We are almost at the end of our two week June school holiday break. Last week was just a complete wash out and cold!!! But this week has been so sunny and lovely that we've been out and about enjoying ourselves.
Today we went strawberry picking at the strawberry farms. These 'A' grade strawberries are so delicious and sweet. We filled a container with the most yummy big berries.
One of the men that works there told us that they lost a big crop last week because of all the heavy rain. The strawberries just rot and they have to throw them away, but these fields survived despite being knee deep in mud last week.
Our container cost us $16kg and we also got some dipping chocolate.... mmmmm!!!!
The strawberry farm is surrounded by lovely picnic areas with tables, a playground, benches and chairs as well as a cafe for coffee and lunch and a BBQ area as well. There were lots of people there today.
A lovely creek runs through the strawberry farm so the picking was even more enjoyable being able to enjoy the stroll out to the fields.
We treated ourselves to a lovely strawberry and ice-cream parfait afterwards.
We also spent part of the morning gem fossicking at a nearby opal shop. I don't know why I've never taken the children there before. All these years we've lived close by and the kids have asked me "when can we go there?" We were able to buy a plastic container for between $5-$12 depending on the size you want and then go outside and dig in among the rocks and stones for gem stones. It was a lot of fun finding all the different varieties and colours. You can also buy stones that are already washed and polished inside the store but this was much more fun!
I only wanted the pink ones so once the children had finished their collecting they helped me to find pink ones to fill a small container. They threw in a few lilac ones too. Aren't they pretty?
We've also been back to the beach. The problem with living near the coast is that you would think we would get down to the beach every day right?
Wrong!
After a week of heavy rain the water is all murky and so it takes a few days for the surf to settle and for it to be enjoyable to play in again.
While it was much too cold for us humans to swim Marley and
Jasper just couldn't wait to run into the water like the spaniels they are. Marley was off lead most of the time, but naughty "seagull chasing" Jasper had to stay on his lead. Last time we let him off lead he almost ended up washed out over the rocks and swept out to ocean.
We did let Jasper off the lead for a few minutes while we walked back to the park through the trees and were safely away from the rocks only to find that him madly rushing off chasing a bush turkey into the scrub.
No amount of calling him back would help. In the end one of the children had to run into the bushes after him.
Sorry Jasper it's on lead for you from now on. We can't have you terrorising the native wild life.
Marley is our trusted good boy. He won't stray 10 metres from my side and especially if Jasper is on his lead it's as though they are joined at the hip.
After our walk and swim we had a quiet rest in the park while the children rode their skateboards around and Mum and Dad sat and chatted.
Marley and Jasper were wet and tired and getting a bit cold......
"Please take us home now!"
When we got home I gave them both a lovely warm bath and blow dry.
I've also had a break from cross-stitch these past two weeks so that I could spend some time teaching 'Little Miss' to knit. I've been busy knitting scarves for all the family. This blue one for 'Little Miss'. A blue and black stripey "Where's Wally" scarf for her brother and two for myself one red one and one cream.
No Marley....that's not for you!
My biggest surprise these holidays was my lovely new stitching chair that my DH got for me. It arrived last week and is sooooo comfy. I love it. I absolutely love the French Script fabric that it's upholstered in. I've been dreaming of a cream lounge suite for many years now but have held off because of kids and dogs. But maybe just one chair will be okay. Do you think?
No kids or dogs allowed.
Shhhh....I'm just checking where Mum is. Good okay... she's busy cooking.....
No Jasper. Please don't tell Mum okay.
Too bad for you Marley.
Sorry Mum.
All this fun has made us very tired.
Good night!
(As you can imagine my lovely chair is now covered in a big cream throw rug. Sigh.... oh well at least our kids are obedient even if the dogs aren't!) I will just have to keep it covered until visitors call.
