Hi,Greetings from Byron Bay.Can you guess what country we are in? Today is my first surfing lesson!I am soooooooooooooooooo excited!The sounds of the birds are really really pretty!
(Some,only some.Because some are really squawkie)!
- Zara :)
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Day 4: Indooroopilly to Byron Bay
The fourth day of our Australian adventure was the first day we all woke up in beds on the Australian continent. I'm not sure exactly when Amity woke up, but it was around 3:30am. Zara didn't sleep too much later, but she's a voracious reader so she managed to occupy herself for quite sometime. The early parts of the morning are hazy, I know at some point I gave in and let Amity play on my phone so I could get just a few more minutes of sleep. Ah, the things we do for sleep.
The main goal for the day was to get the 7 of us (in 2 cars) to the house we'd be staying at in Byron Bay for the next few days. Byron Bay isn't far from my parents' place - maybe 180km, so only a couple of hours of driving. But first there was packing, and getting our house ready because we were participating in a house swap (though Marmee did most of that, just wrangling supremely jet lagged kids can be a bear).
We made a slight detour to Miettes, Marmee's favorite bakery, for provisions for our long journey ahead. Did I say it was only 2 hours? It was, which normally, is not long. But 2 cranky jet lag kids magnifies everything 100x, so Wes and I were preparing for the worst. We drank some rather large lattes and ate some pastries. And then the strangest thing happened! Zara and Amity, who usually play together a good deal of the time with a decent level of success, had been really getting on each other's nerves for the last few days. However, the spontaneously started interacting in a positive manner. It was shocking. We captured it on "film" then ordered another coffee to celebrate.
The trip to the houseswap house was pretty uneventful. Amity napped, Zara read, the grown ups chatted. We got to the house early enough to get settled in and still make a quick trip down to Clark's Beach for some swimming and playing in the sand. The day finished out with spaghetti dinner at "our" house, and bedtime followed soon thereafter for those of us still adjusting from Eastern time.
We made a slight detour to Miettes, Marmee's favorite bakery, for provisions for our long journey ahead. Did I say it was only 2 hours? It was, which normally, is not long. But 2 cranky jet lag kids magnifies everything 100x, so Wes and I were preparing for the worst. We drank some rather large lattes and ate some pastries. And then the strangest thing happened! Zara and Amity, who usually play together a good deal of the time with a decent level of success, had been really getting on each other's nerves for the last few days. However, the spontaneously started interacting in a positive manner. It was shocking. We captured it on "film" then ordered another coffee to celebrate.
The trip to the houseswap house was pretty uneventful. Amity napped, Zara read, the grown ups chatted. We got to the house early enough to get settled in and still make a quick trip down to Clark's Beach for some swimming and playing in the sand. The day finished out with spaghetti dinner at "our" house, and bedtime followed soon thereafter for those of us still adjusting from Eastern time.
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Day 3: Marmee's Pool
On our first day in Australia, we needed some compelling activities to keep us awake. One of those activities turned out to be swimming in Marmee and Buelo Phil's pool. Here you see Zara having a splashing good time while Wes and Amity dip their toes in the water.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Day 2: LA wandering, LAX to BNE
Our original plans had us flying straight through from Charlottesville to Brisbane with only a few hours layover in LA. About a month after we purchased our tickets last Fall, Qantas let us know we'd be flying to Sydney and then, after a 14 hour flight, have another "short" flight to Brisbane. Not relishing having to tell my children that, they'd have to get on yet another plane after such a long trip, I booked us on the following day's direct flight to Brisbane. This gave us a 24ish hour layover in Los Angeles.
