset Patchwork and Quilting’s  stall so if you are planning on coming drop past and say ‘hello!’  And next week is off to Tasmania for a few weeks training for a new job I’ll be doing until the end of term.  So I’ll be back posting when I can…….but don’t expect too much crafting!  (Have just signed up for this swap though).

There’s no doubt that at the end of the day my girlfriend and I were ready to sit  with our feet up and a glass of wine, but Fun 4 Kids Festival really WAS a great day.  All the kids had a ball.

They did bowling, fencing, dancing, painting, woodwork, visited the animal nursery (and even held dogs – anyone who knows my girls will know what an amazing achievement this is!!!), had faces painted, watched short films, created, played on the ‘beach’, looked at strobes, played on the indoor playground…………the list goes on!  Whats more it is all undercover so the fact that it was bucketing down and blowing a gale in Warrnambool that day didn’t matter at all (apart from the fact that the rock climbing section was shut).  AND the shuttle bus picked us up from right opposite where we were staying and delivered us back to our door.

are for relaxing……….

and playing………..

and creating…………

(More about the Fun 4 Kids Festival in the next post otherwise at risk of photo overload!!!)

and posing…………

and taking in the scenery………..

(Just as well Grandma made everyone hats to keep them warm!)

and checking out the wildlife…………

and OK for a bit of front page publicity as well (apart from the fact that it is our friend Max in the photo not Kate – you can just see her pink arm – the rest of the story is accurate!)

I know lots of people are writing post-beach-holiday posts at the moment but here’s a quick glimpse of the great week we have just had. 

Some of the highlights were:

Sun and surf, penguins, bike rides, the Inagural ‘Cook-off’ (won by BJ and I!)

Spending time with cousins.

Hearing my nearly 3 year old nephew talk (non-stop!!)

Eating……….pancakes,

……Zooper Doopers (much better flavours than when I was a kid!)

…….Chocolate Fondue

…….and Choc Ripple Cake. 

Eating popcorn at the Family Concert.

Fishing.

The Carnival.

Searching for the best waves.

Snuggling up with Grandad after a hard session in the surf.

Burying Uncle BJ in the sand (isn’t it great to have (patient) uncles and aunties without children?)

And the chance to do lots of reading – managed to read our next Book Club book – must be a record as our next get-together isn’t until the start of March!!!  It was an easy, entertaining read – perfect for the beach.  Then I started this book but it’s taking much longer to get into – maybe a few days up at Sewjourn later in the week will help!