Australia: a balloon welcome!

Best airport greeting! [photo collage borrowed from my sister’s IG]

Auntie Laura knows her nephew well because she brought a balloon to the airport for him and it was basically the best thing ever.

He didn’t care about anything else once it was in his hands.  Vacation on.

It’s hard to know where the first day technically starts since it was a 24 hour travel extravaganza followed by a full day upon arrival.  We left on Wednesday and arrived Friday morning and it was about what you’d expect as far as flying with a one year old goes.  He wasn’t happy for he first few hours of the flight because he was over tired and cranky, but once he got some zzzz under his belt he was at least not as fussy.  He still needed full attention from one person at all times in the form of entertainment.  Exhausting.  But he was a good kid. He cried minimally on the plane and I don’t think our fellow passengers wanted to shoot us after the flight so I’d call that a successes story.

The weather was gorgeous on Friday and as soon as we left the airport I stripped out of as many layers as possible.  Laura was there to greet us as soon as we cleared customs and she had a balloon for Patrick which was the exact thing he (we) needed to revitalize him.  Such a good auntie.

Laura drove us home to her place and after we got settled she went to work and we showered, fed Patrick and then walked to the cute shops and cafés in Double Bay for breakfast/lunch (or whatever meal it was in us time).

We went to Cafe Indigo, one of Laura’s fave places.  I immediately understood why because the menu looked so good.  To start we split the acai smoothie which was super refreshing.

 

I wanted to try everything but I chose the BLAT (above right).  Kyle got the Salmon Benedict (below).

Both we’re outstanding and we scarfed them like savages.  Kinda embarrassing but we were really hungry.

Mine was on gluten free bread, which turned out to be a hugely easy dietary request (practically every single restaurant in Sydney accommodates GF folks).  It tasted like heaven.

I felt like a complete scrub because my outfit was way casual and the atmosphere felt very “ladies who lunch” (which makes sense given the fact that it was a weekday in a rich neighborhood).

P watched the birds and pulled his shoes and socks off while we ate. Afterwards we strolled around popping into a few shops in an attempt to buy a pair of shorts (I did not pack for the current weather forecast at all!).  Unfortunately it was all designer stuff so that was pretty much a no go.  Pacman passed out in the stroller soon thereafter, so we went back to Laura’s and put him in he pack n play where he napped for 35-ish minutes.  I’ll take it.

After he woke up we fed him and went back out to try again for shorts shopping.  This time we had luck at Esprit (welcome to the 80’s!?).

Laura got home in the early afternoon and we went to get groceries and booze before we all hit a wall.

Look at all the specialty items at the main stream grocery store!  Gluten free this and that.  Nut free this and that.  Allergy awareness like whoa.  We got lots of stuff for P (basics like bananas, avo, quinoa, eggs, etc.).

P went down for bed soon after (although we did get him to the beach to see how he liked the sand and water first – hilarious) and then we got to work on dinner.

Apps while we cooked (goat cheese and GF crackers).  The crackers tasted like glutino crackers and the cheese tasted like alouette (brought back memories of childhood cheese eating).

We had BBQ chicken and corn with quinoa and a tomato and avocado salad.  Delish.

We waited to eat until Chris came home and then dug in.  P enjoyed the leftover quinoa throughout the rest of the week – mixed with banana or applesauce.

Kyle and I went to bed around 9 hoping to get semi on schedule with the Australian time change.

P woke up at 3 am which was especially brutal because I was sick with a cough (going on one week).  Kyle occupied him after I nursed him and I went to the living room to get extra rest on the couch.  It was such an amazing gift to me – I don’t think I could have functioned without those extra few hours of sleep. I know I would have gotten way sicker too which sucks when you’re on vacation.  I still fought the cold for the first half of the trip but it wasn’t the flu or anything so I could deal.