Child labour

I love how enthusiastic Jake is at helping at the moment. It really does make it easier to clean the car when I just sit back and write blog posts. He's remarkable. Go Jake!

Unbare-ably cute

As you may know, my theory on kids is that their cuteness is related to their level of trouble. Bianca really is very cute at the moment, here she is in her favourite skirt, on the day she woke up at 4.30am and refused to go back to sleep. Arhhhhh. Normally she sleeps till at least 5.15am. Unfortunately she is not one of those kids who will go back to sleep in her parents bed or if her parent gets into bed....or for any reason it seems. She is also still happy to scream for entire 2 hour car trips which doesn't encourage us to travel further afield just yet. But did I mention how cute she is??? She's also a bit of a clown. In case you miss her jokes, she's taken to saying "I funny, I funny".

Family goal for 2013

They don't know it yet but I would really like if the while family did a little more walking next year. Jake walked for miles and miles when we went to Macau/ Hong Kong but back here there can be some grumbling when walking involved.

Distraction is the key to success like so often in child land, so when we went Santa hunting at Darling harbour the other day, there wasn't too much complaining. So I need to find distractions......hmmmm.

The girls

The walk was enthusiastically undertaken by two little boys but was a bit far for one little Bianca. She got to ride from halfway.

Xmas day walk

Look what's just down the hill from Nana and Poppy's new house? Boneyard beach. Actually Bombo beach, a proper surf beach is just down the other side but we headed north on this day. Nothing better than a pile of rock pools to explore.

I really like Christmas

Yes I do. I really like Christmas although I am sure being tested this year. Bianca, or is she The Scrooge re-incarnated, took to our lovely Avent calendar. Only one box was ripped into shreds before I noticed. And all of them spread around the living room, twice....or was that twice daily.

Hopefully she's got her Christmas angst out now. Unless of course being anti Christmas is hereditary in which case her trail of devastation may continue.

Meanwhile Jake and Toby seem to enjoy their daily messages from Santa which vary depending on the prior days behaviour levels but usually he sends them a couple of stickers. Or a pencil. there is a single clue about where today's pressie can be found. We do like a treasure hunt in this house.

Look.

The show did go on, even with a bite taken out of the side. Then most of the pieces were broken and based on subsidence issues last year, I thought I'd give the melted sugar a go for glueing together. I am now recovering from a few toffee burns but the house stood up.

Gingerbread house?

Turned my head for a second and my little opportunist started munching on the gingerbread house. Opps.

Belated Bianca birthday cake photo

On Bianca's birthday this year she wanted cupcakes which I forgot to take a photo of before they disappeared- it can happen so quickly. so when we saw Nana again recently it was a great excuse to celebrate again and buy the very cool looking Dog cake we found at the local shops. For $24, I didn't think I could create that work of art. How cool. It's actually cream on the outside.

Garden madness

There's been a run on gardening at our house lately. We added 8 cubic meters of soil over 2 weekends to level things out a little as stage one. During this process frogs were discovered so Connah created a wetland, complete with pond liner.

The following weekend we went to see sculptures by the sea and someone bought these two at Bunnings on the way home. They have brought unexpected joy to the house as they keep moving and turning around every time I turn my back. Go kids!

Kingscliff

Just another day of holidays in far northern NSW. How gorgeous is the weather and the beach?

Toby's 4th birthday

I have been a bit slack at the postings lately. I just noticed that I had not posted the cake from Toby's 4th birthday cake. It's dinosaur mania around here lately so no surprises on the cake he chose. So the b'day pressies of walking talking dinosaurs were entirely appropriate. A party with just 5 guests was also a lot easier on the stress levels than the usual 12-15 kids plus parents. An all around lovely day for our lovely little boy.

Bread and Circus

Last weekend we went to a new (to us) Cafe called Bread and Circus in Alexandria. It was uber cool. As is groovy these days, the cutlery was on the table to self serve and the ordering was at the counter and the cafe itself was located in an old open warehouse (perfect for running off the after affects of too much muffin bought from the coffee serving Campos at the front of the warehouse (Bread and Circus doesn't serve coffee). There was even a little table for the little folk which they sat at for a good 5 minutes before they started running around the empty warehouse.

The food at bread and circus was delicious though the menu was a bit limited and rather healthy. Right up my alley. There was also a box of toys and the staff were remarkably forgiving of the noisy children.

The day was still young so it was time to set out to our new favourite park, recently opened corner of Sutherland and King St, Mascot.  How cool are new parks these days? Check this out............

