our trip to Australia

As I had mentioned, we recently flew to Australia. Why? you may be wondering. Actually, you probably already know - we went for Kristin and Simon's wedding (hooray!). It was a beautiful day - Kristin looked every bit the beaming bride and Simon looked rather chuffed too. It made us all very happy to see them getting hitched, especially knowing how happy we are to be hitched. The wedding and reception was held at Narrapumelap (where our Wicky wedding reception was held last year). It was fun to re-visit, this time with Paloma on the outside.

I would love to show you some photos of the big day, but we ummmm... forgot the camera. Seriously. In all of the haste of getting out the door, having Paloma in her special dress, making sure that Mum had her corsage pinned on correctly, remembering all of the other little bits and pieces - we forgot our camera. I stole Kristin's camera for the night, so hopefully she will send me some photos soon. Otherwise, go and check out her facebook page. ;)

In lieu of wedding photos, we have some pre-wedding photos. I know it's not quite the same, but it's all part of the occasion. So here they are:

Paloma taking charge of table layout in the reception marquee. (Note that the Shakespeare Festival t-shirt that I am wearing is just as cool today as it was when I first wore it at high school.)

And didn't she do a nice job? Kristin, Simon and Dad all attempted to tie bows, but it was disastrous. Now I know why Dad always wears Blundstones (no shoelaces!).

Simon creatively responded to the fly problem. Howard is amazed and astounded by the sheer number of flies and their persistence.

Thankfully, we did manage to do a few other things while we were Down Under. For the first time, we got to see Paloma hang out without being bundled up. We had never really seen her arms and legs before, except in the bath. She coped pretty well with the heat, and we enjoyed dressing her in cute summer clothes (thanks Abby!).

Of course, being responsible parents, we were very wary of the harsh Aussie sun on new baby skin. Paloma seems to have inherited my fair complexion, so we slathered her in sunscreen. I think she kind of liked it.

The other good part about being in Australia, was meeting more special friends and family. We managed to snap a few pics with some people, but often got caught up in the moment and didn't pull out the camera. So, don't be offended if your photo isn't up here - we were just too busy enjoying your company.

By the way, did anyone manage to get a good photo of Nana T (Big Lois) with Paloma (Little LoLo)? I would love to have it!

Here is Paloma with her good friend Deana, and the very special Yuri. Yuri is very good at giving hugs when you need them. Actually, Deana is too!

Stuey, demonstrating the Bachelor Hold. He came down to visit us for an afternoon on the farm! Great to see you, Stuey-oh.

Stuey also caught up with us in Melbourne, the night before flying out, bringing Dean with him. Paloma really enjoyed getting to know Dean - I think she looks cranky because she wanted to stay and get to know him better. Hopefully, next time our visit will last a bit longer so we can spend some more time with everyone!

Elyjah, making sure that Paloma is sun-smart. This is the morning after the wedding, during breakfast at the footy shed. (Many thanks to Howard for cooking the bacon and eggs!) Elyjah sang at the wedding - wonderful!

Not surprisingly, Auntie Hel was found cuddling with Paloma. She had cuddles on the wedding night too - when I pointed out to her that there was a little bit of baby drool/puke on her shoulder, it made her even happier. Good on ya, Auntie Hel.

Grandma managed to squeeze in a few cuddles with Paloma too, even when busy in the garden. Paloma looks tuckered out - maybe jetlag?

And Grandpa enjoyed spending some time with Paloma too, even when making important business calls. Good multitasking skills, Dad!

Now that I have been through all of our photos, I suddenly realise that there are no photos of Paloma with Auntie Kristin or Uncle Simon. Egad?! How can this be? Can someone please email me some more photos???

FINALLY, did I mention that it was really hot (like, really REALLY hot) and we were all jetlagged for a couple of days?

It was lovely to see everyone, and we can't wait to see you all again! Come and visit, or find us on skype and you can check out Paloma (and the rest of the Brandenburdetts) in real life.

Paloma loves to fly!

When people hear that we have been to Australia, we are inevitably asked how Paloma was on the plane. It seems as though everyone has been on a plane with a screaming child at some stage. Well, I'm proud to say that wasn't our child - in fact, we actually got lots of compliments from other passengers about how quiet she was! Some people didn't even know that there was a baby on the plane - hooray! And word got around about how cool our baby girl was in the air. At LAX, one of the customs officials came through the line to find us because she had heard about this amazing baby that didn't cry on the plane. Wow.

See how easy this is?

[The truth is, she did cry a couple of times. Fortunately, the plane is loud and the crying is easy to fix right now - either change her nappy/diaper or feed her. And then she's happy for another couple of hours.]

We had a couple of layovers on the way to Melbourne - first in Los Angeles and then in Sydney. We had some time to kill in LAX, which is the busiest, boringest, yuckiest airport that I have frequented. Really, there are a couple of duty free shops, some very ordinary restaurants, and not a whole lot else. Oh, except long and crowded lines to get through security (at least we get shuffled through the short lines with Paloma!). Fortunately, we found a quiet spot in the corner and spent some time playing and stretching and getting ready for the big flight.

Paloma listening intently as Daddypapa explains about metal birds in the sky.

In some ways, I think she held up better than Howard and I from the long flight. She got to lay down in her own bed. LUCKY! She really liked the bassinet - it gave her room to move, she could play with a toy or watch the hostesses go by, or simply fall asleep. And we loved it too - I think I slept more on this flight with Paloma than I have ever slept before on a long flight. The seats we had with the bassinet had an extra couple of precious inches to stretch out our legs (AMAZING!). Plus, I didn't try to cram in watching ten billion movies like I usually do because I wanted to be able to hear Paloma if she did start to cry.

Her new favourite toy - Taggie Doll (thanks Auntie Rose!)

The domestic flights were not quite as luxurious - no bassinet for Paloma, so she ended up sitting on my lap. I'm still not quite over the shock that the American airlines don't provide seatbelts for infants, whereas the safety-conscious Australian ones do. However, it didn't seem to bother out little girl. She slept through most of the last leg, and didn't wake up until we were on the ground.

Check out the beautiful handmade bib - thanks Jill!

I hear that flying with kids becomes trickier once they get older and their legs start to work. That will be our next trip to Australia... Oh, well, I guess we'll just bask in the glory of this one until then!

back in Burque

We're back in Albuquerque after a lightning fast two weeks in Australia. It was wonderful to see everyone, especially those people who made huge efforts to find us in Wickliffe or Melbourne (you know who you are).

We flew back in yesterday and had a monster sleep last night (we were only going to have an afternoon nap, but didn't get up until the next morning...). Paloma was amazing on the plane - we received lots of compliments from other passengers. We are still recovering and getting used to the cold and lack of humidity, and none of us are looking forward to going back to work on Monday. Being on holiday is much more fun...

We will have more once the camera has been downloaded.