Our first camping "holiday"

David, Maia and I just returned from a camping trip. We laugh about it now, but it was hell not a holiday...laugh. We lasted one night at the site that was supposed to be "beautiful"...we arrived after traveling (seven hours...through bumper to bumper traffic...the drive was supposed to take three hours...) and when we finally got to the site, black storm clouds were on the horizon and it started raining...people around us helped David get the tent up. He was soaked and once we were in and settled the tent started leaking....thank goodness the storm passed quickly. We went to bed exhausted, but since the tents were so close to one another, our neighbors sounded as though they were having a conversation with us in our sleeping bags, then at 1:30 a.m., we heard another set of campers yelling out in a drunken state, "LOOK AT THE STARS!!!," amidst other choice words...who knows what they were on. The next day was bright and sunny....so sunny that our tent heated up like a sauna....there were no trees around us and so Maia and I headed down to the beach while David tried to get the tent in better shape as it was looking worse for wear given that it was put up so quickly and our things were thrown about the inside. Maia and I came back for lunch and then came the flies....swarming around Maia and gnats all through her hair and in her food....we laugh now and say that it reminded us of a refugee camp and to think that people actually go there year after year for a holiday is beyond our comprehension. David took Maia inside the tent to finish her food, but the heat was unbearable and so we piled in our air conditioned car to escape and go for a drive and decide what we could do to remedy the situation. (That morning, Maia had thrown up and then had diahorrea and did not eat much, so we were also concerned about whether she was getting sick and was affected by the heat.) A short distance away from the camp site, we came across a 25 acre farm that had holiday cottages and grew flowers. They did not have a cabin open for that night or the following, but they said that we could camp there and use their facilities as well as their large cooler where they stored flowers. We were so relieved that we went back to the "refugee camp site" and pack it all up while Maia slept in the air conditioned car. We got back to the farm and found a beautiful tree overlooking the yard with chickens, ducks and geese nearby. David then proceeded to spend three hours trying to get the tent up again as it was a new tent and we had people helping us the first night during the storm. Needless to say, we were exhausted and felt we needed a vacation, so we went and had a meal which turned out to be the best pizza that we have ever eaten in Australia. It was just like the ones that we had eaten in Italy...nice thin crispy crust...with a full stomach and a much needed break...we began to feel more hopeful. The next morning we woke up and organized the tent, went to another beach which was gorgeous and should have been called "Pretty Beach" (ironically that was the name of our first camp site) and we were told by the forest ranger that young party goes tend to go to "Pretty Beach", but that this particular beach and camp site called "Depot Beach" was more for families. At least we will know where to stay that next time. When we got back to our tent, it started to rain and so we spend the night indoors and cooked soup on our portable gas stove. We woke up the next morning and went back to Depot Beach and played in the sand with Maia and had a lovely morning. Then, we headed back to our camp site on the 25 acre property, packed up the tent and car for the third time and went and stayed in a cottage for a night. We thought that we were in heaven and it was only then that it really felt like we could relax and enjoy our vacation. It was a shame that the family only had the cottage available for the one night as we then packed up to get ready to head home the next day. We took a slow drive home and went blueberry picking at a farm near by....sort of "nearby"....it turned out that the blueberry farm was 12 km down a dirt track road...but when we finally got there...it was really delightful for us to hear Maia continue to say..."More..." after eating her first blueberry and I could hear hear with David in the next line of bushes making noises of delight as she continued to eat blueberries off the bushes, the ground and out of buckets during our time there. (Funny, the sign said not to eat any blueberries while picking, but how do you stop a toddler...and one of the ladies who owned the property agreed that young toddlers were exempt from the rule...Maia also quickly learned her colors and the difference between green and blue blueberries...and me, well, David had to help me pick out blueberries from the middle of my teeth before we went to the pay station...I was trained by the best in terms of fruit theft as my Aunt Veronica would always eat her grapes as she rolled her cart around the supermarket isles...so who could blame me....good thing that they don't check people's tongues or I would have been caught....red handed...or should I say...blue tongued....). The trip back took much less time and we stopped in a few towns along the way. There was a lovely vegetarian restaurant in a town called Milton where we had lunch and then we stopped in the town of Berry where we bought our home to take a break and have a play with Maia in the park. Arriving home was a bit of a relief and we are so glad to be back. We have decided that the next time we go on a "vacation" we are going to save our pennies and go away where we can just relax and have someone look after us. David's friend Peter raves on about Vanuatu which is only three hours by plane from Australia, so we are going to set our sights onto going there the next time. "Vanuatu" was a word that we often said those first few days as a joke between David and I highlighting the fact that we would have much preferred to be on that lovely tropical island....maybe next time...

Five and a half months

Dear Maia,

You are an amazing communicator. At 15 months, you are able to try and repeat at least 100 words. We have a set of signing cards with photos of different images and you say out loud each of the words and there are fifty of them and you have been doing this since you were about 14 months old. Although your enunciation is not always clear or perfect, you know what the word is and you attempt to say and repeat the words that we are saying now a days.

Yesterday, you surprised me when we were looking at an animal picture book and you spontaneous said, "baboon" when we came to the photo of the baboon. Today, I was so surprised when you said, "I fall down," after you slipped on a piece of paper and fell on your back. A few days before you had been dropping objects and saying, "Ooohhh, fell down."

The other really cute thing that you do is when you hug something you snuggle it up against you and pat the object on its back or if it is a person, you pat their back. It is so very sweet.

You are such a happy and content child who loves books.

Rhino

Dear Maia, If I only wrote in this blog as often as I thought to do so, we would have a beautiful collection of little stories from the first 15 months of your life. I often write in emails the many adventures we have had in the first year and a half of your life, so we will have to go back one day and just read a bit more through my letters to family and friends. What I have decided to do is each day just write down a favorite memory of today. Today, your Dad and I were grinning from ear to ear as we heard you say for the first time "Rhino." It was not just the fact that you said it, it was the way you said it...so clearly with a nasal "--no" at the end of "Rhino" and your lips coming together in a pucker at the end of the word. I will write more, but in summary, you are a gorgeous little girl who is so very bright. You started saying your first word at 10 months of age..."Bird" and really started to pick up lots of words over the last two months. You amaze us and the biggest surprise we have had as parents is how much we love you and how quickly you grown and change from day to day. We love you to bits and so enjoy being your parents.