Our piece of paradise

Hovsep and I have wanted to move closer to Christian's school and buy a property with a few acres.  We missed out on our dream house and then another about 6 months later.  The rural real estate people seem to do it differently than in the city.  Anyway, we really wanted a little piece of paradise to balance the work and fmaily life out.  Normally over summer we rent a house for 10 days at Portarlington (a cute sleepy beach town just 1 hour from where we live).  In August 2011 we decided we would look at purchasing a cabin in a caravan park, so we could go away whenever we felt like it.  We looked at the caravan park in portarlington, but it was old, run down and the cramped.  The cabins were very close together.  I then started to search on the internet for cabins for sale near portarlington.  I found a gorgeous waterfront cabin for sale.  It was a little more than what we wanted to pay, but it looked beautiful.  I rang and enquired only to be disappointed as it had been sold 3 years ago and the add had not been removed.  I told Hovsep about it and we decided to drive down and check out the park anyway.  Well as soon as we drove in we knew we would buy a cabin from Swanbay.

Swan Bay is situated on the Bellarine Penisula and is between Queenscliff and St Leonards, right on the water.

This is the view from our cabin

The Holiday Park is fantastic and extreamly relaxing.  It has 2 swimming pools, a tennis court, basket ball court, pool table, table tennis, ball and play room and a beautiful walking track over 10 acres when you can soak up the beautiful views and watch the amazing bird life of hundreds of pelicans and black swans just to name a few.

Our cabin is one of the smaller ones, but is bigger enough for us.

The park is also animal friendly which is a bonus as we can take Rio and Charleigh down if we want to.

We love our piece of paradise!!!

Level 9

Christian started swimming lessons later than most kids as he suffers from recurring ear infections and has had 2 sets of grommets.  At Paul Sadler swimland, when children pass level 8, which includes swimming 50 meters of freestyle, 75 meters of backstroke, treading water for 5 minutes and completing a dive, they get awarded their green certificate along with a special T Shirt and they ring a huge fireman's bell, so the whole of the swimming centre stop their lessons and watch the presentation and give a big clap.  They really make a big deal of it and the kids love it.  Christian has been in level 8 for about 6 months and he was getting disgruntled that he would never get his green certificate.  He suffers from Asthma and really struggles with his breathing and normally can only swim 25 metres of the pool (which includes having a few breathing breaks along the way). 

 Last night his teacher said to him "I want you to swim 3 laps of freestyle with no stopping".  I was sitting next to a girl friend and I was explaining to her, that he wouldn't be able to do 3 laps because of his breathing.  He finished 1 lap without stopping, so I gave him the thumbs up and I thought to myself I will give him $5 for making the 1 lap and this will give him incentive to complete 2 laps next week.  Well I could not believe my eyes, Christian continued on to swim his 2nd lap without stopping.  I was so excited for him that I punched Leanne on the leg and said "he has done 2 laps without stopping".  Then my clever boy completed his 3rd lap without stopping.

His teacher then asked Christian to swim 4 laps of backstroke.  Christian doesn't have the breathing problems with backstroke, however I thought after completing 3 laps of freestyle that he may struggle.  But he proceeded to swim the 4 laps.  When he got out of the pool to go and practise diving I gave him a big high 5.

I wasn't expecting him to get his certificate, I thought his teacher was getting him ready and that he would probably get it in the coming weeks.  But when I saw the smile on his face (It was literally ear to ear) I knew that he had passed level 8.  He rushed over to me and said "Mum, mum, I got my certificate." "I have to get changed quickly so they can ring the bell for me". 



I am so proud of him and I also had a smile from ear to ear.  Well done Buster.

New to Blogging

I am new to blogging, so I apologise in advance if this is either boring or a complete failure.. 

A beautiful friend of mine Lisa King, is an avid blogger and her world has recently been shattered with tragedy.  She started blogging to keep a record and memories of the time spent with her disabled son, Noah.  Noah passed away in October 2011 at the age of 10, and tragically and suddenly her beautiful husband Aaron, of 16 years joined Noah in heaven on Australia Day 2012.  Lisa is left to raise 3 boys on her own.  Luckily Lisa has captured so many memories of their family life through her blog that Lisa & the boys can always reflect on these and remember the good times spent with their Dad and Noah. If you are interested in reading Lisa's Blog, this is her blogspot http://lisajking.blogspot.com.au/.  Lisa has inspired me to keep a record my own family memories.