It was a dark and stormy night......

One of our losses - this tree is huge and now uprooted

We lost part of the fencing too

A view across part of the farm

So we were supposed to be scrubbing Mitchell's now empty room out in preparation to putty and paint and fix whatever needs fixing as part of our "Get this house ready for a sale" push.

Instead we bunked off. The two younger kids and MOTH and I headed off down south for the two and half hour drive to Busselton where we co-own 11 acres with MOTH's side of the family. It's mid-winter and everything is lush and green.. and also teeming with huge broken branches and uprooted trees thanks to various storms we had weeks ago. We promised his mother who lives on the property we would go do periodic checks while she was away and so today was one of those checks.

The next few hours were spent chain sawing branches and huge trees that now lay on the ground (mostly across our fences.. what are the chances) and lugging them behind us to put in various massive piles ready to bonfire them when they have dried out some. It was hard work but great exercise.

We went for a long walk down the gravel road to collect the mail and then did another walk around the perimeter of the property. A lovely area is where we have two massive rows of grown Norfolk pines and as we walked between the rows the kids had fun fossicing around in the heather underneath where the now lowering sun threw pretty patterns on the ground.

Then we headed off into town at around 6.30pm and stopped for dinner. We entered a small but thriving Chinese restaurant and found ourselves a table. As we sat down I realised this was the first time since banded that I had eaten out. Of course I have had some takeaway at home but this was different. It suddenly hit me: how much of this would I be able to eat? With no restriction I would be able to put away a fair amount but I wanted to temper myself because I also know I don't want to stretch my little stomach (I was pretty hungry by now as we had lunch hours and hours ago and it was a rushed job at a service station on the way down.) As it turned out I didn't have to worry. I quite happily ate three small chicken wings and just a meagre bowlful of rice and szechuan beef ... turn your hand into an open handed claw and the area inside is the size of the little bowl we were given along with chopsticks... and I enjoyed every mouthful. An especially good meal when you have two boys who are full of life and happily chatting (even if we did have to tell Riley who is loud to tone it down a couple of times) and MOTH who managed about four bowlfuls and still would have had more lol.

I had forgotten what it was like driving in pitch darkness on country roads on the way home too. They're not for the faint hearted especially when they keep changing the roads as they upgrade or divert you as they make new double lanes where there are only witches hats and very little lighting to guide you. But all in all it was a really lovely day. And from now on.. we are doing more of this! We promised the kids.