do you come from the land down under?

 

 

 

And so here we are. No toque's, no long pants, no long sleeved shirts. No snow suit. No booties. No snow. 

After two flights (one three hours long, one sixteen) and a traumatic car ride, we arrive in the bosom of the Aussie family. We've two doting grandparents, a bit of sleep adjustment, cicada's chirrumping and a whoooole lot of sunshine. Mountain Dad flags in the humidity and complains of "feeling sticky" all the time. Baby Laide has become a trifle clingy and shows signs of becoming a diva. When not picked up the instant she grizzles the demand, she now launches into a howl that stops conversation so all witness the folorn sagging of her head onto the floor, where she remains, body prone and venting her vocal protestations into the floor boards. 

I'm loving it all. 

Except the 24 hour vomiting bug that we imported in the innocent guise of the Little Laide. We had her in ER one night after she spent a few hours puking. 48 hours later, her Grandmother had come down with it, followed closely by her Mum, Dad, Grandad, Uncle, Aunt, cousin, second cousin, Great Uncle, Great Aunt and her cousin's other Grandma. We have no idea who it will end with.

Typically I find myself writing late at night, wishing I could offer more but wearily on the eve of heading out of the country and off to NZ for a 3 month road trip. I need to sleep. There's not been a whole lot of that lately - only just in the last couple of nights have we muddled our way back to the routine of our Whitehorse home - and of course it'll all be set a heave-ho tomorrow. Following are some pictures of the last ten days.

Swimming. She took to the water happily, but on first touching sand and grass she retreated all limbs into the air leaving just the very bare minimum of body on the foreign stuff and emitted a panicked noise like that of a cornered animal. I've forced her back onto it all to ensure she connects with her Aussie roots, whether she likes it or not. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swinging. On the hammock. Kids swing. Or in the lap of a big kid on the big kid swing. 

Lots of swinging. 

 

 

 

And then some... she's not only crawling now but pulling herself to standing on anything that will stand still. And lots of objects that don't.

 

 

 

And the rest...