Mia Mia Station {Caretaking}

We are still here and still care taking at Mia Mia.

The weather has been kind, and by kind I mean over 45 most days but still under 50 {oh how things change, I used to refer to 35 as hot!}.

 

 

 

Not much has changed, well not really.  We've had some rain and we all enjoyed sitting back and watching the storm, roll in and provide us with some relief.

We do however have a new house pet, 'Chocolate'.

 

Happy 9th Birthday Kaleb {Celebration}

A good friend said to me on the phone earlier today 'I didn't realise that Kaleb was 9 today.  You do realise that he is half way to 18?'

Yeah! Great! Thanks for that!

And my biggest thought before that conversation was how quickly 9 had come up and how I only had 12 months before double digits!

Kaleb is a fiery, independent little man who has a presence.  A presence that makes you think that he has always been here but at the same time it feels like only yesterday he made his entrance into this world.

 

 

We had a wonderful day in Coral Bay celebrating with new friends and old.  Chatting, swimming, snorkeling and camping in our tent.

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.