Nothing Brightens the Day Better Than Laughter of Kids

That was the best weekend I had had in a long time, and it took some time before I had such a wonderful time again. My work colleague and friend Nadia with her two boys Arthur (5 years old; lovely boy) and Charlie (3 years old - absolute legend), visited me on the farm. They arrived on Friday and stayed over the weekend. I was grateful that despite me being a horrible host (you will read for yourself), she enjoyed the time on the farm and allowed me to be part of unforgettable adventures with her young family.

She brought me some gifts, and the one I appreciated most was a large box of homemade goodies! Nadia is an excellent cook, and all her creations are delicious and healthy. They are made from fresh organic produces, contain a minimum of sugar and only the 'good fats'. Even the sweets were made without sugar - everything was based on nuts, dried fruits and raw chocolate. I could write a novel about Nadia's impressive skills in the kitchen, but except from being one of the best cooks, she is also a wonderful friend, and it is what I am going to write about.

When I was preparing my little cottage for Nadia's visit, I realized that the single bed, usually stored in a shed, had an unpleasant smell. The problem had to be solved quickly, and as we all know, what is done in haste doesn't always deliver the best results. "Oh, I can use the spray from the bathroom - this will do the job!" - I thought to myself, emptying half of the can with smelly stuff in the bedroom, and since then, every time I walked into the room, I wasn't sure if it was like having a bed in the bathroom, or a toilet in the bedroom… Hopefully, when Nadia arrived a week later, it wasn't too bad, as she never mentioned anything about the smell (oh well, maybe she was just very polite)

We met Friday morning in a town 35km away from my home, where I occasionally go shopping. And it was already then when the disaster (me as a terrible host) started. It was a really cold and windy day, but we couldn't go into any coffee shop and sit inside because I had Daisy with me, and dogs weren't allowed in coffee shops. Daisy always comes with me, but usually, she stays in the car, only this time she couldn't because I had to take my car for an overdue service. And so, we had to adjust all our plans to incorporate Daisy. We had to wait 4 hours for my car, and this was great fun in the cold weather!

Additionally, I was working that day, or better, I planned to work. I'm an IT consultant, so taking calls here and there shouldn't be a problem. Or so I thought until I realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea because my calls looked like this: "Yes, I did the estimates, and now I am working on… Daisy, no! Don't go there! Stop it! Oh, I am so sorry, I really am…." "What are you talking about? What are you sorry about?" someone asked me on the phone. "Oh, sorry, I am actually in town and… Yes, Nadia, I am coming, give me one second. I am on a call… Sorry, I am in town with Nadia, so… what was I saying? Ah, that's right, I am working on… Daisy, stop it! Get out of the shop!" and so on…

I told Nadia she could take the kids and wait for me inside a coffee shop, but she was very polite, saying they were fine (until finally, they all, including George, were so frozen they had to go inside a shop to defrost).

Meet Arthur and Charlie

At some point, we went to a park, and kids played on the playground. It was when I got a chance for my first chat with Arthur. He is a lovely little boy, analytical and precise, and therefore a perfect discussion partner for an analyst like myself. He is also caring and gentle, in some ways mature for his age, always makes sure his brother is okay, wants to share everything with Charlie and is very willing to help his mum and everyone else. He never cries; even when he hurts himself, he says he is fine. Once, he slipped in my office and hit his foot against a chair, this had to hurt, I did it a few times myself, and I know the pain. Nonetheless, Arthur calmly replied: "No, it wasn't hurtful; I just hit my little toe. It would be much worse if I hit my head". Well, Arthur actually will be a perfect husband material - I wish I had a daughter at his age - who knows, maybe we would be lucky to have him in our family ;)

Charlie is absolutely the opposite. He is a handsome boy, but his temper, oh boy! His reaction usually is… cry and then think if it is necessary. One time he fell over and cried hysterically. Mum ran to save him, but what actually happened? When Charlie fell, he dropped his teddy bear, and it got a bit dirty. What a disaster! Mummy tried to calm down distressed Charlie, cleaned the teddy, but she missed a tiny piece of grass, and the drama started from the beginning. Charlie is also very energetic and chaotic; you never know which mischief he will get himself into. At home, everybody is petrified of Charlie - including Daisy, and even Freddie the Steer prefers to keep a safe distance from him, but we come to the story later. Nonetheless, if Charlie wants to, he can be the most lovely little boy on the planet. I'm sure with his charms, he will be a heart-breaker ;)

After introducing myself to Charlie, he replied to me in a cheeky voice: "Why are you talking so weirdly?" I tried to explain that English wasn't my first language, and therefore my accent was different. However, it appeared that I didn't do a good job because the next day, in a very cheeky voice, Charlie asked me the same question again. And it definitely wasn't because he forgot my answer the previous day. His memory is… maybe a bit selective, but definitely sharp. For example, Saturday evening, his last words to me were, "Are we going to drive the red tractor tomorrow?" I replied we would. You can guess what his response to my "Good morning" the next day was - yes, exactly "when are we going to drive the red tractor?"

Back to our adventure on Friday

I got a bit off-topic here, so back to Friday. At 1:30 pm, I finally could pick up my truck, and we came home. I had to feed my cattle, so we all went to the yards. Despite that, Nadia was assuring me she didn't need a beanie, I gave her one, as it was really, really miserable weather, and Charlie, in his entire life, didn't experience such cold weather. When we got to the cattle, Charlie confidently walked to Freddie to say 'Hi', and all my pets got such a shock that they ran away. It was entertaining to see a 400kg heavy steer running away from a 20kg little boy (as I said earlier - everybody is petrified of Charlie, and it seems the boy loves it as he is laughing all the time).

