Bingle!

9 November 2006, 15:56

Sigh. My first car accident. Bell Street. 11 am. Some arsehole pulls out into the middle lane from the left in order to avoid parked cars and the car in front of me brakes to avoid him. At 60 kph there wasn’t much I could do to avoid hitting him up the arse. Then a lady in a 4WD whacks into the back of me for good measure. Two almighty jolts. Check to see if Scout is OK. Yep. She’s doing better than me. In fact, she’s chewing on my wallet. How the hell did she get my wallet? I’m in shock (no injuries, although my back did get a bit of a jarring) but notice that my car is the only one with any damage. Typical. The boot doesn’t close. The front bumper bar is dented to buggery.

Crap, I hate that car. What are my chances of it being considered a write-off?

Permanent Link | Comments [4]

Road Trip to the Mount (Gambier, that is...)

6 November 2006, 18:30

Reluctant Flowergirl. Click to enlarge

Reluctant Leprechaun. Click to enlarge

McG, Scout and I braved the “5-hour” trip to Mt Gambier this past weekend, to attend McG’s cousin’s wedding. 5 hours turned into 8 hours. In a car. With an overtired baby. With an overtired baby who refuses to sleep and screams for the first 90 minutes of the journey. At Ballarat, I begged McG to take us home, dammit, but he demurred. We made it in one piece, but only just, with Scout having a total of two 30 minute naps the whole journey. It was hell. Scout: 1. Parents: 0.

Once we’d arrived, though, she was a little champion the whole trip, a perfectly charming, genki little champion. Made us struggling folks look like wunder-parents. Wunder-parents who nonethless reached for the Scotch once they’d descended in Mt. Gambier. Scout: 1. Wunder-parents: 1.

Jeezuz, people. I just woke up… Click to enlarge

Nuptials in Leg of Mutton Lake. Click to enlarge

The wedding ceremony was at Leg of Mutton Lake, which used to be a volcanic lake-bed (uh, hence the name) but has now dried up and is an idyllic green maze of trees and tangled vines weaving in and out of clearings, and quite the unusual spot for a wedding. I was almost expecting Frodo Baggins to pop in for a cameo (and perhaps a pot of tea). [And I hadn’t even started on the champers yet.]

The Bridal Party were alarmed to hear that Bilbo would not be making an appearance. Click to enlarge

Anna & Heath, the betrothed, looked gorgeous (of course) as did the attendants (3 each!) and flowergirls (Tessa and Ellie - Anna & Heath’s nieces).

You know you’re in a small country town, though, when you ask a local guest how far out the reception is, they say “Oooooooh, it’s a bit of a ways out” and it takes you 6 minutes to drive there.

Pure Cheddar. Nick and McG hit the Jugs. Click to enlarge

Much as having kids is a wonderful thing in so many ways (you can go throw up, now), you really do notice how much more time-consuming everything is, and that you can’t take any free party-time for granted. EVER. Scout went down into her stroller for a sleep when the meals arrived, and woke up again once we’d finished, just before the dancefloor boogie was to begin. She howled, bawled, kicked and screamed (though I couldn’t blame her, it was damn noisy) and I had to take her back to the hotel around 10pm (frightfully early, wot) where she passed out in the portacot.

I was disappointed to have missed out on a boogie, particularly with abundant rumours (later founded!) of a Ra-ra-rasputin haunch dance c/- the bride and bridesmaids. Sigh. The things we do for our children…

Scout suspects it may be past her bedtime. Click to enlarge

************

Grandpa’s beard is a hit. Click to enlarge

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with the thousands (OK, maybe 100) of McG’s rellies. At times I get a tad envious of McG’s close-knit extended family. Although close in spirit, I rarely get to see my parents or brother (in Queensland) and the few cousins, aunts & uncles who aren’t dead, live in godforsaken places (such as, I don’t know, Newcastle…) and I haven’t seen them for over 15 years. Of course, McG and Co. have welcomed me to the flock and all, but it still makes me a bit sad nonetheless. [ah yes, yes, the world’s smallest violin. Keep playin’ it.]

Coming back, we accidentally took the longer route along the Princes Highway, but by whacking the crap out of the accelerator all the way home, we made it in 6.5 hours. Scout was a trouper, amusing herself in the back seat and even condescending to one 1 hour and one 40 minute nap. Scout: 1. Wunder-parents: 2.

Uncle Scott, Scout and Blake at the Post-Wedding BBQ. Click to enlarge

In the Scout Herald this week, news of a third tooth! Scout now has one of her top teeth coming through and isn’t that making getting her to settle at night a treat! She’s been good though - consistently sleeping through without a feed, if a little crazy whence first she layeth down her head (or something). If she’s upset or in pain (or if she just damn well feels like it), she’ll flip herself over in bed to be up on all fours crawling around the bed. It was cute the first few times she did it, but last night (with the Teeth Coming In) we flipped her back over nay on 10 times before we relented with the Baby Panadol.

The joy will be ours once she cottons on that, now she can pull herself up to standing, the cot bars would make quite the uncharted frontier. In the middle of the night.

Scout: 3. (Wunder?)-Parents: -2

More Mount Gambier/Wedding photos here

Permanent Link | Comments [3]