Ruby Leigh de Vries

This little princess was born 13 July 2022. I've been a bit slow to blog but better late then never. She turned 1 a few months ago and she's quite a cruisy baby and always has been. Suprising given Georgie got COVID right before she was born which affected Ruby's breathing and landed her in the special care nursery for several days. They were out of hospital for around 4 hours when it was obvious that something was very wrong with Georgie. They were both readmitted that same day and I spent the next 4 days at the hospital looking after Ruby while luke had Isla and Charlie. Georgie had Sepsis which is extremely dangerous and they told us that had they have waited another two hours the outcome could have been quite different. Huge heart felt thanks to Luke who knew things were going south and called me up and said " You need to get here RIGHT NOW I have to get Georgie to hospital immediately, she could die". Honestly I went around thinking he was being dramatic!! So Rube's had quite the welcome into the world, but nothing fazes this kid, she the perfect addition to this little family

Xmas 2021

Another amazing Xmas in Darwin shared with family and friends. The girls really love Xmas and we're planning the decorations and food months before. It's nice to be a part of, the excitment is palpable. It rained on and off during the day so it was the coolest Xmas we've ever had. After lunch the karaoke started, we had extra visitors turn up at 10 and I had to drag Arthur out of bed - ding ding, round 2. Boxing day was a slow one.

Family Retreat

I managed to get the entire family to spend a weekend out at Walker Creek (Litchfield National Park). It is my absolute favourit place - it's so beautiful and really fills my heart. Georgie and Luke's kids are too little to camp as it's right on the water so they stayed at the caravan park about 70k's away and came out during the day. It's just over a 1 km hike in which doesn't sound far but when you have to cart all your stuff in - it's seems like 10kms. There are 8 private campsites and all have their own water hole and you put your name/entry/exit dates and it's all yours. What an amazing weekend - meals shared, lots of swimming, card games and laughter and not a screen in site. Joyful

Arthur's country

In July we, along with the de Vries, Collis and Shaw families incl. two babies Charlie 13mths, Willow 11mths (crawling babies and bulldust - the best) went on a road trip to the country where Arthur grew up. We visited Bullita station (Gregory National Park) which his parents owned and operated for about 4 years and then on to Kidman Springs which is a government research station. It's proper croc country so not a lot of swimming but we did find a couple of places. As you can see there was some concern around swimming in the waterhole in the picture - we made it work though!!! There are pictures of Arthur on the Boab tree when he was a kid - it would have to be over 100yrs old. This area of the NT is absolutely stunning and the energy amazing. Really lovely for Arthur to be able to show his family and friends where he grew up.

Xmas 2020

We celebrated Xmas in Darwin this year with family and friends. The kids spent hours playing cards, so good to see them having fun and connecting with each other instead of on screens! A lovely wetseason thunderstom after lunch which cleared in time to spend the afternoon floating around in the pool - magic

Charlie Henk de Vries 18 June 2020

 Welcome Charlie

What a beautiful highlight for 2020

Xmas 2019 Bali and friends

We went to Bali for Xmas with our good friends The Collis's and the Gulliver's. Doesn't actually matter where we travel with this group we always have a fabulous time with lots of love, laughter and wonderful adventures!

Isla (MyIsla) turns 1