The weather was a bit chilly, which for us meant we wore long sleeves and maybe a fuzzy, while for the native Angelenos it seemed like down parkas were the order of the day. We had all sorts of plans to see the Noah's Ark exhibit at the Skirball but they were derailed due to 1) Skirball doesn't open til 11 and we were there too early and 2) Thursday's the free day so you have to make reservations more than a few hours ahead of time in most cases. But never ones to be deterred by a small wrench in the plan, we made the best of things and headed over to a nearby park in Encino. After some park time frolicking about, feeding ducks and admiring citrus trees we found a Middle Eastern (Israeli, it turned out) restaurant for lunch. Having moved from the greater Detroit area where there is a tremendous amount of delicious Middle Eastern food, we're kinda lacking it in C'ville. So when we travel we tend to eat a lot of falafel and kebabs and such. After a lovely lunch we played at another park, as we wanted the kids as physically worn out as possible, what with the 14+ hour plane ride they were taking that evening.
After a bit Amity was getting too tired to play, so we hopped in the car for a nap. Sadly for us, napping wasn't exactly forthcoming. On the plus side, we had the opportunity to stop for some buttermilk donuts. Our plan had been to go to Santa Monica and hang at the beach, but we realized Zara needed new headphones, Wes needed a car charger for the phone, and Amity's Keens were just a tad too small. So instead it was off to REI.... and then Amity fell asleep. So we got required electronic accessories, grabbed some coffee and hot chocolate (for Z), and hit PCH for a lovely naptime drive. After Amity had slept her usual 1.5 hours (and wasn't waking up on her own, poor kid was already have some jet lag) we woke her up by bringing her into the REI store in Santa Monica. She was cranky for a bit, but after choosing some new Keens, she settled in to read and test camp chairs with Zara.
After some fun times at REI, we were once again planning to go to the beach, but the kids wanted to play at the park some more. So we found a third park. After a bit, the sun was starting to set and the kids seemed hungry. We found a super cute, family friendly Italian restaurant called Fritto Misto. Highly recommend it, but the portions were ginormous. Definitely suitable for sharing. Wish we could have taken the leftovers on the plane, but alas! One more attempt to head to the beach, but the kids were pretty tired and cranky at this point so we opted for the airport instead. Good thing, it turns out, because the Qantas flight to Brisbane does not leave from the International Terminal, but rather Terminal 4. Go figure. That took us a while to figure out, so it was nice to have some extra time to get settled and not worry about security, etc.
We ended up at the gate with lots of extra time, which was a double edged sword. It was nice to be settled, but the waiting with cranky tired kids can be surprisingly challenging. Also, it was a very small concourse, so there wasn't much to see/do/explore. The kids made fruit cheerio necklaces with 100 cheerios on them (it was 100 day at Zara's school) and colored for a bit, but after awhile we gave in and let them media out.
When the plane was finally there and it was time to board, we boarded early so we could install Amity's car seat (yes, we schleped her heavy yet very portable SK Radian to Australia and back) and also dosed her with Benadryl. From our experience with Zara flying to Scotland, there's so many exciting things that happen in the first couple of hours on an international flight that she would not have slept on her own. She was SO tired she really needed it, and she in fact fell asleep before take off. Zara stayed awake a little longer, but requested Benadryl as well so she was out within a half hour of take off. Wes and I stayed awake through "dinner" and watched a movie, but just like when they are little, during international travel you sleep when the kiddos sleep. So, we all tried to get in as much sleep as we could.
We didn't think to take pictures on the plane, so sorry to be so text heavy for this part. We're almost to Brisbane, though, and then there will be lots of pictures. Kids woke up at around 3:00 am local time (still on the plane with 4-5 hours to go, maybe?) and watched some TV and let us kind of rest for a bit. Breakfast service came around and then everyone was really up. The last hour was the hardest for Amity (Zara was happily watching TV) and I ended up busting out ring pops to soothe the savage toddler. It pretty much worked. Screaming was minimal. Finally, after nearly 14 hours in the air, we touched down in Oz!
