Lyndsey Jeminson
Bob Boo and the Other Two
Lyndsey Jeminson
After the most amazing three weeks in Florida in 2011 with our best friends from the other side of the world, an idea was born to meet up again for my 40th birthday to repeat the experience. Life got in the way, finances were short, school holidays didn't match up and a new plan was fostered. A year later than planned, without our friends, we are embarking on a different trip - three weeks in Florida turned into a five week trip to Paris, New York, Florida, Las Vegas, San Francisco and a road trip down the Pacific coast to LA before a hideously long 27 hour flight home.
Life experiences are more important to us than any material possessions and the trip has been planned and organised to precision so as to capture every experience we can. Some things we are looking forward to repeating - hitting the theme parks with our adrenalin junkie kids, making them suffer 10 minutes of hell on 'It's a Small World', and eating the best vanilla slice I've ever eaten. Some things I hope not to repeat - I aim to make it to the top of the Statue of Liberty without fainting half way up and being escorted down in the lift whilst my husband is reprimanded for dragging his pregnant wife up all those stairs. What was he thinking?! Mostly we want to come home with a whole new set of memories that we will still be reminiscing and laughing about in 20 years time.
So, let me introduce you to our family!
Bob (Lily) - Country music loving teenager with a crazy obsession for Taylor Swift, and cats. She has no fear (except of people) and will try anything once. She hates going to bed (and has done since day one) and is the master at stalling and dragging things out. (Although she has recently taken a liking to afternoon (or morning) naps. She has a wicked sense of humour and is often found rolling on the floor, unable to breathe. We love the same TV shows, music, movies, books, and men. (That last one is probably a tad inappropriate but seriously, Zac Efron and Channing Tatum are pretty damn perfect) Our favourite thing to do together is road tripping, making weirdly titled playlists for each trip.
Boo (Izzy) - Crazy, OCD, swimming obsessed teenager. Wiser than her years, she is organised, hard working, dedicated and self motivated, with her main goal in life to represent Australia at the Olympics. She loves reality TV shows (to my horror) and remembers the names of all the competitors for years afterwards. She dances like Ellen and farts like a trooper (she has no shame). She makes us laugh every day with her quick comebacks and weird accents. If swimming is her first love, then food comes a close second - she loves to experience new tastes and will eat junk food only under sufferance. Gourmet breakfasts are our shared love.
The other two (Bruce and Lyndsey) - Married for 22 years, we can read each other like a book. We blurt out the same things at the same time, and randomly laugh at things that no one else gets. We have nicknames for everything - Pepsi is known as 'Shirley' and tea is'Barney McGrew', we laugh every day and love the same things (apart from he watches TV and I read). His goal is to retire by the time he's 50 so he can spend his days whittling wood in his man cave. (He'd better get moving with that one - there's only a few years left) My goal is to finish my degree and become a best selling novelist. We love the ocean - he wants a boat on it and I want a house overlooking it. We argue once a year (usually in April), then he sulks for a few days before coming to the conclusion that I was right all along! He has been looking for his thirty year old binoculars for a while now and he secretly believes I have thrown them out (I haven't, although I understand why he would think that - I am a self-confessed 'Monica' from Friends and de-clutter is my middle name). He is my very best friend and we are excited about the day we can hitch up our caravan and drive around Australia with the radio blasting and nothing before us but the open road....