Documenting Delight: day two hundred and eighty nine {roadside stop on the trip home}

{inspecting the farm life at a rest area between Sydney and Canberra}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and sixty six {a glorious day in sydney}

 

 

 

 

 

 

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty three {travelling to welcome a new baby cousin}

Yesterday Lachie’s sister and brother in law welcomed their second child into the world. I heard the news just as I hopped off a bus after a little excursion with Finn.  While I was doing something so ordinary, so everyday, in another city not too far away a loved one was giving birth, greeting a child for the first time, and doing something, well, bloody extraordinary. That within the same day the ordinary and the extraordinary exists together floors me every time.

If you know about my aversion to car travel you would wonder why we made the seven hour round trip in one day to visit a less than 24hr old new baby cousin to Finn and Harper, but therein lies the pulling power of a fresh newborn. The logical thing to do would have been to wait a week, so we could maybe organise a night stop over or hey even give us enough time to buy a present for the new arrival, but I’ve never been a fan of waiting. I’m glad we didn’t wait either. Newborns bring with them so much hope, togetherness and love, made even more powerful by the fact they don’t even know it. It is all simply by their presence alone. Of coarse I looooved holding our new niece but equally I loved seeing the excitement her arrival generated. Smiles that couldn’t be wiped off faces, warm hugs, laughter and loving glances and sighs at a precious new person. Writing this now, the feeling still gives me goosebumps.

To our new beautiful niece/cousin, you are only one day old and we love you already. We can’t wait to watch you grow and change and bring more even love and happiness to our family.

A final note on our day:

As we do most nights, on the drive home, we each stated our favourite part of the day. Tonight’s instalment went as follows:

Harper: My favourite part was seeing “my baby”.

Lachie: It would have to be seeing the baby for the first time and seeing my family.

Me: Cuddling the new baby.

Finn: My favourite bit was driving through all the tunnels. I liked the tunnels with all the lights in them.

Ah Finn, never one to follow the crowd ;) 

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty {help! i'm trapped!}

One the way home. Eight hours straight with one stop at the Holbrook to visit the decommissioned submarine tourist attraction. We were expecting the worst but much to our surprise the kids handled the trip home remarkably well. Lach is now convinced that this is the way we will exclusively travel from now on. Hmmm, we'll see.   

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and forty eight {trams and laneways}

{a little puzzled by the tram timetable}

{not on a tram. not in a laneway. harper bought the cuteness to this photo, so how could I leave it out?}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and forty six



{still on the road, but getting closer to our destination}

{driving in constant rain. a month's worth of rain in one day according to the reports}

{huzzah! we are in melbourne. well, in a bath in melbourne}

Documenting Delight: one hundred and forty five {on the road}

{after four hours in the car and lots of requests from harper to "let me out!!!!!!", we arrived at our half way point for dinner and a rest}

The car journey begins.

With eight hours to Melbourne we thought it was best to break the trip up with an overnight stay in Aubury. It was a smart move. Travelling over dinner time and arriving close to the kid’s bedtime: not so smart. But we made it.

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and forty four {road trippin' with toddlers}

Tomorrow we hit the road. A trip to Melbourne to visit dear friends. When we started planning this mini holiday Lach mentioned that he wanted to drive rather fly. I cringed. I am the first to admit that I don’t deal particularly well with two kids in the back and a long car journey. Heck, sometimes I don’t cope well with a ten minute trip in the car with Finn and Harper. But I am a planner so I have been sourcing tips and activities to make this road trip bearable, and optimistically, fun. After four years of lots and lots of small and big road trips, we have caved and borrowed a portable DVD player. I am certain it will get used but I am hoping its usage will be on the minimal side. Again, optimistic.

So I am armed with a bag of tricks and food. Fingers crossed we make it more than one hour out of Canberra before I crack it and switch the first DVD on.  

A peek inside my travel activities bag:

{alphabet + animal flashcards laminated and attached to a metal ring. source: Mr Printables }

{last road trip the kids each had a mini notepad for writing in. unfotunately they found it difficult to draw on as it wasn't firm enough. i thought these cheap clip boards with blank paper attached might solve the problem}

{mix & match magnets by DJECO}

{mini whiteboards and whiteboard markers}

{a stack of audiobook CDs and children's music CDs}

{a travel snack box: i snatched this idea from harvest moon by hand. i bought two medium sized divided craft storage boxes and filled them it with a variety small dry snacks.} 

{inside the travel snack box}