Holiday postcard day 5

This was my favourite part of today.

Silence.

From both children. At the same time. For an hour.

Oh holidays! They are wonderful and terrible all at the same time aren’t they? I won’t go on, but I will, because it’s my blog, but the girls have been SO exhausting this holiday. The sheer attitude, emotion and anger about EVERYTHING from the 5 yr old has been staggering. Beyond comprehension really. Add in a 2 yro who copies EVERYTHING her big sister does and it’s been a recipe of eye rolling disasters. The amount of times I have asked the girls to just turn down their volume. Be considerate of each others. Be grateful for new experiences. And new things. Be appreciative of a meal being provided by them. It’s just crazy. Rob and I asked the girls to be quiet 16,789 times and lost our shit 12,376 times today. And I’m not exaggerating. How do you shake sense into your kids? I know it’s age and excitement, but sweet baby cheeses I am counting down the hours until we get home so I can scream at them in the comfort of my own home and feed them bread and water and ban TV and not care less about their cries of indignation. I just do not care what they think. I SWEAR as a child I was actually grateful for things. I SWEAR I must have been. I remember enjoying holidays, and new times and just being with my family. Not crying because we had to eat out and have something like fish and chips and LEMONADE for lunch. The cruelty of it!

OK. Enough. Here! Look at the pretty!

And there was pretty. We drove up to the Hills, then out to the Barossa Valley for the day and then back to the Hills for the night. We saw some pretty landscape. Tasted some pretty special wine (and took some home in the boot). I love discovering different parts of this wonderful country – like the Snowy Mountains earlier in the year, and now South Australia. What a place Australia is.

I think my favourite part of this place is the stone. In every building, and house, amazing stone. It’s unique to SA and something beautiful to behold.

As is the shiraz from this place.

See? Stone. And vines. Endless vines.

Yes, it makes up for all the rest.

Comments

  1. Iblame the Goddamn Carbon Tax.

    Today our perfect baby pulled about 1000 ties out of Mr FF’s tie vitrine, threw cheese all over a vavcummed floor and performed many other defiant naughty acts.

    It’s a good thing we love him- we’ve become Parents Who Shout at Babies.

    Children of the 70s were grateful. How I LONGED for chips and lemonade.

    And we are sick too.

    It’s really a Bridge Too Far.

    x

  2. I was tortured for 2 hours in the car today by a 6 year old disco diva. I lost my shit at them on Monday in a car park. We seem to be living parallel lives at the moment, but you are in a much more lovely environment.

    And you have access to a cellar door. I have the drive through bottle-o xxx

  3. I commiserate I really do…I have 2 weeks at home with my boys & I am excited , really I am, but I swear if they don’t listen to me THE FIRST TIME I’m gonna loose my shit & send them to camp! If I spend 2 weeks yelling & breaking up fights & keeping track of how long one has been on the PS3 I’ll be a mental case. Tim is away for work for 4 weeks so if he comes home & we are all happy & still talking to each other it’ll be a good day…man, kids are hard work aren’t they lol

  4. One of the biggest gripes for my 4 children is eating out for lunch, they are such homegrown types, even as teens, they loathe the choices, so when on holidays, i make sandwiches (the good old shop bought BBQ chicken, ham & rolls, $15 for everyone with leftovers too) does the trick. Yes, the humanity of a treat!! I’m still cruel, i take water bottles, everywhere.
    I’ve decided, upon reading my children’s flawless school reports, they save up all their attention, listening & goodness at school, so they go wild in the holidays, luckily now they are old enough to send out on bikes or to the park, alone, brilliant whie we’re cooking dinner (we have a crap back garden) & they come back, well – more pent up with energy but at least we’ve experienced some quiet.
    When i had a very forward 2 year old (before her sisters arrived on the scene) her Nanny would hand her back at the end of the day saying “she had an attitude adjustment today” or as she actually referred to it as “she was in AA for most of the day” & boy did i love that Nanny (retired paediatric nurse) didn’t take crap from anyone or any child, she was brilliant & never had to yell, she had scary kind of respect, so wish i learnt it too. I just say to my children “look, i’m not paid to hang out or be with you, it’s pure love, show me some too. Of course with exciting-daddy-home-from-war, i’m background noise. Sorry for the essay. We’re just starting our school holidays in Canberra!!
    Gorgeous views, what amazing scenery, wishing you speedy recovery from your surgery, ick, love Posie

