Julian's 12th birthday...and the Adventure Begins (long blog)

With all the last minuet, frantic last few days of school finishing, it was hard to get too excited with our travel plans. I think I sighed with relief at FINALLY being able to sit on the plane on the 13th December....but lets go back a little....

Sunday was my "baby's" 12th birthday. Turning 12 is a significant event in our church because it is when the young man receives the priesthood. Julian had been hinting for months to the lead up about getting a suit and tie and shoes etc. SO we had him all "decked out" for the special day. He looked SO handsome! As a mother, I was allowed to shed a tear or two for my grown up boy who I was SO proud of ! Our friends Wanita and Lee joined us, along with the Oates from Warwick and it was a very, special day.

Harvey ordained Julian, along with my dad, Mitch Peate, Uncle Marcus and Lee McDade and Paul Mortley. Julian was promised some pretty awesome blessings along with the priesthood.

After church, my parents generously offered their home to us for a BBQ dinner an celebration. We had fun with family and friends to share in Julian's special day.

Monday Madness was coming home (late) to drop the doggie off to the groomers and then waxing for the girls and I ...gotta look good for the many photos I am no doubt going to be taking! Then back to the doggie groomers to my sweet smelling and very handsome pooch. On the way we got a frantic phone call from Harv asking where we were because we had VIP visitors ! Eek ! I forgot about that !

We race home to find our very awesome friends Lee and Wanita McDade with Christmas presents! WOW ! Very talented Weats made HAND KNITTED beanies and scares for everyone in their favourite colours!! Talk about AMAZING! She must have been "going hard at it" for weeks to accomplish that little feat ! (photos to follow when I get home)...Then our very awesome house sitters came past to collect keys and go through puppy/kitty cat and rabbit routines with us...then at some point in time, I remembered eating some heated left overs for dinner before falling into a heap in bed.

Tuesday was just as frantic as Monday. I helped to "pack down" the classroom as best as I could considering that the other gals had a few more days at work. Then it was on again with frantic last minuet packing - OOOOPS I FORGOT THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR THE IN-LAWS!! :( Then we forgot that we had to move our bed and mattress into the games room for the house sitters...:( OH bad ! SO that was a super human effort by the team! Luckily we have so many "helpers". The "elves" had been in and cleaned the house from top to toe....THANK YOU CHILDREN !

My very fantastic dad came to pick us up in his "taxi" so that my equally fantastic mother could feed us dinner before we got on the plane....yummy chicken rice. Dad dropped us early - thankfully because the lines were HUGE ! Bit of shuffling and removing of belts and handbags and metal detectors and we were finally through to the departure lounge....only to be told that the gate we were supposed to leave from was different to the one they announced! EEEEEKKKK! It was a HUGE relief to finally sit on the plane and sigh with relief that we MADE IT ! The children's faces were priceless...I'm so grateful that we have this opportunity to share a magical time together.

I was the unlucky person that scored a lady who had long legs and knees that poked me in the back for pretty much the whole journey. Sigh. Not a whole lot of sleep  happened for me. Melbourne transfer was kinda scary....the lines were HUGE there too. :( We traipsed from one end of the airport to the other..but the highlight was Krispy Kreams for breakfast! Woo hoo!

We arrived in Hobart, collected our bags and hey presto! Poppy Fred was pulling into the airport ! Excellent timing. We pretty much "laid low" for the day because were were all so "trashed" from the lack of sleep.