Camping With Family Over Christmas

Our one week trip to Kinka Beach was a kind of pre-Christmas test run. We certainly appreciated finding out a bit more about our van and our annexe. Mid-week we decided the awesome 6 foot foldable table I bought on sale for $59 was just too big. It seemed to take up ALL the play space and living space in the annexe. Instead, we've gone for an aluminium card table that folds down into the size of a suitcase. It's incredibly light, but ironically cost almost as much at the huge table ie. $50. It wobbles a lot, but it fits perfectly and the annex feels like a lovely place to be. I'll try and post a photo of it some time soon. I'm a little technically challenged this week WRT camera.

We've had a couple of weeks staying with our relatives in Brisbane. When staying with The Harrises, we sleep in our caravan in their front yard. The power is hooked up so we can use our lights and air-conditioner. It feels just like an extra bedroom on their house. It's nice staying like that because all our gear is still just where we put it inside the van. There's no suitcases, there's no "where the hell did I put the baby wipes?" etc. That said, you're still staying at someone else's house and so the bathroom trips usually involves a queue - Hmmm. Sounds just like the caravan park, really.

When staying with the Rosses, we sleep in my old bedroom. It's a huge room in a huge five bedroom Queenslander. Thankfully it's airconditioned and there is even an ensuite which, although it is only half constructed, has a toilet handy for those midnight visits. Poor old mum has been running herself ragged after all of us and little Gracey-goo. Grace is just energy on a stick. She is an uncoiled spring. She has to run around every corner of the house and climb up and down on every single chair before she will slow down and consider a nice quiet cuddle or two.

Sometimes I find myself crying, moved emotionally because Grace is just so precious. I wonder if I feel more grateful than other mums do because of what I went through to become one. If that's the case, then I'm glad I went through eight years of fertility treatment because she is just so very very precious. So very very beautiful.