Going places, doing things!

We have been going places and doing things. It's kind of novel, after so much pandemic and so many lockdowns. We can just do things these days because we do things. 

I went to Creswick for a couple of days. Creswick is a small town in regional Victoria. There was rain, and a hike. And we were told that "Wednesdays we wear pink." So I wore pink. 

Too bad my outer coats were purple. They detracted from the otherwise overall pink-ness. 

Caption on this photo below: Selfies are hard.

Rain.

Wet.

But still nice, even if wet.

Then two days later, I was on the other side of Victoria, on the Mornington Penninsula for a work event. They put my in a room with a nice view.

But I didn't actually get to appreciate the view or the room much, because of the work event thing that took up all the daylight hours.

Back home, while riding public transit on the weekend, my map showed that I was passing a Melbourne Tram Museum. That sounded interesting. I looked it up. The museum is open only 24 days per year, but the next day happened to be one of them! 

Text to Tim and Jonathan: We are going to the Melbourne Tram Museum tomorrow. 

And we went. 

You could walk in and around the old trams, dating back to the 1880s. 

We got in on a free tour, too. What a deal!

And finally, while walking through the Botanic Gardens in the middle of the day, I saw various signs and setup for a light show they were running. So again a text to Tim and Jonathan: 

We're going to the Botanic Gardens light show event thingy. 

And we went. 

 Going places again. Doing things. It's kind of nice. Novel. 

Award ceremony

 Jonathan did really well in his high school exams overall. He was invited to an awards ceremony at the Melbourne Convention Centre to receive a special achievement award. He was also invited last year, to receive a different award, but last year the ceremony was cancelled due to Covid lockdowns. So it was really really nice to be able to go this year. 

... Except that the ceremony lasted three hours, and we had to get there early, and my hands kind of hurt from applauding.

But it wasn't about me. It was about Jonathan, who is great, and a great way to say goodbye to high school (six months ago) and celebrate his success. 

After the ceremony, while we were standing in line for a photo-op, I was staring around the room and started wondering, why can't I read that sign against the wall? And then I shifted a bit and looked at it again, and realised that it wasn't the sign -- it was my brain. There was a sharp zigzag splitting up the back  of my eyeball. 

Migraine aura. 

I have only had three of these before in my life -- this was the fourth. The last time I had one, within a half hour I was flat in bed with a massive headache, that turned into a night vomiting on the bathroom floor.

I grabbed Jonathan and told him I had to leave. "You stay here with Tim. Get the photos. I have a migraine aura, and need to go home."

Of course, Jonathan was very concerned. And Tim was very concerned. But I wasn't yet in pain. I had time to get home and prepare. So I did. 

Out the door, on the tram, back home. I took the last of my migraine-suppressor prescription pills, cancelled my evening meeting with Europe, and went to bed, where I could focus on breathing and not vomiting. 

Tim and Jonathan stayed in the photo-op line, and took some really nice photos. 

Congratulations, Jonathan. 

And perhaps in passing, note that even though the event was not about me, and had nothing to do with me, and was extra special for Jonathan, somehow the post ended up being about me anyway. 

Stupid migraine. 

Finishing the Hawaii photos

We've now been home from the Hawaii vacation for three weeks, and it is time to post the rest of the photos and move on to other adventures! So here are some adventure photos. 

We left the Pink Palace right after the surfing lessons, and headed toward Fun and Adventure Land. As we took the shuttle, unfortunately that salt water in my sinuses became a headache, and I just needed to rest my head. But alas, we couldn't check in at Fun and Adventure Land yet, and unlike the Pink Palace before check in, there were a fierce group of Tiger Mamas guarding all the empty pool chairs. All of them. So we gave the hotel people our suitcases, but took our backpacks with passports down to the beach and huddled under the shade of a palm tree while I tried not to be grumpy. And failed. 

But Fun and Adventure Land was lots of fun. There were pools, water slides, and a lazy river. From this photo you can see the lazy river.

And Grandma and Grandpa took us all to a fabulous fancy Fun and Adventure Land dinner. 

 

I didn't take many other Fun and Adventure Land photos. The headache was part of it. I skipped the breakfast that led to the photo below.

But also I was having fun. Or waiting in long lines to have fun. There were some of those. And trying to stay out of the way of the fierce Tiger Mamas. 

Here is a photo of Jonathan and Tim at dinner. Finding dinner for a vegan teenager was extremely difficult during the entire vacation. Many restaurants had zero options. Some only had dessert options. Dessert or fruit alone is not going to feed the teenager. At this place, they had a plant-based burger and everything, but when we double checked that it was vegan, they had to run into the kitchen and substitute out the bun, because it was slathered in cow butter. Boo. But in the end, tasty.

We flew to Maui. This beautiful green garden happens to be inside security at the Honolulu airport. Check in, go through security. Sit at your gate, or wander out to the garden for some serenity. I am a big big fan of airports with serene tropical gardens inside security.

We all bought Hawaiian clothes.

We took them out to a fancy fish -- and, er, vegan -- dinner in Maui. Thanks Emily!

Here is a picture of Tim and Jonathan checking out the rocks in their Hawaiian shirts. You can see that they just blend into the scenery.

We were in a condo by the ocean in Maui, with a nice pool.

And nice sunsets. That was a feature of the condo: pink sunsets and palm trees.

We took a boat trip out to an old volcanic crater to do some snorkeling. This is what we looked like on the boat.

And this. Although only the three middle people are from our party.

And this is what we looked like snorkeling. You understand why we didn't take many pictures of the snorkeling. We were in the water.

Group photo.

Unfortunately I continued to be plagued by headaches, and the skin on my fingers broke out into a rash and started peeling. I wondered if it could be the extra sugar I was consuming? I decided to try to cut the pure sugar items out of my diet. So here I am eating a Hawaiian shave ice -- with just the ice. Everyone laughed at me, but it was good.

What else? More beaches. 

Long walks.

Fruity drinks. Except I was trying not to partake due to the headaches and peeling skin thing.

And then finally, goodbye, Hawaii.

After a long, long flight, we were back in Melbourne.

Where it was winter. And there was frost. This photo shows real life: frosty winter.

Welcome back, real life.