First, there was the travel, though. We drove to Houston on July 29th before our flight late on Sunday the 30th. So we had to pack in as much as physically possible before then, amirite? Saturday night, after the Vigil Mass, Dylan and I had a double date with Ginny & Ryan to one of their favorite Italian places. Early the next morning, we loaded up Pappy's boat at drove an hour west to lake Somerville for the kids' first time on Pappy's boat! It was an awesome, sunny, warm morning before flying down into winter. We left for the airport at bedtime and took off with Air New Zealand, one of the top-rated airlines of the world ta-daaa, for the 13 hour flight to Auckland. We had a bassinet for Jack to sleep in, and because we usually deprive Paul and Ada of screen time and juice, the endless supply of both kept them marvelously happy. And when they were done with those things, they slept. It was truly one of the smoothest long-haul trips I've ever taken. Not qualified by "with kids" - ever! We had a(n unfortunately) short layover in Auckland before hopping the Tasman to Melbourne. It was the first time I felt a little home-like familiarity at seeing the landscape come through the view of the plane window; a smile and a sigh that said, "Ah, back in Australia."
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| lunch stop on the way to TX |
Paul ran to Gran Susan and Ada slipped her hand into Pa Gerry's as soon as we saw them ... sounds ordinary, right? But they hadn't seen each other since last summer ... except by the gift that is Skype. Dylan and I are both certain that regular video-calls are what keep their memory fresh. Jack, on the other hand, was cutely clingy, something of an unbeknownst-to-us-at-the-time trend we've had to deal with; ugh. Anyway.
We drove the 2 hours to Smokeytown for our first night before getting up the next day to drive another hour+ further on to the Grampians for 4 nights. Wednesday-Sunday was the plan, and we were joined by Dylan's dad, Wayne, sister, Shalome, brother & sister-in-law, Timshel & Shelley, and all the kids. Shalome & her husband, Fehraz (who couldn't make it), have a 1 & 4yo, and Timshel & Shelley have the biggest (12 & 10yo) and littlest (6mos) littles of the cousin bunch. It was the first time the three youngest cousins had met! And we got this fab photo of the three siblings carrying them on a walk:
We had shared dinners each night in the camping ground cabins, mostly shared breakfasts, and otherwise lots of shared time on hikes to waterfalls, gardens, lookouts, etc. or lulling around with cuppas. Paul had a ball trying to and doing well at keeping up with Reuben & Grace! He was more often than not a good chunk ahead of us scaling mountains! Ok, ok, more like jumping small rocks, but he's five - it felt like mountains - to him and to me! As it was, in fact, winter, we had a few snippets of wet and/or foggy weather that got in the way of an ideal time, but it was lovely just the same. It was a new place for me to visit, as Dylan hadn't been in years, and it was fun to to get away together rather than just bombard someone at home for a few days, which is what we usually do.
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| red flecks: R&G blue fleck: Paul |
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| our cabin @ 3am |
Grampians group, siblings + kids, and attempted just-cousins shot:
Then, we packed up and moved on to the next.
Sunday had a shift with most of the Grampians group meeting in a nearby town for lunch with Susan & Gerry before the Timshelley clan had to head home, and the rest of us went back to Smokeytown for the following 5 nights. If the Grampians brought a wave of fresh sites to my Australian know-how, it's always here that brings me the comfort of the everyday. A hot cuppa, a wood-fire heater (since I visit in winter so often), the kangaroos to the front and side paddocks, the silhouette of Spring Mount, and magpie warbles, this time mixed in with laughing kookaburras. Ada's gotten pretty good at imitating them, too! The neighbors add quite a bit to the experience, too: Shalome, Fehraz, and their two hop the stile through the fence and keep the party going! Paul and Ada both took wonderfully to playing with Aji, who was precious the whole visit with sharing things and showing these city kids how to be country for a few days. These 5 days were full of shopping together, playgrounds, a "barbie down the back", trampoline fun, lots of big, special meals, and even an art museum's little-kid-oriented activity.
