Start of 2025

After a hot Christmas in Gunnedah we spent New Years at home, setting up a projector and screen and enjoying a movie while lounging in the pool. It was fun until the mosquitoes descended upon us - sadly our bug zapper had been chewed by the dogs so without any protection from insect bites we sadly made a hasty retreat inside before the end of the movie. I think it was a good test of the projector/inflatable screen set up though - It does require complete darkness so Summer is probably not the best time to be using it but we are thinking of breaking it out for the kids birthday parties later in the year (if they have sleepovers.)

After a short stint at work in Jan (a week and a half spent mostly dismantling and moving library bookshelves), we took a few weeks off to enjoy the school holidays with the kids. This was kicked off with a drive up the coast for the annual camping trip with the grandparents. This year however we had a massive summer storm go through the area and it was actually declared a natural disaster zone. With localised flooding, storm damage and blackouts, we decided to wait a day before setting up the campsite. This meant that the whole floor space of my sister-in-laws house was taken up with air mattrresses and sleeping bags to temporarily shelter the extended camping family! The following day we spent a very wet day setting up the camp, while it was only light rain at that stage, I still think it was better than having to setup the campsite in 40 degree heat as we have in previous years.
With the kids off camping, my wife and I spent a few days exploring Port Stephens, going to the beach, kayaking, swimming in the pool at our AirBnB, visiting local restaurants, it was an amazing few days.

After the return trip, which is so much easier now that we can take the NorthConnex tunnel - may cost a bit going M7, M2, and M11 but not having to crawl along Pennant Hills road is worth it when you are driving 5-6 hours between Newcastle and Bathurst! After returning home we spent a fair bit of time in our (relatively) new pool - but other than that I took the kids fishing at Carcoar dam for a day trip. Didn't catch anything so I think I really need to work on my bait skills (of course there could be any number of reasons why we didn't catch anything) but it was a fun day out. We also made a day trip to Sydney to see the Cirque du Soleil production of Luzia. This was an amazing visual spectacle and so much fun! Sydney was also amazingly hot and humid, definitely don't misss that aspect of living in the big city!
Also took my eldest for a few rides on the motorbike, she is getting pretty good at leaning into the corners as pillion although after one particularly twisty ride, she told me that she doesn't really like all the corners as much as the speed/acceleration. Future speed freak in the making! Lastly we have had a Spiderman jigsaw puzzle going during the holidays. After the kids finished it off, I sealed it, glued it to a plywood backing and framed it. The boys seem pretty happy to have it hanging up on the wall (see picture).

Was a great break, great memories, and I look forward to the year ahead!