Spring break

Jonathan is at the tail end of two weeks of school holidays, which I will call "spring break". Our family has been on vacation, although the rest of the family is now back in Melbourne. I stayed a few extra days in another country to get some work done while I am less jet-lagged.

Here are a few photos of our vacation. See if you can guess where we've been each day based on the photos. I'll probably post the answers in a later blog post, if I don't get too distracted.

18 September. Where were we? (Difficulty: Medium)

19 September. Where were we? (Difficulty: Easy. Although the weather on the third photo will totally throw you off.)

20 September. (Difficulty: Hard.)

21 September. (Difficulty: Very Easy.)

22 September. (Difficulty: Hard.)

23 September. Where were we? (Difficulty: Probably impossible with this photo alone. Hint: there was a plane ride between the previous photo and this one.)

24 September. (Difficulty: Hard. But easier if you know who the extra two kids are in the second photo.)

25 September. Where were we? (Difficulty: Medium.)

26 September. Where were we? (Difficulty: Impossible unless you know the two kids above. Then easier.)

In all, we had an exceptionally nice vacation. We saw lots of very cool things, and some of our favorite people in the world, and there was even less arguing than sometimes happens on family vacations.

Spring

Spring is here! Or it's coming. Or both! That's the way Spring does it's thing. It's coy. Teasing. Sly. Spring.

We went for a spring walk along the Yarra River. I want you to notice how tall the small one has become. All his imported clothing is getting too short, too snug, too worn. He wears a uniform to school, and that still fits, so he isn't desperate for new things. But school holidays are coming, and I think he will be in trouble in a couple of weeks when he has to wear something else. 

Meanwhile, the boy is still his crazy self. Lately, his crazy self has had a thing with the French national anthem. It's like the French national anthem got into his belly, and it just belches out at random times. I will be sitting quietly, doing important quiet things like internet surfing, when suddenly behind my left ear I hear an explosion:

ALLONS ENFANTS DE LA PATRIE!

And then I jump, and scream a little, and the spouse and I yell at the boy to QUIET DOWN! And we go back to our quiet lives doing our quiet things until it suddenly belches out again:

LA JOUR DE GLOIRE EST ARRIVE!

I don't know how the French national anthem got in there, but I wish I knew how to get it out. Antacid maybe?

The first picture above was lovely, but not native. I leave you with a final picture, native wattle flowers. They smell wonderful. I love you, Spring.