MissE and Me

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Snow Time!

Snow Time! at the Hunter Valley Gardens

Some background: Eloise has been asking to go ice skating for about a year now, since she saw Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck ice skating in a Christmas movie and is also a big fan of Disney on Ice on YouTube. (Shh! She doesn’t know she gets to go next week!)

Slight issue: Mr H and I don’t like cold. Pre- monkeys, we went to Thredbo with Mr & Mrs Barry for a weekend. While the company was wonderful, we didn’t have a great time on the snow. First all, I couldn’t find the snow. I grew in Northern California and the only snow I know is Lake Tahoe (and I just assume all ski areas are like that. Nope). And second, during our snowboard refresher lesson, it was raining… and we were wet and miserable. On the last day I simply refused to kit up and opted for a lazy breakfast in Thredbo Village while everyone else headed for the slopes. We did not want to trek there (it’s a good 5 hour drive) and the E’s decide they didn’t like it, so I found a better solution for all of us. Snow Time! at the Hunter Valley Gardens

1.5 hour drive to Hunter Valley
Snow play
Ice skating
Chocolate Festival running concurrently
Wine

BOOM!

We made our way on Saturday, mid-morning. In no rush to arrive in the Hunter Valley, we opted for the tourist route through Wollombi, stopping for lunch at the Wollombi Tavern.

Now THAT'S a burger (minus the beet root)

What a great spot! A co-worker recommended stopping there and we were glad we did. The food was fast, portions were big and it was yummy! We sat outside, watching the motorbikes.

The bar is a bit of fun. They are most famous for their Jungle Juice. Legend has it that Mel Jurd, in his efforts to keep costs down and revenues up would save all the leftovers from the night before and pour them into a single container. Port, brandy, wine, you name it, Mel saved them all and experimented with various brewing techniques. Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice was created. But, you could only obtain this special drop at Mel Jurd's Wollombi Wine Bar. The product has remained the trademark for the establishment ever since. I tried it and it wasn’t bad so I bought a little bottle.

We’re here!

Once in the Hunter Valley, we were a bit shocked by the number of cars for Snow Time and the Chocolate Festival! There were cars parked all over the main road… and quite far from the Gardens. Luckily it was not as bad on Sunday. We checked-in at the Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens. Unfortunately the room was pretty average (Mr H and I are hard to please when it comes to accommodation) but the bed was comfortable, it was convenient and had a discount on the Hunter Valley Garden entrance tickets. It was really nice being able to walk to the Hunter Valley Garden Village and to the Gardens rather than fight the parking lot.

Our first stop was a walk to the HV Garden Village. We had a coffee and cookie at Hunter Valley Cookies (yum) then a play at the playground (burn that energy!).

Eloise enjoying the cookie of the day "Death by Chocolate"

For dinner we drove back into Cessnock to try sSs BBQ. Eden enjoyed their free peanuts and Cajun popcorn as his dinner.

2 spoons are more productive

Snow Time!

Snack pack cereal and banana bread = make-shift hotel breakfast
(Or the 'Stingy Breakfast')

After a make-shift hotel breakfast (love that it worked really well!) we bundled up and walked over to the Gardens. First stop was ice skating tickets, then our first play in the snow!

Snow Time!

Eloise jumped right in. She was shocked by how cold it was but she went straight to work on a snowman. Eden wasn’t too sure. I had to put him in the snow pit before he would explore. He said “cold”, “wet” and then searched for shovels to build his own snowman. Soon, he was desperate to get into the snowball fight pits… umm, no. I saw a teenager nearly lose an eye in there!

Our first snowman

Ice Skating

You never forget, right? I didn’t! Especially how uncomfortable ice skates are. Ouch! That first step onto the ice is always a bit confronting. Ha, ha! I am just thinking of a few of the dad’s ahead of us that went for it then promptly fell on their bums! Eloise was very nervous but she did very well. We scooted along the wall for the first round. I just kept reminding her to go slowly and to slide her feet like she is in socks. She didn’t chop at the ice at all and only fell over once. By the 3 and 4^th time around the rink, she was able to hold onto to the wall with one hand and mine with the other. A few of the corners, she was also willing to let go of the wall and just let me help her. I was in a full sweat by the end of the 20 minutes though! I was very proud she kept trying and didn’t give up.

