Australian Trip.....

I encourage you to grab and cuppa and get comfortable for this installment. As you read it might get a little confusing. I started out writing this blog while I was away, when I got back, then after bring back for a week or so I thought that I should finish it up and get it out, so you will notice that some of it has been written a bit after the fact. But never the less it’s now been done (thank goodness) It’s a load off for me, now I just have to find the time to put up some pics for everyone, there is so many to choose from, not sure how to make that decision. Anyway, enjoy the details and towards the end the vagueness of our trip. Well, I’m sitting in my lounge room and it’s nearly lunchtime on Tuesday (24th). Conner has just risen and Jamieson is still sleeping. (Bruce is out at a meeting) I’m sitting here in my pink dressing gown and sipping an American Hot chocolate (which I did miss) out of my big pink heart cup that Bruce gave me for Valentines Day, as per the American way. It’s a beautiful sunny day outside and I am about to start a load of washing to be dried outside which I am very excited about. Side Note from first weeks, sorry about the lack of details regarding my surprises, I will fill you all in on them later. My head wasn’t really on straight yet when I put up last weeks blog, so they will come later. It’s technically the start of our 2nd week here and feels like we’ve only been here a couple of days. All 3 of us seem to have slipped back into it fairly easily. Our Easter Monday was suppose to be very quiet but ended up quite busy. Conner and Jamieson were bored so mum took them over to Rael’s for a play while I go organized for lunch with Pete. Went up to the supermarket and saw all the Egg’s 50% off, but didn’t buy any, god knows we have enough and Bruce and I don’t need anymore. Got my pumpkin soup stuff and then some, as always when you go to the supermarket and headed back home. Chatted with Bruce through out the day as I do, he was having a good Easter Sunday, gardening and then heading over to our friends (The Hawkins) for dinner, which will be nice for him. Pete, Fleur and Sandi came over for some lunch, Kristy arrived in the afternoon which was GREAT!! I called the Livingston’s thinking they would be away for Easter and Ashley and Peter were home, so to Conner’s absolute glee Kristy and I drove over to grab the boys then drove Conner into Ash’s place to stay with him for a couple of nights. I was so great to see them both together again, they were as happy as each other to see the other one. Conner was really happy. We drove back had a cuppa and Kristy was on her way back up the highway. Hopefully we will try to catch up with them before we go. We chilled out in front of the TV and Jamieson and I were off to bed around 9-9.30, I’m a partier from way back, these early morning’s are killing me at night. Tuesday was my workday for me, so it was a bit of a day. Just doing all the usually monthly banking etc, but had to go to storage. Let me just say that by the end of the moving day that Bruce was tired and they just through the stuff in. I found some of what I needed, but I think I’ll be spending a day there next week if I want to find some stuff that I wanted to take home. It was lunchtime by the time I got back and the twins and the kids were there. We just chilled out for the afternoon and I chatted with Bruce and Paula before heading off to Rael’s for the night. We went for a walk over to the front beach and the kids played in the playground, I forgot my camera, of course, so hopefully I will get footage to take home for everyone to see. I think we’ll go out in the morning before heading back to the Grove and take some. We had some Burrito’s for dinner and then again, Jamieson and I were off in bed round 9-9.30. Funniest thing in the night, I was in with Felix and Rael’s said that he may wake up, which he did, he was just making noises so I left him, then he stood up and was getting a little upset. So I started getting out of bed and he saw me, he started jumping up and down going “YEAY, YEAY” it was so funny, I will remember that forever. He won’t but I will. So I took him into Rael’s poor thing not sure how much sleep she got. I woke up to the sounds of Oscar and Felix up and Simon making them breakfast before he headed out for a walk or surf I assume. Today is the second day of our house hopping until technically Saturday night. We have a busy schedule but it should be fun. We are heading out to stay with the Trace and the kids today. We woke up and I got online to Bruce on my laptop, it’s dial up so I could only do one thing at a time. It was nice to be on the laptop again. We all got dressed and Mum came over and picked us up to take us home. We got home and I practically packed everything that we bought over as we are not going to home until Saturday night. We dropped into the Livingston’s and picked up Conner then mum dropped us off at Tracey’s. The kids and I (all 5 of us) went for a walk, we walked down to Tracey’s work then had a look to Rebel, off to the post office then to the supermarket and back to Tracey’s. We chilled out for a little while and Tracey got home and started dinner. We had noodle casserole (Jamieson’s favorite), watched some TV. Bruce called for a chat before he went off to bed, sorry honey I can’t come home yet. He’s not doing well with the whole being