No Spend Month... and a road trip (unrelated!)

We need to buy a new car! We don't all fit in our current car and have been on the lookout for a while. We almost found what we needed but our mechanic said that repair work hadn't been done well after an accident and so not to touch it... sad, because it was mechanically sound!
Pete's off to look at another this afternoon... priced beyond what we can afford, even at a streeeetch but if it's a good car we'll make an offer but are prepared to walk away. We can't bargain with more than we have!!!

Either way... it's now a NO SPEND month. The grocery budget has been cut from $650 for the month, down to $250, I've dropped the home ed allowance altogether, entertainment which sits at a low $40 has been scrapped and so on.

Thankfully we have a reasonably well stocked pantry and freezer, along with many pumpkins from our summer harvest. The well stocked pantry includes about 13kg of basmati rice LOL... so we could be seeing a bit of that!

The hardest bit for me was choosing to ditch my home ed allowance... I know it will be made up down the track and there's nothing I need urgently (that's next month LOL) but I'm so used to having it there. And tonight there is our monthly home ed gathering where I often see some great books I'd like us to own. Aah well, onto the list they will go.

So, for the road trip... which is only related to the no spend month in that the car I'll be driving for said road trip is why we're having a no spend month.

I'm thinking October - probably just myself and the children - up to 2 weeks away, but WHERE? Where to go? What to do and see? I've driven loads... like 1/3+ of a non stop trip to Queensland, to Sydney multiple times just sharing the drive with hubby and so on. I'd probably want to go no further than 10-12 hours from Melbourne and with a couple of overnight's on the way. It'd be cool to do the trip with someone else but I don't like my chances of anyone in my immediate circle of friends joining us; till we leave though, I'll keep hoping. Also, the thing that scares me most is accommodation costs so if you've some cheap (and safe!!) ideas, throw them my way. If my dad were still alive, he'd know enough people all over that we could borrow plenty of lounge room floors or church halls.. in fact, he'd probably come along for the trip!

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Lots of fun at the Animal Wildlife Park on Phillip Island

Hand feeding a Wallaby

Can you see the joey?

Very glad the pelican is sitting down - they're rather scary when all stretched out!

Whoops! Pete got pooped on!

Tricky to get a photo of this little guy... Mr Echidna just kept on walking

Love the colour in some of our native birds!

How cute is Mr Wombat!?!

My 3 little Monkeys

Dingoes - there were about 12 in the enclosure

It was just wonderful to see the Black Swan family walking around - and they knew we  had food! Shortly after this was taken, the front swan was begging Pete for food... which we were able to supply as you get given some on entry

I don't like Emu's. Nice in pictures but when they know you have food, they are rather intimidating in their pursuit!

I love the gorgeous blue on these Kookaburras - apparently these are from Northern Australia - the local ones are a lot more dull... a dusty brown where the blue is

Snakes at the library!

Pete took the children to a summer holiday library session today with REPTILES!!

Melinda wasn't going to touch ANYTHING!!

Nathaniel is getting more and more game with such things

and Pete can't help but play the fool ;o)

Stay Tuned for Photo's

We arrived back from our holiday this afternoon - it was a wonderful time away. Stay tuned for photo's, the camera is yet to be unpacked.

The children are all bathed... I'm going to be locking myself in the bathroom before bed... and now they're in bed. A little excited as it's Melinda's 7th birthday tomorrow which seems to be more than enough to take the sting off the end of the holiday!

We spent a day at Dreamworld - a picture perfect day at that as we all behaved beautifully and just had a lovely lovely day enjoying the entertainment, the weather and each other.
Timothy was hilarious. Looking really suspicious when Pete took him on the first ride (slow flying blues clues) but hey - he loved it and burst into tears when it was time to get off!
That was followed by the merry go round (my turn), spinning tea cups (pete again) and then onto rides for older kids. Melinda and Nj did love the toddler rides though.
Pete and Nj took a 'dodgem car' for a spin - what are the called nowadays?
Then it was the sponge-bob square pants flying ride. Melinda and Nj needed persuading for this one but once convinced loved it enough to ride twice in a row.
We got to the log ride and I got soaked, then the river rapids ride twice (Nj calls this the wippet wappits ride *grin*)
A train ride, a couple of food stops and I can't remember what else... and then Pete took M & Nj back the next day while I stayed at the appartment with Timothy.

We then had a couple of days to play in the pool etc, lunch with friends and then it was into seminar which Pete and I thoroughly enjoyed. We were blessed to have Pete's parents on the Gold Coast for their annual trip and they looked after the kids for 1/2 the seminar, reducing our need for paid babysitters.

Now it's time to get back into real life and I feel relaxed, refreshed and more focused than I have in a long time.

Pete is now working hard at assembling a bike for Melinda's birthday in the morning, so he's back into it all too. He does love an excuse to get the tools out, I must say!