 

Loads of cool climbing stuff and soft big hill, sand and water. Every child's dream. And fully fenced in. Yay. There was even a Green "hanging bed" for Toby to rest in after a tough morning out.

 

 

Hong Kong Day 4 - the never ending holiday finishes

I think I haven't had the heart to finally stop writing about this holiday as it was just so damn good but with our next holiday to Queensland here at the end of this week, I guess I can finally finish it all off.  We had to be at the airport at around 3pm for our flight home but I still felt we had some time for a bit of sight seeing.
Next on the to do list was the double decker trams. We went for a ride with our yellow balloon. Who knows where that came from. Jake was so knackered from the day before and 9pm finish that he actually fell asleep on my lap so we got to go for quite a ride.

It all looked a bit the same after a while, not that you could complain at about 20cents a ride. So we cut short our trip and caught the Metro back. the one thing I hadn't really spent anytime researching was shopping and we most definately did not find many decent shops and the toys were all actually cheaper at good old Kmart.

Not content to be content with merely seeing a bit of Hong Kong on the tram, I decided that we needed to squeeze one last park in, one with FLAMINGOs in. i would never have found them unless I'd been very sure they were there before hand. There weren't exactly a lot of signs in the park and they were in the last place we looked. They were way cool though.

Next stop check in at the train station. How convenient is that? Checking in for your plane at the train station? Off we went home with just one more stop at the airport to buy yet one more soft toy for Toby (a panda).

Where to next? Well the day after we got home we went to Queensland for the week which was very awesome as our house was across the road from the beach and we were there the same time as Kerrie Lekso and boys.

Though I'm still dreaming of our next trip to Asia. Malaysia next perhaps? I do have long service leave coming up in a about a year after all......now if only I can convince Connah to take a plane flight with three little monkeys.

Hong Kong Day 3 - tourist sites

One of the attractions about our hotel apart from the general lushness of it was that it was within walking distance to the "Goldfish markets" where they have loads of shops selling fish in individual bags as well of lots in tanks like a conventional pet shop. Jake being a big Fish head (fisherman and keen interest in Connah's tank) was super keen to visit. It was pretty awesome. We had an excellent morning out looking at fish and markets followed by a dip in the pool before heading out in the afternoon.

We were obviously never going to see all of the sights of hong kong but we sure saw a lot of them this day. After our dip in the pool, it was off to the other main Hong Kong island to visit Hong Kong park which has a walk through bird avery and some not so shy birds as well as a nice park for the kids.

Right next to the park is the tram that goes at about 45 degrees up to the Peak for the famous views over much of the island. Back down onto a bus and straight onto the famous ferry for the same view from waterlevel on the other side.

By which stage it must have been at least 7.30 at night and Jake was still going strong which was good as we had to hike a way to the nearest metro to take us home. He's a good walker that one.

He wasn't done though. He had to go and buy Toby and Bianca another present in the form of a teddy bear which he'd bought for himself as well earlier in the week. How cool are all the scultpures littered around the hotel?

3.44

That's 3 hours and 44 minutes which is how long I ran for this morning (and above is where I went in my last hour after the first 2.45 being on bike paths as I tend to dawdle a bit on bush tracks). My golly, it was a long way.
That's my last long run before the marathon in 3 weekends time. I'm off to Melbourne (flying solo) to run the marathon.

I'd been kind of meaning to do a marathon for years. I was thinking maybe the year I turned 40. That's not till 2014 though so then I decided maybe try to do it the year before I turn 40. which is next year. Then Sarah Connor accidently took me for a 3 hour run the other week (well I had requested 2.5 hours in preparation for the Sydney half marathon) and I started thinking I was my training was a bit further along than I realised (I had been doing 2 hours plus for a month or more). So I was thinking Sydney next year but that is so far away so now I'm off to Melbourne.

So today was my 3rd 3 hour plus run in a month. Hopefully that will be enough to let me finish the marathon. I did the half last weekend and really enjoyed it. For the first time ever just ran to enjoy it, didn't want to wear myself out for this week and wasn't too stuffed at the end of it and did 1 hour 49, faster than the last time I tried to race it.

My retreat

I did it. I talked about it for a while beforehand. I felt guilty as on the day of, but I did it. I went away for 3 nights by myself to a cabin in the blue mountains and relaxed for three days. Scrumptious lunch n dinner were brought to my door each day and there was yoga every morning. Endless pots of tea, reading, movies and baths. Heavenly. So peaceful and relaxing. Yay!!!

