Wow! Only 15 days to go, now. It is all moving very quickly.
It has been a tough week. DH and I have been so worried about all the things that we had to do, that we didn’t realise all the things the other was worried about. It all exploded, in, of all things, laughter, on Wednesday as we realised.
We have since attempted several times to have a meeting about it so that we can make a comprehensive list of Things To Do and an Action Plan. Our youngest has happily thwarted all such organised attempts with a little cough developping into a respiratory infection; a swollen and ulcerated throat; a fever lasting several days; a reaction to the prescribed medication and generally being a very sick little boy. He is rapidly on the mend now – we know this because he spends every waking moment seeking out mischief again. The upshot is that we have had a few brief exchanges over the heads (and lungs) of screaming kids, in doctors’ waiting rooms and notes on the dining table.
And now there are only 15 days to go.
On the up side, I think we have done our dash in camping shops. We seem to pretty much have all the gear we are intending to leave with – whether or not we need to purchase more along the way is another matter.
- Our tent is weathering in the backyard, and we have extra poles and guy ropes for an awning.
- We have a really neat mini camp stretcher and sleeping bag for our big boy (our little boy has a thermarest and sleeping bag as part of his port-a-cot)
- We all have seats
- We have a light and a groovy wind up torch
- and we have the important luxery items sorted – our inflatable mattress for visitors can be used for camping (we now have a pump that runs off the car to inflate it) and, much to my surprise, we have pillows. We also have a plastic egg carry case.
Everything else is coming out of the cupboards from the years of backpacking and hiking.
Now, if I could only sort out clothes for the kids, buy myself some underwear, plan our activities, organise the house-sitting, clean the house for the house-sitters…
