A Sleep Over

Our "adopted" grandkids having been asking for ages if they could come to our place for a sleep-over.  Of course we said yes but finding a suitable time has been a bit of a problem.  Finally we found a night that was agreeable to all, so the grandkids, mum and nanna arrived for lunch on Sunday.  Philip and I talked about the things that we could do with the kids.  We knew that they liked mustering so we made sure that we had a mob of cattle to move and I really needed help to pick and peel the abundant supply of rosellas.
The family arrived for lunch laden with enough food to feed an army!  There was roast chicken, ham, lasagne, cream buns, cream donuts, a BOX of mangoes, packets of chips....I didn't have to cook a single thing!
As soon as everything was unpacked from the car Philip took the kids and mum out to move the cattle.  Nanna and I stayed at home to prepare lunch for the hungry tribe when they arrived home.  We devoured the delicious lunch and promised the kids that we would go and pick the rosellas after lunch.  The weather, however, had other ideas.  A large storm started brewing and before long we had the inevitable thunder and lightening.  We waited it out.  The adults enjoyed the wait with a nice glass of champagne and the kids, well the kids grew more impatient.  However it didn't take the storm very long to pass over.  We hardly received any rain but it did cool things down somewhat.
The rosella picking took quite awhile.  So many rosellas.  I wish I had weighed them but there would have been at least five kilograms.  I ended up with twenty jars of jam and three jars of "Hibiscus Flowers" for adding to a glass of bubbly.  Separating the rosella flowers from the seed pod is the tedious part but with six sets of hands it seemed to be finished in no time at all.
By the time we had finished with the rosellas it was almost dinner.  Philip took the girls for a walk around the garden to pick flowers while we popped the lasagne in the oven.  Thank you Kate and Jodie.  It was delicious with a capital "D".  However I really should not have had two helpings!
The kids were well and truly worn out after their busy day so we were all in bed by 9.00 pm with the promise that Philip and I would wake the girls for our morning walk with the dogs.
As promised we did wake the girls early the next morning.  Nanna and mum also decided to join us for our 3km - half hour walk.  After the rain the day before the track was quite wet but it is still an enjoyable walk first thing in the morning. We were all ravenous when we returned to the house so breakfast went down a treat.  After breakfast it was time to strip beds and pack overnight bags.
It was so lovely to have everyone stay over and we have promised the kids that we will try and have a sleep-over each school holiday.

Waiting out the approaching storm

A walk down to the pond to look for the goldfish.

Nanna and the girls picking Rosellas

So many Rosellas!

All hands on deck.

My laundry tub packed to the brim with rosellas

Rosellas have to have a very good wash to remove all the little insects that hide in the flower.