A little practise and a jelly sting!

With just two days to go until I do the BIG SWIM from Palm Beach to Whale Beach (approx 2.5km) I thought I had better do a little practice.  I have swum in the ocean pool a couple of times this week (although only about 1- 1.5km at a time) but have yet to actually get in the Ocean!!!  Something that might be important - maybe????  

Last night after the kids finished their dinner we all walked down to the beach for mummy to test out the water and have a little practice.  As it was early evening I needed Mr D to come and keep an eye on me.  For two reasons really - firstly, the lifeguards had finished their shift and gone home and secondly, we all know that sharks come out to play at dusk and dawn!!  (Not sure how entirely true that is - but I wasn't taking any chances!!  Not that Mr D would have been any help either under those circumstances  because he is more scared than me - but you know, safety in numbers and all that!!)

It was the most stunning evening and the water looked AMAZING!  The waves were perfect and it actually looked really inviting.  Lets just hope the conditions are like this on Sunday morning!!  Fingers crossed everyone please.

heading down to the water

I didn't really have a 'plan' as such as I really just wanted to overcome the unknown of 'getting in and getting out".  There were only a couple of little waves to jump over so I was out over the break in no time at all!!  I powered out for a few seconds, then popped up to have a look at how far from the shore I was.  It was probably only about 50m or so but I suddenly felt VERY deep.  I'm not scared of the ocean but being out there on my my own (except for a couple of surfers), surrounded by blue, I suddenly felt a tiny bit panicked!!  "Don't be ridiculous I told myself" and I put my head down and started to swim (parallel to the beach of course - I wasn't going any further out than I needed to).  

My eyes were still tightly shut and I realised that I needed to open them if I wanted to see where I was going!!! For some reason I just couldn't do it!  It was like that feeling you have when you are home alone and you hear a noise downstairs.  You're too scared to look in case you see something..........you don't even know what, but you start picturing all sorts!  I couldn't help having that same feeling - like I was going to open my eyes and have some big sea creature staring back at me!!

Good job I'm doing this practise run - I don't want to be too much of a nervous nelly on the day!!  Although I have decided that swimming with a huge group of people can't be as scary as swimming on your own!!

Once I relaxed, I actually started to enjoy the swim, although it's totally different to being in the ocean pool.  I was close enough to the shore to get the swell before it broke into a wave, so on every other breath I was met by a huge wall of blue that lifted me up..........and then down...........up .......... and then down.  I also kept lifting my head right up to check where I was and that I was still swimming in a straight line.

Watching mummy in the water

It was much harder than being in pool, so this is definitely going to be a challenge!  I kept going for about 200m or so and then felt a sudden sting on my leg.  I stopped in my tracks and spun around to see what had got me.........!  Then I felt all those tiny needle like pricks start to tingle at the back of my knee and knew it was a jellyfish (of some sort).

Ok, time to get out I thought!!!  Not much of a training session really, but at least I have managed to get in and and open my eyes in the sea!!  Now to get back to the beach - challenge number 3!!  I swam towards the shore and just prayed that I wouldn't get dumped by a wave (especially with those few surfers watching........now that could be embarrassing!!).

Luckily for me the tide was really low and calm, so I only needed one wave before I was able to put my feet on the ground.  As soon as I felt the sand I started to run - trying to avoid getting knocked down and face planting by the next wave that was coming in fast behind me!!!

OUCHIE!!!

PHEW!!!!  I made it!!  I can tick that one off the list.  Now all I have to do is swim the Bold and Beautiful tomorrow morning (a lovely swim, I believe, from Manly Beach to Shelley Beach) and it'll be D-day!!

For anyone out there thinking of doing an Ocean Swim - this really is a guide of 'how not to train'!

Miss H stole my beach dress, so I had to walk home wrapped in my towel!

(For those of you that didn't read my previous 'swimming post' you can find out about my crazy challenge HERE)

Christmas & New Year 2012. Love Instagram!

It seems my favourite App has caused a bit of controversy over the past few weeks with the threat of selling our photos without permission.  I was horrified when I first discovered it and I'm guessing the rest of its billion users were too!  After a huge public uproar they very quickly retracted their statement, promising that our photos will be safe!  I certainly hope so!!

I did think very seriously about closing my Instagram account and kept a close watch on what everyone else was doing (and to be honest I'm still a little undecided).  I love the App, not so much for the 'camera filers', as you can pretty much find hundreds of Apps to do that now, but more for it's social aspect.  It's pretty damn addictive.  So my solution for now is to create a watermark for Mrs D (currently in progress) to brand all my online photos.  Instagram - you have one more chance.  Don't let me down!!!

