Family Cancer Camp

Picnic in Botanic Gardens

Back in February when Celia was admitted to hospital for 8 days with her unexplained fever, we were meant to be going to Philip Island for one of the family camps that the wonderful charity Camp Quality hosts. Celia and Max were very disappointed that yet another holiday had to be canceled but as Camp Quality run a family camp every couple of months we were lucky enough to be accepted for the next one in Bendigo.

Celia making a bowl at Pottery World

 We also had the added bonus that accompanying us on this camp were our good friends Amy, Glen and their twins Jasmine & Dominic (who is also in treatment for leukemia) so it ended up being a blessing in disguise as we all had a wonderful weekend.

As you can see  the winter sun shone for us the whole time we were there and it was jam packed with activities that the kids absolutely loved - Pottery World on Saturday morning, followed by a picnic lunch in Botanic Gardens with accompanying gold treasure hunt (Bendigo was at the heart of the original Australian gold mining boom), the most amazing play center in the afternoon, then a quick dip in the camp pool. After a delicious dinner provided by outside caterers the fantastic volunteers took the kids away for games and DVDs while the parents had a few vinos and got a chance to chat.

Hunting for Gold!

Then on Sunday we all headed off to the Discovery Center where we got to lie back on bean bags and watch the planets and stars at the Planetarium, I plucked up the courage to 'drop' down the vertical slide which was terrifying and the kids performed lots of messy experiments.

We all left on Sunday afternoon feeling refreshed and very lucky to be in a country where people's generosity provides such wonderful services for families and children living with cancer. And this is just one of the many charities that have helped us over the past 2 and a bit years.
Now that we are approaching the end of treatment I can feel the urge to start giving back so be warned that some fundraising requests will be coming up in the very near future!

Relaxing on the hammock while Mabel earns her keep swinging me!