WHEN WE HEAD NORTH

 

We often fantasize about our amazing Euro road trip. We are going have a car and start in France and then end up in Morroco. Matty has lived a life well travelled compared to me, he has been everywhere, he has lived countless summers in Portugal, frequented Japan, dotted across America and survived the misery of a cold winter in London. A well travelled person is so attractive and it was a small part of his story that really appealed to me when we first met. I have been to the Phillipines several times to visit my family and I lived in Japan for one very exciting year of my life, and what I have always wanted to do is to explore Europe. In the early years after having Paddy, I watched my some of my close friends travels unfold through Facebook, I was green with excitement as my friends mapped out the world; Europe, America, Indonesia, Canada and South America. It was a bit of a lonely time for me and I wondered if I would ever have the chance to travel like that. Matty squeezed my hands in his and said to me, "of course you will get to do that, except you will have a little team with you". I smiled. My mind has been fantasizing about our Euro road trip ever since.

So we are saving for our dream holiday and slowly we have funds trickling in after we take care of the mundane necessities like the mortgage, rates, car insurance, school fees etc. For the moment, we are enjoying our little road trips up and down the east coast of Australia and they seem to hit the spot when the urge to explore sneaks upon us.

Ten of my favourite things about road trips: 

1. Having all of my favourite people together 

2. The music and singing

3. Saying hello to the cows

4. Watching the world smudge by through the window

5. Road side fruit stalls, my heart just opens when I see the honesty boxes

6. Picnic blankets, soft grass and packed lunches

7. The way in which conversations seem to be more constructive inside of a car, e.g. When should we get married, how should we renovate the house, when should we welcome a dog into our family, will we have more kids? 

8. Uncontrolled moments of laughter 

9. Walk in to pay for petrol, walk out with ice-creams

10. Quick dips in the ocean.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Photo's taken using an iphone5

Please email me if you would like to use my images.
 

LIFE BEFORE SIBLINGS

All photographs taken using an iphone5.

Please email me if you would like to use the images. 

 

Earlier this year I was heavily pregnant with my second child. It was a hot Australian summer and I was slowly losing my mobility in the thickness of the heat. Puffy fingers, swollen ankles, you know the spiel. Paddy and I were enjoying our last moments together before the arrival of his sister and we enjoyed picnics at the beach, yum cha dates and hours at our local game centre. It sounds silly now, but at the time I was feeling guilty and anxious that I was responsible for changing this equilibrium of peace and contentment by bringing in another child into the family. When Matty and I decided to start renovating our house in the final weeks of my pregnancy, I took the opportunity to take Paddy away from the building site that we called home, and on a little holiday up to Nan and Pop’s place. Just me and him. It was kind of like a coming of age I guess, because he was also starting school in February and his sisters due date was burgeoning in the weeks after that. So I took this time together to be like a full stop to toddler-hood and life as an only child, and as a peaceful welcome to the new chapter in both of our lives.

Off we chugged up the coast on a Country Link train to enjoy a couple of long summery weeks with Nan and Pop. We shared salty days at the beach, cool dips in the surrounding rivers, coffee dates at sleepy cafes and the excitement of new holiday friendships for Paddy. Most mornings we were greeted by all sorts of native animals, usually poor little outcast Kangaroos, lone Butcher birds and at night we were graced by a single mum Possum with her babe curled up inside of her pouch. They made frequent returns to Nan and Pops garden, which is always in abundance with available shelter, food and water. Our afternoons were enjoyed with games, reading, yoga and home cooked suppers at the table together. We enjoyed revitalising early nights tucked up into bed with the sounds of nature coming out to soothe us to sleep. When we arrived home we were both a few shades darker, our hair a little drier and our hearts a little closer.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

SUNDAY

Out of all of the days in the week, Sunday is my favourite. It’s the one day of the week that we are all definitely together. Matty usually works six days a week and Sunday is a nice reprieve to the daily grind for both of us. Early on this particular Sunday morning I curled back into our warm bed after feeding Vinnie and drifted back to sleep. It must have only been for ten or maybe fifteen minutes before she started to make some protesting cries from her bassinette. Sleep drowsy, I rolled around and took some deep breaths to re-energise myself before jumping back out of bed, but he beat me to her. With Vinnie in his arms, he leant down and planted a fuzzy warm kiss on my forehead and disappeared out of our room. I must have slept for an extra hour. In a foggy state I followed the smell of breakfast wafting in from outside. Matty was outside on our front deck cooking up our breakfast on the barbeque. I saw Vinnie playfully sitting in her bouncy chair snuggled up in a grey woollen blanket and there was Paddy crouching on the lounge and coiled up in a furry brown throw. He looked like a delicious cinnamon bun. 

The smell of breakfast materialised on a large white rectangular plate. Bacon, eggs, tomatoes, onions and grilled Turkish breads all lay out in the shadows of tall standing condiments; tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, Kewpie mayo and sweet chilli sauce. In our PJ’s we sat at the table and started the construction of our breakfast burgers. The boys like mayo and barbeque sauce splashed across their tower of bacon, eggs and cooked onion. I like plain old barbeque sauce, bacon and eggs with a sprinkling of tasty cheese.  Sometimes I add a squeeze of sweet chilli sauce, but not today.

Matty enjoys making his coffee at home and usually, we push the little black button on the yellow Bugatti to warm up while we tidy up after breakfast. At first, we disliked our coffee machine. It was the source of frustration and disappointment. Neither of us could get it right. We imagined dark brown honeycombed crema topped with silky milk, but our coffee always looked murky or the steamed milk was too bubbly and burnt. Since then, our skills have improved enough to enjoyably get us through the dark mid-week mornings. So when a dear friend of ours opened a café and creative space across the lake from us, our Bugatti was also given reprieve from the daily grind and lately we have been making our way over there to finish our Sunday breakfast and welcome in the new week with several of his amazing coffees.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

All photgraphs taken using a Nikon D3100.

Please email me if you would like to use my images.