Summer!

Well summer has officially started - some one just forgot to tell Mother Nature.

We had our first camping trip last weekend - it was awesome. We were only 30 minutes from St John's yet we were in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. We only went for one night - just to try it out and make sure we had everything we would need. It was a huge success and we cant wait to go again. We bought 2 tent sets from Canadian Tyre for $45 a set, and they came with a 4 man tent (good luck fitting 4 in them) two chairs, two sleeping bags and a cooler. Jenna and Abby wanted to share a tent so they slept in one and we slept in another with our doors facing each other and about 40cm between them. Abby was exhausted after an afternoon of exploring and asked to go to bed after sausages and baked potato on the campfire, but not before she had had a few toasted marshmallows and a few smores, which are toasted marshmallows sandwiched between 2 biscuits with a piece of chocolate that melts into the marshmallow - yes they are very good!

Jenna was so excited to be able to stay up late and she was great - she is always good when she has one on one time. She and I went for a walk and threw sticks in streams rushing under bridges and ran to the other side to see whose came out first. She always won because she always chose the biggest stick and gave me the little twig. When she did finally crash, she crashed and they both slept like babies in the great outdoors, they even snuggled together.

Noel and I enjoyed a bottle of wine by the fire as the temperature dropped quickly, it got down to about 6 degrees so it wasn't too bad. Thankfully we took lots of extra blankets. It has been years since I slept on an air mattress in a sleeping bag and it was surprisingly comfortable, wouldn't want to do it for weeks on end but a couple of nights here and there will be fine.

The night we went was the night before the Summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (winter solstice for you lot down under) so the sun did not set till after 9pm and it was still twilight till after 10pm and then the sun was up at 5 so it was getting light from about 4 - so that is only really 6 hours of darkness. Anyway late sunsets make star gazing difficult. I have seen pictures and heard that the stars are amazing from where we were, and we had a rare clear night (in the last 70 days, we have had 7 days of sun - yes that is right - 7 and that was spring), so I was looking forward to some stargazing but the fresh air knocked the good out of me and I had to sleep. We did stay up long enough for Noel to see his first satellite which he thought was pretty cool.

Noel rose before 5 the next morning and did his best to climb over me and quietly open the zip and get out - needless to say that was me up for the day as well, Abby woke up and couldn't see Jenna who had rolled off the side of her airmatterss - luckily I had put warm blankets on the floor next to her. Noel and Abby got the fire going and Jenna woke up not long after to a bird sitting on the top of her tent. It was Fathers Day, the girls gave Noel a 'Best Dad Ever' Hat.

We had breaky and then went exploring , we went off the track and found ourselves in a few muddy and rocky predicaments but we made it through relatively unscathed.

We packed up not long after we got back - meanwhile the rest of the campers were just starting to stir - and headed to the wildlife park. We saw Moose, Caribou, a lynx, owls, a woodchuck, canada geese and many more animals. By this time the girls were thoroughly exhausted and fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car so we took the long way home and they had a good snooze.

So camping was great, cant wait to do more!

Jenna had her last day of school today - she is well and truly ready for a break from school. We are really proud of her and how well she did at school this year, her report card was sensational and her teacher called her 'a dream student' - GREAT JOB JENNA!

Jenna starts grade 1 in September - full time school (did you hear my woohoo).

I have the weather on my desktop for here, Perth and Darwin (for Shani) and I am sorry to say but I have loved seeing that Perth has been having near zero temperatures...sorry everyone but it was time for someone other than me to be in freezing temperatures like that., and well to Shani in Darwin - I am not even going to mention your perfect weather at the moment!

Anyway that is enough for me today, stay warm everyone!

Vanessa

Jenna's Graduation

Well after a few very anxious days and 'freaking out' moments Jenna managed to summons up the courage and participate in her Kindy graduation concert - and she was so glad she did.
Here is a movie of the concert she wanted Nanna to be able to see it when she woke up!

Spring Has Sprung

Finally we are getting some warm weather. Today was 23 degrees - blowing a bit of a gale but still lovely - I actually got a bit sun burnt. Ahhhh vitamin D welcome back.

The trees are almost in full bloom and the flowers around town look beautiful, there are tulips everywhere and yellow dandy lions by the millions (weed). The mood in town has changed, people were very sick of winter - me being one of them, in fact I was sick of it enough for about 10 people! Now people are out and about and soaking in every last bit of sun they can because you never know - it could snow tomorrow - we are in Newfoundland!

Nan bought the girls a new sandpit today, I know where Abby is going to be every moment she can! We even had our first dinner in the backyard tonight - it was so nice. We needed sweaters by the end but it was still lovely.

Jenna had her school sports day today. It was great - she had a great time. Very different to sports days as I know them from when I was growing up but it was great o see all the kiddies out and running around, it was the first time they have been outside to play at school since we got here in November. Jenna won both her races - the sack race and the running race...way to go Jenna. Abby joined in as well. They were on the Water Rats team - I made them shirts saying 'Water Rats' - a bit over the top maybe but you know me!

I even went in the Parents Sack Race and didn't do too badly if I may say so myself (definitely no video of that!)

School finishes for Jenna in 2 weeks (did you hear me scream as I typed that?) I am hoping to fill the holidays with lots of fun FREE things. She is booked in to do 1 week of 'summer camp' at the YMCA - just day camp not over night, when I told her she was going to camp she was a bit worried we were shipping her off for a week - day and night!

We have bought some camping gear and are getting ready for our first camping trip in a few weeks - I cant wait - open fire, steaks on the bbq, hiking, toasting marshmallows, swimming (brrr) - good old fashioned family fun, oh and did I mention the mosquitoes - they are pretty bad here apparently, and did I also mention that some campsites come with bear poles - yes that is right bear poles - mmm sounds a bit scary.

Here is a movie of Spring So far...enjoy!

Abby has loved her gymnastics and continues to love going to the YMCA with me most days, she is such a funny character and is slowly but surely developing 'ATTITUDE' but she is still oh so cute and she still loves to cuddle! She is doing this very annoying thing at dinner where she chews her mouthful until it is just a big ball of yuck and then forgets how to swallow it - dinner times are a bit painful with her at the moment.

Jenna already has the 'ATTITUDE' but she has calmed down ever so slightly and is a bit more bareable at the moment. She has some stupid OCD issues at the moment but they seem to be just phases and she gets over them. Her reading is coming along great - I wrote a story for her to read yesterday and she read it first time no worries, only needed help with one word. We are so proud of her. She really wants to be good enough to read the fairy stories to Nanna that Nanna reads the her, when we get back to Australia, I think she will be pretty close to being able to do it. I really hope she keeps this love of reading (like her Aunty Andrea).

Well I have had alot to say today, hope I haven't bored you.

have a great day

Vanessa