*e*

left my heart here

(last bushwalk on saturday)

(brave family members who saw us off at 5am)

but can i just say how happy i am that the flying is over? staying awake for over 24 hours and trying to be comfortable on a 13 hour non-stop flight with two small sick people competing for lap space and really awful vegetarian plane food (that tastes the same coming up and few hours later) is not something i wish to repeat anytime soon. while sitting in that seat i thought of all the things i'd rather be doing, natural childbirth being one of them.

(note insane amount of luggage and yindi's 'plane hair')

anyway, we made it - and walking out of LAX felt surprisingly 'normal' - we were met by our awesome friends morgan and chris who promptly took us to the nearest mexican food joint and diddy riese's. the place solely responsible for my 5 kg weight gain the first few months we lived in LA!

(gigantic ice-cream sandwiches. your choice of fresh baked cookie and ice-cream for $1.50. used to be 99c, hmmpf!)

there used to be just ivy and henry when we all lived in the same apartment building. now there are six children between us, help!

we are now lounging at their house and looking forward to some sleep...oh....sle.e.e.e.p!

hanging with my dad...

is what i have been doing all week.

as well as last minute family-cramming, devouring of all those favourite aussie treats, a few last bushwalks and a heartfelt goodbye for my nanna.

thanks for all the wishes and thoughts lovely people!

xox

nanny

i'm supposed to be on a plane right now on my way to los angeles, but my dear, sweet nanny passed away quietly yesterday afternoon - about 15 hours before we were due to leave. fortunately we have been able to postpone the flights for a week to be here and support my dad and be here for her funeral.

i felt really close to my nanny. i was one of only two grand-daughters so i always knew i was special. i have so many wonderful childhood memories of time spent together. i'll be speaking at the funeral so all the lovely images and moments are swirling around in my head right now as i plan what to say. she was a dear one - fiercely family oriented, farmer's wife, wonderful cook, knitter, homebirther. she always spoke her mind and had a great laugh. my dad was her baby - her golden boy, and i loved to ask her about him as she always lit up reminiscing about his chubbiness, beautiful curls and cheeky ways.

i went to see her last thursday to say goodbye. she wasn't too well - she dozed on and off during our visit. but it was special, i knew it would be the last time i saw her and i felt like she knew it too, without saying anything. we gazed at each other smiling for a long time, i stroked her hair as she lay like a sweet little child all tucked up in bed. i told her i loved her. i know she was ready to go, and i'm grateful she was able to do so peacefully in her own bed with two of her three children there. i will miss her so much, but i know she is free now...and with her soulmate.

(nanny meeting banjo for the first time, october last year)

 

(nanny meeting yindi for the first time, january 2008)

seven people

  while these photos are horribly bad in quality - they are so very precious to me, as it is the very first time the seven of us have ever been together! the first time in about 5 years that all three of my brothers are i have been in the same place (due to different work + travel situations!). the girls were very excited to have all unkies together this week. it was like a little piece of heaven.

let me introduce you to these three hooligans i had the pleasure of growing up with. i am the eldest, then comes ollie. he's 28 and is fiercely proud of his mullet. a super super hard worker - he's a diesel mechanic who works away 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off and is about the most sensible, level headed guy i've ever met. he thinks things through. he is sure of himself and his decisions. this past year we have become close friends and yes - i know we look alike. i'm scared to ever cut off my dreads because we will seriously look like twins! (i will pass on the mullet though). i love him.

after ollie comes sam - our little daredevil boy. he's been doing hardcore tricks and stunts since he started walking when he was 9 months old. now he's almost 26 and a famous downhill mountainbiker. you know you've made it when they wikepedia you. he travels the world 8 months out of the year doing what he loves (riding a bike. fast.) and is only home right now because of a shoulder injury from a race a few weeks back (poor him but lucky us, or we would have never had this night together). sam is totally his own person and has his own language. nothing is what it seems. he's been calling me 'ethel' for the last 15 years or so. he has a special name for everyone in the family. he's crazy and spontaneous and full of energy that one. i love him.

little toby is the baby of the family. i was 10 years old when i saw him enter the world in our bathroom one night. he's been my little love heart ever since, i carried him around on my hip and changed his nappies and pretended he was my own little baby. i also dressed him up as a girl and curled his hair but he prefers not to talk about that anymore ;) tobz is an apprentice chef, is charming as heck (the girls love him, who wouldn't?), knows how to make any situation a fun one and always makes the most out of life. he recently turned 21 and partied for a whole month in bali to celebrate! he's a wild one and i love him.

the girls are completely smitten with each and every one of these boys. and they have them all wrapped around their little fingers ;) yindi declared last night that she was going to marry unky ollie! all three of them are amazing with my children. after years of them stealing my stuff, trashing my room, teasing and harrasing me no end - to now see them all gooey and silly and shopping for frilly dresses for my little girls? priceless!