  5. I am starting to get traumatised at the thought of our mini break coming up. with Miss almost 3. I am barely sane at the mo, dealing with her, and she is at childcare fulltime. glad you’re enjoying your SA holiday, despite small people. xo

  6. Thanks for this Ms Mac. Your honesty is refreshing and comforting. It’s often hard being a parent. Plus, you must still be recovering from surgery, and travelling is tiring. What a beautiful place Australia seems to be.

  7. my 2 have been feral this weekend too… mind boggling feral. no excuse feral. bah!

    I am over it as well, but dont nearly have the pretty backdrop to make it better. just a messy messy house that I couldnt face cleaning today with a feral headache to match the feral children.

    and 2 weeks to go on holidays. joy.

  8. ahhhh i think i have their other two sisters here, my girls are exactly the same !!! slightly similiar in age 5 and 7 but OMG you hit the nail on the head. Appreciation and gratefullness seems to have gone out the window, but im not letting them out of it that easy.

    Oh yes LEMONADE ! i hear you xx here is to back to school and bread and water x

  9. ps i did mutter something about boarding school on one occasion but it wasnt within their earshot

  10. As usual your honesty is a comfort to us all. If I never read “what example are you setting for your children when you yell” again it will be too soon.

  11. I lost my shit at my dog just now. He wasnt do anything but I feel left out.
    T x

  12. Sorry to hear your holiday hasn’t been as relaxing as you’d hoped, but on the topic of wineries, You made some good picks in the ones you visited. Did you do the tasting at Two Hands? highly likely you came across our dear friend who is the cellar door manager. We are fortunate to have quite the supply of their wines. I love your blog Beth too, one of the nicest 5 minutes of the day when I actually get to sit down, have a read of what you’ve been up too and stop chasing naughty 19 month old around x

  13. I couldn’t help myself yesterday, I said to Grover, ‘Oh look at the sky Groves, isn’t it such a lovely blue?’

    His reply, ‘NO IT’S NOT.’ said in a tone and at such a volume I thought I could hear the horsemen of the apocalypse coming down the street.

    Yeah, I’m hearing you loud and clear. Drink!

  14. So as well as the rolling eyes do others get the shudder too. MIss Seven, granddaughter, tried that on me last week when she found the tiniest piece of zucchini in a meatloaf which up till then, she had been enjoying and eating well. Shudder, shudder. And the bad eye on me too. Shudder didn’t go down well at all.

  15. Amazing pics lady, I have never been to SA, but it certainly looks like something special… and so different to the other states in Aus. And as for the kids, I AM HEARING YOU. We try not to spoil the boys too much, but take them out somewhere or on holidays and they have the potential to act like the biggest brats on the planet. Must be the age… dear lord I hope it’s the age. It will be nice when they get to a point where they just sit down and have a meal and a convo with us, without the attitude xo

  16. Our 4.5yo was the same just recently in Melbourne . You want to give them these great experiences but then they create such a fuss about everything. I think you just have to power through cause he still enjoyed himself even though we felt like we were constantly yelling at him.

  17. Our 4.5yo was the same just recently in Melbourne . You want to give them these great experiences but then they create such a fuss about everything. I think you just have to power through cause he still enjoyed himself even though we felt like we were constantly yelling at him.

  18. I can relate to this soooo much. Thankyou for sharing. I am baffled by my 5 years attitude lately and the lack of gratitude gets to me like nothing else. I’m struggling to cope with it actually. Where the hell did i go so wrong?! And i have a 3 year old too just following in her footsteps…… AAAARHRHhhgH

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