Monday, January 15, 2007

Back from the Beach.

Is anyone sick of seeing blog pictures of Australian families cavorting happily on the beach? I hope not, because here come ours!

We've just returned from a 3-day stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house, where we had a magnificent stay. That's the famous bridge from "Seachange" in the background. And somebody else's wonderful sandcastle in the foreground, which my kids had well and truly demolished by the time we left the beach that day.

The boys (all three of them) hunted assiduously for shells. We'll need to find a clever crafty way to use them, like sticking them on a photo-frame. Or we may just put them out in the cubby house and forget about them.

There was no question of me flaunting my legs because the weather was cold - I never made it into the water, and Cherub declined after one attempt. Climber and Fixit didn't seem to notice the temperature.

Cherub skipped happily along the sand, or climbed over rocks or chased seagulls shouting "bottoms" at them (a corruption of "muddumps" which for some reason is what the Climber shouts at birds. No-one knows why.)

Climber enjoyed running up and down the beach too.

My cousin took Fixit and Climber out in a canoe up-river. We inspected rockpools. Climber jumped over waves. We went to some local markets and bought jam and soap. We ate wonderfully well. We played some scrabble. We watched the cricket and wondered if New Zealand vs England might produce an exciting game instead of the one-sided matches that involved the Australian team. I even managed some computer-time where I checked out H&B's account of the Meeting In Real Life between members of what sounds like a low-rent rap group : House, Lazy and Stomper. (For the record, I don't think I can add to her excellent account of the evening beyond saying it was enormous fun and we'll probably do it again!)

The boys shared a mattress, but after the first night we put them both up the same end. This head-to-toe arrangement you see here was disastrous because in the middle of the night the Climber's long legs kicked all over little Cherub who then woke up crying heartily, insisting Climber sleep in our bed, which woke the Climber and made him cry noisily too. Took us over half an hour to stop the tears and get them back to sleep.

Every time we drove downhill the boys played Corolla-coaster. AAAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhh....

I toyed with the idea of staying there longer, just me and the kids. But Cherub was proving difficult, because of what I suppose you'd call psychological constipation. The kid won't let it out and it was difficult to manage away from home.

We arrived back home at half-past nine on Sunday night, tired and happy.

19 comments:

  1. Well, I can dig it, Cherub. I'm EXACTLY the same.

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  2. Hmmm, my record was 5. I had a real problem with squat toilets in Turkey. Cherub's shaping up to be a real pro.

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  3. It looked like a great break away - I really loved looking at the pictures. I wonder if all those cold northern hemisphere types have had enough of our Aussie summer snaps :-)

    I know what you mean about dealing with the constipation at home. The diva would go to her grandparents for a week stay and not go the entire time away. It had a little more to do with their diet though! I said she couldn't stay again until they made sure she had weetbix, fruit and numerous glasses of water EVERYDAY. That and getting a little older seemed to resolve the issue.

    Hope coming home helped!

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  4. Yes! thank heavens. And he's a changed kid.

    He's already dosed up to the hilt with fibre and water, but today I bribed him with smarties, sat him on the potty in front of a Thomas the Tank Engine video and he let go...

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  5. Never tire of beach/kid pics, especially combined. Seaside days were bliss when I was growing up and also when my kids were little....Nothing like blocked plumbing to make you yearn for home though...

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  6. Glad you had a good holiday. Also glad to hear the 'pipes' are cleared!
    It seems to be a common problem- except for our neighbour's chubby little girl years ago- she always saved her 'parcel' for our toilet- who would think such a young child could smell like THAT!
    We got to the stage where we would pretend not to be home when we saw her coming!

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  7. I can never get sick of pix of people on the beach, especially if I'm among them!

    The pic of the boys playing Corolla-coaster is hilarious.

    Isn't it lovely knowing that the kids will always have such special memories of summer on the beach?

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  8. It sounds like you had a wonderful time! I love the idea of corolla-coaster too - very funny :)

    As for the shells, perhaps you could stick them on the cubby house - around a door or window to remind you of the trip.

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  9. Caramaena, what a great idea! Good thinking 99.

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  10. love the pyschological constipation - doesn't he read mags in the toilet yet????????? Kids are so funny! The boys are looking gorgeous!

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  11. God, your kids are gorgeous.
    Looks like a blast !!

    It's 42deg's today and that cool water shur' do look inviting ...

    I've since set up Bloglines since our little chat-night - will take some getting used to, but it is easier than what I was doing, so thanks !

    I had a fun time too on Thursday, but like Lazy, was pretty tired the next day .. I must be getting old .... ;)

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  12. Why do the children never notice how COLD the water is?!

    I have the same problem as Cherub whenever I go away. Tis NOT fun. I've never managed to solve it and have no idea why it happens....

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  13. Looks like you had a fabulous time. I'm so jealous: cold and wet here!

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  14. Looks like a fabulous holiday. Pity you're not there this week when the weather's so hot and the cold water would be a relief!

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  15. I am intrigued by the MIRL. I would always be so wary, concerned that we would dislike each other or just be disappointed. You obviously had no such feelings?

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  16. I was definitely nervous beforehand, that's for sure! But I enjoyed it so much and seriously, we didn't stop talking all night. Once the hellos were over, there weren't even awkward pauses in the conversation. Maybe because there were 3 of us? We'd been commenting on each other's blogs and exchanging emails beforehand for a while too,which made us feel comfortable that we would get along...

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  17. Glad you had a good time. I also fantasise about going away with just the kids to the beach. My sister and I try to go away with our three kids to Daylesford for a week (2 years in a row now) which is a nice compromise.

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  18. "Whelan" and "Buttons" get dragged around staying in so many different houses they sleep, and poo, anywhere! Buttons adapted yet again to doing beautiful day sleeps in the tent. They loved it. Water was freezing at Tathra, think it was around the 15-16 degree mark the whole time, wet suit material for sure! Bad mummy that I am, I FORGOT to pack Whelan's wetsuit, shame on me, but we managed to get a loan one whilst there from friends, hurrah! It is a pretty full on beach, with big waves, not the serene lake thing, but they still had fun. We went to the river a few times (I even got on my waterski, was wobbly as buggery to begin with, and had to rest half way!), and when I got back from my ski, Buttons was saying 'go mummy go', she's been a bit clingy, cried uncontrollably (she's got the high pitched thing happening as well at the moment, chin stays down though!) when I went on the ski biscuit (big inflatable pink tyre thing you lie on behind the boat, whilst driver spins you around at great speed trying to get you to fall off, tis' fun, except I forgot to put on my life vest, and spent the entire ride thinking "mustn't fall off and hit my head and drown in front of Whelan" who was in the boat!, motherhood gives you a heightened awareness of own mortality). Everythng was covered in sand, and have pics of both kids playing in muddle puddles, which always prompted me to recite "Pepper and George love playing in muddy puddles"!

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Don't let the cat get your tongue.