I think it's the first time I've ever been away by myself so I was a bit worried that I'd get lonely. I didn't. Three nights was a good amount of time to be away. The cabin had a stack of dvds and it was sunny and glorious out on the front lawn for reading all day long. I read the Sat paper on Monday, the Sun paper on Tuesday and loads of books. I also did a 3 hour run which went up or down. Kinda tough. And every day there was 1 hour of yoga.

Yoga was one of the hopes for the break, to be able to have a little routine to do myself as I struggle to make it regularly to classes between work, family, sleep.... and on that front,there has been success, I have done yoga twice a week in the mornings since I got back.

I've also been getting up between 5am and 5.30am by choice. I blame Sarah Connor. Ever since we went for a 25km run starting at 6.30am, I've been getting up early, mainly because I'm so buggered at night.

For the first time ever though, I'm actually enjoying the mornings. Pity I didn't decide to like them about 5 years ago - would have made the last 5 years a lot easier. Arhhh well. It's still lovely to have time in the morning to myself. Even if it does make me a little on the anti-social side when it comes to dinner.

I want this chicken coup

This is the chicken coup at Grounds of Alexandria. Makes me want chickens. I like that the house is not a monster sized double storey display home proportioned bells and whistles style modern coup but a basic little hut. It also has a decent run but it's only a metre wide. Could fit nicely at the back of our garden. Currently we are toilet training the boys at night and little miss of a day so once we are successful at this, I figure I'll have 15 minutes less of washing a day and I can use that energy for chickens. Come on kids!!

Book week wild thing

So Jake had very specific ideas on what he wanted for his wild things costume. The school adopted the theme of "Wild things" as in the book or any other wild thing or mixed up animal. I think this is because in the past there had been quite a few movie characters. Books movies....maybe they should make it entertainment week and then movies would be covered?

 

At any rate, Jake wanted decided exactly how the layers were to be laid out. My googling of lion had suggested taking an old hoodie but we don't actually have any old ones and i wasn't quite ready to sacrifice his only hoodie in circulation so when Cousin Collette came up with the idea of spare grey pjs of hers, we took her up. using an adult grey long sleeved top, pulled the head hole over his head and bingo, instant costume.

Dorothy tail had been picked up at the local Vinnies a couple of years ago. We've had a lot of value from that $1.

Hong Kong day 2 - Disneyland

I'd done a bit of research on Hong Kong before going and thought the highlights for Jake would probably be the Goldfish markets, tram rides and Disneyland. I put the order of proceedings in his hands and no surprises, Disneyland was picked for day 1. With the cool Disney Train to get there and everything you'd expect there, it was a fairly good day although Jake was probably a bit young for it and didn't know a lot of the characters. We got there around opening which was great but only managed a couple of rides before the queues were 40mins to an hour on each (compare the pics of the disney castle first thing and to the right around midday), a bit long for a 5 year old's attention span. Never the less, we did a few rides. Probably should have read about Tarzan and his treehouse before visiting it but oh well.

After a few rides and lunch of jelly and a muffin (Jake didn't really like the American style burger food or the Chinese style food), we watched the Lion King Show and then the parade of characters that made their way singing and dancing through the main street of Disneyland, both of which were rather awesome.

 Last up, time for a few more rides. By 3pm Jake had had enough and wanted to head back to the hotel to go to the pool again.

Worth a trip? yep. Though next time i'd plan the rides better, we missed the Buzz lightyear ride and a cool one which was basically a car on a rail on a long track as both had 1 hour waits by the time we got there. Who knew that the Buzz Lightyear ride wouldn't be in Toystory land.

Above you have some of the jungle book boat trip, the Green Army men  parachute drop ride which Jake was PETRIFIED but VERY BRAVE on. esp after the first time the parachute dropped and he hated it and had to wait while it slowly went up again and again. Poor little mite.
I also learnt that he knew the words to "It's a small world after all" song which he proceeded to sing while we were in line for the "it's a small world after all" ride on a boat which was much more child appropriate than the Green Army Men Parachute! Can you see the hedge cut inot the shape of an elephant? very impressive.

Macau Day 5/ Hong Kong Day 1

Yes, yes, we did of course eventually leave Macau...........unfortunately. Fabulous fabulous fabulous it was. Oh well. The sad day dawned and it was time to go to Hong Kong and for Dilan to get ready to go back to school....so into the taxi and back on to the ferry we went.

