We considered the possibility of just driving a bit further, of stopping in Adelaide and heading on to Perth or something, but we thought the babysitters might get past “isn’t our grandchild cute and playful” and move into “when the hell are our kids taking their early-riser home?” or worse “we must remember never to babysit again!”. We also decided that we missed the kid, because he is quite fun.

It was a good trip. We got relaxed. We slept uninterrupted. We wine-tasted and olive-tasted and beer-tasted. We went out for dinner without taking turns to eat or rushing home to a babysitter. We had coffee with a rural-living friend. We had time to make things up and be silly and pretend we lived on an olive farm.

I also knitted. Before we left I finished the vest.

It’s far from perfect, but he seems to like it, and it’s warm.

I also turned the heel on my socks (yipee!) and bought patterns in op shops. It may be tricky ensuring Iona doesn’t take them home. The Corowa op shop has lots of buttons sorted thoughtfully into sets, but be warned, they have happy clappy music playing and books about finding your Way.

I think it’s important to bring back a bit of the holiday spirit to help you keep relaxed when you get home.

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