And now, things to note if you are flying to Australia on Qantas (maybe also other airlines?) with small children! First off, they "gate check" your stroller but you don't get it back until the baggage claim. So, if you had imagined you'd use it to contain a preschooler while waiting through passport control, you'd be wrong. Next time, the ergo will be carried on for such a situation. Second, even if you have new, micro-chipped enabled passports, if you are traveling with kids you have to wait in the big, long, LONG line for immigration. US citizens with microchip passports without kids get to go in the AU/NZ super fast line.But if you have kids, sorry, you need to wait in a LONG line. Yeah, that makes sense. Also? They did not do anything special when we finally got to the immigration interview. I figured, maybe they needed to do something different with the kids? Not so much, or if they did we couldn't tell. Extremely frustrating, especially with Amity beyond melting down, and no good way to contain her. So, maybe 1.5 hours later (and a slow, steady stream of whatever snacks we had left, including cookies, candy, chips, etc - no holds barred!) we finally emerged to find Marmee very patiently waiting for us. Yay, we made it!
After some fun times at REI, we were once again planning to go to the beach, but the kids wanted to play at the park some more. So we found a third park. After a bit, the sun was starting to set and the kids seemed hungry. We found a super cute, family friendly Italian restaurant called Fritto Misto. Highly recommend it, but the portions were ginormous. Definitely suitable for sharing. Wish we could have taken the leftovers on the plane, but alas! One more attempt to head to the beach, but the kids were pretty tired and cranky at this point so we opted for the airport instead. Good thing, it turns out, because the Qantas flight to Brisbane does not leave from the International Terminal, but rather Terminal 4. Go figure. That took us a while to figure out, so it was nice to have some extra time to get settled and not worry about security, etc.
We ended up at the gate with lots of extra time, which was a double edged sword. It was nice to be settled, but the waiting with cranky tired kids can be surprisingly challenging. Also, it was a very small concourse, so there wasn't much to see/do/explore. The kids made fruit cheerio necklaces with 100 cheerios on them (it was 100 day at Zara's school) and colored for a bit, but after awhile we gave in and let them media out.
When the plane was finally there and it was time to board, we boarded early so we could install Amity's car seat (yes, we schleped her heavy yet very portable SK Radian to Australia and back) and also dosed her with Benadryl. From our experience with Zara flying to Scotland, there's so many exciting things that happen in the first couple of hours on an international flight that she would not have slept on her own. She was SO tired she really needed it, and she in fact fell asleep before take off. Zara stayed awake a little longer, but requested Benadryl as well so she was out within a half hour of take off. Wes and I stayed awake through "dinner" and watched a movie, but just like when they are little, during international travel you sleep when the kiddos sleep. So, we all tried to get in as much sleep as we could.
We didn't think to take pictures on the plane, so sorry to be so text heavy for this part. We're almost to Brisbane, though, and then there will be lots of pictures. Kids woke up at around 3:00 am local time (still on the plane with 4-5 hours to go, maybe?) and watched some TV and let us kind of rest for a bit. Breakfast service came around and then everyone was really up. The last hour was the hardest for Amity (Zara was happily watching TV) and I ended up busting out ring pops to soothe the savage toddler. It pretty much worked. Screaming was minimal. Finally, after nearly 14 hours in the air, we touched down in Oz!
And now, things to note if you are flying to Australia on Qantas (maybe also other airlines?) with small children! First off, they "gate check" your stroller but you don't get it back until the baggage claim. So, if you had imagined you'd use it to contain a preschooler while waiting through passport control, you'd be wrong. Next time, the ergo will be carried on for such a situation. Second, even if you have new, micro-chipped enabled passports, if you are traveling with kids you have to wait in the big, long, LONG line for immigration. US citizens with microchip passports without kids get to go in the AU/NZ super fast line.But if you have kids, sorry, you need to wait in a LONG line. Yeah, that makes sense. Also? They did not do anything special when we finally got to the immigration interview. I figured, maybe they needed to do something different with the kids? Not so much, or if they did we couldn't tell. Extremely frustrating, especially with Amity beyond melting down, and no good way to contain her. So, maybe 1.5 hours later (and a slow, steady stream of whatever snacks we had left, including cookies, candy, chips, etc - no holds barred!) we finally emerged to find Marmee very patiently waiting for us. Yay, we made it!
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Day 1: CHO to LAX
I'm sure there's a proverb or a saying or some such about how every adventure begins with a single step. In our case, every adventure begins with a lot of packing. Extra special thanks to Jill, the Keshet teachers and all of CBI preschool for helping to make sure we had time to get all we needed done for the trip.
