Goodbye 2014 {Reflection}

Another year has passed, 2014 is soon to be no longer.

It has been a big year, not the easiest of year but also not the hardest of years.  We’ve meet new people, learned new things and seen new places.  Learnt to move past things with cannot change and embrace the things that are most important.

2015 will see us enter our 4^th year on the road and highly likely our last.

I’ve got high hopes for all that we can achieve in 2015, a big year, with so very much to offer!

Mia Mia Station {Caretaking}

Our final stop for the year, is back at Mia Mia Station to care take while the owners head south for some much needed time with their family.

It was a lot of work to pack up out of the cottage and Lyndon, back into the camper and then back into a house again.  Not that, in summer we would ever consider living in the camper up here but I do dread the pack up when we leave here in January.

So far Justin has had a wonderful time, doing an array of different things.  If he had his way and could make it work we would be out here forever and as much as I do love the people and the places, it isn’t a forever location for me.  Realistically it simply isn’t practical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to believe that this was our final stop for the year.  Whilst we’ve had a visit to Lyndon for a birthday party, a Christmas party at Bullara, a day in Coral Bay x 2 and plenty of visits to the neighbours we are really in one place.  One big house with gardens to water and floors to clean.

 

We have been blessed to also have had some visitors while we have been here the last month or so.  Dad surprised me by showing up one night, with no warning and then hanging out with us for a little over a week.

My sister and her family stopped in for the night on their way to Perth for a wedding and Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good Christmas, with dinner Christmas Eve at Winning and then a nice quiet day at home.  The kids love what they got from both us and Santa, I was also still in awe and our homemade tree and tip found decorations {now to workout which ones we are going to keep for keepsakes of our Christmas here}.

Boxing Dad Justin's brother, Aaron and his wife Ali came up for a few nights.  They brought with them warmer weather and a few passing showers {it also meant we got a few nights with amazing sunsets}.  We saw them off with a trip to Coral Bay, swimming and of course lunch at the pub.

 

 

*sigh* It does make me miss a house and also hope that in 2015 we work out ‘where to from here’

Lyndon Station {Visiting}

Even though it was inland and certainly warmer, Lyndon was a time to stay in the amazing little cottage that Cath has put so much work and love into.  A place to escape the heat, to allow the kids some entertainment {in the form of four other children} and a place to just be.

We moved the day before my birthday and to be honest didn’t make a big deal of my 35^th birthday.  It was hard, surreal, different and a whole array of other words come to mind when you are celebrating a day you arrived into your mother arms, knowing that she is no longer here.  It was a hard ‘first’ and as much as a birthday is always nice, I expect it will continue to be an odd sort of day knowing that she is no longer here.

 

The next week was a blur, to be totally honest.  I remember saying goodbye to October and dreading the arrival of November.  But it arrived, the 3^rd saw tears, quiet moments and memories.  I survived it, made it to the 4^th and kept on going. I still miss Mum, eveyday and those moments I think 'I should just call and ask' are hard.  Sometimes it takes a moment to realise that I can't do that anymore. If I am honest though, I think of her daily, which is more than before and enough to keep me going.

Justin’s two weeks on the mining camp had now become 4 and we drew a line in the sand that he would be finished by the 12^th!  This gave us time to relax a little before our next ‘house move’, a chance for the kids to enjoy playing in the newly painted pool while it filled, a chance to make a little art and a chance to cook dinner for the Lyndon family to say thanks for letting us take over the cottage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yanrey Station {Working}

Time to head back to Yanrey for some more work. Although this time it was kind of a dump and run.  As in Justin dumped the camper and us {Kaleb, Kyla and myself} and took off to work on the new mining camp for a few weeks.

Was weird, being there knowing that J was working but not seeing him everyday.  Weird having him only pop home for a night once a week and then disappear in the early morning.

Keeping up with school work and keeping the kids happy was actually harder than I thought, given normally J is working when he is home.  Thankfully there was a few adoptive animals around Yanrey that did provide some distract, we also had a visit for a night from some Perth friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Needing to distract the kids from the lack of Dad being around, we called in a favour {or ten} and decided to head back to Lyndon.