Family Holiday Part 1

We are back from our adventures in the snow.  We actually flew in last Sunday night but it has been very challenging getting back into the swing of things this week.  Noah was noticeably jet-lagged (really holiday lag is more of a true statement) but is finally back into a semi-normal sleep routine.  I am glad it's almost the weekend and we can back to more fun times as a threesome - although secretly I have relished being back home and re-instating Mummy rules and Mummy routine - we have missed having our Daddy around every day.

I think I'll do a whole separate post on the challenges of flying, driving, holidaying with a 2 year old.  Hopefully some of my experiences will help you to avoid some of the pitfalls we have discovered.  For today let's just talk about the fun and boy oh boy was there a lot of fun.

Just waiting at the airport to board our departing flight was the start of the fun for Noah.  He loved watching the planes taking off and landing and all the excitement on the tarmac as the tow vehicles zoomed about and the luggage crates were loaded on the planes.  It's the little things that count.

The flight was challenging with a tired toddler but we were lucky enough to score an extra seat and after some coaxing Noah slept for about half the flight.

First stop was my husband's Aunty Les who hosted us for 3 days while we traipsed around the city of Melbourne. Of course a trip to the zoo to see the baby elephant was mandatory.  We are 'Friends of Perth Zoo' which gives us the bonus of free entry to other zoos around Oz.

We had lots of fun times with family and friends and everyone marvelled at what a little man Noah has become.  Noah loved all the attention and kept everyone very entertained.

On day 4 we picked up our hire car and made the 5 hour drive to Omeo where we caught the bus to Mt Hotham.  We do a fair amount of car travel down south of WA so Noah is pretty awesome in the car.  He moooo'd at cows and baaaa'd at sheep and napped and when he got grizzly a bit of playtime on his Ipod touch got us through the final legs of the trip.

On the bus trip we had a very brief stop at Dinner Plain to wait so the bus would arrive on schedule at Mt Hotham (apparently there are so many vehicles in and out they are not allowed to be early)  We took the chance to get Noah out for the first chance to see the snow.  He was just thrilled not to be in  a vehicle for 5 minutes but also loved the snow.  We were lucky enough to see the husky dogs and there was a snow-covered playground with all the usual swings and slides.  Luckily we had all changed into snow pants, jackets and boots in Omeo so we were ready to play but still stay nice and warm and dry.

We arrived at the top of the mountain by about 5.30pm so it was straight to our accommodation and time to catch up with all our friends we were spending the next couple of days with.  The chalet was great with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus a lovely big lounge/dining area.  We were sharing with our friends Glenn & Rach and their 6 month old son Taylor plus 3 single guys and Rach's mum so it was quite a big group and a big mix of 'holiday styles' but we all got along great and had loads of fun and laughs.

We did get Noah on skis and once he got over all the hassle of multiple layers of clothes, gloves, hats, goggles, ski boots etc he actually had a lot of fun.  Obviously he didn't ski alone - Rob held him under the arms between his legs and they cruised down a couple of different runs.  I did ski very briefly (and badly) the first day but decided a non-skiing support person was the key to successful time on the slopes with Noah.  His favourite part (and the most terrifying for Mama) was the chairlift.  It was good to give him a bit of a taste but I think next year will be when he really gets into it - plus he'll be old enough for ski school so that will give us a chance to do our own thing a bit too.

In the end the best fun for Noah really was the very simple thrill of tobogganing ($5 hire per day), building snowmen and throwing snowballs at Mummy and Daddy.

I think that's enough for one post - I'll be back with Part 2 which was our driving holiday from Omeo to Lakes Entrance, Wilson's Prom and back to Melbourne.

P.S. Happy Weekending to you and yours - hope it's full of family fun.

Letter to Noah Two Years Old

My Darling Noah

Firstly let me start by saying that Mama is very nawnee for not writing you this letter sooner.  You are already 2 years and 12 days old.  It has been hectic times around here celebrating for your birthday and getting ready for our holiday.

You my son are such a delight.  Those are words people say a lot but in your case it is so thoroughly true.  You really put joy into the hearts of everyone you meet.

I cannot believe how much you change on an almost daily basis.  Last night Daddy was downloading all the footage off the video camera and we were enthralled watching you transform before our eyes.

There is one thing that everyone who meets you realises in mere seconds - you are a chatterbox.  You talk all day long about everything and everything.  Literally just today you have woken up with about ten new words in your vocabulary and you are stringing them together three and four at a time. ' Poppy no poo yet' you said today.

You are completely obsessed by all things Toy Story and can spot Buzz and Woody from a hundred paces. 'Mummy Buzz, Woody, Woody, Buzz' you shout and we have to stop and look - even if it's just a tissue box in the supermarket.

You are really learning your colours and your numbers and are happy for Mummy to help you practice.

You are still enjoying your music classes and now we do soccer on a Wednesday - you even have a little uniform and I seriously don't think I've ever seen anything cuter.

I know there are hundreds of things to write and say about you but right now all I can think is to tell you that I love you immensely, you are my little buddy and I really treasure your company as we go about our day.  Having you in my life has been more than I could ever have expected - and it's all wonderful.

In about ten minutes Daddy and I are going to lift you from your cot and we are going to head to the airport for our next family adventure.  We are off to Melbourne to visit family and friends and then Daddy and I are so excited to be taking you for your first (of many I'm sure) trip to the snow.  This will be your 5th time flying on a plane but this time you are really going to find it exciting.  I can already hear your flying noises you love to make.

Can't wait to see what the year ahead brings - I love you.

