Pre-holiday post

So on the 11th of September, we left home for a month away in South Korea and Malaysia. 

But before we left we had some packing to do. :)

 For the seven of us, we were able to narrow the bags down to 4 suitcases.

Luckily we weren't putting Flynn in a suitcase. I don't know if his bed hair would have fit!!

 Each of us then had a backpack too to put things in for the plane flight, like ipods, books, DSi, drawing/colouring in stuff etc and the most important thing of all.... snacks.

Jonty was so excited about our holiday that he kept talking Flynn into hopping in a suitcase and then after seeing his bathers go in the suitcase and finding out some of the places we were staying had a pool, he just had to wear his togs for the whole day.

The most important thing to pack of course was all the medications for Flynn and Hallie. Because they need to take them every 8 hours, I got heaps extra and distributed them around all the bags, just incase some of the bags got lost. I was so worried that we wouldn't be able to access them overseas but then of course people from other countries have CAH too but it's a rare condition and I knew it would be really stressful if I ran out or couldn't get some quickly enough.

I also took an emergency injection for Flynn and Hallie, incase they had an adrenal crisis and I coudn't get to a hospital quickly. The tricky thing is that it doesn't work like an epipen, you have to make it up yourself from a vial, working out the dose according to their weight, right when they are needing it because it will 'go off' otherwise and not work.  And then of course stick it into the right part of their leg. The lovely people at the hospital pharmacy taught me what to do and I had to practice on an orange but not having had to do it for real and not much practice, I was a little worried about getting it right but thankgoodness, I didn't have to use it anyway.

With all the meds and paraphernalia going in the bags, I did chuckle thinking we would fit right in with the drug mules flying into Malaysia. ;)

The day before we flew out, the Wheelers came and helped us with some last minute work on the house. We worried about leaving it for the month and wanted to get some last minute jobs done like working on the deck.

Lisa brought out her famous pumpkin soup so it was nice to stop for a break and have some.

I cleaned out the fridge, very excited to not be cooking for a month and looking forward to trying some authentic Korean cooking. It looked so bare after all the perishables disappeared.

And of course Flynn, started walking just before we left and now two weeks later, not a crawler in sight. I couldn't get a photo of him standing still because he just loves walking and seemed to know something was going on and was very excited too - or it could have been that he saw all the snacks we were taking for the plane. :)

Our plane to Melbourne was leaving at 6.30 that night and so after doing all our jobs of locking up the house, a mad minute clean before we left, finishing last minute packing, making sure the animals were happy (fed by our neighbour Xaviour while we were away)  and freaking out that I would forget our foreign money or these....

... we were off to the airport. The Wheelers dropped us off and I couldn't believe after counting down for 7 months, we were finally off on our trip of a lifetime.

Halloween 2012

Last night we had our annual Halloween party at the Websters. We started off with 'trunk or treat'. The kids love it. This is our boot. You had to close your eyes and put your hand under the black sheet into a bowl of cold jelly and fish out a Halloween trinket.

Ollie decided he would go as Jack Sparrow. He even had pirate tattoos which I know will take weeks to scrub off.

Jonty was a ghost but he kept taking his costume off and Flynn's costume, well speaks for itself. He is my little superhero.

Sarra was a zombie and loved doing her own hair and make-up and putting rips in her jeans.

AS you drove into the Webster's yard, this was what greeted you.

The kids had a great time walking around the back of the cars and getting lollies.

There were some amazing costumes.

The highlight for the kids of course was the hay ride. I think a few of the adults liked it too.

It's so lovely of the Websters to do this. They put so much into making the night a night to remember full of good times and memories and of course lots of lollies.

I also find it funny that one of my top ten posts down the RHS of my blog, includes a Halloween post from 2007. I must have looked especially frightful that year.

Starting at the end.

So I thought I would start at the end.... seems easier when I am sitting here trawling through about 2000 photos. We just got back yesterday from a month's trip overseas. There were eight of us in our party. Simon and I and the kids and my Mum. Needless to say we had quite a bit of luggage.

We spent 11 days in South Korea, six days in Kuala Lumpar, the capital of Malaysia, and then the last 7 days on Langkawi, an island resort off the coast of Malaysia.

So to start at the end.....

