“Do Sylvanians have a bus?” Miss5 asked me this week, bringing a great big grin to my face.
“You hear that?” I whispered excitedly to Tracey, digging my elbow into her waist. “She wants a bus.”
I took this as confirmation she was LOVING adventuring around the country with us. And why wouldn’t she? Our bus is an awesome home and the view outside is constantly changing.
Seriously, I could do this for the rest of my life without regret. I used to shake my head at the grey nomads who took off and lived out of a caravan. I thought, why would you want to do that when you live in a perfectly good house and know which local cafes to avoid?
I get it now.
I was stupid.
Incredible as it might sound, there’s more to life than coffee.
Not saying it’s better than coffee, but there’s other stuff too.
“Do you know why she wants a bus?” Tracey asked me.
I could tell she was about to ruin my moment because there was something in her tone which said I was missing something.
“What do you mean, why?!” I said indignantly. “Because we live on a bus and she thinks that’s awesome. And she’s right.”
With a sidewards/downwards nod/jerk of her head she indicated the toys in our daughter’s hands.
“It’s because her ‘family’ has seven kids,” smiled Tracey pointedly.
I looked into the car Miss5 was playing with, and sure enough there were Sylvanian rabbits stuffed in everywhere. She’d even managed to fit one on the tow bar, which in real life even I hadn’t thought of doing.
“They do seem to be a little wanting for space,” I said to our daughter.
Our youngest girls love their Sylvanians, although I’m not even sure any of the little bunnies or doggies will be making the journey around Australia with us. I’m worried we don’t have enough space. And even if we do, that I’ll keep stepping on them. But for now they’re having a grand time playing with the cute little animals under Nanny and Poppy’s house while we sort out a few things.
That said, our stopover for Tracey’s recuperation has just about come to an end. Her breasts now rather wonderfully stick out further than her belly now – not even mine do that anymore.
In fact, Tracey’s all good now and ready to roll, and it’s only some last minute tweaking of our kitchen arrangements holding us up from getting back on the road.
And we’re itching to get back on the road.
Can’t wait.
So keen.
I really need to get back on the road or I’m going to go nuts. Now that I’ve had a hint of the gypsy life I want to see what’s out there. Standing still is killing me. Only this time, because Tracey’s Dad is amazing, we’ll be continuing our big lap with a more family-friendly set up.
Our big goal at the moment is to get across to Perth to spend time with our grandson, Izzie. Oh, and our daughter, Mishi, and her partner Anthony. ‘Our boy’ is coming up to two years old and Skype just isn’t cutting mustard anymore.
But until the work is done we all have to make the most of what we have right now. Like the chance to catch up with family, friends and pets.
And the toys we left behind – like Sylvanians.
“Whereas I’ve got a normal family,” chimed in Miss10 from across the room.
She apparently thought Miss5 was overdoing it.
“Because yours is in a house, I suppose?” I mumbled, walking over.
I could see she didn’t have a vehicle.
“What do you mean?” She seemed genuinely shocked at my suggestion. “My family is normal because they only have four kids.”
Only four.
I smiled.
Nay, grinned!
If anything makes me happier than living on a bus its the idea of our ever expanding family – and now I’ve had the snip there’s really only one way that’s going to happen.
This sort of talk makes me think Izzie is going to have a lot of younger cousins.
On a side note, can you guess who’s getting a Sylvanian’s bus for Christmas tomorrow night at our ‘Shit! We better have a Christmas party before we head off around Australia!‘ family get-together?
She’s gonna love her bus.
Next week I plan on doing a walk through the changes on our bus before we head off on our next adventure. I’m really excited to show you everything we’ve done (that Ken’s done – I watched and made the coffees)
Raising a family on little more than laughs
