easter week

on easter saturday (march 21) paul and i sat laughing in the living room while waiting for a taxi to take us to the airport. the reason for our hilarity was the number of bags we were taking for a one week visit to percy's oma and opa's home. there was one middle sized suitcase with our stuff in it and a satchel to carry on. then! for percy- a small suitcase, her change bag, her car seat (to fit to opa's car) and the backpack to carry her around in. six pieces! four of them for a baby no bigger than my leg.

we had tried to time it such that percy would be awake on the flight to armidale and sleep in the car for the hour and a half drive from armidale airport to oma and opa's home in wellingrove. it actually worked quite well. she did have about a 25 minute doze on the plane and slept approximately an hour in the car. all up we arrived relaxed and happy. not something i was initially counting on.

this pretty much set the tone for the whole week. percy slept quite well in the porta-cot oma had borrowed. a few occasions when she needed some rocking and shushing but not much and generally not more than 15 minutes a go. she ate quite well (for percy.) we did think she was being a bit traitorous in enjoying oma's roast chicken and gravy, as you might recall she didn't like ours. i think oma's was saltier.

we introduced percy to the sand box that opa built a while back and she loved it. she spent a good few hours in it every day. she learnt when we lifted the plastic bucket off to reveal a sand castle to say "ta da!" also the hammock was great fun either for relaxing or swinging like a banshee with papa. we had quiet walks down the dirt roads that i thought at one time percy was almost bored with- nothing to look at but open space and more trees! opa had purchased an old stroller from the op shop for 10 bucks. it probably wouldn't pass modern standards but we thought it was quite nifty, being able to push in either direction with a reversible handle, going from lieing flat to sitting up and having a nice sun shade. we took it out a few times when it worked admirably, with no complaints from percy.

on easter sunday we had a little easter egg hunt. percy found them all! ain't she bright?
on tuesday we went into glen innes for a look see and lunch. we were going to stay to play after lunch in a park but percy had woken early from her morning nap and wasn't in the mood- ie she was getting the cranks and very sooky. bundled her back in the car for the 20 minute drive back and into her cot.
on thursday we celebrated percy's first birthday! wowwee. she enjoyed licking the cream off her cake and then flinging the rest of it around the room. first time she's had cream or chocolate cake. also she was mesmerised by the candle flame and flummoxed by her and papa wielding a big knife to cut the cake. she was peering sideways around paul's arms trying to see what she was doing- very funny. as is typical i think with little ones she liked her wrapping paper perhaps more than the gifts inside.

on friday we flew home. she wasn't so happy on this flight and even tho it was sleep time she didn't. once we arrived home she slept so we kept her up a bit later in the evening.

all in all a nice, do-nothing trip that got in lots of much needed sleep. i even finished two novels.

(at present it seems we've lost all our photos from the trip. oh well. they might resurface.)