Australia . Part One


We recently returned from a much anticipated trip back to my hometown of Brisbane, Australia.
Why do vacations/holidays have to end so quickly .. especially ones that are far far away (that's how my cute little nephew explains where we live).  


I was quite prepared for a our 13 hour flight over.  I had snacks, two ipads with lots of apps and movies ready to watch, toys and other activities to keep our three year old and 18 month old happy.
I have done this flight many times now, many on my own, three times with our oldest but this was the first time with both kids.

The flights to that part of the world leave at midnight or pretty close so we were praying hard that the kids would be exhausted and that they would get a good sleep almost as soon as we got on.  Ha!
Baby boy and his non stop little brain and body had other ideas!  I have five words : I. have. the . best. husband.  Wow!  We went a few rounds of switching baby boy between eachother but my exhausted brain was obviously not helping me be patient and thus daddy saved the day.  The hardest part I think was during the long stretch where the plane lights are turned off so that everybody else can try to rest and here we are trying to wrangle a little monkey who refuses to sleep!  Argh!  Thank goodness for window seats so that he could entertain himself with opening and closing those blinds over and over and over again.  

Come to think of it there are actually two other things that I dread when flying with kids .. the takeoff and landing process simply because when you are concentrating on making sure your little ones stays seated with their seatbelt fastened but all they want to do is whine and squirm their way out of their restraints .... the time between when we need to be buckled and then be free again takes soooooo long.   Once the plain is in the air I stare up above and just wait until the seatbelt sign is turned off!

Baby boy did manage to take a little nap ... maybe 2/3 hours ( I don't even remember!)  but I hope by the time he is his sister's age he will travel as good as she did.
She was happy as could be watching the same Mickey Mouse Club House and Doc McStuffin episode on the the little television repeatedly.  I'm going to guess between both the flight over and the return flight she watched each episode about 25 or so times.   She wanted nothing to do with the movies on the ipad!  She is so funny!



It was a bit of a rollercoaster trip I must say though with our first week being filled with sickness for both daddy and baby boy.  Weird fever, ear ache, miserable kind of sickness!  That first week we found ourselves laying low while our boys rested.   


The upside was of course making the most of quality family time especially with my mum since that's where we stay when we go visit.  I love this time of year in Brisbane .. it's Autumn but still high temperatures and the humidity is bearable .. actually almost gone.  It was great to break out the shorts, sandals and short sleeve shirts.



By Sunday of our first week daddy and baby boy were finally healthy and feeling themselves again and it was perfect timing because not only was it Easter Sunday but also my baby nephew's baptism day at which I was honoured to be his Godmother. :)


So while it was a slower week than I anticipated I was so happy to be back in Brissie and so very grateful that our first week ended on a happy (and healthy) note.  

I plan to update the rest of our trip in a few upcoming posts.
Stay tuned .....

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