A few more photos of my favourite photos from Aus. This is one of my favourites because it so clearly represents how we spent a great deal of our first couple of weeks while we were there – watching the sun dip below the horizon as we sipped wine and watched the children wrestle each other to the ground. The final week was a whirlwind of wedding prep and not quite as relaxing, and this photo doesn’t show the mosquitos that left us scratching our legs for the next few days, but I think it tells a story. A true vacation shot.

By way of introduction, that’s my new sister-in-law Emma looking at the camera. My brother Ben (Emma’s husband) is standing behind her and that’s Danny, one of the best men, standing off to the left and smoking a pipe. Yes, a pipe.

I am primarily a portrait photographer but I like to work on my landscape photography in the hope that I might one day be able to catch the sort of image that I want to hang on my wall (or someone else’s. One can dream). Australia provided me with numerous landscapes to practice my skills. Of course now I have the desire to invest thousands of dollars in prime wide-angle lenses… It’s a side effect of this little obsession.

Taken by the side of the road as the men changed a flat tyre. The sky really is that blue.

Rays from behind the clouds on Easter eve.

A very calm St. Kilda Beach.

One last sunset.

I took this photo of the full moon shining on the lake during our Aussie visit. Yes, the moon, not the sun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moon that big or that bright and I am surprised that it translated so well through the camera lens. I didn’t have a tripod so I sat on the ground, resting my elbows on my legs to try and hold the camera steady. The result was a lot less blurry than I feared and almost as beautiful as the real thing.

As I mentioned last week, we recently returned from a trip to Australia. Whenever we mention to people that we will be travelling to Aus, the very first question is usually “How LONG is that FLIGHT? How will you manage with two kids?”. My response is usually “REALLY long (about 24 hours including layovers)” and “oh, we’ve done this many times. We have it down to a science.

And, it’s true, we have spent the past 4-5 years perfecting our travel procedure to make it the most comfortable for our kids and, more importantly, for us. Surprise toys (bribes) to pull out at key moments; just the right amount of candy to motivate but not send them into a sugar spiral; strategic naps for parents to ensure at least one of us is on the ball at all times.

It’s true that we have done everything in OUR power to ensure the least stressful travel situation possible. However we found out on this trip that some things are not in our power and that at the end of the day we are really at the mercy of the airlines, and that if they choose to screw up your experience then there are really not enough toys to make it bearable.

This is part 1 of my 2 part ode to United Airlines – an airline that I DID NOT CHOOSE to fly with, but who still managed to make ours a flight from hell. If you are not interested in listening to my tale of woe then, by all means, please skip directly to the photos. If you want to hear more, then I will start at the very beginning.

In fairness, the first mixup was my fault. I found myself needing to drop something off at work the morning of the day of our flight so, with two kids in tow, I drove 30 minutes for a little adventure at Mummy’s work. While I was there I thought I would do the responsible thing and take photocopies of all six of our passports just in case…

Then we went home, packed everything up, had a friend drive us to the airport and went to check in our baggage. It was at that moment that I realised I had left two of the passports on the copier at work. It was 2pm, our connecting San Francisco flight was due to leave at 4:30pm and my work was a 1 hour round trip. I quickly went into recovery mode and called a friend at work asking her to have the passports urgently couriered over to the airport while we waited impatiently. In the meantime we were able to check in two of our bags under Thomas’ passport, but had to hold on to the third (this will be important later).

After a tense hour or so, the courier finally arrived, in plenty of time to make our connecting flight, only when we went back to the counter and tried the self check-in we found that it had been delayed. Of course we were asked to go and stand in another line where we could see if another flight was available. There were only two people in line in front of us and the one woman behind the counter was moving at a snail’s pace (actually there were many people behind the counter but only one seemed to be helping anyone. The rest were too caught up in their own conversations to notice the tense looking family who were afraid of missing their connecting flight).