Luckily we were off to stay in the most luxurious hotel ever, complete with hotel on the roof which proved to be Jake's favourite place to hang out, we went there at least once, often twice a day. He also rather loved the luxury of the bath towels and the change rooms with everything you could possibly need to get ready -hairgel, moisteriser, hairdryer, slippers. Luxury luxury luxury. We were both very happy.

 

 

Also check out the view from our room - AMAZING!!! I'd found this hotel through my googling of hong kong hotels and kids and this one had a supermarket and foodcourt in the shopping centre that the hotel linked to which made it super easy for kids, especially fussy little eaters like Jake. http://planningwithkids.com/2011/06/27/hong-kong-with-kids/

Day 1 Hong Kong - luxuriate in Hotel. Dinner at food court next door. Mmmmmm. Lovely.

A for effort

I think I should probably nominate myself for mother of the year. Not only did I pop out at lunchtime last week to attend a 1pm school assembly that Jake's class was running, I am now seeing a book week costume. Not to mention the cupcakes made for Bianca's birthday last week.

Though it seems like a fun creative outlet for now, I'm pretty sure I will spend 6 hours of trying to persuade against lion costumes instead of the 2 I spent this time once there are three needing a costume. Hopefully they will also see the joy of saving the planet ( an their M

Be scared

Dear Sydney Half Marathon,

I am coming to get you. Although I was injured until April, I can now run for a very long time, though a bit slowly along the bush tracks.

Furthermore my leg looks very fast in this photo that I somehow accidently took with run keeper. I didn't know you could take photos with run keeper. Anyway half marathon, you should be afraid.

That's all.

Our little thinker

Toby has taken to carrying a pad of paper around with him. He likes me to write everyone's name down on it. He's currently learning his letter's at kindy.

Toby turned 4 on Wednesday which meant he chose pancakes for breakfast (that's what happens when Dad tells you that you can have anything you like for breaky...)  and ikea meatballs for dinner and cupcakes for dessert (that's what happens when Mum says you can have anything you like for dinner and Toby says go to Ikea. Mum counters with how about we make cupcakes for dessert instead and eat the Ikea meatballs.............I just couldn't do Ikea for dinner again, we were there just Sunday night, once a week is enough!).

The girls

Bianca had a lovely mix of boys n girls interests, she regularly goes to sleep holding a car and a doll. She mixes Toby's clothes and hers together but until today, she'd never had a clip in her hair. I can't remember the last time I had one in my hair for that matter....

Macau Day 4

One of the cool things on Taipa, is that you can walk everywhere in a maximum of 15 minutes and also the mixing of the Portugese colonial style with the modern casino look. Day 4 and we went to check out "Fun City" ( kids playland, which included arcade games, much to the boys delight), somewhere in the Crown complex and went Hard Rock for lunch for a great touristy experience.

There are so many entertaining things to see in the casinos. With all this walking, I became quite fond of our 3pm cappacinos to get through the afternoon. A welcome stop and good to half a few minutes sitting down. Especially as usually accompanied by cake.

You can't really see, but this casino below had the most spectacular sculpture that rose out of the floor with impressive music playing. All very fun for young and old.

Macau Day 3

Not to be outdone by our first day of adventures (which happened on the second day in Macau, since we were so jetlagged, we stayed local the first day), we bussed down to the far end of the island and went on the COOLEST battery operated bikes round a racing car circuit. All for about $1 for 20 minutes. Followed by a play on the strange dark coloured sand - the place to go on weekends for the expats (well, that and the Westin resort for breaky) and lunch at Fernandos which was one of the best meals ever. It was so good, i didn't take any photos of it, you just get the empty checkered table cloth. It's a bit of a local tradition to go there for lunch. No booking accepted and you queue for opening at 12. worth the wait.

But a full morning wasn't enough, we had to jump off the bus on the way home and check out the Pandas and other animals in the little zoo. Free entry. $2 to see the Pandas. $15 to buy a panda handbag for Bianca............Yes we saw real pandas and ones made of plastic flowers too, maybe they're around in case the real ones are sleeping? The last pic on the top row below is of all the cranes at the back of Panda park, construction of new casinos and hotels and appartments is going nuts.

Then back through the Turtle park on our way home. Too many animals is never enough.