at home by himself. We chilled out and then around 9.30 started to arduous task of bedtime. Jamieson finally got a light on that he liked and they went off to sleep. Thursday Woke up at 6.30 again and chatted with Bruce until everyone woke up. Trace went off to work and the kids and I just chilled out around the house. Lunchtime we walked to Tracey’s work and grabbed her car. Off to Emu Ridge to get uggboots and then take away it was for the kids BLAH!!!! Dropped the kids off at home then dropped the car off at Trace’s work and walked home, which was a nice peaceful walk. Got back to Trace’s and packed up then around 3.30 Liz came and got us to go to her place for a sleepover. We had our usual cuppa and chilled out while the kids all played, then lasagna for dinner YUM and of course the usual when are you coming home conversation. Then Liz and I went off to hit Target. We got back and all the kids finally went to bed. The adults gave in around 11.00 (late for me) and I was out like a light, with Jamieson next to me. I slept ok considering I had wriggly next to me. Friday morning, up again at 6.30 looking at the roof. Got up and made myself a cuppa and read the paper (that was a novel experience) Finally everyone rose around 7-7.30 and Al went off on his golfing weekend and Liz went off to work at the shop for the day. Soph and I jumped in the car and went to grab her paper for her paper round, then back to the supermarket to buy food for tonight at Tracey’s and family get together tomorrow. We got back I made sure all the kids were dressed and fed and ready for the day, cleaned up the kitchen then Jolly turned up at around 11.00. YEAY!!! It was great to see my old friend again. We just caught up on all the gossip and talked about what we were doing. Ross turned up to take the kids out for lunch with Elise just as Ros and the kids arrived to see us. They had just gotten back from Thailand and hadn’t seen us yet. SO that’s always fun. All the girls sat around on Lizzy’s back porch and had a great catchup and chat. It was so great to see them all. Ross dropped the kids off, Jamieson was having an out of sorts day, which he does when Bruce is away, I call it his missed dad quiet. He’s just chillin out and not being his usual happy energetic self. The girls all left and I took off to do an inspection on our house. It was so fabulous, the lady seemed really nice and it looks like she takes great care of the house. So, not that I was worried but now I know that it’s in good hands. So that’s one less thing to worry about. I got back in time for Liz (Robbies mum) to come and get Jamieson and they went off for a play date. Jamieson perked up a bit as you can imagine. The other kids went for a quick swim (cold water) and Jamieson came back a couple of hours later and Liz and I had a quick catchup then before you knew it, Trudy was out the front to pick up us up. She dropped me off at Tracey’s and the boys went to her place to stay for the night. Had a great night at Tracey’s with the girls. It was nice just to chill out and chat. Had a couple of drinks and called Bruce at 2.00am to say good morning. My girl Nic Griff stayed till stumps and left around 2.30. That’s my girl. Woke up again early on Saturday morning. Packed my stuff and walked over to Trudy’s. They went out for a couple of hours and the boys chilled out and I did some laundry and had a shower etc. The rest of the family arrived and we had some lunch and caught up. Everyone left at around 5.30. We had some dinner and a couple of drinks to celebrate Dad’s birthday and left Trudy’s place around 8.30. Sunday morning came around and we were up out of the house and on the bus at around 11.30. The bus ride was nice, the kids had some fun and the rest of us just chatted. We got to the ‘G’ and surprised some family which is always fun. We got our great seats, even if it was really warm. The game was a good one and what made it fantastic was the Cats won by 80 pts. Woo Hoo!!! We had a quiet bus ride home and was in bed at a reasonable hour. Thank goodness!! I picked up the hire car on Monday morning and off to storage with the kids and Lizzy. Spend a couple of hours going through some boxes, and finding a few things to bring back. Found some little surprises which was a bonus. We finished up and ended up in Torquay doing a little shopping. Back to Highton and off to Bellaire Primary for the kids to surprise all their friends. Which they did; and really enjoyed. The boys went off to the Livingston’s with Ros and Ash and I ran a couple of errands. (Ooo, there’s the US coming out in me) I got to Ros’s and we had a chance to catch up, we had some dinner and the kids played and the adults caught up. We were home at a reasonable time and had a good night sleep. Tuesday was the start of a few busy days. I had an appointment and then we were off to Melbourne. We made some stops on the way; I was on my Doona cover mission. We got to Maureen and Peter’s around 1.00pm and had some lunch. We chilled out for the afternoon and they took the boys out to the park that they love to go to and I sat in the quiet and hooked up the internet to chat with Bruce. Ali came over for dinner and we all caught up, the kids watched some TV and off to bed as did the adults. We got up and ready and were out of the house driving to the Melbourne Zoo at around 10.00. We found a park and off they went. I took off to DFO to