Australia Day and Escape

The last few days have been very internal ones for Levi and I.  It has rained for the last few days and the creek has been swollen and impossible to drive through.  It has meant that I have worked from home and Levi has missed school.  Today is Australia Day and it was the first that the rain wasn't pounding.  In fact most of the day was muggy but dry.  After the creek starts to recede, it leaves a large amount of debris, sand, leaves, sticks, rocks and large amounts of flotsam.  So, after the creek goes down, there is still a large amount of work to be done before it is possible to escape!

 We worked hard this morning, shovelling the debris out into the flow of the stream.  If you wait until the creek has gone down completely, then you have to shovel much more and carry it much further.  Generally there is a large window of time, but still it is certainly better to dig as soon as it is possible, because the creek helps you more.  Levi helped by dragging some of the logs and throwing them out into the stream.  Jo and I shovelled and then the neighbour from across the creek, saw we had cleared enough and brought his 4WD over.  He drove over and back many many times, to wash the debris back into the creek and shortened our task by several hours!  These sorts of days are quite fun actually because you end up digging in the creek with many neighbours, all with a common purpose, to get out and get some groceries!

During the time that we were stuck in, I managed to break the kettle and lose the iPhone charger!  It meant that my phone was behaving badly and generally operating at about 10% battery life.  So Levi and I went out and restocked the pantry and made our fruit salad and then went to the greatest Australia Day BBQ that was possible!  Levi was so happy!  He had four boys all about his age to play wild games with.  He played wild games in the pool, wild games running around and wild games with the soccer ball.  Consequently he was so tired tonight, that I had to wash him in the shower and he struggled to get to sleep.  I think that he is also a little nervous about his return to school tomorrow and keeps asking to stay at home with me tomorrow, even though we will be able to get there.  I talk about how exciting it will be to meet his new teacher, but he isn't fooled anymore and I think just loves the security and the routine of the home.  He loves school and soon it will be the routine again!  Then he will be happy again!