Hadley keeps saying “I missed you so much when you were in Asstralia.” Her pronunciation goes back and forth between Asstralia and Owstralia. I like both.

She also said (and this killed me) “Sometimes while I was lying in bed, I would look at the picture of you and daddy on my wall because I missed you.”

The rest of the trip was lovely. I adore Sydney and would return in a heartbeat.We didn’t turn into the Griswold’s and see every single thing there is to see but we took in Sydney in our own way. It’s difficult getting tired easily and not being able to be in the sun. I’m worthless after about 2 and need to nap. It was sort of frustrating but once I reminded myself to take it easy and be kind, things got better.

We NEEDED this vacation. We just kept saying that. I loved having Peter all to myself and reconnecting. We could have actual conversations without being interrupted. We sat close together and lingered over meals, which never included macaroni and cheese. We slept in. We took a bunch of what we called “self portraits” throughout the trip. I’ll post them. I joked to a few people that I could have been in Cincinnati as long as I was with Peter. While that is true, I will say that it was a definite bonus to have been in Sydney. Australians are the best.

Gerry and Jean left today. While I am sad because they’re so fun to be around. They NEEDED to leave. Those poor people have been put through the ringer and the ringer had throw up and stinky diarrhea all over it. In addition to dealing with the washer/dryer issue, the rodent issue (which persists and now there is a rat electrocuter on top of my cabinets. Peter had a face off with one last night. sigh….)the sick kids issue, the furnace died. Yes it did. They didn’t tell us about it while we were in Sydney. Gerry had to have it replaced. Peter and I joked to each other saying “They’re never coming back.” About 14 minutes after Peter left to take them to their hotel, I was thinking “COME BACK!!!!!!!!” Yes, I did say “hotel” and not airport. Their flight is tomorrow morning at 6 am or something. They had the good idea of going to a hotel near the airport to make things easier in the morning. We thought of the same thing in Sydney but didn’t want to suggest it for fear of offending them. I’m so glad they did it and I KNOW they were glad to get out of here after the week they had. THANK YOU TO GRAMMIE AND BOMPIE!  WE LOVE YOU!

And now I give you…Provosts Take Sydney, Australia – Self-Portrait Style