Family

I have no excuse for my lack of blog posts since Christmas. Although still on holidays, I have felt exhausted by the last couple of weeks. Apart from Christmas festivities in Launceston and Hobart, the last couple of weeks have been full on in terms of time with my family. I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but I am the eldest of 5 siblings. I'm not sure what my parents were thinking or how they coped, but they had the 5 of us in 6 years! My youngest brother has been engaged for a while now, and his wedding was last Saturday. This meant that the entire clan started to gather. One of my sisters has been living in the UK for the last 4 years, so she took the opportunity to come home for an extended stay, turning up in Tasmania in early December. It's been great to catch up with her, I haven't seen her since her move and we are the closest in age, being only 15 months apart. It's funny how a relationship can pick up where it left off, and how well we know each other. Her Irish boyfriend flew over after Christmas to meet us all, a lovely and amusing fellow, he seemed to cope with us all pretty well.

As well as these visitors, the bride and groom-to-be also stayed with my parents (we live in a little flat attached to my parents house) as they are selling their house in Burnie so it was pretty busy. Throw in a hens party, a couple of birthdays (Dad and my other brother) and our friend coming to visit for a couple of days and we were pretty exhausted by the wedding. My 87 year old grandmother and my aunt also turned up from Melbourne on Thursday, both very excited not only about the wedding but have I mentioned that my youngest sister (who lives around the corner from us) is pregnant? Oh yes, the first grandchild is on its way! They had knitted some beautiful little outfits.

The family dinner before the wedding was pretty hilarious, all of us at the table talking, dogs running around, and then one of us brought out Dad's wedding suit (ok it may have been me). A very special 1970's flared burgundy suit, still in pristine condition with matching pink shirt and burgundy tie and red shoes. Rob couldn't resist (and much to the horror or perhaps delight) of my female relatives stripped in the living room to try it on! It fitted perfectly and he nearly wore it the next day!

The day of the wedding was hot (well for Tasmanians) but the whole day went well, a radiant and completely relaxed bride, my brother his usual laid back self! The reception was fun, and revealed a side of my brother-in-law I'd never seen before- a dancing star! He had us in stitches with his routine of moves (the shopping trolley, lawn mower, zimmer-frame, sprinkler, emergency exits) and had us all shedding our inhibitions and grooving on the dance floor.

The next day most of the wedding guests and the newly married couple came around to my parents (ie our place) for lunch to send them off! Yesterday my sister and her boyfriend left for the mainland, and this morning my grandmother and aunt headed off. So finally we have returned to normality. Thank goodness I still have another 2 weeks of holiday!

In amongst all the shared meals, visits, and outings, whenever we could we snuck off to the block. Not much has been happening building wise. But Rob has been cultivating our vegie patch and my flower garden. Although it looks fantastic, he's a little disappointed as it isn't as obvious now how much digging has occurred, as all the spade sized clods have been broken up. While he works I sit and read or dream in the hut with the pups.