A holiday in our van

Ah, there is nothing like a holiday to help you pretend that the real world doesn't exist and that enjoying God's creation and His people IS actually what you do everyday of your life.

Mind you, I am incredibly thankful for this wonderful van that God enabled us to have, but it is a love-hate relationship..... I LOVE it because it is so great and useful and cool, but I HATE it just sitting in our carport for months without being used. I WANT TO TRAVEL AUSTRALIA IN IT!!! and if I had my way, we would be doing just that, sooner rather than later. But God's timing is what matters and despite my feelings, I will stop on the Reds and I will go on the Greens:)

Our break took us to Wollongong and the caravan park had the biggest spaces to camp ever! It also had an indoor heated pool, which we were all pleased to enjoy, since the wind made the beach very undesirable to swim in. Other than that, you can probably imagine the chaos that 9 kids and 5 adults participated in over the 3 night stay:) The Kings, The Sabbens and The Armstrongs less a big sister and Daddy.

However, the fun you couldn't guess we had, was the day of tattooing.....scared? Well, I should have been! It started all very innocently as I used 6 glitter bodyart pens I had to start sharing some fun with the kids. After hours of "can I have a....." requests, the talk turned to "can I have a GO...." so I unleased their creative skills and my body was the sacrifice. BUT the awesome thing was I loved it! Attention! and lots of it! It felt like it does when someone brushes and plays with my hair! and the fun went on for hours (well, almost:). By the end I was COVERED-legs,feet, arms, hands, face, even inside my ears!

And another extraordinary time was when we braved going to the HUGE park near the beach. It wasn't until we got there, that all the adults turned to eachother and said "we should have dressed the kids in fluros". Amongst the other billion kids playing there they all looked the same! And while all the little kids had a glorious time running from one form of slide to another form of ride, my two big boys spent their whole time pushing a swing - load after load of kids, helping them on, helping them off, for near 1 and 1/2 hours the video explains! (Love my boys!)

Hmm... and what else? Really other than that, all you missed out on was, snot from my cold, sleepless nights with Swae, Ezri's eczema that flared up from the sea, whinging from boys about who gets the play what electronic device next, a traffic jam on the highway on the way home....etc etc.

No really, it was a lovely time away, we shared a meal at Hog's Breath ('cos kids ate for free!), games nights, laughing at Linda getting the giggles, lots of snuggles with lots of kids (Karen's littlest never sat in a chair, she sat on a free lap), endless times of chasing the seagulls, riding bikes/skates/scooters and just enjoying a good sit!

That's holidays with the Sabbens!

PS - Yes, I am aware that I have not shared a photo of Kael, but do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of a 10 year old?