The problems aren't at all what you'd imagine.
It was easy to get rid of the sandbox. "We can't take all that sand with us on the airplane, now can we?" I reasoned.
"Where are we going?" they asked.
"To the beach." I replied.
"In Australia!" they chimed back.
Well-drilled. They have no idea what such a move really means - but they're looking forward to it as much as Christmas. It's all in the telling, folks. It's all in the attitude.
The spiders are an issue. We taught Andrew about the pressure wrap and practiced dialing "000" but he's still leary. Snakes too.
Aidan was just in hysterics over the small, German spider that he found on his leg. No amount of reasoning and looking at it under the insect scope was going to reassure him.
In retrospect, also not good things to be teaching him when the bite of the funnel spider in Sydney can kill you in under four hours. ("C'mon mates" they reassure you in the tourist books "you've got FOUR HOURS to get to a hospital.)
Maybe the bug kit complete with net and tweezers wasn't the best choice of a birthday present this year. Maybe fears of spiders should stay fears of spiders.
"Pressure wrap, boys. Put a pressure wrap on it."
It's become a bit of a family motto in the last year.
"What about all those sharks and jelly fish?" the other parents from Andrew's class asked us around the campfire on Friday. The box jelly CAN kill you quickly. Mostly because the paralysis - and sheer pain - causes you to drown.
"Shhh. We haven't told them about those yet." I replied.
We like swimming. And it's going to stay that way.
Aidan would like a bicycle. I believe they have those there too. Andrew wants an Ipod. Switching continents isn't going to stop them from growing up.
Ryan just wants a Brumby. (Any horse will do though.)
We've discovered American military families are happy to relieve us of our possessions. The rest can go to the Red Cross.
So that it's really all a lot easier than you'd think.
I'm not saying it's as easy as throwing on a pack-bag with flashlight, sunscreen, bugspray, water and a change of underwear and heading off for the weekend on your bicycle as a Peace Corps volunteer in Haiti.
Then again - sounds like the sunscreen and bugspray will come in handy in Australia too!
And honestly - the important things don't fit in a suitcase anyway!
Wow! You had a change of underwear in that backpack??? And here I thought you were carrying vet equipment in it! I think of tose good ole day and smile.......not that I would want to go back to them, but there were SOME good times, weren't there?
ReplyDeleteUsually TWO pairs of underwear AND a change of clothes - that dress I had made there was NOT something I could wear NOW. Tiny tiny. I believe I also usually carried some dewormer for Kevin. Just to make it look official!
ReplyDeleteGood times yes. I still miss travelling light.
Although how you did it with KIDS....THAT I can't even imagine!! I was playing hippy - you were already a mom! Hats off to that!
Just to clarify that, was the wormer for Kevin or was it for his animals?? UHG! parasites
ReplyDeleteYou know, I never asked!!! I assumed it was for the goats - didn't you have goats? - but after all, we WERE in Haiti!!! Were you feeding the kids any pink paste for dinner?!
ReplyDeleteYep, must have been for the goats! Humans had to swallow pills as big as your pinkie, goats get pretty pink paste, go figure!
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