Blake sees us off at the airport - Benjy throws up all over Blake and himself
For starters I don't recommend flying solo with children - though it can be done, fun it is not. The boys were mostly reasonably well behaved, though Flynn had some moments of high naughtiness/frustration (jumping in the seat, yelling at other folk over the top of seat, making a strobe effect with the window shade while all were sleeping, turning off his movie repeatedly and then asking me to reset, turning on and off the lights and assistance button) and Benjy lost the plot at one point. We did not get a bassinet which made things lots harder, though we did have a spare seat next to us. Benjy had two short catnaps on my lap but refused to sit/lay on the spare seat. The flight was full so almost no help from staff - and then there was the fight...
Not a good start, but I started the journey with a fight with the hoity-toity middle-aged English woman in front of me, who fully reclined her seat as soon as the plane took off. I had Benjy on my knee and you can imagine how this might not be ideal.
Not a good start, but I started the journey with a fight with the hoity-toity middle-aged English woman in front of me, who fully reclined her seat as soon as the plane took off. I had Benjy on my knee and you can imagine how this might not be ideal.
I told her my predicament and she huffed that she had just flown 15 hours and wanted some sleep. I asked her if she could swap seats with her companion and she snapped that she didn't like aisle seats and I should be the one to move. I asked her how I could look after both kids unless I sat in the middle between them. She was not interested in reasoning so I told her she was a selfish cow and good luck with a nice sleep because I could not stop my baby from slapping the back of her seat for 10 hours - should she wish to remain reclined. (Benjy was very helpfully, vigourously slapping her seat at this point and her nasty hair was getting nicely caught up in it all).
She realised she was defeated and flounced off to the staff and got moved. Ahhh, victory! (I was ready to pull out the sticky foods so that Benjy could add some goo to her hair too, so lucky she saw sense).
Anyways, we arrived in NZ at midnight and after customs, etc, I watched our hotel shuttle pulling out as we exited the terminal with our half-ton of baggage precariously balanced on a trolley. A half-hour wait (boys being very good despite it being right on their bedtime) and off to the airport hotel (an misnomer really considering its distance). Once there Benjy really lost the plot but we were finally all in bed and mostly sleeping by 3am.
Next day, up and off again for the plane to Wellington. Yay, a drive to Waikanae and we're sorted for a couple of weeks.
Auntie Lisa and Jordan
Auntie Nina and Jordy
Flynn scrubs Nana's deck, most days in fact
Flynn gets a story while Benjy explores the premises
Lots of park time
Bathtime!
Bread for the ducks... and the duck-feeder
Lots of cafe time!
Flynn's a sucker for a good soy fluffy!
...And a good set of swings
Nana and Flynn had fun jumping waves on Waikanae beach
And feeding the animals at Lindale Farm
(Flynn keeps a healthy distance)
(Flynn keeps a healthy distance)
Grandad Pat came to visit
The Three Musketeers
We visited a bird nature reserve
Benjy was mostly just impressed by the ducks
And his teething carrot!
Benjy got his first two teeth in our first week in NZ so he was not the happiest of chaps - especially when combining tooth pain with jetlag and a cold. He did however overcome these difficulties and manage to learn how to do proper crawling (all fours) and climbing up to standing.
Stay tuned for the Auckland and Nelson blogs...
