The billabong type water hole at the bottom of a hill within the caravan park. I made the mistake of taking Dexter down in his pram and then had to lug him all the way up again!

Dexter having an afternoon nap in the shade. At the time I thought, beauty…I can go have a nap! Tim and Dad where fixing the tail lights on the caravan with Jaxon and Anne was snoozing too so I had the perfect chance to do it. But when push came to shove and I lay in the tent where I could no longer see him all I could think of was…what if someone walks past and nicks Dexter while no one is watching? Once I got that thought in my head nap time opportunity for me was gone!

Tim put the Hammock up while I wasn’t watching. While I didn’t have the camera out. Which is a huge shame becuase from what I hear, Australia’s Funniest Home Video’s may have got a new video from us!

The reference to a soap on a rope came when Jaxon asked Daddy what they were sitting on. Daddy didn’t tell him so I suggested that it might be a tea bag or a soap on a rope. Jaxon went with soap on a rope for a few minutes before we told him what it’s really called. Though I didn’t dare get in, all of the boys had their fair share of fun sitting and swinging in it together or alone.

Dexter spent a good 3-5 hours of his weekend checking out the features of Jaxon’s bike. And still, he didn’t find the bell, which we conveniently didn’t mention in all that time. He was totally mesmerized by Jaxon’s bike! Here might be a good time to mention that Dexter spent the first day of our camping trip in a one piece suit doing what he wanted and going where he wanted. We were right next to the park’s kiddy park and he went there. He came back to us looking for things to do. By the end of the first day his blue suit and white socks were black….but he had a ball with all of his freedom!

See…climbing in to Dad’s caravan!

Cooking dinner under the ever watchful eye of Dad

I’m ALWAYS taking photo’s of Tim and the kids together and then reminding him that he has to do the same too. Otherwise we have this blog and photo albums, that *I* spend all of *MY* time lovingly writing posts to so that one day the boys will have a life to look back over…and *I’m* not even in it! It will be as if Tim’s a single Dad who does a heap of stuff with his kids…and I’m the mother who was never around to do anything with them!

So towards the end of most of our family trips I have to say “Take photo’s of MEE with the boys!” even if there had been hundreds of opportunities to do so. Well, this one time he takes photo’s of me without me asking and says he’s taken heaps. But guess what…they all look the same. All THREE of them. Except the wind has blown my hair over my face in one and Dookie is looking guilty for some reason in the other. Get your game on Tim!!!
Camping cooking doesn’t always have to be simple! This is the roast I did on Saturday night. It was to die for!!

A really nice photo of Dad with Dexter. He was tickling him and Dexter was squealing in delight!

Dookie all grown up, three years old. It was kind of funny. We went to this particular caravan park because it allowed dogs on leads. On your way in it also says that helmets must be worn at all times. So we arrive…and the caravan park ranger owns two dogs, who are not on leads. Within a few hours of having Dookie all tied up I asked him if we could let him off too. He was pretty laid back this guy, and said yes of course. So the rule about dogs on leads is a crock of shit. Then, he happens to have a four year old son who very quickly made friends with Jaxon. He brought down his bike so they could ride together…with no helmet!? We didn’t mind him hanging about too much, since he was taking Jaxon away to play while we struggled with our tent pegs. But when they decided to swap bikes and Neil took Jaxon’s helmet as well as his bike…allowing Jaxon to fall of Neil’s bike without one…I was pretty pissed and sent him packing! So the story goes like this. At 5.30 in the morning I heard Jaxon moving about his tent. I asked him what was wrong and he said he needed to go to the toilet. So off we trot to the toilet blocks. I tried to take his pants down and turn him about to do a wee…only to find that he’s actually done a big wet runny poo for me to clean up. So I cleaned that all up and off to bed we go again.

At 7,30 he woke up once again telling me that he’d done it again. At this point I’m wondering if there is soemthing wrong, or if he’d eaten something that didn’t agree with him. I can’t say he’s ever had diarrhea!?  I get him up, pack a bag of clothes and take him over to the toilet blocks to have a bath this time. While we were getting ready to go Dexter woke up…so Tim had to be woken up too.

Well. They had a ball! It was raining at the time and Tim said Dexter just lay on my pillow looking up at the tent’s roof listening to the rain…and then fell asleep. For another three hours!! We almost got all packed up before he woke up!

So all in all, our trip was a major success. We loved that we were so close to the kids park, so we could see Jaxon and keep an eye on him. We loved that we were so close to the toilet blocks…for reasons which probably no longer need to be explained. And we loved that we were only a 40-50 minute drive from home and felt so secluded and out of town. The park was in a valley surrounded by tree’s that rose above the hill’s. The weather was great bar the one hour of rain on our last day and the park was full of kids for ours to play with. I am super excited that Tim enjoyed himself…and that we’re now going to slowly set ourselves up to go camping with out the need to have Dad there to use his kitchen!

Tim doesn’t make it much of a secret that he’s not one for the out doors or camping. I’ve tried three times in the last ten years to introduce him to the joy that it has brought me over the years with absolutely no success.

The first time we went to the Murray River with my Dad and a few of his friends. It was, without a word of a lie, 42 degree’s over night with not a breath of wind. We barely got any sleep all night and then, bright and early at 6am…the canoe race that stops…well, stops us from sleeping…started. So just as we hit that perfect spot between nothing and dreams, all we heard was cheering from people across the river “Come on 86!” “Go 34!!”

Then, in the heat of the day Dad’s friends kids and grand kids went in to the river. Where, evebn as a non parental type…I was disgusted by their language!! These kids, not more than 10 years old were swearing with such disrespect at their parents and anyone with in ear shot had to hear it. Unfortunately, that meant us. We left, even though we were meant to stay for two more nights. I didn’t have to listen to that and it didn’t seem the weather would cool any more either. Complete failure!

The second time we went camping wasn’t so bad as this. We went to Goomburra Forest up in QLD. I believe I posted about it long ago. Everything was going perfectly. The tent went up well. The afternoon was spent taking photo’s and swimming in the creek. But come night time and time for Jaxon to sleep in a bed other than his own?? Absolute disaster!! He cried and cried and screamed and kicked and did everything BUT sleep until 4am in the morning. Then, woke up right on time at 6am! Tim and I were exhausted and he vowed never to give me another chance to show him how bloody good camping was going to be.

But this past weekend, we did go away again. And we DID have fun! In fact, I’d go so far as to say, Tim enjoyed himself more than I did!

Aside from the first two hours of our stay, everything went smoothly. The kids slept well in the tent. Dinner’s, lunches and breakfast went well. Even sleeping for us was comfortable and relaxing.

The first two hours, on the other hand…were kind of annoying. The ground where we went was soft on top, but had a layer of rock about 4 inches under ground. So not just one or two tent pegs hit rocks, or tree stumps and could easily be moved to avoid hitting them again. No matter where you were or what angle you put that tent peg in at it was going to hit the rock. And it was going to bend! Two tents, that should normally take each of us half an hour to put up by ourselves…took TWO HOURS! Two hours of lot’s of swearing and frustration!

But, once that was done very little went wrong. I mean, we had to pump up our air matress by hand because my very old electric air pump died…and Jaxon had diarrhea twice over night and threw up his breakfast on the second morning but still…WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!

As I said, other than that…we had a ball. Over the next few days I’ll share some more photo’s and a video…but for now..this is the most important thing you need to see…

…my boys, having the time of their lives…swinging in the soap on a rope!