Birch's and Birch's in Gippsland region

It's been a while since we have blogged and we have certainly had such a great time with Darren's folks. Leaving Melbourne we travelled out to the Gippsland area and stayed near Morwell where Meg spent her growing up years. We travelled through some beautiful green hilly countryside (which reminded us alot of Tasmania) and found a super Bakery at Mirboo North and conveniently we were just in time for lunch! That was a lovely day as we enjoyed places Meg went to as a child. Mirboo North also had the biggest slide we have seen on our travels so far - unfortunately I forgot the camera that day, ahhh!

The next day we went for a drive to Tarra Bulga National Park, which was really COLD, but undeterred we went for a walk to the swinging bridge, dodging from tree fern to tree fern to avoid the rain! Then we had lunch in the shelter heating up some soup and enjoying the peacefulness of the forrest, especially when the sun came out briefly to warm us up a little.

At the end of the week we headed to Philip Island and it was a nice trip south and then along the coast on a grey cool day. The kids all like riding with Granny and Granny and Grandad have stayed. On Philip Island we stayed at the Amaze n Things Van park which had a maze, mini golf and a great playground on site. On the Saturday, we went down to Nobbies Point (the only free thing we could find!!) and learnt about whales, penguins, seals and the southern ocean, as well as bought a few memorabilia items in the gift store - the kids enjoyed spending a little money that Granny and Grandad had given them - and we took a walk along the boardwalk where the Silver Gulls were all nesting. We spotted lots of little chicks and that was a really interesting and enjoyable walk.

It was home in the afternoon to watch the football grand final where I made some sausage rolls and we made some mini pies too for lunch (we consumed a sum total of 90 pies and sausage rolls between us, all very mini ones of course! And that was lunch, afternoon tea and dinner!) And after all that there wasn't even a result to the final and they had to go back and play it all over again. The pie eating was worth it though, hee, hee.

Last Sunday was a sunny day on Philip Island, sun, something we hadn't seen for some time, so, after our morning church we drove to Rhyll, north east corner of the Island and went for a walk, made dandelion chains and enjoyed the weather outdoors. When we got back we went down to the puzzle shop and cafe and tried the outdoor puzzles in the playground, these kept us occupied for some time. Then we all finished our time together with Fish and Chips by the beach. We have been really thankful for the time we could have with Dad and Meg and, as we were feeling a bit homesick, it was just what we needed to keep us going for another few months!

Monday saw us say goodbye to Grandad and Granny and they headed back to Melbourne for a day trip to Ballarat and some more family time, and we headed to Dandenong where we have based ourselves for the last week. During this week we have been blessed to go to the IBLP seminar (Institute of Basic Life Principles). The children attended the CI (Children's Instititue), which was led by our friends, the McKennas, and they had a SUPER time learning songs, memory verses, stories and doing activities. Darren and I were refreshed and encouraged as we listened to the 32 hours of solid Bibilcal teaching on seven principles - Principles of Design, Ownership, Responsibility, Authority, Freedom, Suffering and Success. What a wonderful week it has been.