Checking in...

Life is all consuming at times. There doesn't seem to be anything startling to report but the day to day grind keeps us going.

Until this week.

I'm having a few days off, not to go anywhere exotic or to do anything spectacular but just to regroup and catch my breath.

I resent the break in activities like tennis or pilates during a school holiday break but tonight I did think it was good not to be rushing off anywhere. So I suppose I need a break too but I hadn't realised it. Yesterday was busy though with a 10 k run in the morning and then 2 hours of tennis with the girls. Sunday morning after dropping Erin and Liam at the Zoo, I set off around Prince's Park and Royal Park for an hour and clocked up 10k but my GPS went flat at the very end so it didn't save. My iPod shuffle has a really good running track to listen to when I run on my own. Hitchin' a Ride' by Greenday has the exact beat/cadence that gets me back in rhythm if I get out of step which I can do when I am running by myself.

Erin had her birthday and was beyond thrilled with her gift from her father. But can you believe it the gift was a vinyl record of her favourite group. To play on a record player. Lucky we still have a functioning one in the lounge room. In this digital itunes-y age this was an unusual request and one I had said a flat no to but he is more obliging than me, especially when it had to shipped from the USA. He is so obliging he took Erin shopping while I was at work. She had her eye on a dress at Ally and they were having 30% off. He thought she said Aldi so her took her there. Chris is the typical man shopper. No browsing allowed. Get in, purchase, get out. But he took her into the right dress shop, helped her look for the dress and asked 100 times 'is this it?'. Then he had to ask the shop assistant for assistance and made her try on the chosen dress. Difficult for both of them as he hates dress shopping and she is painfully, debilitatingly shy. But a purchase was made and they both got home unscathed. A surprising first for him and shows the difference in parenting your third child.  She is growing up in a house as the youngest child and getting more attention than the others ever enjoyed now that Hayley is far away and Callum is far away in his own way.

I am now psyching myself up for a group of her friends to come over, to celebrate her 17th birthday. I'll let you know how that goes...