continue my doona mission, not really interested in clothes etc, but we’ll see. Mid afternoon we met back at the zoo and an exhausted Maureen and Peter made their way home and the boys and I went to Highpoint for a look around. We arrived at Guy’s place at around 4.30. We went out for dinner, La Porchetta, YUM!!!!! Gnocchi Bolognese and real Pizza, YYUUMM!!!! We all caught up, the boys were a little out of control, which Guy thought was great and you can imagine me. They are all fantastic and Ebony is getting so tall. We got back to mum’s late, but the boys slept most of the way home. We chilled out Thursday morning, which was SSOOOO great and very much needed. I of course woke up early, but it does give me a chance to chat with Bruce, which was great. I had a little more stuff to get so we were packed and ready for the next couple days out of a bag again. The boys went to Ross’s for a sleepover, they went to the footy club for dinner and stayed up till really late with him and Rhys and Elise and told stories, which was their favorite part of the night. They must have been some really great stories!!! I stayed at Tracey’s and had a quiet night in, Brad came over for a visit and I chatted with Bruce. The boys got to Tracey’s early and we were out and about for the morning. I went to the Lolly shop and got our supply for home, did a little shopping, much to the kids disgust. Then went over to the Griffin’s and saw their new gorgeous house and caught up with Nic and the boys. They have grown so much. Before we knew it was time to go to school and over to the park for our play with the kids and catch up with the mum’s. The boys had such a great time and found out all the Bellaire gossip. We went back to the Bell’s for dinner and a sleep over. It was a nice night, the kids all played and the adults just chatted about the year coming up. The weather turned on Saturday and Soph and I took the car back. Liz came and picked us up and we did some filming around town. They dropped us off at Mums’ and had a cuppa before a quick good bye, before we both got too emotional. Lara arrived in the afternoon, which is always fun. We just chilled out for the afternoon; the twins and the kids came over. We all had some dinner and chatted, watched a movie and off to bed. Sunday (our last full day) was to be a busy one. Lara and I went out and did some filming. Mum went into Geelong to watch the footy and we had some visitors. Jill and the girls came over for a catch up which was fantastic. Tracey and the kids arrived after Elise finished work. We said our good byes, which wasn’t too bad. Then we had family over for dinner, fish n chips which was nice considering not sure when we will have them again. We were in bed at a nice reasonable hour, packed and ready to go. We woke up early and finished the little packing that we had left, which ended up taking more room than I thought. Ooppss!! We were out of the house and on the road at 8.00am. We arrived at the airport and stood in check in line for around 30 mins, you can imagine the kids. Why can’t we go to that line? Cause we’re not with Dad, he can go in that line. Maureen and Peter came and we all sat down for a quick hot chocolate, and put Jamieson’s new travel sickness wristbands on. Then it was time to go through the doors! Mum did really well, no crying that I could see. Not sure what happened after we went through the doors. Even the boys said, Mum that was better, everyone was crying the last time we did this. Our flight to Auckland was great; we all watched our TV’s and had some food. Which Jamieson was very proud of himself for keeping it all down. Our flight to San Francisco was blah (for me). My TV didn’t work, you can imagine how that made me feel, having nothing to watch for 12 hours. The upside I think was that I slept a little more than I usually do. The boys had some sleep which was good, we woke Jamieson up to land. Conner was awake for breakfast, although none of us ate. It had that yucky hot food small room smell. We landed and got through Customs and security without a problem thank god!! It had really been worrying me since we got on the plane. We walked through the doors and there was Bruce. Complete with a HUGE hairy grin on his face. We must have bought the weather with us, cause it was a gorgeous day in San Fran. We got back to the car and Paula called to say welcome back on her way to her meeting. Funnily enough, she was counting down the days like Bruce was which was nice. I missed that Southern accent. We got home and yes you guessed it I had to unpack. We had a quiet night and early to bed. We were all awake at 2.00am, which wasn’t good. It took is a couple of days to get back into the swing of things. We were tired and didn’t really get out or do a lot. Pretty boring week, the kids needed the quiet too. Their sleep pattern didn’t get right until the weekend so it was good timing coming back with the few extra days. Kristin and Alfie sold their house while we were gone and are moving to El Dorado Hills, which is where Bruce wants to go, eventually. We’ll see about that one, we’ll keep you posted. Jamieson had his baseball and the weather was nice so we spent some of the weekend at Paula’s pool. We have all recovered and normal life has started again. Back to school and work this week. Which is always a good and a bad thing. Hope everyone is well and life is being good to you all.