Camping Friends

This past weekend we have had another family come to stay.
Arran and Jodie bought 7 year old Ruben and 4 year old Ethan to pitch a tent and help finish the roof on the container.  Aidan and Arran met through work, but none of the rest of us knew each other before hand, I shouldn't have worried though, if Arran was relaxed enough to appreciate Aidan we weren't going to have any troubles!  (just kidding Aidy).
The four boys were really good together.   The Potter's bought bikes, including a balance bike that William firmly attached himself to, and we had plenty of new toys to keep everyone happy.
Thanks to the continuing progress by the sheep we have reached a new stage where our boys are big enough to explore, and the grass is short enough that they can actually walk though it. While Aidan and Arran hung out on the roof of the container doing manly, building things; we all went for a walk, starting with the 'forest', a group of self seeded gums near the back corner, across to see the billabong and to look at trees.  The forest was a huge hit, there was a number of times over the weekend that the four boys would all troupe over to the forest to 'chop' down trees with a plastic axe, borrowed from the prop bin thanks to a production of the Wizard of Oz a couple of years ago, and an assortment of shovels to use as makeshift axes.  Then they'd all come back usually with William in the rear pushing the bike because he was too short to straddle it.

The promise of seeing stars was thwarted by a very gray sky that night, followed by a huge downpour that lasted until mid Sunday morning.  Luckily the newly finished roof kept us all dry, and despite the wind, rain and sheep all having a go at the Potter's tent, it was still standing the next morning. 
It does however mean that Aidan has now promised Oscar that he will put our tent up next time we go out so he and Osc can sleep in one too.
Arran was a very enthusiastic worker and I will certainly be making a thorough list next time they come out.  Hopefully we will have clearer skies and more wild life if they come again.  The four boys entertained themselves pretty well which left Jodie and I to sit back and pretend we were looking after them.  I was a bit concerned about how I would feel not working, because that's what we do there, but I actually found it quite enjoyable.
The completion of the roof also marks the start of new phase for us, other than the guttering, we really don't have any more big or expensive jobs we have to do until we start on the house.  It will be now that we start to really learn how to enjoy what we have.  I'm sure we'll still find little projects that we want to work on, I definitely still want to keep working on the veggie patch, and there are small bits and pieces to do.  But we can do things like use the left over wood to make chairs and a sand pit, or I can keep chopping down saplings that need to go anyway, to make frames for my climbing fruits I'll be getting once the sheep are gone.  Who knows, we might even just read a book! 
The last thing to note, which I'm sure many of you are interested to know, the toilet is great.  It got a serious beating, with 8 people using it over the weekend and it didn't smell.  In fact, I'd go as far as saying it smells better than our toilet at home because there is no lingering smell if use it straight after someone else.  Granted I had a cold last week, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with the same view.
And thank you to Aidan and Arran for putting in vents, not necessarily to help with the non existent smell, but to let in light and air.
Thanks Jodie for the photos, you are all welcome back any time!