Australia!

Holy Crap!  I'm going to Australia.  I can hardly believe it.  The Bread Winner has to go there for travel (don't ask, I have NO idea what they heck he'll be doing.  don't know, don't care).  I do know that it means we have decided that the whole family will be going!  HOLY CRAP!

Now about 2 months ago when this first came up, I thought The Bread Winner was completely insane.  "Do you know how much that will cost?" I asked him.  "Once in a lifetime" is what he responded with.  And I have finally come around to agreeing with him on that one.  That does not mean that I'm not constantly thinking about how we will be paying for this trip for about 2 years.  But I remind myself that it is "once in a lifetime."

Which brings me to thinking about the stress of traveling with 2 kids (6 and almost 8 - his birthday will happen while we are in Australia! Unfortunately an 8 year old does not see that as a birthday present and will still ask for lame toys - priorities, priorities!). I have come to the conclusion that there will be meltdowns (for both kids and myself) at some point.  I wonder what the options are for medicating your children with Xanax like products? Okay, not really.

My kids travel REALLY well.  No throwing up.  No whining in the car.  No fighting.  No complaining that they are bored.  They can watch movies and play games for a good solid 5 hours with no issues.  But the flight to Australia is like 25 HOURS.  That's my typical car trip TIMES 5!  I'm not sure about this.  Of course we are going to do it.  No going back now.  But I still have some concerns.

One of them is that The Bread Winner will be flying over first.  So I won't have my partner in crime for occupying their time.  "Traveling by yourself on a 25 hour international flight with two kids?" you ask in shock and amazement!  No, I won't be alone.  My dad is going on this once in a lifetime event/vacation also.  And my brother is suppose to go too (if he can get his passport issues and other weird issues dealt with - don't ask, I can't talk about it right now without being frustrated).  I will have at least one extra body to help on the plane and in the airport and when I need someone to distract my child so I can smack them on the back of the head to knock them out for a couple hours.  I'm not that parent that thinks her kids are perfect.  I totally know they completely suck sometimes.  I totally expect for there to be at least a couple of those moments on this trip.  But I'm willing to roll with it all because "once in a lifetime" means exactly that.  I plan to enjoy this trip and make the most of it.  I'm sure I'll have pictures of wonderful happy family times.  I also promise to take pictures of the meltdowns just for posterity!

G'day mate!