2026 Begins

2026 has kicked off - it feels a bit strange to be writing about the start of the year when we are already halfway through Feb but there has been a lot happening and while a big part of that has been holidays, I started back at work last week (after 4 weeks off) and it feels like everyone had a job or task saved for when I got back. It has been really busy!
I might cover off work stuff separately so I will focus on things happening at home. The kids camping trip was a big one. The parents-in-law take all of their grandchildren camping north of Newcastle for a week, so it involves a long drive, setting up camp and then leaving them for a week. We have to help pack down the campsite after the week so we usually stay in the area, either staying with family in Newcastle or getting an AirBnB (like we did last year). The weather was pretty good, a bit overcast but mostly hot, many visits to the beach, some movies/tv, some pool time, and overall we all had an awesome time away. Its always funny to see how long the kids can stay awake on the car trip home - they are usually asleep before we hit the highway!

Rest of the holidays were great, mostly involved helping the kids put their Lego sets together (sets received for Christmas). Youngest also received a Soccer goal which required a bit of construction - it was made of mostly PVC pipes and plastic connectors but fairly simple and it has seen a lot of use! My daughter asked if I wanted to put together an Eiffel Tower set that she had sitting around for a year but never got around to finishing. She kept getting frustrated with the tiny pieces so I was happy to finish it for her. It took me two whole days to put it together but I was pretty happy with the result (see photo).

We also spent a fair amount of time moving the kids between rooms in the house - we felt the two boys had outlived their shared room so we decided to split them up but our eldest argued that she should now have the largest bedroom which the boys were happy to accept. This meant that everyone ended up changing rooms. All beds, shelves, desks, toys, books, it all had to move! In addition to this, no.2 child was starting high school this year so we got a bunch of stuff delivered (desk, shelves, bookcase) from Ikea and I had to put it all together. This all happened over a week. The house was chaos during that time with furniture in hallways, boxes of clothes all over the house, beds and mattresses in the lounge room! Kids are all in their own rooms now though and they are all loving their own spaces which is good - certainly less fights between the boys which is good!

Lastly, I also got an opportunity to head out motocamping to test my setup (See other photo). I received a few giftcards for Christmas which allowed me to get the last remaining items. I strapped everything to the bike and headed out. I was surprised that all the weight in the bags didn't affect the handling too much - I suppose I have ridden with pillions before and all the bags would weigh less then that but it wasn't the battle I thought it was going to be and I really enjoyed the ride. Decided to go to a campsite about an hour away - figured if there was any issues I could at least contact my wife to come and rescue me. I unfortunately forgot a lighter/matches though so I couldn't heat anything nor could I get a fire going. It was not cold though and I had plenty of snacks/sandwiches but definitely a reminder to make sure I actually go through the checklist before heading off! Random caravaners rocked up to the campsite and decided to run a loud generator until late which wasn't ideal but I had my earplugs so just a minor inconvenience. I think I may have got them back when my bike was revving first thing in the morning so there's that but overall I think it was a really good test and I'm thinking I might look at camping a bit further away next time.