It's been a while

Not in Australia.. We have lost one life and gained another...
A lot can happen in a year. Here are some photos of the beautiful now.

long time no post

Emma doesn't know I'm posting this... but she probably won't mind. Just checking the old You Tube thingy...
Craig

Sports Relief

Hello. We just got back from Evie's first Great Work For Good. She ran a mile for Sport Relief and did it brilliantly. Barney provided essential assistance from the support vehicle and Craig and I were on hand to administer first aid when, 20 meters in, her flying start was rudely interrupted when Evie managed to run under the feet of a very large rugby player. Eventually undaunted she carried on, finished the race and looks set to reach her target of raising £250 for charity. Who says we're pushy parents?

Back

We're back in the UK. We have been here for a few weeks now and I keep meaning to write... but it's funny how life takes over and suddenly the adventure is a different one.

It's good to be back. We do like our house, love our friends and are really enjoying the fact that we can find all our clothes rather than dragging them all out of suitcases every few days, making a big heap and stufffing them all back in again. (Actually, I never exactly stuffed them.. I'm too anal for that).

Needing a new challenge, Craig has been living on a dollar a day for the last six days. He's been pretty dedicated, and we've learnt a lot - me mainly by default rather than through a painful diet of lentils and baked beans.

Gastroenteritis

I haven't written for a long time. Basically I have had to work through the trauma of our journey to the US before I could write about it.. I hope that this entry will provide me with some closure.

The first thing I should say is that I think travelling alone with two children is actually possible. People are kind, helpful and go out of their way to assist you. The lady on the check in desk even gave us a special 'fastpass' sticker so that we didn't have to queue at security. However, travelling with children who have vomiting and diarrhoea is not quite so much of a breeze.

I knew that Barney wasn't 100% - I'd packed 8 nappies and a number of changes of clothes, but since he'd got through the vomiting stage and was quite happy, I wasn't too daunted. It all started to go wrong when Evie suddenly announced that her tummy felt sore and promptly threw up all over the seats we were passing... They had to bring on the ground crew to change the seats and clear up - thereby holding up the plane for about 10 minutes before we even began. Evie then continued to vomit at regular intervals thoughout the flight (mostly in the toilet thank goodness - we were in there pretty regularly for Barney's nappy changes which I rationed to make the nappies last out). When she wasn't sleeping she was awake and feeling awful. Barney was happy but smelly.

Things were made a bit more difficult by the presence of Clive. He was the newest addition to our cosy grouping, taking up the window seat in our bank of three. The poor man was obviously less than pleased to be sitting with a family (particularly when he was labouring under the misapprehension that Barney's basinet had taken the place of his dinner tray and that he would have to eat his meals on his lap) and didn't speak to us for a good hour or so. He eventually warmed up when he realised that he did have somewhere to put his drink and I then spent the rest of the flight trying to preserve his goodwill by spending a lot of time in the toilet to prevent him being exposed to the vomit and/or diarrhoea.

Suffice it to say that my low points were:
1. Throwing up myself in the toilet whilst trying to hold Barney and answer Evie's question about what I was doing.

2. Suddenly realising that the buggy hadn't arrived when we reached LA and I had two children and all our luggage in one big pile. I did allow myself some tears at this point.

As ever, all things work to the good and:

1. The buggy did arrive, eventually.
2.We all survived and had a great holiday (having passed the bug on to all our friends and family and probably Clive).
3. I will always enjoy plane journeys where there are other adults and I can attend the toilet alone.

Goodbyes

So, we are back in the UK. Saying goodbye was hard. Although I convinced myself that we were just leaving Australia a few weeks early and it was no big deal, when it finally came to leave Alice at the airport it was gut-wrenchingly sad.

Just like leaving home, I suddenly realised afresh how much our friendship means and how accustomed I'd become to sharing life with Al. Now I know that there will be a hole in the 'everyday'. It will feel smaller in time, but it will always be there.

Somehow, though, it's really comforting to know that special people matter enough to make a dent in my soul.

We're in Chorleywood for two weeks and then off again to the US as the adventure continues...