Finding our Feet { 2024 }

The six Catton's have loved our first full year at Avonlea, at the end of it, I can say that we've passed through all the stages of moving - excitement, overwhelm, fatigue but have arrived now at that nice state of peace where you have your bearings. We've mostly found our feet, the kids are happy and settled in their schools and activities, we know our neighbours, we've discovered lots of the local things that help a place feel like a home and we have made great progress on our vision for Avonlea. We've said it's a 20 year project and I'd say that prediction is about right! 

It's been a lovely year getting to know our new home and making it ours. We've made the river home, bought kayaks for the kids which are great fun on the dam, swam a whole lot in the spa and even had some quarry swims. We've walked and talked and dreamed along every little part of the place and gotten to know it in the process. We've had highs and lows, set backs and success's and that's probably the best description of farm life I can think of. We said goodbye to our three beautiful bunnies, but welcomed my new horse Nova and more new chickens. This place has changed us all gradually, bit by bit to adapt to life here. We are now very bug tolerant, recognise all the spiders as front line insect defence and are finding our way as horse owners. More on life on the farm here.

The kids have all head a full and exciting year. They all catch the bus to and from school at the end of our lane and Frank their bus driver is excellent. They have so much fun around the property and I feel so happy for them that this is their childhood. 

Finley had his final year of Primary school and enjoyed all the fun of camp and farewell celebrations. He played soccer and his team made the grand finals which was very exciting, he participated in Tournament of Minds and loved attending Air League. He's made friends around our place and has had fun doing campouts and getting into the country spirit. More on Finley here. 

Primrose was in Year 3 and had a great year, ending it with the Creative Arts award at the end of year presentation. She was a busy girl with riding lessons, pony club, pony camp (a huge and special highlight), playing netball and learning cheer and tumble. More on Primrose here. 

Quill started Kindergarten and has come along with his learning so much through the year. He is reading and writing and has made so many great little friends at school. This year he started soccer, which he loves, had horse riding lessons and towards the end of the year started coming to pony club. More of Quill here. 

Lily had a very fun year at the sweetest preschool, that she calls 'club'. She loved attending ballet and jazz classes and dancing in the end of year concert. The rest of her time was spent as mummy's side kick. We would go to story time at the library, have some cafe dates and do lots of craft together. More on Lily here. 

Levi had a very big year at work with all sorts of travel around Australia and a trip to Japan and Korea. He's done really well through all the pressure of work to still manage to run, get to the gym and eat really well. He ran at park run through the year and ran a half marathon in Nelson Bay in pretty brutal heat. He's done really well to make all sorts of progress on jobs around the property and looking back on the year it's incredible how bit by bit progress is made. 

I've had a full but wonderful year trying to create the life I'd like to lead. I've planted dahlia's, worked on some writing, bought a horse, learned to float her, had weekly riding lessons, been mum and wife, done some teaching and kept the wheels turning on everyone's lives. I turned 40 in August and marked the occasions just as I'd hoped. We had a lovely family lunch out, with mum and dad and a beautiful cake. Levi took me for a week away on Day Dream Island together. The peace and quiet was a stark contrast to the busyness of life at home and it was a wonderful break for us both. 

We had our much anticipated trip to Queensland in April to see Tate, Hanna and the kids after they returned from their year away in Europe and Asia. We drove up, stopped at the big banana and had a few days with Shannon and Mireille first. We spent a wonderful day at dreamworld, a gift from mum for Christmas and such a fun experience for everyone and Levi and I even had a date night to see the Outback Spectacular. We spent Easter all together, which was lovely and we had a great time doing all sorts of fun things around Tate and Hanna's place and catching up with our old friends Cameron and Shayla. 

I had some lovely trips through the year, the result of my dreaming and scheming. I took the kids back to Bungendore at the beginning of the year for a little visit and then we went again as a family just before Christmas. We had such a wonderful time catching up with our friends there, it's bittersweet in many ways but I'm glad we can visit. I flew to visit Courtney for a weekend and see her new life in Brisbane, we had a fantastic weekend, eating bakery treats, perusing antique stores and galleries and meeting up with her friends. I met up with Chloe for our shared birthday. We had a lovely time in the lower Blue Mountains and just enjoyed the beautiful surrounds and time together. I also met up with my friend Catherine and her sister Kirri in Sydney and we had a great night out, seeing Six the Musical and eating dinner at The Clam Bar. Melyn and Jess from Canberra made the trip up to see me and Avonlea and we spent a lovely day and night in the Hunter Valley. 

We have had lots of visitors and it's nice to be in a place that people are keen to come and see and spend some time living the farm life. We are unofficially forcing everyone to hold a chicken as a farm rite of passage. We've had mum and dad plenty of times, who have their caravan in the paddock next to our place, so they have some space while they are here. They give us a little boost when they come, helping to keep things moving. My friend Kelly was one of the first to come and we spent a day walking and swimming in the river and catching up. Courtney came again and we had a lovely time with her exploring Maitland a little more, swimming in the dam and having her along to a pony club ribbon day. We had my friend Morgan come with her two daughter Zoe and Phoebe and we had a lovely time on walks and exploring the place. Kiki and her two little ones came for a weekend and in true Kiki fashion she wizzed around doing it all making you feel like the guest of honour in your own home. Shannon and Mireille came and we got a bit washed out with rain so will have to do some more exploring with them next time. Tate and Hanna and the cousins were here across our Bonfire night which was great fun and they stayed long enough to see and do it all, river, dam, quarry. We all had a great time together. We also had all sort of dinners and visits with old friends from when we lived in Nelson Bay. Sarah, Sigrid and there kids have come, Ralph and Val, Pauline and Jeremy, Aaron and Julia, Sally and Peter, April and her kids. 

I have loved this year but I've had the realisation that there are times and seasons and even though I love filling in the 'gaps' between responsibility with lots of whimsy and fun, what we really need is a year where the focus is on the things right in front of us, each other, the farm, our ponies. For a time at least, some of the old has to make way for the new. So we made the decision to not do any travel this year, even smaller weekend trips, other than one booked little trip for me to Nelson Bay for dad's 80th. We need to take some things out in order to fully appreciate and have the time here to immerse ourselves in the dream we have dreamed for so long and are so lucky to be living. I'm excited about it. I want to continue on with my riding lessons, do some extra clinics, focus on my relationship with Nova and our riding together. I want to work on my garden, write, finish projects, have time just being. I can't wait and this way everyone can come and enjoy the farm with us.