Finally we reached the front of the line and the customer service person proceeded to call another airline to see if there were any seats. Overhearing one side of the conversation it seemed as though we had just missed out (would a quicker line have helped?). We were then informed that our plane was, in fact, delayed but they had managed to transfer us to the United Airlines flight out of San Francisco to Australia. My heart sank. I had purposefully paid a little more to fly with Air New Zealand because a previous flight to Australia with United had been so uncomfortable so I was disappointed that we were no longer able to make our original flight. Well, at least we’ll get there, I told myself.

So, after telling us that she would have to re-tag our bags by hand and handing over three boarding passes, it seemed that we might soon be on our way. I asked why we didn’t receive a boarding pass for Samuel and was told that, as an infant, it was not their policy to provide a boarding pass for him. This, too, will be important later.

After going through security we found that our flight was delayed further until 9:30pm (a problem with the plane, not the weather), but, thankfully we were able to get on another flight and finally took to the air at 7:30pm – 5.5 hours after we arrived at Portland Airport.

As you are probably guessing due to the fact that this is only Part 1, things were about to get worse. Much worse. I’ll come back to share more of my tale of woe tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy a few photos from our time in the airport while I quietly give thanks for Star Wars toys, portable DVD players and plane spotting.

I began editing some photos from my weekend photo shoot and this one jumped out at me.

Thomas’ very first visit to the dentist. Of course they laughed when I pulled out the big camera to memorialize the occasion, but isn’t your first dentist appointment something you want to remember? Many years down the track, Thomas will look back on these pictures and remember how your and innocent and cavity free he was. And, as someone begins drilling into one of his molars, he’ll be able to reflect on a time when the dentist was a fun, new experience full of free toothbrushes and star wars figurine bribes.

Yes – I bribed my son to go to the dentist.

It was the pleas of “I don’t want to go Mummy” that finally got me. That, and the fact that our dentist office is right beside Fred Myer. I think they planned it that way.

Actually, there really wasn’t much for me to worry about. We began with the hygenist introducing Thomas to all the cool tools (no drills!). The mirror was his favourite and he asked for it again and again. I’m sure he gets his vanity from his father.

The cool glasses were also a hit. I’m surprised he gave them back.

And there was not even one tiny complaint when some strange woman began shoving her fingers in his mouth. I always complain when that happens.

Final verdict – beautiful teeth. Straight, healthy and clean. He gets THAT from his mother.

I just love it when I come across stuff on the web that explains how I’m feeling about a topic far better than I could do myself. I really don’t understand the attraction of Twitter and the video explains why. AND it’s hilarious.

Samuel experienced his very first ear infection a few weeks ago. It was bad with infections in both ears and a great deal of pain and lost sleep. I took this photo in the doctor’s office right before she wrote a prescription for his second round of antibiotics to get rid of the stubborn infection once and for all.

It got worse last night with our very first trip to the ER. It seems this little boy has an allergy to Penicillin. An allergy that showed itself through symptoms like vomiting, puffy eyes and a rash that covered most of his stomach and went up under his arms. The symptoms appeared at 12:30 last night and I spent the next 5 or so hours in the Emergency Room – about 3 and a half of them sitting in a uncomfortable chair before they moved us to an examining room. I was worried and scared but held it together until I reached the admitting window and then I very nearly lost it. The only other time that I had experienced this type of panic was when I was giving birth to Thomas.

We are lucky that we have one of the very best pediatric ER’s in the state just minutes up the road at the same hospital where both boys were born. It meant that we could sit in a waiting room with other parents and their children in a special waiting room, rather than being subjected to other traumas that might come through the door. The worst thing I had to witness was a mother who, after telling me that her son was in the ER for the second night in a row for Asthma, stepped outside to have a cigarette. I held my tongue but I was dying to ask her what she was thinking exposing her son to a habit that could further endanger his health.

The good news is that now we know about Samuel’s allergy and can avoid penicillin so it doesn’t happen again. The bad news is that we need to give him medication every six hours – especially painful now that he’s just started sleeping through the night. Nevertheless he is on the road to recovery and I am about to catch up on some much needed sleep. I know that with two boys this is likely not our last visit to the ER but I would be happy not to have to go through it again.