Lucky in Oz

Jet setter

As I mentioned in my last post (within the last month! is this a trend towards more frequent posting? time will tell … stay tuned … ) Z and L were in Morocco with Mame for school holidays. Z is 7.5 and Morocco was her 9th country … 10th if you count the Vatican. (Airports would add 6 more, but we don’t count airports.)

1. USA
2. Mexico
3. Canada
4. Italy
5. (Vatican)
6. South Africa
7. Lesotho
8. France
9. Australia
10. Morocco

(Airports, FWIW = London, Amsterdam, Auckland, Singapore, Dubai & Kuala Lumpur)

I reckon I could probably post a picture of her in each of those places … I’m fairly certain all those trips are up on Shutterfly. (I downloaded the pictures L took in Morocco and will upload them ASAP.) But that’s a project for another day.

My other baby, the furry one, has been in 3 countries (he was born in Canada).

The big baby has been in so many countries I think maybe even he has lost track … although he is pretty smug (dare I say competitive) about his ever growing list, so he probably has a record.

Coonawarra Trail Rides

 

Last weekend we drove (and drove and drove ... it was kind of far for an overnight trip ... ) east into Gippsland towards Bairnsdale & Alpine National Park to camp and go on a trail ride. Kid was, as a totally horse crazy almost-seven-year-old girl OVER THE MOON. Coonawarra Trail Rides is on a little road that runs past Mitchell River National Park up towards Dargo - very hilly and fairly verdant and pretty. We camped at Blue Rock Pool - a nice little campground with toilets, picnic table, fire pits and level tent sites, but no potable water. Quin woke up every time a wallaby hopped by - the "thump thump thump" of common wallaby hops sounding a lot like human footsteps ... this woke me up too since he was sleeping practically on me (he is the only one who doesn't have his own thermarest and it got cold), so it seemed like every 15 minutes. In the a.m. - after coffee, tea, cocoa, muesli - we drove to Coonawarra and saddled up. Kid rode behind Ron, our leader. She had her owns reins but he had her pony on a lead rope. She ended up trotting way more than anyone else though since her pony needed to keep up with our big horses. We went over hill and dale, so to speak - even crossed a stream in which the horses got a drink. As we rode along Ray regaled Kid with tales of the ACTUAL, REAL LIFE Saddleclub horses ... turns out he used to board them for the TV production. She was elated - naming horse after horse (Comanche? Garnett? Belle? Patch? ... ) with Ron replying "Yep, I knew him". Now, when she grows up she wants to work at Coonawarra Trail Rides. On the way home she mused that maybe she can work there in the summer when she is eight. We checkout Bairnsdale on the way home (well, it was a bit out of the way, actually). Pretty town. We stopped at an AMAZING playgorund that had a big zip line and a looooong tall tunnel slide built into the hill - these are popular playground features here in Oz (Vic, at least). Then the long drive back towards the city. We crashed hard once back home after generous doses of Advil for our sore bottoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who sends a six-year-old to sleep-away camp?!

Here's a hint:

What? You're squinting? Try this:

Ok, yes, I'll admit I am also showing off my mom-of-the-year labeling skills. (I don’t even have photos of the shoe labels … they go inside the shoe, in the heel - brilliant!) She asked me to curl her hair the morning we left to drop her off. Because nothing says "a week in the woods" like hair flipped à la Mary Tyler Moore!

She opted for the top bunk across the room rather than the bottom bunk under her BF. In a cabin full of six-year-olds maybe they should have only top bunks?

 

She would admit to absolutely no nervousness in the lead up … but she did seem a bit subdued once we arrived. She made no protest at us leaving though.

On Wednesday, after constantly hitting “refresh” on the Bunk 1 photo gallery site, I finally saw evidence that she was having fun. There were 20 photos posted of Tuesday activities and she was in six of them. She apparently went rowing and did some gardening.

This camp so cliché northwest.

To get the kids’ attention in the dining room a counselor stands up and yells “GOOEY!” and kids yell “DUCK!” then the counselor: “GOOEY! GOOEY!” and kids “DUCK! DUCK!” (Actually it is geoduck  … a giant, phallic mollusk. It is very northwest to know this. Trust me.)

While she’s been gone we’ve eaten at The Columbia City Alehouse (no kids allowed), had a drink at Lotti Motts (no kids allowed) and celebrated out anniversary at Chez Shea (not no kids allowed, but what kid is interested in a six course tasting menu, paired?).

… and we’ve been driving around without the booster seat in the car! Wahoo … footloose and fancy free!

Guess who misses his big sister:

BTW, if you’re from Seattle you know about the pigs … did you know that they store the leftovers on the roof of the Market?

