Cousin love, road trips, and back to the patch

So how was your weekend?

We had a great one – we headed down to Canberra to stock up on some family time. Conveniently, both my mum and brother live down there, and it’s an easy (well, usually…) three-hour road trip. And with beautiful little Benjamin – first child for my brother and his lovely wife, Amanda – born last September, our journeys to the nation’s capital have been more frequent than ever.

Declan was beside himself: lots of cuddles and treats from Grandma, and quality time with Uncle Robbie, Aunty ‘Manda, and of course, his little cousin Benny. All week he’d been telling anyone who’d listen that he was going to visit ‘his Ben-Ben’ and give him “very gentle cuddles”. And they were gentle… for the most part.

Cousin love

Little Deckers had a fabulous time rediscovering his baby toys, now being enjoyed by the newest member of his generation. He sometimes even agreed to share them with Ben, which was encouraging: as those of you experienced in life with three-year-olds will know, sharing isn’t high on the to-do list!

Sharing… mostly

I can’t wait to see their friendship develop as they get older… Benny is quite the little wriggler, and I can imagine both he and Decs tearing around like maniacs, chased by (and chasing) our Bailey-dog, or Benny’s crazy little Jack Russell, Willo. While Decs has older cousins in England, Benny is the only cousin he has here in Australia, and I hope they’ll be like brothers to each other as they grow.

Though it was great to get away, Decs was itching to get home to his things and his backyard and Steve and I were back to work today, so we hit the homeward road yesterday after three big, fun-filled family days. You couldn’t have had two more different road trips: on the way down it was all laughter and sing-a-longs with Declan’s trademark Broadway-style ‘big finish’, but not so for the journey home. He appeared to be having some kind of mega-surge of testosterone… and the car seat was not his friend. And boy did he make sure we knew about it! Poor little guy just couldn’t cope with being contained. Even the portable DVD player loaded up with his current movie obsession – Hotel Transylvania 2 – didn’t cut it.

We managed to distract him from time to time: spotting and naming farm animals, looking for trees changing colour (though this appeared to be more exciting for him than me – I do love an autumnal tree), our colour-based version of ‘I Spy’, and a constant stream of snacks. Four pee stops and countless ‘I promise we’re nearly there’s’ later, we were back in our mountains home., and after a quick reunion with his ‘guys’ (the collective name for his matchbox cars and other small vehicles) and his ‘cuddling guys’ (his softies), he was straight into his wellies and out into the yard to check on his veggies.

Not long ago, we decided to plant out a few things in pots while getting around to digging over the weed-infested, overgrown veggie patch that the previous inhabitants hadn’t made use of – mainly herbs, baby carrots, and corn. Decs was delighted to discover some of the baby carrots were ready and wasted no time pulling up a sample: it went from earth to tummy within minutes, with much audible enjoyment.

From the earth…

…to the tummy

The carrots are really delicious – bright orange, crazily-shaped, and nothing like the slightly anaemic, perfectly formed ones you get at the supermarket – but I’m probably most excited about the corn at this point: it’s grown like crazy, and we’ve already got nine ears growing from what only weeks ago were ten little seedlings. I used to grow corn as a child with my beautiful Dad, who passed away when I was in high school, so there are plenty of memories attached to this humble plant for me. I’m also a sucker for fresh-picked, buttered corn with loads of freshly ground pepper, or a good corn fritter, heavy on the coriander and served up with some ripe avocado.

Checking on the corn cobs

So with a few bites of home-grown carrot and a simple scratch dinner in our bellies, it was off to bed after our big weekend – all four of us, Bailey-dog included, were out before 8pm to catch up on some sleep before the working week ahead. There’s no bed like your own bed, right?

So tell me, any plans for little getaways or time with far-flung family members in the near future? And how do you cope with road trips with small, very active people? Go ahead, share your tips for helping little people and big to enjoy the journey (apart from the tried and tested fall-back of snacks and DVDs)!

xJen
seeding the wild