How much fun can you have with a pinecone? Well, let me tell you. Hours and hours if you throw in a rock pool and a swim ring (well, half an hour at least !) It goes a bit like this; Throw pinecone into water. Try to make as big a splash as possible. Squeal with glee as the pinecone bobs back up to the surface. Fetch pine cone. Repeat.

We had a lovely day at the beach today. We had been hoping to attempt our first camping trip with 2 kids this weekend but every beachside campsite within a 2 hour drive of Melbourne was full - every single one! I suppose that's what happens during school summer holidays in a country that loves both camping AND the beach. So we had to content ourself with a day trip. We still managed to tick all the boxes; swimming till lips turned blue, building sandcastles, jumping on sandcastles, watching boats and kite surfers, kicking the football on the beach, eating sand, fish and chips...

It was a really nice way to end a week which has been a little bit difficult but very enlightening for me. One of those weeks where you simply get fed up with the way things are (work wise in this case), where you feel squashed and despondent and miserable, until that wonderful moment when you realise that if things aren't right then perhaps it would be a good idea to do something to try to make them right instead of just feeling sorry for yourself and moaning about it to anyone and everyone.

I'm usually a very optimistic person (sometimes to the point of stupidity) so to spend a few days feeling hopeless about something is really quite an unpleasant experience for me, but it's amazing how great it feels to suddenly have that weight lifted and to know that you did it all on your own and simply by changing your attitude.

The other positive aspect of having a less than enjoyable week at work is that it made me enjoy my days at home with the little ones all the more. I felt especially grateful to have those days to spend with them and we had a lot of fun just hanging out together - i really must try to hang on to that particular mindset!