Arrived in Adelaide

We arrived in Adelaide this morning after a flight on which I was "startled" a few times. Startled is my new favorite word and is an AKA for "stressed out an in a panic". We arrived at the airport at 7.20am thanks to Sandy's athletic driving through a detour from the Sydney Harbor Bridge, we had moments to spare. We arrived at check in and the lovely Qantas assistant at the e-ticket booth encouraged me to try e-checkin with my e-ticket. It was straightforward and she commented "You know, people often are startled by it but it works well."

Since I was anything but startled (imagine getting up at 5am with 3 kids between us and 8 pieces of luggage) it has really stuck with me as a nice gentle way of describing a more chaotic mental state. I was in this state for much of the flight to Adelaide because Wren yelled and performed and was impatient the whole way.

We are now HERE and Frost and Wren have already played in the sprinkler, eaten milo, played with Roy and gone to sleep. For the second night in a row Frost fell asleep with the lights on without saying goodnight. Last night was on the couch in the living room in the middle of a pizza party but tonight he fell asleep with his finger still marking his place in the latest Mistmantle book he was reading.

Before the big collapse this evening the kids saw the koala in the tree by the front lawn, Frost was bitten by a stinging ant and Wren already knows that he must not touch snakes. Frost wants to go off exploring but has been told not to.

Both boys are a bit afraid of Roy, the 4kg Cairn Terrier puppy who is mum's new dog. Roy has little sharp teeth but is really sweet. He sits down when Wren tells him but then Wren continues to speak to him so both of them are confused. Roy was scared when Wren through a page of the paper at him and it opened into a big wafty flap like a ghost. He now stays away from Wren.

Meanwhile, Frost said he could not read because the birds are too noisy. Those would be the lorikeets and Australian Magpies who had congregated in the trees outside.

I will post more tomorrow. We hope to go to the beach early, before the heat. I am Very Tired.