Skates on! Ready to go!

Pure concentration

Starting to get the hang of it...

After a walk through the Storybook Gardens (my favourite), a play on the jumping castle, and the Husky Racing and Ice Sculpting by Kenji Ogawa demonstrations we decided to leave the Gardens for lunch (good idea since the lines were crazy!).

Jack fell down and broke his crown...
Eloise and Jill came tumbling down after!

Wake up Wee Willy Winkee!

Mad Hatters Tea Party

Husky Racing Demonstration

Ice sculpting by Kenji Ogawa

Then we piled into the car for nap time. Eden was asleep before we even pulled out of the hotel driveway and Eloise within 5 minutes. Mr H and I then hit up our favourite wineries, tag-teaming the cellar doors (one in, one stays in the car). By the time we go to Tempus Two and the Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop, it had been over an hour and they were waking just in time for gelato!

Keith Tulloch (one of our favourites!)

Back inside the Hunter Valley Gardens, we checked out the Chocolate Festival and were thrilled to find Adriano Zumbo just standing around. For those who don’t know, he’s a chef-librity thanks to the Masterchef juggernaut. His patisserie in Balmain has long queues for his macaroons, or Zumbarons.

With Adriano Zumbo

The Classics

After our brush with fame, we headed back to Snow Time for more snow play and tobogganing! Mr E loved it so much, we went 4 times!

Snow ball expert

On the toboggan... WEEEEE!

Poor Eden was so exhausted after tobogganing we walked back to the hotel and he just lay on the bed, not moving and watched TV. He perked up when daddy returned with dinner (pizza) but shortly after, handed me his pyjamas because he wanted to go to bed.

Monday morning, after a slight sleep in and another make-shift breakfast, we headed back to Sydney. Brr, was it cold! -1.9c during the night and only 4c at 8:30am. Eloise and Eden were happy to tell their teachers about their weekend while we started our work week.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend. Eden really liked the snow and couldn’t get enough of building snowmen, then hitting them over the head with a shovel. It was a great introduction to the snow for the next time we actually get to spend a Christmas in California! (It crossed both our minds for Christmas this year… maybe)

Monday, July 1, 2013

All Sorts June

Liquorice allsorts is a candy and consist of a variety of liquorice sold as a mixture. These are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine. It’s not a candy I particularly like, but it was June: a mixture of sad and fun, celebrations and disappointments, and a getaway too.

Saying Goodbye

We were the first to say goodbye to Cynthia and it was heartbreaking. We had one last play at the park on a Saturday afternoon and it was unfortunately rained out after 2 hours. There were many tears and just a great deal of sadness. Eloise was stronger than me and asked Cynthia before they pulled away if she could come visit their new house in America soon. She also assured them she would send them a card too. It’s still hard to read the books about friends moving away without tearing up.

Tom & Eloise

Goodbye Calvin!

Back in 5. Gone to the Tropics.

Our first domestic getaway in a few years! It definitely deserved its own post (or 2!). Read about it here.

Birthdays!

Face-painting at Dylan's 4th

We had several weekends of birthday parties in a row, including mine. I love celebrating birthdays, but not my own. Not because it’s a getting older thing but well, having the attention on me makes me a bit uncomfortable. Luckily Eloise and Eden treated it just like another day. An hour into my birthday, I already wanted a birthday morning do-over. Eden was sick and cried for an hour, non-stop. Hello, Panadol. Eloise decided that my birthday was a surprise so she would not wish me ‘happy birthday’ until forced to. I wasn’t exactly feeling the love that morning!

I was really looking forward to getting into work… mostly for the quiet! My wonderful co-worker made this cake for me and we also had a lunch out. Yum!

That night, with Eden still sick we were stuck at home so we had Thai from our favourite restaurant delivered. And finished it off with cake number 2!

My super sweet 17 times 2!

Sydney Fish Markets

It's been raining... and raining... and raining in Sydney. After a day of being stuck indoors and watching cooking shows all morning, we decided to go for a drive to the Sydney Fish Markets. Eloise and Eden both loved watching the king lobsters and crabs in the tanks.

