An awesome weekend away with the kids to visit the grandparents. It still blows me away how much stuff gets crammed into the car for an overnight stay (about the same as if we packed for 2 weeks).

My parents are on acreage about an hour west of Sydney, and when I say parents I mean my dad, his wife, my mum and her husband. It’s really weird, but it works… especially for us because it means it’s a one stop shop for a family visit.

The kids had so much fun, and so did I because the trip timed perfectly with the arrival of my new Zeiss 35mm 1.4, A.K.A. awesome new lens for me to play with.

It started off up at Nanna’s (she lives in the old dairy up the road of course) where we had morning tea and after Ayden’s 10^th time of asking, he and Charlie went exploring the underground tunnel that used to service all the milking stations with Alan (step granddad).

Meanwhile on ground level Jakey was in meltdown mode because he wasn’t allowed his 8^th piece of caramel slice #assholeparent moment.

It was time for a distraction, so off to the heavy machinery we went… you know… where most kids would love to climb on.

Jake couldn’t decide what machine he wanted to be on, so it all got too much, he cracked it and we canned that idea… how long is it till nap time?

Back to Dad’s for lunch we went. Surprise! He found a turtle.

That was Ayden’s weekend sorted (did I mention Ayden has a majorly obsessive personality… not sure where he gets that from). All he could talk/think about from then on was the turtle. He followed it around, got in the pond with it and named it Longneck. I’m sure you can imagine how it went down later that night when I broke the news to him that we couldn’t keep it and had to let Longy go back to his family #worstdadever.

Plenty of time was spent splashing around in the filthy duck pond with their cousins picking up all sorts of gross bird diseases (oh well, they loved it).

In the late arvo I drove with my sister and Alan back over to a canola field I spotted on our way there for some magic hour photography. It was such a beautiful setting for some great moments… I think I need a canola field in the backyard of my next house. My niece and nephew happened to drive past, so they dropped in for a couple of pics as well… I know what you’re thinking ‘country folk hey’.

Night fell and it was into the paddock for a bit of a fire (safe one of course). Ayden and Jake were mesmerised, so they got to stay up a little later and when the vacant looks started and the eyes were being rubbed it was time to call it a night…

well, so we thought until Jakey woke up for bit of a spew… that was fun! It’s ok, it was pretty hard to sleep when the rooster started crowing in my ear at 3am anyway. After a couple of messy incidences Hayley being the good mummy she is sat up for the rest of the night nursing him (I reckon it was more so she could hold him like a baby again).

The next morning it was time to pack the car and head home… like I said, awesome weekend. It really is such a great place to take the kids, and I love the backdrop it provides for taking pics. That’s all I got… talk again soon.