Emily and Michelle Wong graciously dropped us off at Charlottesville airport so we didn't need to leave our car there for three weeks. We arrived with plenty of time, though it took awhile to get our one piece if luggage we were checking actually checked, and getting checked in and boarding passes printed. Turns out this part of the waiting is particularly objectionable to Amity, and she was a big fuss. Cleared security with nary a hitch (nicest TSA agents on the planet at CHO), and enjoyed a bit too much time waiting at the gate, according to the under 8 set. Once we were boarded around 3pm, the short flight to Charlotte was pretty uneventful. Kids snacked and played with play foam a bit, but mostly just talked and looked out the windows. Amity started to fall asleep just as we were landing, having not napped earlier in the day. Keeping her awake when she really wanted to sleep was kind of a necessity but not our smartest move. She was pretty grumpy and the trek between the terminals for our connecting flight was miserable.
On the plus side, we made it in time, actually with enough time to spare that we completely randomly ran into our friend Neal from our U of M TKD days. He lives in NYC now and was flying through Charlotte on his way to Indianapolis. Small world. Also helps that Wes is pretty recognizable. We caught up for a few minutes but Neal had to run to his next flight. Still fun, and funny, too. Also, likely due to the lack of naps Ami was a real bear while waiting to board. Actually had to bust out an iPhone to tame the beast. Very unusual.
Flight to LA was also pretty good. Our captains, Mr. Bill and Mr. Al, were very friendly towards the kiddos and let them into the cockpit. This was cool for them, but also strategically helpful to us as it gave Wes and extra few minutes to install Amity's car seat, which we have schlepped with us all the way on this trip. I sat with Z and Wes sat with A for most of the trip. On this leg, there was more eating, iPad/iPhone game playing and movie watching, book reading, sticker book doing, model clay modeling, and some wiki stick creations. It gave us a good sense of what worked well, what things needed to be more accessible in our packing, what we still needed to procure before the long trip the next day, and in general how the kids seem to take to flying. Amity fell asleep (still no nap) around 9pm EST which is crazy later for her. She woke up as we were descending, in a somewhat dissociative state, which is typical of when Amity is sleeping badly. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong, and since I was concerned her ears were bothering her I gave her a lollipop. That seemed to chill her out though I don't actually think there was any ear problem.
Landed 8 something PM local time, which was past 11 in Charlottesville and for everyone's body clocks. Got bags from baggage claim pretty quickly, easy shuttle ride to car rental place, fairly easy rental process, and one more car seat install later we were off to our hotel. Arrived at the Inn at Marina del Rey with little traffic, got settled quickly, and all went off to sleep. Long day, a bit tiring. Kids were major troopers, grumpiness not withstanding. But tomorrow will be oh so much longer! Bring it, Australia!
Emily and Michelle Wong graciously dropped us off at Charlottesville airport so we didn't need to leave our car there for three weeks. We arrived with plenty of time, though it took awhile to get our one piece if luggage we were checking actually checked, and getting checked in and boarding passes printed. Turns out this part of the waiting is particularly objectionable to Amity, and she was a big fuss. Cleared security with nary a hitch (nicest TSA agents on the planet at CHO), and enjoyed a bit too much time waiting at the gate, according to the under 8 set. Once we were boarded around 3pm, the short flight to Charlotte was pretty uneventful. Kids snacked and played with play foam a bit, but mostly just talked and looked out the windows. Amity started to fall asleep just as we were landing, having not napped earlier in the day. Keeping her awake when she really wanted to sleep was kind of a necessity but not our smartest move. She was pretty grumpy and the trek between the terminals for our connecting flight was miserable.
On the plus side, we made it in time, actually with enough time to spare that we completely randomly ran into our friend Neal from our U of M TKD days. He lives in NYC now and was flying through Charlotte on his way to Indianapolis. Small world. Also helps that Wes is pretty recognizable. We caught up for a few minutes but Neal had to run to his next flight. Still fun, and funny, too. Also, likely due to the lack of naps Ami was a real bear while waiting to board. Actually had to bust out an iPhone to tame the beast. Very unusual.