banjo looks exactly like my brothers did as babies. he's a little hill boy, which makes me so happy because i love these hill boys, i do.

when i was a little girl i wished for a sister.

but i couldn't be happier than i am with my three brothers :)

today

banjo found a rotten apple core under the couch and took a big bite out of it

yindi and i did a puzzle and sang 'hey diddle diddle' about 20 million times

mick, yindi, banjo and i sat in the warm winter sun on the verandah eating veggie pies for lunch

yindi pulled a ball of wool and one needle from the basket and said with glee 'i'm gunna knit a jumper for you mumma!' and proceeded to wind wool around the needle. then 5 minutes later said 'i'm really sorry sweetie, i can't knit you a jumper. i'm really so very sorry'.

my mum came over for a visit - took on look at my laundry floor (well, you couldn't actually SEE the floor) and piled ALL the dirty clothes into her car to take home and wash.

i made roast pumpkin soup for dinner.

i bought the most gigantic tin of milo and biggest jar of vegemite coles had to offer to take to america.

i heard yindi alone in the kitchen say 'my name nyindi, and i like to DANCE!'

yindi came running inside to me and said 'daddy make my heart broke' (because he stopped jumping on the trampoline with her)

banjo crawled his way to me wherever i was and pulled himself up on my legs wherever i was ALL DAY LONG.

we packed up most of the stuff we want to take, and gave away a LOT lot lot of other stuff.

i spent a lot of time thinking about what a great (almost) year we have had here.

squeezing in some fun

on saturday morning we decided to abort boring plans of packing and have 'one last fun day' (procrastination wins again!). we called up our family and invited whoever was free that day to come to the maze with us. what a cool place!

first we played for a while and went a bit ga-ga over the koalas with unky ollie...

 

i really really love koalas. ivy and i want to bring one home and keep it!

oh - that's right, we have this little koala-banjo-boy already!

then mick's parents, little sister and nana arrived. we sat around on the grass picnicing and feeling very happy indeed.
 

(grumpy and his mini-me)

(trying to get a 'normal' picture of these two while they ate lollies - not happening!)

then off to do some mazes. this one you can only make left turns in (too hard! i'll take photos instead!)

and there were a few other big mazes - one of which nana, grandma-sue and i got lost in for at least 45 minutes. everyone though that was pretty funny, didn't they?!!

great place to spend a day!

and luckily we did it before the discovery that we actually leave a whole day earlier than i'd thought - oops! off i go to pack some more boxes...

procrastinating

instead of facing the reality of what needs to be sorted/sold/packed what am i doing instead? why, lunching at my fave local cafe! justified nicely by the fact that there is nothing healthy or fresh in my fridge at the moment, i'm breastfeeding after all - banjo needs me to eat well!  and there is energy required for doing all that i must do back at home...surely that burst of motivation i'm needing will come after sitting with friends and eating crunchy raw goodness?

but, as you can see - instead of cleaning out the girls wardrobe, i'm here blogging about my lunching...well, i'm still looking for that motivation. where is it anyway?

i need cake!

that yummy juice wot grandpa makes...

yindi LOVES to run up when she hears the juicer going to watch grandpa...and enjoy the results!

i enjoy the crazy clown smile she wears for the rest of the day after drinking it!

my dad is the coolest

if this picture (circa 1973) isn't enough to convince you - i'll tell you why my dad is so great.

he calls me 'milly-molly-mandy', and has since i was about 6 years old when he used to read me the books at bedtime.

when i was about 10 i desperately wanted to go to the roller-disco with him, and he agreed (although i'm sure it was the LAST thing he'd ever want to do on a friday night). while i zoomed around the ring happy as can be - dad clung to the railing making his way at snails pace, i know what an act of love that must have been for him!

he's been letting us live in his house for the past year in exchange for nothing but a home cooked meal each night.

he's also been letting us drive his once pristine car (no, not the one pictured above) which is now scuffed, stained, littered with small shoes, books, hair ties and has sultanas/cracker crumbs wedged into every crevice imaginable.

every night he cranks up his juicer and brings me down a nice fresh glass of beetroot (and other mystery items) juice to keep me healthy.

he loves my little ones, he tickles and teases them just like he used to do to me. he even changed a pooey nappy once.

a few weeks ago - mick was away and i'd had an especially awful night with banjo. he offered to take the two little ones for a walk so i could have a nap. when i woke up it was raining and i went up to his house - nobody there. i heard noises and found all three of them in the (tiny) cubby house - yindi banging on pots and singing at the top of her lungs, banjo wailing and groaning and dad cramped in the corner with them looking very frazzled! i had to laugh! he's a good one.

tomorrow he's back off to work again (he works offshore and does long stints away from home), and we will have to say goodbye...by the time his roster finishes we will be gone (and hopefully have his care nice and clean!) - he will have his quiet and less complicated life back again...but i know, deep down - he will miss the madness of having us here!

dad, i love you more than you loved that mini of yours, you know it!

win a camera strap

over here!