Get Out Of Town!

We’ve just had a long weekend here. I remember how I used to look forward to three days of relaxation and some extra time to do a few things. Not these days. Long weekends and school holidays fill me with dread. How on earth am I going to keep my 5yo happy, entertained and keep myself from going insane?

I am usually pretty hopeless at planning too far ahead, but for this weekend, I managed to pull something off. Something very special.

I love to get out of town and recharge the batteries with some good clean air and simple living. But doing that with three little kids, isn’t exactly easy. I have found a lovely couple who have a property and who want to support families with special needs kids. Hands up! Me please!!!! I booked myself and the kids in for the weekend.

On Saturday morning, I packed up what seemed to be half of our belongings, strapped the kids in and headed for the hills. This is not a B&B or a farm stay, this is something quite unique that I’ve never really seen or heard about before. You have your own self-contained rooms which are connected to the main house by an enormous veranda. Chris & Karin are there to support you – they provide all the food and do all the cooking. You can have your own space or you can be more social, but you eat together and they will show you around the property, involve the kids in various activities and try to give you a bit of a break while also getting on and doing their various tasks around the property.

main range view from the veranda

My kids just LOVED it and so did I. Within an hour or so L was shadowing Chris in all his activities. Chris fired up the quad bike and took him on a ride around the property – he was in heaven! Happily sitting there taking it all in. All his sensory needs being met and just loving the space being out of town provides. The little boys were just as excited. Baby J got a ride too, but N – who loves the idea of motorbikes and who talks about them all the time, there was no way he was getting on that quad bike!

big fire, big sky

The weather was a bit drizzly and quite cold, but it held off from really raining on the first day. We had a huge fire that night and L was just fascinated by it. The two littlies fell asleep out there cradled in various loving arms, warmed by the massive blaze and L just kept dancing around it feeling that invisible barrier between the cold and the super hot. He almost singed his eye lashes off a couple of times but he didn’t thank goodness.

The next day we went fro a great walk in the morning. Then Chris got the tractor going – whoa nelly! That was pretty damn exciting for three little boys. L was happy as Larry riding around up there on the classic old International. N ‘helped’ a bit with some of the fencing work that was going on and then as a final treat they took us down to the creek.

The creek was just stunningly beautiful and the boys had a wonderful time walking through the water throwing rocks in and getting themselves completely muddy and wet – what good fun!

So I think you can tell that we had a wonderful time. The boys had an absolute ball – they played, ate and slept with vigour from all that fresh air and activity. I got a great break from L’s full on behaviours, noise making etc. I’m now convinced that he needs to grow up with more space around him. I hope we can get back again soon. Totally addictive.