OK, these are the last Cairns photos and then I am back to trying to actually stay fairly current. The last few days in North Queensland were in Cairns and the best Caravan Park on Earth! They have two jumping pillows and that was about enough to do Levi's head in. The Caravan Park was through a boom gate with cameras and pass keys. Levi could go off on his own 'make friends' (his words) and play and then come back when he was tired, or hungry, or thirsty.
He loved the freedom. I loved not having to watch him every second. I love watching him get more independent and these sort of trips are a good step in that direction.
Levi gets some real airtime on those jumping pillows. He can jump and jump! I went out one morning and jumped with him. You can go about half an hour and then your calves about die! Levi can't go a lot longer than I can. We deteriorated to playing Red Rover with just the two of us. It became a complicated game that disqualified you if you stepped onto the sand. After about five minutes of that, we had a few random kids join us and then a few more. After about ten minutes I sat down and the game had become self sustaining. It is lovely watching kids just be kids. It is lovely to watch that many happy, healthy kids all just getting along!
So we would go off during the day and do fun things like snorkeling or Kuranda and then when we got back, there was at least as much fun back home! The last day we just stayed at the Park and played. I think that was Levi's favourite day anyway. He really did just need some time where 100% of his Mum's attention was on him. He has had the short straw a few things lately. Outreach has been hard on him and coming one straight after the other compounded it. I have been distracted at times as well with babies and children that I love being sick all over the globe. I too, needed some time to just jump. I needed time to just feel the freedom that I see in Levi's face in these photos. Just joy. Joy in life. Joy in feeling your muscles work under you. Joy that, for all the kids in trouble in the world, there are more kids who grow up happy and healthy. Kids who are well enough to just take life and growing out for granted. How I wish that were true of all kids!
The other thing that the park has, is a water park/splash park. It starts at 10am and goes through until 6pm. The water is too cold for me but really most water is too cold for me. It is still early spring here but Cairns never gets cold enough to even turn off the waterpark. Levi wore his wetsuit. I love this wetsuit. I remember Ross in that suit and Evan. I see those little boys and remember them at that age. It won't last much longer. Levi barely fits it anymore but I squeezed him in, because I can wait and get him a new one at the beginning of fall next year, giving me a few more months in it, for my fast growing weed ...... sorry ...... Child!
Levi had an absolute blast! There was a big bucket at the top that gradually filled up. Just as it neared the top, a bell would ring and then the bucket would upend and dump water everywhere. As the bell rang, kids would come racing around and stand to get the full blast.
There were taps to turn on and off and all sorts of equipment that shot water or caught water. There were troughs to dam and to redirect flow. There were a myriad of slides.
And by the end. He was trashed!
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