Here we are boarding the plane at the Langkawi Airport on Monday (Oct 8) afternoon. It reminds me alot of the Launceston Airport, small and kinda quaint. Security is tight but not overly for a country reputed to be one of the drug capitals of the world or is it that I just think so because whenever Australians are caught with drugs on their person, it is big news here and I can now 'marvel' at the rife crimes I saw going on that they turn a blind eye to but clamp a life sentence or death penalty on a drug charge.

I digress of course but I tell ya.... visiting another country really opens your eyes and makes you appreciate home that much more.

The weather was perfect on Langkawi. 30 degrees everyday and 30 degrees everynight. It never changed. A little humid of course being so close to the equator but it didn't have the intensity and burning like our sun does.

I have Jonty's blankie around my neck. It came everywhere on the trip and I am so glad we never lost it.

The view over Langkawi, including many coconut trees. The flight only took 1 hr back to the Malaysian mainland.





SO here is all our luggage. We tried to travel light, seriously we did, but yeah it kind doesn't look like we did. This is at the KL International Airport, where we waited 5 hrs for our 8hr flight back to Melbourne, which was leaving at 10.30pm (1.30am Tastime).



Our flight back to Melbourne, was packed and I knew that there would be no room to stretch out to try and sleep. We were packed in like sardines. Everybody looks suitably impressed about the long flight. We had to pass through first class to get to economy and it looked so luxurious but I told Hallie that we have more fun back in cattle class. ;)



This is our leg room. I kept reminding myself that compared to other places, 8 hrs is really a relatively short flight as far as international goes.



Little friends for company.



On entering Australia, you have to fill out an arrival card for each person. Doing 7 took quite awhile. :) You can see a bit of Flynn's blue sleeve as he slept with his head in my lap. The card asks questions like, how long you are planning to stay, what is your occupation, if you came into contact with farm animals while away, (sounds random I know) in what country where you in, the majority of your time away, if you have anything to declare. Australia is well renowned for its border control and customs laws. You are not allowed to bring in shells, certain types of food, some wood just to name a few, incase it is carrying little critters that we don't want introduced into our country.

While we were going through immigration and customs after landing, the television show, Border Security was filming. Simon jokingly said I should put something in my bag so we get on the show. I was just really wanting to avoid the whole strip search thing. ;)



The lines to get passed immigration and customs were really really long and it was interesting listening to everyone complain about it. A whole heap of international flights had come in at once and about 800 odd people were tired and grumpy and just wanting to go home. We were separated from the people with foreign passports so all the lines were full of whingy Aussies. It was a little funny as there is nothing you can do about it so why waste your energy complaining. We had been travelling for 15 hours by now so I decided to spend my time dreaming of a nice hot bath instead.

We waited in Melbourne for about 4 hours before boarding our flight to Launceston yesterday at 1pm. We saw Jess and Bastian for a quick minute as she dropped off a bag for Mum. Can't wait to see more of them next month and over Christmas.

 Lisa and Kobe and my sister Lisa picked us up at the airport. It was SO good to see them. A month is a long time to go without seeing family and close friends.

Hello Tassie - oh how I missed your open spaces, paddocks and clean sweet smelling fresh air.

Gone on a mission...

Three months ago today, my nephew Josh left on his two year mission to the Auckland New Zealand mission for our church. He is the first of my nieces and nephews to go and I was so proud of him and for what he represents. His Dad Dion, Simon's brother has been forwarding us his emails (he gets to email home once a week) and I am loving reading about his experiences and how much some of them can eat over there. I am loving the photos and already I can see Josh looks so much more grown up.

Before he left, we had a family farewell in Burnie at the fun centre. Kay and Dion had booked the whole complex just for us so we all had a ball with the Triffitts and Rowlings.

Kay is famous for her cooking and this cake was delish!!

Trying to get all the grandkids to sit together and sit still for a photo. ;) Missing Simon's sister Penny and her family who live in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. :(

Josh, Dion (holding Sarah), Savannah, Kay, Piper, Paige and Allister.

Before long it was the 4th of July and time for Josh to head off on his mission, leaving from the Devonport Airport.

Jonty wondering what the fuss was all about. He was excited to see Josh go on an aeroplane and wanted to go too.

Saying goodbye to Mum. This is where I got teary!!

Josh with Simon's parents, Oma and Pop.

Saying goodbye to Simon on the phone because he was at work and couldn't make it to the airport.

Saying goodbye to Dad.

Saying goodbye to little bro.

I know the next two years will fly by and be full of the most amazing experiences that Josh will have, the likes of which he could not experience doing anything else and the likes of which will shape and mould him and prepare him for the rest of his life.