It’s been months, over 9 to be exact, since I last contributed to our Mills Family blog so I felt compelled to share our latest post.  We just returned from Fiji last night…we arrived on Mother’s Day weekend.  Therefore Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the blessed mothers out there!  We were thinking of all of you on that day while we were soaking up rays and playing in the sand.  ;-)  Why Fiji you may ask?  Our other destinations probably didn’t strike as many questions given our location here in Australia and Fiji also happens to be an annual destination for many Aussies and Kiwis (that or Bali) as Fiji was just 4(ish) hours flight time away.  We read that the beaches were nicer in Fiji as opposed to Bali so that’s how we made our final call on our tropical destination.  Nothing will ever beat our honeymoon destination in Bora Bora of course, but Fiji was a great family destination.  We stayed on Denarau Island, as that’s where all the large hotel chains were located as well as the main docking port for ships (therefore a good tourist spot with some restaurants and shops).  There were lots of families with 2 kids, lots of prams, etc. Unlike our visit to Bora Bora which required flying into Tahiti, staying a night, taking a smaller flight to Bora Bora, then taking a boat ride to our resort, this time we wanted to make our travel time to the resort as short as possible given Wesley was in tow.  Wesley especially enjoyed it the most!  Infact, he wanted to share what he did so he’s our guest contributor to this blog post:

I played in the sand….

I swam….

I walked on the beach and stared at the waves….

I played some more…..

I rode the Bula Bus to and from the Port….

I played in the fountain at the Port Marina….

I slept in my ‘private’ makeshift cot….

I got Mr.Bear dirtier with each passing day and drove mom nuts with the smell!….

And believe it or not, I also took time to relax…

What else did mom and dad think of Fiji?  It was a great time, however, we were somewhat disappointed with the food.  What do you expect to get on a tropical island?  For me, impeccable seafood and an abundance of good fruits.  We didn’t think the seafood was that great, fish selection seemed to be Walu, Walu, or Walu. We had a good fish dinner one evening (thank goodness as the restaurant was called “Flying Fish”), but other times at dinner buffets the fish was super dry.  As for fruit, the only thing that really stood out was the pineapple for me and Joe enjoyed the bananas. Wesley, who usually has a banana every morning, was not favorable toward the Fijian banana.  He ate some watermelon and oranges when we could find the sweet ones.  We couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be an excessive amount of employees….everywhere.  For instance, this cafe (a small counter specifically) that we’d get our daily afternoon tea (or coffee rather), 1 employee would ask what we wanted, another employee would make the coffee, another employee would get the food we wanted, another employee would take our payment.  We’d be thinking “this operation needs 2 employees, tops!”  We’re not against employing the locals but there’s got to be a better way to keep everyone busy.  Even at the airport, while we were waiting for our flight (2 hours), there was a group of employees just chillin’ in the corner and talking.  Seriously?

Hard to believe in just 8 short weeks, we will already be on a plane for our annual visit home!  I’m on the hunt for a good dinner destination for myself and Joe, please share any recommendations!  In the mean time, we leave you with this amazing view of a Fijian sunset…

It has been a rough week for Wesley. We’ve had some runny noses and sniffles and other minor issues since his birth, but this felt like his first real sickness. I think what made it more “real” this time is that you could tell from Wesley’s overall mood that he was sick. Instead of running around and getting into everything, he has slowly plodded around the house and played with things more gently. It started out on Sunday with a runny nose and slight cough. Napping and sleeping became a problem because his stuffed up nose was making it hard to breathe so he wasn’t getting enough rest. We found out from the doctor today that he has some kind of sore throat which would explain him losing his appetite. Wednesday was the worst because his cough sounded wetter and he was very tired. After I got him up from a restless morning nap, he came out into the living room and just laid on the floor for part of the morning. In the afternoon, I laid him in the cot at 2 and he stayed there until 5. I’m sure he didn’t sleep the whole time, but since he was quiet, I didn’t want to bother him. He seemed to be in better spirits today, so we are hoping he has seen the worst of it.

I guess stories of children playing with odd items is nothing new, but I think Wesley takes it to another level some times. For instance, this past Thursday, Aimee allowed Wesley to play with her (unplugged) hair dryer. After she left for work, Wesley played with the hair dryer for at least 45 minutes. Dad was not needed to provide entertainment. He was happy picking it up, playing with the cord, dropping it on the floor and dragging it on the ground. We left to go swimming which takes about three hours of our time. As soon as we returned home, right back to the dryer. Go down for a nap…wake up…dryer. When Aimee got home, he kept handing it to her. At first, we thought he wanted her to turn it on, but I think he just wanted to prove he knew that it was Mom’s hair dryer. His attention towards the dryer has obviously waned but he still plays with it and even requests it when he sees it on top of the dresser. You want to know why they like these strange items, but it is probably better to know he can entertain himself with almost anything.

