I don’t know what things are like in your world, but term one always seems to cruise at a nice place for me. The new school year takes a few weeks to settle in to, and then we get into a bit of a groove before Easter comes along. We usually have plans to head to Pizzey’s in the first lot of school holidays, so everything else gets planned around that. For the first year ever, I’ve also had to work around my job – I was rostered to work Tues/Wed in the first week and Wed/Thurs in week two. So we made some plans and things seem to be set for some full but fun holidays.

In the second last week of school, Quinn and her cohort went on year six camp, and came back with what the school mums and I have coined “camp cough”. After a week of this cough, and after she had to have three days off school, I took her to the GP to be told that it was viral (as I had suspected) and just let it run its course. A few days after that, Julius started coughing as well. Gran and I decided that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to head to Pizzey’s after. Not only did we have two unwell kids, but we also wouldn’t be able to easily get the boat in the river, nor was anyone else in the family (my “country cousins” as I affectionately call them) able to come along, and it’s always more fun when other kids are around.

It was a tough call to make, but it was the right one. I had to take Quinn back to the Dr and the virus had hit her chest so it was time for antibiotics. So instead of going to Pizzey’s, Marian and I arranged for the kids and I to come up to stay with them for two nights. The kids were pretty thrilled with this alternative, so we made new plans to do that instead. We didn’t have much planned exactly – we were going to go to the water park at Chermside before heading to their place up the coast on Friday, but the rain and cooler temps put a literal dampener on that. So instead we headed indoors for some bowling action.

The kids had an absolute blast, and it was fun joining in on the fun as well. We even somehow managed to get the games for free, as the manager was in a very generous mood, and wished us a Happy Easter with a wink of an eye! Bonus! Time with Maz and Heath and the kids is always easy and fun. Saturday we had a slow start and a treat of the older two boys, Jarrah & Chance cooking breakfast for us all. We then took all the kids to an awesome playground in Cooroy, and Heath stayed with them and cooked snags on the BBQ while Maz and I hit up the op-shops in Cooroy which I can rate highly! We decided to book tickets to the local production of Alice in Wonderland that afternoon for a spot of culture in an amphitheater not far from their house. It was so delightful!

We were very pleased for the cloud cover that afternoon. We headed back to the house for afternoon swims followed by delicious low and slow lamb wraps. The next day, I took Marian’s two older boys home with me for the afternoon and overnight, and Grumpy had plans to take them out in the boat the next day. It was another successful day of boating, but alas no keeper-fish were caught. I had actually headed up to Marty’s on Monday morning so I could have the day and overnight with him, as he had been in Sydney since the previous Wednesday. We went for a lovely bushwalk around Maleny, then headed to his place for home made reef & beef and vege chips and salad. So yummy! Just as we were falling asleep after 11pm, I got a call from Gran to say that Juilus’ cough had turned to croup, so I jumped in the car and headed home. I ended up taking him straight to ED as it was a pretty nasty cough and was getting worse.

Thankfully he responded to the steroids quickly and we were home just after 2am. Unfortunately his cough is still lingering quite badly, and he had croup again the following night, but not as bad. Quinn is still coughing as well – three weeks later! The Doctor tells us there’s a lot going around, so it’s just a matter of wait and see and hopefully their bodies can get rid of it soon. It’s been an exhausting sleep-interrupted few weeks around here. Just like having a newborn again with the frequent wake-ups. I had to take today off work as I’ve come down with the virus as well, though the cough hasn’t started… yet?….

So yeah. As you can see, quite a mix of fun times with friends and family, and not so fun hospital and Drs visits. We have my cousin Amy and her kids coming over tomorrow from lunch time, after hair cuts for the boys, then we will catch up with Marty over the weekend and hopefully see his boys as well. I’m very much hoping for a low-key, uneventful end to the holidays, and hoping we are all well for return to school and work on Monday!