Macau Day 2 - what a day

It's amazing how far a 5 year old can walk if they want to. We had the biggest day ever on our second day in Macau, I was exhausted after all the walking and seeing that we did but Jake the champion didn't complain at all. It was an amazing day. We started at the Venetian, which was humungous and totally fun. Jake desperately wanted to do a gondola ride and in the spirit of why not, we're on holidays, I agreed. I knew I had really relaxed quickly when I agreed to buy the singing bear afterwards.

After knocking off the Venetian without even getting lost and finding the Portugese Tart bakery, we went on a Casino transfer bus (complete with Loui's pram), just 3 kids, 2 mums and lots of serious gamblers to the other island to check out some more fun casinos complete with amazing Alice in Wonderland style courtyard and big birdcage in one, amazing Chinese buffets for just $15 per adult, kids free, luxury shops, dancing fountains and a lot of flashing lights.

As you can see, Jake was pretty excited to see Dilan again. 
After our lovely tour of the Casino's, Jake and I headed off to see the Portugese part of town and the fort on the top of the hill. Macau is such a cool place, the mixture of all the Chinese sights and smells and the Portugese buildings and some Portugese food. Two for the price of one!

When we returned home, everyone else was as stuffed as us and no one was that hungry after our huge lunch so we had a very delicious meal, rice and soy sauce. Yum! It's surprisingly good. And simple. It also works well with veges and a splash of soy on rice. The possibilities are endless. The main thing to remember is, just add the soy, no fancy other business. So good. Especially when you're stuffed.

Crisis management

Another rainy day in Sydney, husband sick in bed and I agree to the kids suggestion of painting. Two waters knocked over, full of dirty paint water, 3 meltdowns and paint everywhere, you could imagine it. Paint kept turning up for hours, even after I thought it was all gone, on the odd bit of floor, 2 rooms from where the painting had taken place, in the bathroom, in the kitchen....paint travels well. Maybe I could hire them out to people training in crisis management.
Still at the end of it, Jake declared that he was going to be an Artist when he grows up, so that should be fun. Last night Toby decided to become a vet when reading a book about the jobs that people do.

Jake n Julie's trip to Macau day 1

It has been a daunting task to try to capture Jake and my recent holiday adventure. So I'll break it up into smaller pieces.

We went to Macau to visit our good friends Lucy and Neil who had just moved up there in January to work for the Sheraton which is opening the biggest Sheraton in the world up there shortly. Also handily, home of Dilan, Jake's very best friend.

Booking the trip was all very exciting and I just had one moment as Connah drove us to the airport where I rather wondered what I had been thinking. jake had been super excited for weeks of course and people kept asking me if he was actually going to Hong Kong, including his teacher on his last day of school, as she was surprised that he had told her he was going to Hong kong "today". He was right.

School finished at 3pm and the fight wasn't till 10pm that night. Of course there was super excitement at the airport and upon boarding the plane. And finding the entertainment unit...but eventually Jake did sleep for about 5 hours. He was absolutely angelic the next day too considering how little sleep he'd had, especially as I'd made him schlepp through hong kong via train and underground to get to the ferry to Macau. There was GREAT excitement upon meeting up at the ferry terminal.

Lucie n co live on the Taipa island, where most of the new casinos are, on the 31st floor overlooking a very cool park, currently under construction and nothing is more than a 15 min walk with most stuff only 5 mins away. One of the coolest things though is the humungous gardens that they share with 15 other blocks of units that includes an indoor play zone for the kids, gym and swimming pool. Nice.

Style file

Little Miss Bianca has very definate opinions about what she wears lately. It's delightful to watch. A little frustrating at times too, when there are screaming meltdowns if the right clothes can't be located, but overall lots of fun. Isn't she gorgeous?

Economies of scale

The other day when Toby and Connah were in Melbourne, while I was putting the washing on the line, Jake decided to put Bianca to sleep for her lunchtime rest to the relaxing sounds of his harmonica playing. Win win.

Jake's first course on legs

Last weekend or so, Jake did his first orienteering course of his own free will. I'm pretty sure Sarah and I took Jake n Alex around a course when they were less than a year old but this one Jake asked to do.
We were at a new map in oatley, Sydney. Actually, also my first course for the year. After I'd been out, Nana and Poppy were out and we'd played with sticks for a while, Jake asked to do a course.

He loved it. He wanted to go again next weekend. Though my commitment levels don't quite run to travelling to Armidale where this weekend is, we'll Definately be back for the next Metro League in Centennial Park.

When Toby arrived back from Melbourne with Connah that night, Jake was telling Toby he had to come too. This passion must run in the family. Go Jake.