Our Yamba Holiday

With the business of life we decided in would be nice to get away and 'disconnect' from life. Because of schooling the 3 oldest boys have had laptops this year and were becoming a little too obsessed with technology and we needed some time out from it. Having teenagers now, we also needed to spend some family time with them, away from the stresses of school, homework, computers etc. So we found a fairly reasonably priced house in Yamba which had plenty of space to explore and run around and have booked it for a week; leaving all computers behind! We've never been to Yamba before and we love to explore new places so it is an exciting prospect!

As Mark owns his own business leaving for a holidays is always really full on as he has to try and wind up all his jobs before he leaves. Normally this means working back at night. This time seemed even more busy than normal, with Mark working 50 hours in 4 days in order to be ready to go. It really wears you out!

Anyway I thought I would keep track of how my 'disconnect- reconnect' holiday would go.

Day One

Even though woke up early I lingered in bed. Not eager to jump into all the work ahead to get the family packed. After the normal crazy dash of packing and cleaning, tantrums and fights we were ready to leave. This holiday we had the great idea of getting a bike rack and taking our bikes. It looked so easy when other people did it. But as young can see in the photo, getting five bikes on a Prado was no mean task! I mean it looks like a circus bus! We actually had people drive by us looking at us to see who was driving this crazy car and grinning!

This is our Prado all loaded it. Doesn't it look crazy!
We were worried we might get pulled over by the police.

We had a pretty good run the way to Ballina until we passed the Macadamia Castle. We started reminiscing about previous times we had been in the area (without the gameboys you see we had time to talk). Like the time we stopped at the macadamia castle and when a particular child had dropped his ice-cream and had a tantrum when he dropped his ice-cream cone. We all had a good laugh at this distant memory when 'thump' a book came hurtling passed us all the way from the back seat. Then came a few more items. It seemed this child didn't seem to appreciate the story and was getting really upset. But the rest of us couldn't stop laughing as we remembered another time when the same child had gotten upset and had started throwing things from the backseat.

Here we stopped at Ballina for lunch. The boys are relieved to be out of the car and into a tree.

Anyway we finally made it to Yamba. Past all the sugarcane fields and down the long windy road that lead to town. The three and a half hour drive, took us about five, but we finally made it and got to our holiday home. The boys were thrilled- it was a two story house, which, to them, means it was a rich person’s house. The best bit though, was that it was that it was on a canal which meant we had our own little pontoon with about a meter and a half of 'beach'. The boys were in the cold water in no time. There was lots of fish darting all around which made Mark just start itching to fish, even before unpacking the car.

The boys love their little patch of sand.

Instead of going fishing we went to find some fish to eat and this was the great food we found to eat. Morton Bay bugs (called Yamba bugs here) for only $20 a kg. We got four for $10 and they were so fresh. The prawns were so big. Mark and Ben (who just LOVES his seafood) peeled them all before dinner so they were ready to go. They hadn't been frozen and they were seriously some of the best prawns I have ever had. Especially since I didn’t even have to peel my own! My family to myself, no stresses and appointments, great food, life is good!

Here is our yummy meal of prawns (already peeled!) and 'Yamba Bugs'. It so so fresh!

We've become a high tech family!

This year has been a big year for us. For the first time not one, not two but three of the boys have gotten their own laptops. The older two got theirs with their starting at a private high school this year and Josh got into the one laptop class for his grade. Also the older two have mobiles now as they are travelling further from home and helps us work out any transport problems.

I was a bit nervous to start with. It meant new rules, new ways of doing things... I am really concerned that the boys don't ever view pornography or play really violent games. In previous years we haven't let the boys play computer games during the school term, as we just found it was to distracting. If you let one kid play computer gamesif they had finished their homework, then all the other boys would come and watch, instead of getting their things done. Plus I think it really limits their playing and active time which can affect their weight and fitness.

In a way the boys having laptops have meant we have had to relax our control a little on some things. They have more freedom this year on what do with their computers. I have noticed a few copyrighted games on their which we have had a chat about. One child has had some violent games, he had to delete that.


We have been focusing on teaching the boys to be accountable when they are on the computer. Which the schools are telling them too, which is great. They all have to have their screens so you can see what they are doing if you walk pass. So they often study at the kitchen table or bench or laptop table.This helps them not play too many games or hopefully too many time wasting activities. We also sometimes check their internet history, to see what they have been doing. Our oldest two boys have seen fellow students suspended from school for having inappropriate material on their computers. So they are fairly compliant for all the parent checks. ( I think they have worked out they either get the parent check and give no resistance or give resistance and get the parent check and the computer safety lecture :D. Smart kids.)


But you know the new technology has kind of been fun too.  I can e-mail the boys during the day, send reminders, little words of encouragement. Its been a good tool with communicating with each other.

Keeping up with technology is a challenge for parents. Its a balance between letting kids use technology and protecting them from it too. Some of those chat rooms and that can be really scary. Its hard keeping up with the kids who always seem to know more then you about it. For example one of our kids was showing us how to password protect our phone and another was showing us how you can delete your internet history... great!