We went up to Perth on Sunday to drop him off at the airport. Now driving to Perth just to drop someone off would just be a bit of a waste, so clever me decided to combine it with going to IKEA (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!) But going to IKEA with two little ones is ain't no fun, so clever me asked my awesome mother-in-law if she'd like to have Cedric for 2 days... and after lots of persuasion (actually none at all) she agreed.
So it was only Ben, Ned and I driving up to Perth. But 5h driving with a three-year-old is still ain't no fun, so clever me asked a friend if they had a portable DVD-player and... BINGO!!!!!! Portable DVD-players definitely revolutionized car travelling... instead of "Are we there yet???" or three-year-olds posting their books out of the open window, you almost forget that there IS a three-year-old on the back seat, except if the DVD -player does something funny and the movie stops playing.
We arrived in Perth quite relaxed, dropped Ben off and headed on to go to Aunty Jill's place (not my aunty, Ned's aunty). Well, it was the first time driving for me in Perth. And my map book was a bit out of date. At least that is my defence, I can't proof it though because I can't show you the map book anymore because I lost it at IKEA. Anyway, you might have guessed, I went for a little unwanted sightseeing tour through Perth (how thankful was I for that DVD-player yet once more, you don't wanna be lost anywhere and having to pacify a three-year-old who just doesn't wanna be in a car no more).
Well, Aunty Jill came to the rescue and gave me the directions over the phone. But listening isn't one of my strengths. I do hear what is said, but my brain sometimes doesn't process the heard thing properly, so I took a couple more detours on the way, which bugged me quite a bit as I always prided myself of being good with directions and maps, grrrr)... anyways, we made it and Ned was almost upset having to get out of the car and away from the DVD-player. Aunty Jill made up for it though, she's a great aunty!!
And the next day we finally went to IKEA, my European heart was beyond excitement, YAY!!! Well, it took us another detour getting there, but now we know that the turn off from the highway is CEDRIC STREET, so it's easy to remember. And it was busy, school holidays I suppose. So this crèche playground thing was full. But my three-year-old WANTED to go in, unfortunately the mother wasn't really eager to wait for I don't know how long until there was space available for Ned to go in, but Aunty Jill came to the rescue yet again and volunteered to wait in line with Ned while I could get lost in all the awesomeness of the IKEA showroom.
I wanted to look for some couches, our hand-me-down-purple-pink-funny-pattern-couches just aren't really my style, although, they are VERY comfy!!! Anyway, they had this special offer if you bought a 2 seater and a 3 seater you'd get a 100$ discount. So I got all excited. Then I found out that it was 330$ to have them shipped down to Albany. Excitement bubble popped. IKEA has this self-serve-pick-up-or-what-ever-you-call-that-area so after I got all my other things I wanted I thought I'd just have a quick look at the the couch packages. Each couch was divided in 2 packages. And they looked like they might actually fit in the "beast" aka my sexy V6 station-wagon. Well, by then Ned and Jill had rejoined me (he did manage to go into the crèche for about a hour and almost didn't wanna leave again) and we went to pay for our purchases (not the couches yet though), dump them in the car and had a look at the beast again. I discovered that you can fold down only parts of the back seat, so we figured it would be enough space to actually fit most of the couch parts inside the car. As we had some lashing straps, we'd be able to put something on the roof rack as well.
So off we went back inside IKEA to buy the couches. Throughout all this back and forth and waiting and everything Ned was SUUUUUUCH a super good boy I was SO proud of his very good behaviour (I am proud of HIM all the time, no matter how he behaves), but when we finally reached the cash desk once again with our two trolleys loaded with couch pieces he found this stuffed IKEA toy dog someone else just dropped on top of some other merchandises ... seeing it and hugging it was one thing... and he looked oh so cute... I just melted on the spot there and then. Now a stuffed dog has joined our family. Ned wanted to name him Hermie. I tried to tell him that the name "Hermie" was taken already by the teddy. I suggested Max. He did NOT like Max at all. He wanted the dog to be Hermie. I went through a couple other name suggestions: Bob, Frank, Louie... and Louie he liked. I don't know how I came up with Louie... but now we have a stuffed dog named Louie, but called LouLie by his lord and master as he can't say Louie somehow. Anyway.
We bought the couches. They fitted in and on the car. And there was still space for us as well as for the other stuff I'd bought. It was almost time to drive back down to Albany. But I wanted to have lunch first. So into IKEA we went once more. Jill had to say good bye to us though. I thought I'd better take the map book to have a good look at it so I wouldn't go for another unwanted sightseeing tour. I did have a look. Jill had roughly told me how to get back down to Albany luckily, because after lunch we went to the toilet , got in the car and drove off... and the map book remained at IKEA. I know it was out of date by 10 years, but rather a out-dated map book than no map book at all... ou well, I mad it without any more detours. In fact we had a very good trip home... okay, I was paranoid that the half of the couch on the roof top would loosen up somehow, fall off and cause a major accident with thousands of casualties, or that a Kangaroo would cause us to cause an accident an topple over because of the extra lump on top of our roof, but all I managed was to loose my tank cap... I forgot to screw it back on when I filled up the tank... duh, that was stupid.
Anyway, we made it without any accidents or kangaroo sightings or lost couch part, in fact I got to work straight away once the boys were in bed (after I got the other boy delivered back home). It is strangely satisfying to built your own couch... okay it is only screwing the parts together, but still... they are still standing and haven't yet collapsed or anything....
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