Australia...inlaws...flights and other things

Bethany at 5 and a half months.

Well, I'm back from Australia. Andy and Bethany and I went for five days to attend Andrew's Dad's wedding. Andrew's Dad is Allen. Allen married Jenny and Andrew was one of the best men. It was a busy and full five days and I was exhausted by the last one. Andrew booked a flight that left at 6:50am on Thursday morning (we had to get up at 3am in order to drive to the airport and arrive there on time) and got in at 8:30am Australia time. Sarah - Andy's sister - picked us up and took us to her house for a sandwich and then we went with her while she ran some errands in preparation for the wedding on Saturday (waxing....tanning....etc.). Andy's other sister - Laura - and his nephew Blake (Sarah's son) came with us. At one point I went to the parent's room to feed Bethany and distinctly told Andrew that I would wait for him by the Beauty place where Sarah and Laura were getting beautized. He went with Blake (he's 5 and was really getting growly by then) to play games somewhere. Well I was gone for a good 20-30 mins and go back to the beauty place only to hear my named called on the intercom to come to the customer service desk. Great...I thought....here it starts. I went there and found the rest of the gang who called me because they were afraid that I had got lost (apparantly they looked for me in all of the bathrooms) and told me that we had to hurry because Allen and Jenny were expecting us - like a couple of hours ago. I felt slightly annoyed because I told Andrew where I would meet him. Hello? It's not my fault that he didn't listen or that people in his family are so impatient.

So we went to Allen's house and received a great big hello from Allen and Jenny who wanted to hold Bethany and asked me why we were late..."I didn't know that we were late" was my reply....no one tells me anything and I prefer to not get into matter that may start an argument.Bethany's lip quivered and she started to cry when Allen was holding her because his voice is much louder than mine (and Andy's) and she was scared. She was passed from Jenny to Jeff and Preeti and Sarah and she finally had had enough and kept crying. I mean it was pretty overwhelming for her. That night we had dinner with Jeff and Preeti (I think) and then ended up going to bed late. The next day we didn't have the baby car seat (it was in Sarah's car and she didn't leave it with us) so we couldn't go anywhere or do anything. We just hung out at Jeff's with him and Preeti. Oh yeah...we also couldn't go anywhere because we were waiting for Andrew's mom who was coming to visit. She finally came to visit and then she and Andrew went and did some banking business while I stayed with Bethany. Andrew's Dad came over to spend the night and he and Jeff and Preeti and Andy and I and Bethany all had dinner together.

The next morning - wedding day - Allen wanted to take us shopping so Jeff went and got the car seat from Sarah's car and I rushed to get ready and we went. Allen bought some things for Bethany and then we had to rush home and get ready for the wedding. Andrew was going with Allen and Jeff in the groom's car - or whatever you call it - and Sarah was coming to pick me and Bethany up. We got picked up and went to the wedding which took place in an Anglican church. After the wedding we had family photos taken...of which I was called out of the bathroom (while feeding Bethany) to be a part of. We then went to the reception which took place in a restaurant / nightclub called The Lighthouse. We were there until 10-11pm and didn't get back home until around midnight. The next morning was brunch in the city so we had to get up and ready to go there. After brunch we went to Sarah's house and spent the afternoon with her and her husband and Blake. Monday was going to be our day to do some shopping but wouldn't you know it...we ended up waiting 2 hours for Andrew's mom and two of his sister's to come visit us and then when Andrew finally called them we ended up meeting at the mall and didn't really have much time to shop after having lunch with them and my feeding Bethany. I won't lie. I was really annoyed. Tuesday we had to rush and meet Andrew's cousin and then we got on the plane and went back to NZ. And this was my Australia trip.

Good parts: the wedding was very nice and I met some nice relatives of Andrew's. Everyone loved Bethany and I think that she helped make the atmosphere more peaceful. So many people commented on what a good baby she is (and she is!).

Frustrating points: #1 - not having time for ourselves to do anything...this seems to happen everytime we go to Australia. It is really up to a certain someone to be more assertive with his family in this regard so hopefully things will be different next time, people rushing me here and there......it made me glad that we were only there for a few days!

In other news...I have started reading The Work and The Glory Series. I am on the first volume and I am actually enjoying it. I know that it is historical fiction....but it helps me remember that Joseph Smith was a real person who struggled with things like we do. Anyways...I hope that I can plug through the rest of the 9 versions.

Today Bethany and I went to the fruit and vegetable shop. They had nectarines on sale but I have a feeling that they may be disappointing because they are American and usually by the time they get to this part of the world they are hard and not so nice. We will see what happens though. I have been buying silverbeet lately instead of spinach because it is cheaper. It doesn't taste as great as spinach but it ain't bad if I fry it in butter and garlic. And greens are good for you, you know. Sometimes people will sell fruit or veggies on the side of the road here. I saw a van yesterday that was selling oranges. Today I looked for the same van and low and behold there he was. The seller's shirt said "Puget Sound Loggers" on it so I asked him where he was from. "Tacoma" was his drawled reply. That was it. "I'm from Vancouver Island I cheerfully said". He just smiled but was uninterested in pursuing any conversation. So much for friendly neighbours. Speaking of neighbours my neighbour downstairs was blasting Celine Dion today. How annoying.

I feel like I need to write more about Bethany because sometimes I forget that none of you see her and know what is going on with her. Well....she is just a delight! She has been sleeping through the night for the past couple of weeks and I hope that this is a trend that will stay. She isn't crawling yet but I think that she is close. She loves smiling and I can get her to giggle and laugh by blowing on her stomach. She is a really happy baby and really only cried when she is tired or hungry or scared. She can pretty much sit up on her own now too liked babbling saying "mah....mahh....or gah...gah...neeya..neya...she will respond if you talk to her in the same way....I just love her and feel so blessed to have a happy baby. I'll post some more recent pics soon. She is 7 months now...hard to believe!