I’m finding out that the way kids learn things doesn’t make a lot of sense. For months, we had been feeding Wesley water with a sippy cup. We will offer it to him and he will open his mouth wide or push it away. For the most part, he made no attempt to hold the bottle himself…which is what I was expecting at some point. Last week, Aimee decided to break out a cup with a straw. We had tried it before with little success but she figured it was time to try again. Within the span of a day, he was not only drinking through the straw but also holding on to it as he drank. And, after we feed him a bottle of milk, he will grab the bottle after he is done and try to drink from it. Also, something he had not done before. Whatever works…

And, one more quick note about our trip last week, we saw our first wild kangaroo during our drive. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great time to stop so we don’t have pictures. At least we can say we saw one…

After a few delays due to fog, we finally made it to Melbourne at around noon on Saturday. We picked up our rental car and began the 2 hour drive to Lorne. It is a small resort town along the Great Ocean Road. After being stuck in the plane and car for most of the day, Wesley was happy he had plenty of places to roam and plenty of things to get his hands on when we arrived at our hotel. There was even a small set of stairs that Wesley practiced walking up and down.

Once we were settled in, we only had enough time to walk around for a little while before having dinner. Funny story…Aimee had checked a web site dedicated to Lorne before our visit to see what stores and restaurants she wanted to visit. In true Aussie fashion, the store she wanted to go to had closed a month earlier and a cafe she wanted to eat at had shut down for renovations a few days before our arrival. So much for that…

On Sunday, we woke up and had breakfast before heading to Port Campbell and The Twelve Apostles. The weather was very much like fall in the morning but warmed up considerably during the day. I went from thinking I needed jeans and a jacket to comfortably throwing on shorts and a t-shirt in the afternoon. The trip along the Great Ocean Road would take us about two hours and it was incredibly curvy. We probably saw straight road for no more than a half mile. It was turn after turn after turn. Through our travels in Australia and New Zealand, we have seen this type of driving a lot. Before stopping at The Twelve Apostles, we stopped at another rock formation called Loch Ard Gorge. The two pillars sticking out of the water in the picture below used to be an archway until they collapsed three years ago.

Then, we headed to The Twelve Apostles. Before going, a co-worker told Aimee to have “medium expectations” so I was a little concerned that our main reason for this trip would not be very exciting. I’m glad her warning was incorrect. As I have mentioned before, just getting the chance to see new things has been a source of pleasure for me while being in Australia, so I am very happy we made the journey to see The Twelve Apostles. It probably helped that we had excellent weather, but seeing them almost rise out of the ocean and see the waves crash along the rocks was pretty stunning. I could probably have posted 20 pictures, but I will just stick with one looking East and West from the lookout and a picture with Aimee and I holding Wesley.

Next, we headed to the actual town of Port Campbell to have lunch and give Wesley a chance to stretch his legs before making the drive back. Here is a picture of Wesley chasing after some birds…a favorite activity of his.

We stopped in another resort town called Apollo Bay on our way back to Lorne. We intended on just feeding Wesley some milk, but there was a playground near the town centre, so we gave Wesley another chance to play.

On Monday, we were going to make our way back to Melbourne for the night. Before leaving, we walked along the water so Wesley could take a nap.  Then, we gave Wesley a chance to play at a nearby playground before making the 2 hour drive into Melbourne. Here’s a picture of the sun rising in Lorne and Wesley looking at some leaves at the playground.

The weather was definitely changing to more spring-like conditions on our drive back. It was cooler than Sunday and we drove through a lot of rain on our way to our hotel in Melbourne. Here is the ominous view from our hotel that afternoon.

After Wesley had a late nap at the hotel, we had an above average takeaway dinner at a restaurant attached to our hotel. We bought Wesley a couple mini burgers. Since he only ate one of them, I had the other…it is probably the best hamburger I’ve had in Australia. I contemplated ordering one for breakfast the next day. We also had corned beef and calamari…we noted that we have had some pretty good food during our trips to Melbourne.

Tuesday, unfortunately, wasn’t much of a holiday. The weather was wet and cold in the morning. It might not have qualified as winter in Chicago, but the way some people were dressed would make you think it was winter. Since it was raining and we had to check out, we had to keep Wesley pretty much confined to the pram. I think this picture sums up our day.

We were only able to walk around for about an hour before getting some lunch and heading to the airport. Then due to some closed roads and what seemed like ridiculous traffic, we barely made it to the airport in time for our flight. We figured Wesley would fall asleep on the plane, but he was seriously wound up for some reason and complained for a good portion of the flight. Yes, we were “that” family. Luckily, our bags arrived in Sydney which was certainly a concern and we are resting comfortably at home now…