Flight to LA was also pretty good. Our captains, Mr. Bill and Mr. Al, were very friendly towards the kiddos and let them into the cockpit. This was cool for them, but also strategically helpful to us as it gave Wes and extra few minutes to install Amity's car seat, which we have schlepped with us all the way on this trip. I sat with Z and Wes sat with A for most of the trip. On this leg, there was more eating, iPad/iPhone game playing and movie watching, book reading, sticker book doing, model clay modeling, and some wiki stick creations. It gave us a good sense of what worked well, what things needed to be more accessible in our packing, what we still needed to procure before the long trip the next day, and in general how the kids seem to take to flying. Amity fell asleep (still no nap) around 9pm EST which is crazy later for her. She woke up as we were descending, in a somewhat dissociative state, which is typical of when Amity is sleeping badly. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong, and since I was concerned her ears were bothering her I gave her a lollipop. That seemed to chill her out though I don't actually think there was any ear problem.
Landed 8 something PM local time, which was past 11 in Charlottesville and for everyone's body clocks. Got bags from baggage claim pretty quickly, easy shuttle ride to car rental place, fairly easy rental process, and one more car seat install later we were off to our hotel. Arrived at the Inn at Marina del Rey with little traffic, got settled quickly, and all went off to sleep. Long day, a bit tiring. Kids were major troopers, grumpiness not withstanding. But tomorrow will be oh so much longer! Bring it, Australia!
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
One Sleep to Go!
If you are reading this, you probably already know that in less than 24 hours the 4 of us will embark on a journey of epic proportions. This journey will be epic for many reasons, not the least of which is we're taking a newly minted three year old on a 14 hour flight. We are looking forward to many things on this trip - seeing my brother (it's been at least 3 years, he's never even met his newest niece), seeing my mom and (Buelo) Phil, exploring Australia, visiting with the Singletons (and Auntie Clare! All the way from Michigan!), and in general taking one crazy vacation. Mostly the thing we're not looking forward to is the aforementioned flying with a 3 year old. Because really, it's almost never fun. We'll see how the 7.5 year old holds up, but I'm guessing if we keep her supplied in books, paper/pencils, snacks, and some quality iPad/movie time, she'll be one happy camper. Flyer. Kiddo.
We'll (hopefully) be posting semi-regularly here, Zara in particular will be taking a turn at the photo taking and commentary writing as part of "school" during this adventure. Keep checking back in with us and leave comments if you like, we'll read them and have Zara respond! We promise to answer all those burning questions about car seat schlepping through airports, what preschoolers really do on planes (and what keeps them entertained), how long we had to wait at customs and immigration, what we did in LA on our day long layover, etc.
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Happy Birthday (Party), Amity!
We're leaving town, in a few days, for the entire rest of the month of February. So we've got a lot to do between now and 3 days from now. However, that mammoth to-do list can wait while we have a wee little celebration of our wee little Amity turning a not so wee three years old. While Zara was at Hebrew school we invited 2 of Amity's favorite classmates over for a mini-shindig. Everyone enjoyed bagels, fruit, playing, stories, chatting, and of course, birthday cake. Thanks to Jenny for snapping this (very rare) portrait of all three of us who are not Zara. The world's greatest big sister (at least, the one that is in this family, perhaps you know of others?) did join us for the tail end of the party (though not pictured here), and of course, a good time was had by all!
Saturday, February 02, 2013
Happy 3rd Birthday, Amity!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Bearfence Mountain
We went for a hike today, and for the first time attempted a rock scramble with the kiddos in tow. Amity stayed comfy on Wes' back (as seen here) and Zara did fantastically. Once we were done with the difficult part, however, she ended up tromping through a bunch of wet mud and her shoes were so slick and caked she took a messy but not serious fall on the flat part of the trail. Luckily some fellow hikers were kind enough to give us some baby wipes and we were able to clean her up pretty well, with nothing wounded but her pride. We'll definitely be back again in the Spring, a fun hike for sure.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Ice Cream Goodbyes
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