With that aside, here is our Christmas week (or two):

Master J and Curly the dog

We moved into a friends beach-side home for the two weeks over Christmas and New Year to 'house sit' and look after Curly the dog whilst they are away.  Even though it was literally 15 minutes down the road from where we live, it has felt like a real break and was just like being on holiday (except that I could pop home every time we needed something - perfect).

Taking Curly Houdini for an early evening walk

We've re-named Curly the dog, "Curly Houdini" the greatest escaping dog!  Mr D repaired at least 3 holes in the garden fence and he still managed to find his way out!  Luckily he had his name and number on his tag because every time the kids yelled " MUM! Curly's escaped again!!!!" we knew we'll get a phone call within half an hour to come and fetch him from somewhere!  We did have some major panic attacks the first few time he did a runner as we were supposed to be taking care of him and were wondering what on earth we would tell his mummy if we lost him???  However, we soon realised that most people in the neighbourhood were very used to a visit from Curly.  At about 9:30 on New Years Eve he did another disappearing act and we were all pacing up and down the street calling "Curly, Curly, Curly", when the call came saying that he'd been found at Curly (ironically) Beach, which was a couple of beaches down from us.  I think he just wanted to join in the party.  The couple who found him had had a few too many drinks to drive (as had we) so they sent him back to us in a taxi!!!

Swimming with my boy in the parent/child relay 

Master J finally managed to convince me to get into the water and race with him at swim club.  I think if I didn't some of the other mums (not naming any names) might have picked me up and chucked me in!!  I must admit I was a bit nervous before my race (it's been a loooooong while since I last swam any kind of distance).  I had last minute panics before I swam that I might not remember how to dive or that my boobs might fall out of my swim suit, or that I might belly flop!!!  (Not really the kind of things you want to happen with an audience).  Anyway I took a deep breath and dived in for my 50m swim and surprisingly, as I hit the water I found it quite exhilarating.  I sprinted the first 30 meters and then suddenly my fitness (or unfitness) levels kicked in and I felt myself huffing and puffing to the finish line.  I even managed to win!  The kids were SO thrilled that mummy won her race and it was an awesome feeling hearing them cheering from the sideline.

Miss L loving the water.  She's definitely going to be a water baby like her sister

Master J and his best mate having fun after doing their fantastic swim club races

A pre-Christmas sausage sizzle for the opening of the new Swim/Surf Club building.  Santa even arrived on a fire engine doing Gangnam Style

Some obligatory christmas baking.  The best Rocky Road ever!!

Miss L's first Christmas

The view from our 'holiday' house.  It really was spectacular

Boxing day movies (and a view)

Going for a long walk around the bottom of Long Reef Headland

Uh Oh - the quickest way to clear the beach

We were just chilling on the balcony having some lunch when Mr D spotted a helicopter, and then another, and then on the third sighting he jumped up and rushed off to get his binoculars (and he calls me a drama queen!!).  Whilst he and Master J were trying to work out what was going on, I got the lastet from Twitter that a there has been an attempted shark attack!  Master J was loving watching all the commotion (as was Mr D) and he kept shouting "Mum, I can see a fin!".  Great!!!! - I'm pretty glad I was on the balcony and not in the water.

No one seems to be worried about the shark today!

Beach babies 

I think this is my most favourite photo of 2012.  Caught purely by accident with my iphone.  

Me and my gorgeous girls

Look what I've started......

Watching the Dee Why fireworks from our balcony.  We had the best view in town

New Year's Day!  Nursing teeny tiny hangovers but loving the sunshine and some family time.  I couldn't have asked for a better start to 2013

Love those happy little faces

The crab and the slap band

One afternoon this week I decided to take the kids to the beach for an ice-cream after school.  It was the most spectacular day.  The sky was as blue as the ocean and for those of you that know me well will know how that makes my aura all smiley.   It would have been shameful to go straight home (and I couldn't face another afternoon on the school playground with a couple of whingy kids).

School pick-up can be pretty hit and miss depending on how tired Master J is or what kind of 'mood' he's in!  Some days he doesn't stop talking.  Enthusiastically telling me every single detail of what happened during the day (mostly involving events that happened on the playground rather than the classroom).  Other times he is like a bear with a sore head and the most I get is "Mum, will you just stop asking me SO many questions!  You ask me about my day EVERY day and I told you everything yesterday already!!!"  On days like these, the best thing to do is just head to the beach!

You can't beat ice-cream to get them all smiling (well, Miss L smiles at everything at the moment) Oh and take note of the red slap band on Master J's wrist.

After having ice-creams and a quick play in the park we went for a walk along the boardwalk to the tidal pool for a dip.  (I always have towels in the back of the car, just in case!  Miss H is known for stripping off at any given opportunity!)  

