Of Road Trips and New School Years

We had a 'first' in our family last week.  Dh and Mr Busy set off on a week-long road trip up to the Sunshine Coast (about an hour north of Brisbane).  Mostly it was work-related.  But if you're up that way and you have family with boy cousins the same age as your own son then the trip becomes family-related too.  Because I had time to think about it this time I sent the boys off with a pack of food.  Snacks, both healthy and not-so-healthy and breakfast cereal with disposable bowls and spoons.  We decided, after our last road trip to the Sunshine Coast, that breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald's was a terribly unattractive proposition.  Sorry Macca's....you're a "once in a blue moon" preference around here.  So the boys left and returned 5 days later.  Just in time to miss the floods that would have stranded them had they been delayed by just 3 days.

As for us girls - we enjoyed a very quiet and sedate week.  Of course, I was back at work and I still have a few weeks of the summer semester for Uni, but it was very grown up around here.  We watched movies unsuitable for 12yo boys, like "The Help" and "Pay it Forward" and we had salads every night for dinner.  We did not go through 9 litres of milk, nor 4 loaves of bread.  In fact, we barely touched either, only drinking milk consumed in cups of tea here and there.  Don't worry, the girls get plenty of dairy in other forms!  We realised how much our boys eat!  And I barely parented or disciplined at all.  There was simply no need.  One or two semi-stern words were all the girls required.  And on the final day I had the day off work, so we headed into the Museum and DFO in the city for some clothes shopping. 

As of today the kids are all back at school.  The Prep teacher and I were exhausted - not so much that we slept in the middle of it all like one poor little fellow.  Miss Sunshine is looking forward to her first VCE retreat, Mr Busy is loving having a favourite aunty for his class teacher and Miss Mischief is glowing under the raft of staff comments along the lines of "I teach..... and I'm looking forward to teaching Year 10" during assembly.

I'm looking forward to ... the next long weekend.  Little people are tiring!