The fun continued on Saturday

Saturday morning, I got a message from Nadia asking if I could help her with lighting the fire. Well, all would be okay, but… they got up at 5 am, and the message came after 7 am. I was also awake after 5 am, sitting in my cozy living room enjoying a nice warm fire, utterly unaware that my guests were freezing in the cottage, as… they didn't grow up in a cave, like myself, and had no idea how to start a fire (at least I remembered to tell them I had solar hot water, so because we didn't get any sun the previous day, they had to turn it on manually; I forgot to tell this to my other visitors one time, so they ended up with freezing cold showers… At least they knew how to start the fire, so they weren't freezing in the cottage). That morning when I came to Nadia, they were all wrapped up wearing jackets and beanies in the house. I felt terrible… It was so cold in the cottage…

While I was chatting with Nadia, the boy's dad called, so they introduced me to their dad. Oh well, all would be good, except… I was wearing my Bug's Bunny pajamas, my hair hadn't seen a brush since the previous day, and it was a video call… Great introduction…

Daisy needed to go to the vet that day, so we all went. It was lovely to see Arthur walking the dog - he is so caring and understanding towards animals. To make things fair, we allowed Charlie to walk the dog as well… Hmm… Charlie has a different attitude to animals… He pulled on the leash, but the dog didn't react, so… who cares about the silly leash, just pull on the tail; this works much better! After all that Charlie did to Daisy, we were surprised that she only barked at him a few times but never snapped at him.

When we came home from town, it was time to take the 'four-wheeler' (quad-bike) for a ride. We went to the shed, and we had many following conversations: "Whose four-wheeler is it?" - asked Charlie. "Mine" - I replied. "Did you buy it?" "Yes" "How did you get it home?" "On the trailer" - I replied, pointing to the trailer next to us. "How did you get it on the trailer?" so I explained how I did it. And so the conversation continued until we changed the object and started the same discussion from the beginning. If, as a programmer, I should explain our conversations that day and put it in the form of an algorithm, then it would be as follow: take the above conversation, put it into a for-loop and go through each and every item in the shed (and I have plenty of items there). Now you know the rest of the conversation.

We took the four-wheeler, packed the trailer with hay and had a lot of fun going to the cattle and driving on the property.

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In the evening, Nadia invited us for dinner in the local pub. It was wonderful. Plus, I learned a very practical tip - the best way to go for a meal in a pub is to take the kids with you. You see, it takes ages to get the meal and usually the waiting time is soooo boooring… Well, not with kids. They got puzzle books, which were really fun to solve! Charlie was too small to play with them, so I got to solve them all! (oh well, except for one with creating words from some set of letters - this was too difficult for me ;) )

Last day of our adventures

On Sunday, we went to the markets, and by lunchtime, all adults were exhausted and when we got back home we needed a nap. The boys, however, beamed with energy. I was having a snooze in my caravan parked in the shed when I heard all the weird noises… Actually, it sounded as if the shed was falling, but I couldn't care less - I was too buggered… Luckily, though they had some fun playing Frisbee in the shed, they didn't do any damage. Surprisingly all Sunday, though the kids didn't get any sleep during the day, they were in a great mood. Even Charlie wasn't crying. After I got up, Charlie and I went driving "the red tractor". I was amazed at how well Charlie behaved. He was asking plenty of questions, but they all were very valid. I was genuinely impressed by him, especially considering that his moods changed quicker than the weather in the previous days, and we can have four seasons in one day. Only one conversation was challenging as Charlie couldn't comprehend why the tractor didn't come to the property on the little trailer… Everything else came on the trailer, but not the tractor? "Because the tractor is much too big and too heavy for the little trailer. The tractor came on a big truck-trailer," I said to Charlie. "But you said everything else in the shed came on the trailer, so why not the tractor" "Yes, Charlie, everything else came on the trailer because they are little things, and the tractor is big", and so on… I have to say, however, even then, the boy was very adorable, and we had fun.

While Charlie and I were driving the tractor, Arthur and his mum followed us on the quad-bike. At least not being in a cabin, they could enjoy plenty of fresh air! Not like us in the tractor. I wanted to open the windows, but Charlie disagreed. "Charlie, we need to open the windows; it's much too hot and stuffy here!" I said to Charlie, and he replied, "No, it's not hot at all. Leave them closed". Obviously, he was much too hot, as his face was red, but… No, no chances to open the windows if I wanted to keep Charlie quiet. I turned on the air-conditioning, as otherwise we would get cooked there.

And in the evening we had a barbie - everybody was helping to organize it. I was impressed by Arthur, who was collecting sticks from all over the place and helping me clean up the site. A few times, I was sure he wouldn't be able to find what I asked him to collect, but to my surprise he always accomplished each and every task.

And Charlie? He almost gave me a heart attack - he 'disappeared' inside my house with Jeffrey the Lorikeet. I was petrified that he could accidentally hurt Jeffrey or let him out, but to my surprise, Charlie was sitting on the couch and just watching the bird locked in the cage.

I could write a novel about all the wonderful adventures I had with Nadia and her lovely little boys, but… I think, for the moment, I have written enough.