Sydney Fish Markets (coral trout)

Octopus

MissE is 4.5

Mommy-Daughter Date

MissE asked me for some mommy/ Eloise time and I happily obliged with the release of Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University. So one rainy Sunday, we left daddy and Eden home to head to the movies. We had a lovely girls’ day out: as a special treat, she was allowed to pick whatever she liked in the candy aisle at the grocery store and I bought her the collectors’ cup at the movies. Post-movie (hilarious) we browsed the stores and had a café lunch. At home, she also had her nails done in rainbow colours!

Say Minions

Rainbow manicure

The next weekend so daddy didn’t feel left out, she had a Daddy-Daughter Date with Mike Wazowski.

Liar, Liar

It’s started. We called Eloise and Eden for dinner while they were watching TV together. Eden went to turn off the TV, Eloise screamed and then Eden was in tears. When we came into the room, Eden was holding his arm crying. Eloise said she did not touch him. We asked her at dinner and she still said she did not touch him. We asked her if she was telling the truth. She said yes she was. She did not touch him and her nose was not growing.

The next day, Eden got up before Eloise. He held out his arm and said “Jie-jie hit arm. Owie. It hurts. Jie-jie jai-jai” (naughty in Cantonese). BUSTED! We asked her one more time about the incident and she finally fessed up. She nearly was not allowed to go to a birthday party later that day as punishment for lying.

(Un)fabulous Four... or another adjective
We almost got to the end of the month with no incidents of brat-titude but on the very last day of the month... it became seriously un-fabulous. I prefer a different adjective to go with four but I will try and refrain from using it. It stemmed from a week of refusing to nap during the day and blew up in Eloise's face as she sits in her room with nothing but a bed and her dresser of clothes. Another level naughty.

Post-script: It turns out, Eloise was acting completely out of character because she was feeling sick! She had 2 home days and is back to herself. Whew!

Mr E is 23 months!

Almost-birthday-boy is 23 months. Where has this year gone? He is as cheeky as ever. When I ask his carers how he was that day, the answer I tend to get is “mischievous!” Unfortunately as 2 approaches, there is a significant increase in tantrums over everything: putting on pants, putting on a hat and jacket (it’s winter and freezing!), he wants his “moo cup”, he doesn’t want Eloise to sing, etc.

He is very good with using his words to form sentences like “I don’t want to” and “Eden come too” or tell us when he gets hurt. He asks us to “kiss owie” or “um-um baby feet” (eat his baby feet).

His favourites: singing! He loves to sing: We Are Young, Wheels on the Bus, Gangnam Style.

Eden asks for Gangnam Style

Another favourite is pre-bath nudie runs through the house. Unfortunately it’s a bit like having a puppy again because occasionally there are piddles and exclamations of “Oh dear mama! Oh dear!”

Wrestlemania

As Eden approaches 2, he has been learning about time-out the hard way. He is a boy. He is rough and likes to wrestle. Eloise doesn’t help the situation because she thinks it’s funny until she gets hurt. The other thing he does is while Eloise is happily colouring at the table, he picks up a plastic chair and hits her over the head with it. All of the above carry the penalty of time-out. Occasionally we can get Eloise to pretend to cry and get Eden to check if she is “right?” and say “sorry” with a hug. This works 40% of the time since Eloise can’t stop giggling.

Kids Playland

While daddy and jie-jie were at the movies, I took Eden to the play centre. It felt weird to be there without Cynthia, Calvin and Cam. Eden found it odd without his jie-jie but was soon having fun.

He is definitely my son. He sat there for 30 minutes
and sorted the broken balls out of the ball pit!

With my work, I get to visit local hotels quite often. Here are some photos from my visits:

Sydney Harbour Marriott: cookie bar

Lunch: fresh prawns and scampi, seafood ceviche
(Not pictured: mock-tail bar, coffee cart, waygu & lamb pies, sliders, desserts)

Alice in Wonderland chair at Curzon Hall

Curzon Hall
So I totally couldn't stop singing "Beauty & the Beast" while here.

I did a Photo a Day Challenge this month. Check out the photos here!

And finally, in look what I made corner: I made a Snickers Cheesecake for my co-worker's birthday (fun fact: she made my cake for me! We kind of rock!)

Until next time!

Preview: Eden turns 2!

June Photo a Day Challenge

I haven't done a photo a day challenge this year yet so with a trip, my birthday and a road trip I thought it would be the perfect month. The prompts are here and these are my photos with a short description: