Juliana op vakantie - december 2016

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Big girl
As Juultje can play with all her siblings' toys, we have kept previous birthdays light on toys. For sinterklaas, she got a few bottles of paint and ten underpants - she is toilet training during the day with hardly any accicents. But for her third birthday, she was treated on a raft of presents, which she very much enjoyed opening. As she likes her sinterklaas DVDs with Pippi Longstocking, mum made her a cake she could recognise. The kids ate it before Piet went to cubs, which runs on Tuesdays from 18h to 19h30. Juultje took cup cakes to creche. She is a truly big girl now, measuring 100 cm. At their third birthdays, Piet measured 92 and Emma 94 cm.

Camping
We went on holiday the day after the last day of school, which in retrospect was a bit too early for everyone except dad. The first destination was the Long Gully campground in Budawang National Park between Canberra and the coast. It was a small, six site campground chose because of its remoteness, nearby creek and dog ban. The kids liked the creek, but not the many leeches. Still, dad got the most, which we removed with burning matches.

A less worrisome activity for the kids was helping to light the fire for the barbecue and marshmellows. We had volunteers for drying the dishes.

The next day, we went for a walk with less than enthousiastic kids, although Juliana enjoyed keeping up with her siblings on the largely invisible path. After less than half an hour, we reached a nice spot for eating some crisps with a view on the creek.

After three nights on the no-facilities campground, we drove to a caravan park in Canberra with a pool, which the kids enjoyed much better. Two days later we drove to Bendoc.

Christmas at Bendoc
On christmas eve two days later, we cut the christmas tree, this year a oak tree branch, which we decorated. Early on chrismas day, the kids found the presents brought by Santa near their stockings. Juliana read the 'Very Cranky Bear' book with aunty Bell. Grannybunts made the traditional gingerbread house with the kids.

After the christmas lunch, we opened the tree presents - given by family members to supplement Santa's load. Opa gave Piet, Emma and Juultje a karaoke machine. It is a kind of fancy CD player with a screen for the words and a microphone to sing along. Piet gave pappa a calendar, which he had made at school. Each pupil could select the pictures for the months of the year. Then came the super secret present, a wooden box which Piet had made with opa in the workshop in Bendoc, containing a gift voucher to go to church with a picnic in Centennial Park, a wonderful present. Juliana got, apart from a large present, her own bubble blower. The presents kept everybody had for a day or two.

Piet and Emma set themselves targets to overcome their dog fear. Piet sat next to a fence with Charlie on the other side, while Emma managed to feed, walk and even brush the dog. Juliana had a go too.

On Tuesday, we drove to the top of Delegate hill. It was too early to visit the buses and it was chilly, but we had some fun and were happy with the visit. The rest of our stay, the kids enjoyed the trampoline (with plenty of arguments), the sandpit (Juultje can entertain herself for quite a while), a tree house, books (especially Piet has become an avid reader) and some old bikes (Juultje tried the trike). On Thursday, we drove home.

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