Kei saw this photo and said “He looks jolly”.

Mum, Thomas and I braved the screams of a car-phobic 3 month old to drive about 90 minutes to a small historic town called Beechworth in Northern Victoria. My brother Ben was meeting a couple of clients so we took the opportunity to catch up with him for lunch and browse the historic shops.

I have been to Beechworth a few times and have to say that it is much more complicated with two small children in tow. I think Thomas and Samuel decided to play a little joke on me by coordinating diaper changes at the most inconvenient times.

Nevertheless, it was a nice opportunity to catch up with Ben and Thomas had a good time checking out the water fountain… until he discovered that it made him wet. Then we had a few tears.

Oh, and I picked up some delicious boiled lollies at the fabulous, famous lolly shop in the center of town. I LOVE boiled lollies. In fact I could go so far as to say you haven’t lived until you’ve tried a Eucalyptus drop. Seriously.

They don’t allow photos in the shop which is a real shame, but I did manage to take this picture through the window. Bags and bags of boiled lollies. I don’t know how I managed to leave without spending a lot more money.

Thomas in his brand new Wiggly Pajamas. I think he was dancing. He loves to dance these days and we love watching him.

Another photo of the clothesline. I like the idea of the clothesline and the enviro friendly benefits. Don’t like the actual work involved in hanging out clothes and bringing them back inside. Also don’t like the scratchiness that comes from air drying.

I can hear my Mum sighing in Australia as she reads this.

One thing I really miss about Australia is the big Aussie drenching storms. The way they blow the rain in sideways and, in summer, drop the temperature 15 degrees (celsius) in 10 minutes.

This rainbow was the result of one such storm at my parent’s house. It was a winter storm (winter being relative of course) and was very impressive. This is what it looked like just a few minutes before the rainbow…

Of course when you are in the middle of a drought – and the rain (or lack of it) is the primary topic of conversation – then it’s important to check the rain gauge after such a downpour. Yup, we had some rain. It was confirmed by the rain gauge.

We took a little fieldtrip to a little known Aboriginal historical site pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The photo above is Thomas standing in a field of canola for no reason other than his mother wanted to take a photo of him in a field of yellow flowers. He was surprisingly cooperative.

But that’s not what we came to see. We actually came to see this…

It looks like three holes in a big rock and…well…it is. But there’s a story. These pools are very deep and were carved out of the rock by Aboriginal hands hundreds of years ago. The pools are strategically situated to collect as much water as possible from the surrounding rocks, even during times of drought. Then the animals come to drink from the water and, well, the people need to eat so you can pretty much guess the rest of the story. The holes were chipped away over many many years and it’s all very impressive when you know the story and when you figure that these pools are so full even in the middle of the current drought.

The surrounding landscape is also very interesting.

I just love the variety of colours in the landscape. My parents tell me the purple flower is actually a weed but I think it looks pretty. Sometimes weeds get a bad rap.

And we even found some cool bones (blech!). Think these are from a Kangaroo or Wallaby but it’s hard to tell without the cute fluffy fur. Sigh!

But even with with all these interesting things to look at and learn about, it seems there was one person who was less than impressed. One day you too will get to touch animal skulls Samuel, and then you’ll truly appreciate it. Love this photo.

Warm enough for bare feet. In the middle of winter. Gotta love that.

Back to the homestead. I have to say it was nice to have a break from the traffic and noise and just have a chance to relax. And Thomas was happy – he found the dirt pile. Yes, a huge pile of dirt that my Dad created in the backyard became the playground of choice through the remainder of our visit. Samuel and I chose to spend our time lying on the grass and basking in the sunshine. Ahhhhhh!

That thing in Thomas’ hand is a fake wooden snake that looks frighteningly real. I admit that I screamed when Kei first pushed it in front of me. Hilarious.

The Wiggles – a three year old’s obsession. But unlike Thomas’ other obsessions (and there are MANY), this is one that I fully support for a few reasons – 1. He loves music 2. They’re not too annoying (unlike Elmo, for example) and their songs are sometimes quite catchy and 3. The Wiggles are Australian, which means they have Aussie accents. Anything that helps me reinforce the Aussie accent on a daily basis is OK with me.

Of course The Wiggles are popular in America but they are HUGE in Australia. A trip to the grocery store becomes a game of “Spot the Wiggles”. Wiggly canned spaghetti, Wiggly Yogurt, Wiggly Cookies and even special Wiggly DVDs that come with the newspaper.

…And then we visited the supermarket near my brother’s house and came across…. THE BIG RED CAR! How could I not pay the $2(!) to let him ride in the car and listen to the Wiggles sing to him from the dashboard? Thomas could barely contain his excitement so it was definitely worth it. I may have to print this photo and put it in his bedroom as a reminder.

The downside is that now we are back in The States and there is no Wiggly spaghetti or Wiggly yogurt and a trip to the grocery store has become a series of disappointments as I try to explain that the American Grocery store people just don’t appreciate The Wiggles as much as he does.

Good thing we stocked up on a few items of clothing while we were in Australia and the Wiggles figurines I bought proved priceless during our return trip layover. Now if only I can get Thomas to take off his Wiggly pyjamas so I can wash them…

The last night we spent at Uncle Ben and Auntie Em’s before leaving the big city. Tonight Ben had the honour of reading story after story to Thomas. Looks like they bonded.