We headed from Smokeytown to the big smoke for our last 2 days and nights. Susan and Gerry treated us to a ride on the historic Puffing Billy Railway! This is a real-life puffing steam engine that winds through the Dandenong Ranges, and you get to hang out of the open windows! It sounds terrifying, to me anyway, and I was nervous about a tired, fidgety Ada once, but it was awesome and invigorating! And so beautiful. I've always loved that area to the east of Melbourne since my first trip Down Under in '07. It was lots of fun to show Paul and Ada a steam train, and I was surprised to see Jack dig in, too! We didn't want him near the windows at first, but he got a kick out of holding the railings and looking either forward round a bend ... or maybe just at the steam.
After our ride, we visited Great Nanna and Great Poppa Nelson at home. And only just as I typed that did I realize that we didn't take a picture all together <jaw drop>. We had a cuppa together, Nanna brought out her box of matchbox cars for the kids, which enthralled them, and Nanna walked us around the house ordering us to put our names on things we wanted. Dylan happily accepted a lovely Australiana picture Nanna painted back in the 90s, and after I mentioned wanting to spend birthday money they'd just given me on a particular native bird china cup, Nanna placed one on her countertop, saying, "Like this? Take it!" Both treasures made it back to New Orleans safely, I'm very relieved to say. And then we went to dinner. Nanna (Joyce Adeline, btw, the 6th generation of Adeline, and where we got our Adeline Frances from, making Ada the 8th), Poppa, 2 of the 3 Nelson siblings, 5 of 9 of the grandkids + a sprinkle of little great-grandchildren. It was fun party! We then made our very late way to a fancy hotel in the CBD, and all the kids sacked out. Saturday morning, we managed to squeeze in as many typically downtown Melbourne things that Dylan and I like as we possibly could: we breakfasted at a locale we use to frequent, we rode a train and trams, picked up a take-away lunch from the main market, and then we met some of the family for one last hoorah at an amazing nature-centered playground. Naptime in the comfy hotel beckoned. 
We then left Paul and Ada with Susan and Gerry, who since joined us at the hotel, while Dylan, Jack, and I went to Mass at the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral. Jack was great, like he usually is, up until the consecration, which is also typical. He'd gotten quite clingy and whiney by this time on the trip, going through bouts of teething, weaning, and general fussiness. Anyway, when Mass was over, we had room service dinner in the hotel for a wonderfully relaxing last night. 5am wake-up call was getting close.
We made it through check-in with just enough time to not have to rush, and we boarded with no hassles. Morning flights mean more awake time, which we knew would be trickier than the flight over, but we weren't quite ready for just how troublesome Jack would be. Take-off, fine, meals, and a little entertainment, all fine. Then Paul and Ada stretched out on the whole row for the remainder of the flight while little Jackie-Jo, here, gave us a bit of a run for our money. Determined not to go to sleep easily and certainly not to stay asleep for any significant number of hours, Dylan and I ended up just walking with him dozing on our shoulders and chatting to the flight attendants who were coincidentally spending 2 days in New Orleans after landing. Otherwise, things were nicely uneventful - Paul held everything down this year! - and we landed safely, tired. Mom and Dad were there in Houston to greet us with open arms, ready to listen to stories and see pictures. Ginny & Ryan were at the house when we got back, too, and we all had dinner together before an early-to-bed at 7pm.
Good sleep was, unfortunately, not in the cards, and jetlag has been a pain since then. We're on day 5 of terrible nights with Jack screaming, screaming for hours and usually one other awake for some portion. After a nice little lunch out just Paul & Mama, we tried really hard to settle things for at least one night because...
PAUL STARTED KINDERGARTEN THURSDAY!
What a big week! We had a little orientation in his classroom Wednesday evening just for parents, and I got a little teary seeing his spot and all of his supplies with his little name on them; then I packed his backpack, made a lunch, and readied his uniform. That morning, we were so excited! And he had a great time, thanks be to God! He was just a smidge hesitant upon actually walking from table to carpet, but he was happy to hug me goodbye and have me go, which was comforting. When we picked him up, he was all smiles, seemed comfortable, and told me, "I knew you would be really so fun and happy when you saw me," upon seeing me all smiles and open arms. Ada, as "the biggest now", gets to do his dishwasher duty, and was happy as a clam at storytime with just her baby brother.