 

We're leaving today to spend the night in Gig Harbor ... for an early A.M. pick-up at camp. I'm looking forward to having my baby back.   

Zut Alors

I went to bed late last night, bags packed, all vital documents and passports copied three times and stowed in the aforementioned bags, DVD battery charged, dog booked at kennel, key handed over to Kristy. Woke up this morning to an email from Air France.

I was more dismayed and deflated than surprised. I knew about the strike but had heard that they would not impact the long-haul international flights. We were more worried about Guy and his flight from Barcelona to CDG. His flight was also cancelled but he got on another and as far as I know is enroute now. And I am still here in Seattle. I called Air France and spent 45 minutes on hold listening to an endless loop of a moody female vocalist singing plaintively about the "space between us" ... harharhar, Air France call center. But then the agent I got was very nice and got us rebooked on another nonstop tomorrow (that was the whole point - we picked Paris because it is one of four European cities to which we can fly nonstop from SEA - Guy had a gap of six days between business obligations in the general vicinity of Europe and we decided we should go meet him). That flight could still be cancelled, but we'll cross that bridge tomorrow. The agent also agreed to rebook our return flight - since we are losing a day. So, we get the same flight home from CDG to SEA but on Saturday instead of Friday. So, it is all d'accord. And, it gave us a chance to take Quinnie to the dog park for Dogoween!

I think these guys are going home with the prize:

Dancing Dinosaurs ... Hoops and Tunnels!

Last night we took Kid to a concert ... so this morning in my aerobics class I had to be extra funky to compensate. Thank god she doesn't loooove the Wiggles the way some of those kids evidently did (bringing roses for Dorothy [the Dinosaur] and making signs to welcome Sam, the new yellow Wiggle - seriously, 4-year-old groupies are kind of creepy) because, while it was cute and not horrible (and yes, the Wiggles are kind of hot in a clearly-gay-children's-entertainer way … the way they say mashed ba-NAH-nah charms me) I don't think I could bear more of those. Some events to which we take her require no suffering on my part - such as the dog show last weekend (I looooove pooches as much as she does) - but poor Quin. He's been subjected to learning an "obstacle course" in our neighbor's back yard ever since.

Oh, by the way, the Wiggles posting reminds me of this - perhaps the greatest piece of parenting blogging ever written.

Daycare Day!

I posted this on the Labradoodle forum I visit (stop laughing) - I thought I'd share it here too.

Thursday is the one day per week (usually) that my Guy and I both work at our offices, away from home. So, it has always been the day that Kid goes to daycare. Now it is also Quin's day to go to "Central "Bark" doggie daycare! Kid has a fantasy that I will get mixed up and drop Quin off at Fatima’s and drop her off to play with the puppies. Thankfully, I got them to the right places today … after we got everyone into their own car seat!

Coming out of the closet to introduce the dog ...

I so want to share these cute photos - and I'm so excited about my new discovery, Photobucket ... so, it makes sense to just post the damn photos on my, ahem, blog. Yeah, I have a blog. Of course it barely qualifies since I have not posted anything since last December. (See me looking sheepish?) It was ostensibly anonymous. I thought I should keep it so because I have all these really bitchy posts stored up in the back of my mind - e.g. regarding the Alpha moms in my neighborhood and other such rants. But since I can never seem to carve out time to post pleasant things, I can't really see spending hours on carefully crafted vitriol. Because after all, if you can't say something nice ... yada yada. As I said in a [rare] post many months ago, "It is pretty silly to maintain an anonymous blog ... WITH NO CONTENT!" Silly indeed. Anyway, I'm letting you in on my secret for a number of reasons, but mostly because I am lazy. See, if I upload photos here then you have to come see them, rather than me having to send them out in a Shutterfly link. One less step for me! Plus, I can recount all the cute anecdotes about Kid and Dog (and Husband ... he does cute stuff too sometimes) and you'll have to suffer through them to get to the photos. For now though, I'm giving you a couple freebies ...

So, without further ado, here is Quin at fourteen weeks:

Notice the hip little soul patch under his lip - like Apollo Ono! A lot of Seattle men (my husband included) sport goatees and other creative facial hair-doos. Quin is just trying to fit in.

Here's one of Kid and dog:

Labradoodles are great with kids, you know.

One more thing ... My boss, Judy, has been after me to start a blog. Seriously! Didn't dooce get fired for her blog?! See, told you I'm lucky! My boss is so great she's TELLING ME TO BLOG! Actually, I think she's hoping it is along the lines of this ... she's just after my recipes. Alas.

Ok, I should get to work or Judy may change her mind. I'll leave you with this (yes, I am one of those parents who lets her kid pick her own clothes [most of the time] - mostly because the results crack me up):