In May/June 2010 Jaom, Flynn and Hamish went to Detroit, USA for Jaom's cousin Michael's wedding. In this 3 week journey they also spent a significant amount of time at Jaom's grandparents' family home in Anna, Ohio. Sadly, Jaom's grandmother passed away in 2008 and her grandfather in 2009. This trip was time to reminisce, spend time with the boy's grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and to prepare the house for sale. It was also a time for extended family gatherings for both the Finkenbines (Grandpas's side of the family) and the Millers (Grandma's side of the family), the celebration of Rex and Judi's 40th wedding anniversary, and the celebration of the life of Richard and Joy Finkenbine (Jaom's grandparents).
During this trip the boys and Jaom got to visit to the Neil Armstrong museum, ride on their great grandfather's John Deere tractor with Uncle Jim, feed calves, and explore rural life in Midwest USA. For the boys it was a wonderful time of connecting and meeting family they had not met before and to gain some understanding of what life growing up in Ohio may have been like for their Grandma Judi. There was also an unplanned extra day in Tokyo when their connecting flight did not make it in time.
They arrived back in HCMC in time for Flynn's final week at school and the celebrations which went with this, including an official Dynotots 4 'graduation ceremony' - mortar boards and all! And suddenly we were now all on an aeroplane again - this time bound for Australia. It was also when we realised our sons were truly seasoned plane travellers. No sooner were we on the plane, seated and before taxiing down the runway and Flynn was reading the "emergency landing" card and Hamish was asking when his apple juice was coming. Both seemed totally relaxed with their environs as if it were an extension of their family home!
Australia was crazy (in a wonderful way). Who to see .... too many to see .... what to do .... too much to do. It was all a bit overwhelming. Jaom and I promised we would not get caught in the trap of doing too much running around and being hectic. And what happened? .... We ran around, doing too much and being hectic. But it was great to reconnect with friends and family after 12 months away.
The priority was to catch up with family - 10 days or so in Bendigo with Rex and Judi (and Samira our greatly missed cat), and time in Glen Iris with John and Angela. The kids loved the time with their grandparents. On our second night in Melbourne we had a Masterton family gathering and it was lovely to be with all the siblings and their partners and children. Our great surprise was to have most of the family in the one house only to hear the door bell ring again. Who could that be? I opened the door and there was my nephew, Toby, who had flown down specially from interstate where he had been doing his army training. Unfortunately, Douglas was on a school cadet camp and couldn't share the evening with the Masterton clan. Flynn and Hamish loved the night and fitted right back into being a part of the wider family and to being revved up by their older cousins.
Other highlights were catching up with our dear friends Mark and Randal, dinner with the Parris and McAuley families, and relaxing in Lyonville with Brenda, Alastair, Emma and Benjamin in a mud brick cabin with log fire and plenty of coziness, as well as walks in the local state forest. There were plenty of great conversations over terrific meals and great wine with many other people. Flynn also greatly appreciated the catch ups he had with some of his close mates with whom he still feels a strong connection. We didn't get down to our little getaway in Shoreham, the snow (which I had promised Flynn) and we certainly did not get to catch up with everyone - with some notable omissions. Sorry. But we greatly enjoyed the catch ups we did have with friends and family over meals or coffees, visits to the zoo or the museum, playdates, and simply enjoying time together.
We were just amazed at the open spaces of Australia, the care for the environment, the lack of people and motorbikes, and yes ... the cold! The boys had a great time. They particularly enjoyed exploring the local parks and walking through the bush. Flynn declaring that Australia was definately his home and the place where he wants to come back to. For Hamish it was more of a novelty and reawakening of some distant infant memory - he's so laidback, he just came along for the ride!
And before we knew it, we were back in Saigon early August. In many ways it was a comfort to be back 'home'; to be surrounded by motorbikes and for the boys to see this as normal. To open up the front gate and to enter our house to our housekeeper Kim's smiling face, and to sleep again in a bed that we knew was ours ..... Ready to start another year and another adventure.
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