Nine Days Late ...

Where does the time go??? I had hoped to blog each day because October is Down Syndrome Awareness month and Chirstina from Unringing the Bell organised a bit of a bloggers festival. How much reading will I have to catch up on with everyone else's blogs? At least that will be fun. I'll try and ake a start this afternoon. For now the brats and I have returned from our roadtrip to Brisbane where we had heaps of fun - a few posts may evolve from our time there - once we have stocked the empty pantry and restored a little bit of order here! Until later here is a sneak preview (ore like a wrap up of the week in review) of our time away:

Wednesday Oct 1
We arrived in Brisbane. It was great to be back. Hannah loved riding on Mum's scooter - I think she was rather disappointed when Grandpa went and sold it on her! Kit enjoyed being a superhero.

Thursday Oct 2

My sister and I took the kids to a park at Scarborough and then for a swim at Settlement Cove. It was a great day and the kids had a lot of fun. They were rather tired afterwards!

Friday Oct 3

A mixed sort of day. Dissembling Mum's domain - her sewing room was hard. The grief felt as bad as the day she died but once my sister arrived to help it was easier. She had so many beautiful things and she loved being creative there. We sorted through stuff. Here are 2 projects that Mum hadn't got to finish - that I am hoping to do for her. One is a Snakes and Ladders quilt for the brats - it looks hard so I am leaving it for a bit! and the Memory quilt of our family that Mum had so much fun working on and had just about finished. In the afternoon I went shopping and bought 2 pairs of shoes - no I don't hav e a fetish - I really needed them!

Saturday Oct 4

Mandy (my sister) and her husband Tim came over. Mandy and I went and did some shopping. That afternoon my Aunty Alison came over for afternoon tea, Dad, Hannah and I went to mass and then Mum's sister and her partner and daughter came over for tea. It was lovely to catch up with them and it ended up being quite a late night. Mass was at the church where Mum's funeral was so it was difficult - I kept seeing her coffin placed in front of the alter. It is Dad's parish though and I often go there for mass when I visit so next time it shouldn't be so bad.

Sunday Oct 5

In the morning Dad, I and the brats went to the cemetry with some flowers for Mum. Then we drove to Victoria Point and caught a ferry to Coochiemudlo Island where everyone had fun - especially the brats and their cousin Daniel.

Monday Oct 6

A quiet day at home. I packed the car, read a detective yarn and pottered. Hannah had her shopping List and was off to the shops. The bucket later became her book bag as she headed off to the library.

Tuesday Oct 7

We left Brisbane at 6am and had a late lunch at Nambucca Heads. Pam is a cousin of my MIL and she is a wonderful woman. She brought a picnic and met us at this park en route.

Wednesday October 8

We drove home from Forster stopping at the botanic gardens north of Newcastle (near Hexham) on the way. The brats loved it. For some reason Hannah wanted to have this rock in her photo. They also enjoyed their first paddle pops there. Another milestone.

Hannah looks a bit like Chewbacca with her knotty straggly hair so as well as gorceries I'd best get going as I think we need to visit the hairdresser as well!