Weekend was really good – but a bit crazy!

I took Friday off work so the new boy and I could drive down to Bateman’s Bay to spend the weekend with his folks. This is the first ‘out of city’ trip I’ve done since I got my full licence and it makes a HUGE difference going 110 than it does 100!

We stopped in Berri and had a picnic that we’d packed that morning with chicken salad rolls and cherries and Tim tams and it was really nice!

We finally got to Bateman’s and soon realised that the relaxing grown up weekend we were looking forward to was NOT going to happen.

The inhabitants of the house for the family weekend are as follows:

His mum - Lee
His dad - Steve
His sister – Simone
Her husband – Matt
Her best friend that she cannot possibly go ANYWHERE with - Rachel
Their son – Antonio (11months)
His other sister – Gabby
Her partner – di(khead (sorry, Mal)
Her son – Jacob (6yrs)
Her daughter – Chantae (5yrs)
Me - Ella
Him – TNB (The New Boy)

Gabby, Mal, Jacob and Chantae all live together about 4 houses down – but you wouldn’t know it cause they were there all the time!

Keep these names in mind; they’ll all play a part in my story.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and Jacob – who absolutely IDOLISES TNB showed us the calendar that marked off how many big sleeps til Uncky TNB was coming to play! So I lost him for the weekend

Antonio was sick all weekend, and slept in about 45 min stints and cried in between – which means that WE slept in 45 min stints.

Rachel was in the room with the single bed; Matt, Simone and Antonio were in the other room which left us in the front room on a futon. Would have been perfectly fine if not for the screaming baby that wasn’t ours!

Gabby...she’s what you’d call the black sheep of the family. She turned 21 in February (if you’ll refer to the list you’ll see she’s the mother of the 6 and 5 year old. Her third is due in 3 weeks) She’s great to hang out with – she’s funny and relaxed and I always look forward to seeing her – but she’s coping as a mother, she’s not excelling at it.

Jacob looks so forward to TNB being there because it’s the only time adults really play with him. Mal is a bastard. When TNB took a break from running around to have a drink or talk to his mum – Mal would say things like “Uncky TNB doesn’t like you and he’s sick of playing with you. He wishes you’d leave him alone cause he didn’t come to visit you” I tried to reassure him that that WASN’T the case – but 6yr olds have long memories.

Chantae’s overjoyed whenever anyone pays her any attention. She’s so shy and so quiet that I think she gets overlooked a lot. I was sitting in the sun on Saturday talking to Lee and Chantae was playing with a sticker book next to me. I asked her if she could put a sticker on my cheek and she fearfully whispered “Are you sure you won’t get mad?” So she spent the next half hour covering my arms in stickers while I sat there enjoying the sun. I don’t think anyone’s ever just sat with her and played. She doesn’t start kindy til next year, she doesn’t go to playgroup and she doesn’t like the loud running around games that her brother plays. She’s happy to just sit quietly at the adults table just so she feels included, so she spent a lot of time on my lap. It was like she was too scared to move or talk because she was worried I’d remember she was there and make her get off. I wanted to take her home with me!

We’re going back for 10 days in September – so I’m going to make an effort to maybe take her out and buy a fairy colouring book and some pencils so we can colour in together for a bit.

So it was really good to see everyone and when we go back in Sep we’ll have the room Simone and Matt were in – which will make all the difference – but I’ve never been so happy to go home to an empty house and sleep in a quiet locked house!

I took pics while i was away - so i'll update as soon as i get them off the camera!