MARATHON BLOGGING: not for the faint at heart (and mostly for the grandparents!)

It's been over 3 weeks since I've posted anything. So here goes. And I mean it when I say marathon. This is not for the casual readers who just want a couple photos. :) I had to post something about our final week with Andrew and Lisa in early Sept, our trip to Australia (late Sept), and this last month of life back here at home. (...actually, no, it's just the trips. Life back here at home can wait. It's 1.02am here, and I'm going to bed.) Here's the photos.

Vegas/Grand Canyon Fiasco!!

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When I told Daniel the next day that Lisa and I rode on the rollercoaster, he was so impressed, "you rode on that rollercoaster while I was sleeping last night, whoa!"

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What do you do in Vegas with kids?

Go to the pool!

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We think Laura and Summer really did like each other, as Summer would start kicking and flapping when Laura walked in the room. We hope it wasn't cause she was scared... :)

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Obligatory Canyon family shot.

----------------------------Woke at 5.30 (by myself!) to see this. Couldn't pass up the chance to see a Canyon sunrise, even with a couple dozen tourists around me all enjoying it too...

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While the adults were gazing at the canyon, the kids were more fascinated by this hole in the wall!!

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We all have our own ways of coping with 6 hours in a car with 8 people...

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While I frantically unpacked from the Vegas/Canyon trip, did laundry and repacked to head to Australia, Daniel declared that he was ready to go. A couple undies, a couple tops, (a cute girl in tow)... what more does a boy need?

-------------------------------We said goodbye to the Harris' right before our own flight. After they left, Daniel happened to fall down, and cried, "I want Ella!" When I said that they had gone on their own plane, he said, "But I want to keep her because she's my friend and I love her!" Ah, they really did have fun together...

------------------------------------Some stranger guy in the airport happened to take this excellent shot, which I think is my FAV PHOTO of the whole holiday. We love you Harry's!!

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AUSTRALIA

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We got some nice end-of-winter weather, so we flew kites and had a picnic. Oma is a great photographer, I love this one!

--------------------------------------Oma and Daniel

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What you do at Bruny Island:
chop wood, walk on the beach, read, go for a row...

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I can do girls' hair, right?! :)

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...even Auntie Sharon joined in the fun!

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Daniel's new past-time is hide and seek, and of course Laura loves to do anything Daniel does... She has even begun to cover her eyes when she is 'counting'!!

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3 cheers for the Bruny Island jackets...and cute shot of the sister and her brothers!

I won't cry. Bye!

Well yesterday was Daniel's first day of preschool. I must admit, I didn't think it would go smoothly, given we had just arrived home, he was still pretty tired, and so much of his routine has been different over the past 5 weeks. But no, much to my delight, I stayed for a short while, and he seemed pretty comfortable for me to go, saying, "Mum, you'll do your stuff, and I'll do mine, and then you'll come pick me up, right?!" Yep, that's right, Daniel. Then as I walked away, he calls out "Mum!" (with me thinking 'oh here we go...'), and then, "I forgot to give you a hug! [hugging takes place] I love you. And I won't cry. Bye!" And off he runs. Ooh, I love it. He loved it. It's all good. I love being that kid's mum. (hmm, is this blog becoming a bit of a journal instead of just a few pictures every once in awhile...?)

Where go Daddy?

Well, this is Laura's second 3-word sentence: "Where go Daddy?"

Okay, it's not quite that enunciated, but she says it over and over, and is not sure why Daddy left this morning (for his first day of classes). She walked around for awhile with her hands out asking "Where is he" and "Where go Daddy?" Her first 3-word sentence was a couple weeks ago. She found her blanket and showed Dad: "My bay Daddy!"

Do you think she is in love with her dad?

So I guess we are still jetlagged

Well, this is our 3rd night back, and while the first night was hilarious (kids woke up at 1am and all 4 of us headed downstairs to eat cereal cause they were on Australia time), the 2nd night was much better and we foolishly thought jetlag was over. It was not to be.

The picture above was taken 10 minutes ago. After going to bed, Daniel woke and we've spent the last 2 hours trying to get him back in bed. Normally I would say we are pretty consistent (at least we try) but clearly we gave up, as the picture proves. And what, you may ask, was the final straw... Daniel sitting at the top of the stairs calling out for Dad (cause Mum was off duty by this point!), then saying 'Dad, I feel much much better now.... Can I come downstairs now?' Okay, fine, Daniel, come downstairs.

For those of you who are in Australia and didn't know we were there, I apologize. We had a quick trip to Tassie and spent 10 days with Andrew's family before returning for Andrew to start school today.

Another beach holiday...

The Harris' arrived Sunday morning at 10am. We went from the airport to a beach house north of San Francisco, arrived there at 1pm, and stayed there till Friday. Not bad for getting immediately into holiday mode! Ella and Daniel have been become great friends again, it's been so fun to watch...

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It was all very organized actually. One of the Andrew's cooked,

while the other Andrew was on kid duty!

The kids played hard, can you tell?

We had to put Laura in the middle just to keep an eye on them...

Saying goodbye to the beach life...



Oh, and yeah, we did actually go to the beach!

A week on the Oregon coast camping...

First, a very long car ride...

...some serious fun at the beach...

...lots of late bedtimes...

...and just squeezing in time for a photo...

Childhood...

Really, what is better than summertime as a kid?!!

Confused or Flexible?

Some think Daniel is quite Australian in his speech, but of course the Aussies think he is very American. So proof to all that his speech has influences from both (and after all, he is both)... We were playing 'ordering', where Daniel goes in the playhouse and I order food from the window (he also calls it 'playing McDonald's', but that's a bit embarrassing to admit...): (but first, a little USA/Aussie translation help: chips=fries, and sauce=ketchup) Daniel: We have chips and hot dogs. Mum: Okay, I'll have chips and some sauce. D: Actually, we don't have sauce, but we do have ketchup. I do try my best to do the right thing for both countries, I promise, although his hot dog consumption is probably far above what would be accepted in Australia... ;) But he still says 'bickies' [australian for crackers] and 'straight away' [australian for 'right now'].

Planes and Trains

What a strange thing it is to travel alone! I flew up to Oregon again this weekend while Andrew kept the kids. To get on and off a plane on my own, walk straight out of the airport without any checked baggage or kids in tow, and get in a car and drive home, then go up to bed and actually unpack my own stuff and turn on the light (instead of being quiet for sleeping kids)... well, you get the picture, it was an atypical weekend for me!

After talking Andrew's ear off when I got home last night, I said, "wow, I've kind of not stopped talking, I've just had space to think about so much this weekend...!" He laughed and said, "yeah, and I haven't been able to think about anything this weekend!" Ah the joys...

So the kids and Andrew rode Thomas the train on Saturday. Check out the smile on Daniel's face! Laura seemed otherwise quite unimpressed...

after-travel-crazies

I think the 2-day road trip showed its affect this way... I said yes to paint. Yes to painting hands. Yes to painting Laura. We had such fun.