Adventures in Adelaide!

Our adventure to Adelaide began on Friday, Jan. 13th. Mom took Logan
and Delenn to the town pool to burn off some energy in the morning. It
was followed by lunch and a nap and then we were off to the airport.
The flight was uneventful and we got into our caravan park cottage at
the kids' bedtime.

On Saturday we headed to the Rundle Mall (pedestrian mall). We did a
bit of browsing. Logan LOVED the big Toys-R-Us and cajoled his weak
parents into buying him a Thunderbird rocket [Thunderbird is a TV series
from the mid-1960s. It features puppets and rockets that go off on
rescue missions. In the 21st century, Jeff Tracy, a former astronaut,
amasses a colossal fortune and decides that he must use it to benefit
others. His answer to this desire is to create International Rescue, a
unique private emergency response service equipped with custom designed
vehicles and equipment that enable the organization to react to any
crisis whether it be in sea, air, land, or space.] Dad bought some
jeans and Delenn got a new teething ring. Mom's big purchase was on
Tuesday.

On Sunday we went to the Port Adelaide markets. Logan was overly tired
after that, so we came home. Logan didn't take a nap, though, so Daddy
took him to a playground closer to home. He played well with an older
girl there at the park.

On Monday we went to the beach. It was nice weather for the
beach--especially in light of the temperatures later in the week. Mom
and Delenn were lucky to see a dolphin swim very close to the shore.
After building sand castles and collecting lots of shells we went to the
seaside town, Glenelg for lunch. We ate at the Hogs Breath Café -- and
were proud at how well both the kids did.

We searched the phone book and found a place to look at double-strollers
with forward facing seats. On Tuesday morning we drove to the store and
looked at them. We bought a red, double stroller. The two side by side
seats both face forward -- and have 5 different recline positions. It's
a smooth, comfortable ride and easy to push. We went for lots of walks
after that -- and both kids are comfortable and happy in it. We then
continued on to the zoo (with new stroller in tow)... Logan ran from
animal exhibit to exhibit saying "What's over here? What's over there?"
We covered the entire zoo and Logan STILL had energy to burn, while his
parents were completely tuckered out!

The next day, Wednesday, Dad took Logan to the Adelaide Aquatic Center.
It's an indoor pool complex that has 5 huge swimming pools that include
a water slide, various fountains, waterfalls and so forth. It was very
crowded, but Logan had a good time jumping in and swimming around. Mom
stayed home and watched TV while Delenn napped the entire time they were
gone and then some (10-2 and 3-4:30) She was obviously quite tired so
it was good for her to have a low-key day. We were optimistic that we
could go out to dinner. We chose Zapate's, a Mexican restaurant nearby.
It was a nightmare! Logan was reasonably good, playing with his cars
and doing card games, but Delenn was very unsettled. She spent a lot of
time squealing (for joy) at the TOP OF HER LUNGS!!! People around us
laughed (though maybe secretly they were wishing we'd go home!) The
food wasn't very good either so it was a relief to leave and go home.
Delenn promptly went to sleep and Logan watched another installment of
Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang before bed.

On Saturday we had a full day out and about. We went to the mall to
brows and window shop again. Then went to the pool. Daddy took Logan
down the water slide for the first time and Logan loved that. They went
again and again until they closed the slide down for the day. Logan
also enjoyed climbing the stairs (there's stadium seating in front of
the racing pool). At one point, Logan sat down on one of the seats.
Daddy said, "come on Logan, let's go." Logan replied fiercely, "I'm
WATCHING." We left the pool only with promises to Logan that he could
watch Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang again. Logan said -- "WAIT! Stop the
movie. Let me pull down my pants first!" (He goes bare-bottomed around
the house as we are in the process of potty training.) We had a good
chuckle over that!

At one point when Daddy was waiting with Logan in the car Logan said
something funny. Daddy turned around and tickled him. Logan said very
sincerely, "Thank you, Daddy."

Logan was very excited this trip to spend time looking at the car engine
(he's been helping Daddy pump the gas for some time now).

Delenn gets really giggly these days. Lots of things can set her
off--kissing her hands and her belly, swishing around in the water,
bouncing her on our knees, watching Logan on the trampoline and more.
She's a happy, settled, delightful baby! We had her weighed when we
returned and are happy to report that she's in the 75th percentile for
both height and weight.

We've started to settle back in... Delenn is sleeping a bit better at
night (while we were away she woke up every two hours). And, we're back
to our normal activities. We spent one morning at the toy library
playgroup and this morning went to the pool. We'll be having a friend
over on Friday. So, things are slowly getting back to normal here in the
DingoDen!