Master J had one of those slap wrist band thingies that he had got from the school canteen earlier in the day.   You know the ones? - where you slap them onto your wrist and the curl around quickly? (I loved them as a kid).  Anyway he was was so attached to this thing and was slapping it on the railings watching it wrap around all the way along the board walk.  Until suddenly - he missed!!!!  and the bangle fell down into the rockpools below.  Seriously you would have thought it was the end of the world.  He howled so loudly I could almost see his tonsils!

Missing slap bangle is somewhere down there......

Realising the seriousness of the incident (in his 6 year old world anyway), I offered to climb down and get it, but as I learned over to see exactly where it was, a rather large crab walked out from under a rock with the bright red slap band in it's pincer!!!  Seriously, I kid you not!!  I mean what are the chances???  I thought it was hilarious and burst out laughing thinking that he would see the humour in the situation and stop crying.  But Oh No!!  He only howled louder  -"Stop laughing at me", he managed to get out in between sobs!  Clearly I made a very delicate situation worse, and there was no way I was going to wrestle the crab to get the bangle back either (neither was he, I might add).

Sometimes it's so hard to put yourself in their worlds and take these kind of 'incidents' seriously.  Hopefully one day he will see the funny side!

Oh and all was solved by the next day when I gave him another $1 to buy a new bangle from the canteen.

I couldn't resist adding this photo.  Miss L loving the swings (before we met the crab and everything went pear-shaped)

A hot and sticky week! Love Instagram!

Anyone living in Sydney would know that last week was a HOT one!  Summer really has started with a bang that's for sure.  This is only our second summer in Aus and according to the locals, last summer was appalling.  Being British, I of course, thought it was fabulous!  It might have had something to do with the fact that I was pregnant throughout last summer that I found it so hot - or maybe just because anything above 25 degrees for more than three days in a row is amazing!!  Anyhow it did not leave me prepared for the kind of heat that we had last week!!

Look at Saturdays temps!!!  And all that rain, only fell at night when we couldn't get to appreciate it (except for the grass)

The extreme humidity and high temperatures had us all feeling a bit irritable - especially me and the kids.    I had to explain to Mr D (through gritted teeth) that sitting on a hot (yet air conditioned) bus to and from the city is NOT worse than we have it!!  I had to gently remind him that while he was sitting in a lovely cool air conditioned office, I'm at home wishing I could get away with walking around naked like the kids do!!  

Every time I get in and out of the car (which is about 10 times a day) I can feel the sweat tricking down my back.  Aaaarh, it's so gross!!  No matter where you go you can't seem to find any cool air.  By the time the air con in the car has actually kicked in I'm getting out again!!

On the plus side - the sun has got his hat on and the beaches around here are spectacular!  And so are the night time thunder storms!  There is nothing better than listening to the thunder and hearing the pouring rain crashing down on the patio roof after a really hot and sticky day.  The breeze is orgasmic - really!!

How lucky I am that this is a typical Wednesday afternoon (after school) visit to the beach??

A little bit of cheeky skinny dipping to cool off

Reading the newspaper while mummy has a girly gossip with a good friend (in the shade of course).

Paddling pools are the BEST!

Despite the extreme heat, our first week of summer has been all smiles!!  Little Miss L decided to sit up all by herself!!  A big moment for her, and Miss H and Master J were so excited that she can now sit and play with them.  It's so cute seeing them all starting to interact together.  I, on the other hand, felt a teeny tiny bit emotional that my baby is moving on to the next stage already.  They really do just grow up so fast!!

Feeling very pleased with herself!

On Saturday we also put up our Christmas Tree!  I have been dying to put it up for ages, but am too scared to do it before the 1st of December as I have an irrational fear that bad luck will follow.  I'm not sure where that came from??

Earlier in the week I had a moment where I was feeling a bit lost in all the Christmas hype.  I suddenly realised that for the first time EVER I would not be spending Christmas without my parents!  It's just going to be the 5 of us this year and I don't have a plan!!  As silly as it sounds I kind of feel a bit stuck between English traditions and Aussie traditions and I'm not quite sure where to place us.  I'm so used to having a big family Christmas Day (in the freezing cold) that I didn't know what to do this year!

After watching the kids get so excited surrounded by decorations, I gave myself a stern talking to and have decided that this is the year to start some new Christmas traditions that are just for us!!

The OCD in me had to really try hard not to totally re-do the tree once they had gone to bed

My next hurdle is to tackle the Christmas shopping!!  How is everyone else doing??  Are you organised or have to left it a little bit to the last minute like me??