Love Mummy

More Birthday Tales

It was awfully remiss of me yesterday not to include the little dinner party my sister threw for Noah on the actual night of his birthday.  All of our childhood we always had a special dinner at home with mum and dad for our birthday and we have continued that tradition on since we've left home.  Every year for every family birthday we all gather back at Mum and Dad's house for a very simple very fun family night.  When we were kids it was our choice for dinner and it was usually hotdogs or some kind of takeaway junk food. Since grandkids came along we are back to those tried and true favourites and Noah 'chose' hotdogs.

Holly put in so much effort and made a beautiful turtle cake and put out balloons and lots of treats.  It truly has been the festival of Noah.  It's hard not to celebrate to excess when we have all gone through so much to have this little boy in our lives.

Happy Birthday Noah

Well it's over again for another year and although I have breathed a sigh of relief I can't help but start thinking about next year.  I absolutely adore coming up with a theme (or stealing a good idea from someone else) and although it is a lot of hard work - it's so much fun that one birthday per year is simply not enough.

Soooo that's why we had 2 parties this year.  The plan was to have one party for family and another for our friends and their children.  It soon became clear that idea wouldn't work as the family wanted a chance to see Noah playing and interacting with his friends - I secretly think they just wanted to play pass the parcel!!

Noah's current favourite animals seem to be owls and turtles so we decided to use these as themes.  I am so totally in love with Etsy (an online shop) and managed to find party packs for both owls and turtles.  It's so cool because clever people will either design for you (or you can buy an existing design) and then sell you a PDF of all the goodies - invites, cupcake toppers, banners, treat bag toppers etc etc.  So I just print it all off and do a lot of cutting out and constructing and voila - gorgeous personalised party goods for $20 - $30 and a bit of time and effort.

Anyhow for the owl party we ended up having a lovely intimate afternoon with my two school friends and their husbands and their children.  It was such a great fun time with just 6 adults and 4 kids we were able to do a few extra touches.  Rob and I even made our own pinata and it turned out soooo much better than we imagined it would.

The second party was of course 'the big one' but we still aimed to keep it as small as possible.  Our immediate family alone numbers about 15 then we only invited a couple of friends - in particular those with kids that Noah has a personal relationship with.  We have so many friends with little kids but with a winter birthday the risk is always that the party might have to be moved inside so we had to keep that in mind.

In the end we got a glorious sunny winter day and lots of 'turtlin' fun was had by all.  The kids all played together beautifully and Noah of course was spoiled with loads of pressies.  Rob's 'fishing' game was a huge hit and wonderful in it's simplicity.

The most important thing is we got to celebrate how lucky we are to have this wonderful boy in our lives.  We ate, we drank and we laughed and we can't wait till the next party.

A Confession

I have an obsessive personality - I like things to be a certain way.  It drives my husband nuts.  Sometimes I'll start looking for something around the house and I literally cannot put it out of my mind until it's located.  Sometimes that can last for days or god forbid weeks.

It also works in positive ways.  I have a system for everything.  Everything has a home. It doesn't mean I don't make a mess - those of you who have seen my study/sewing/craft room would know that better than anyone. In fact in a way it contributes to the mess because until I have a storage system in place for particular items they just hang around waiting for a burst of organisation to take place.

My current true love is zip lock bags.  I remember when I was a kid some kids brought their lunch to school in zip lock bags but my parents would never buy them - they must have been considered expensive.

I have them in every size and I think they're great value for all manner of storage.  In the non mainstream brands you can get about 100 of the small ones for only a few dollars and about 15 or 20 of the really big ones for about the same price.

I'm in the middle of sorting out all the paraphernalia from Noah's 2 (yes 2) birthday parties and I love to keep lots of bits for him to look back on when he's older.  (This also drives my husband craaaaaazy).  Anyway in each zip lock bag are his birthday cards, a copy of the invitation, a couple of the cupcake toppers,a party hat,  the Happy Birthday banner I made, a few printed photos, a sample of the treat bag that we gave to the guests and a copy of the thank you card we're posting this week.  It really doesn't take up much space so I'll probably fill one IKEA storage box (like this) for 6 or 7 years.  Hopefully he'll enjoy having it all as much as I enjoy making it and keeping it for him.

Next post I'll share all the details of the parties in their excessive glory.

P.S. The photo is of the treat bags from Noah's Turtle Party.  My sister and I made about 50 of these and I'm totally in love with bag toppers for ziplock bags (another great use)  so much cheaper and more fun than conventional treat bags and you can customize it to suit any kind of party or gift.  Noah handed some out with home-made M&M cookies for his friends at music on his actual birthday and then all the kids at the party took one of these ones home. (it says 25th not 23rd because that was the date of the party)

Word of the Week

I'm stealing this idea from Megan at Writing Out loud  who has had me giggling over her daughter Abbey's vocabulary.  So when I was talking to a friend recently sharing some of Noah's latest chitchat and she asked if I was writing them down - it inspired me to do just that.

Noah's word of the week is......

Naughty adjective

Pronunciation: naw-nee

I didn't think this was a word that we used a great deal so was surprised to hear it come out of Noah's mouth when he proclaimed 'DJ naw-nee'  He has gone on to declare the pets to be naw-nee several times a day.  The most exciting thing is he seems to be using it appropriately.  Unfortunately Daddy was also on the receiving end during a heated discussion with Mummy - good to see Noah knows that disagreeing with mummy is naw-nee!!!!

This is a picture from February but doesn't he look like just the kind of cheeky monkey that would go around telling everyone off in just the most gorgeous way.