Back track: November and December

Here is the first of a few back-track blog posts.  I slacked BIG TIME at the end of the year and soon you will see why: November and December were non-stop until we had a 13 hour flight to “relax” (as much as you do with a 5 year old and 3 year old in a confined space).  

We tried. (November)

Pre-storm

Our last play date was a wash out as was this one.  It was a storm like no other and unfortunately traumatised Eden.  One minute we were laughing and running through the water, and the next we were hurrying under cover.  Within 30 seconds of getting under an umbrella, the skies opened and the winds blew.  There was no time to get dressed so we wrapped the kids in towels and held on tight.  There was a short break in the rain and we ran for it… but only made it half-way to the next undercover section when the winds were blowing too hard to move and lightning struck.  The only thing we could do was take cover next to the cement toilet block and watch the mini-tornado.  It sure was scary!

 

Taking shelter

Hello Sunshine!

We had amazing weather in November … and some of December, minus the crazy tropical thunderstorms.

Water fight!

Thanksgiving

This year, my work organised a Thanksgiving feast for lunch.  Our café roasted us a turkey with all the sides and a few of us brought in pies to complete the meal.  It was wonderful to make some new American friends, especially finding so many from the Bay Area/ Peninsula.

That evening, we had a family dinner at TGI Fridays.  Don’t laugh but it was pretty darn good – and best of all I did not have to do any cooking or cleaning!

 

This is the "after" photo of Eloise's dinner.
The only thing left were her green beans.
She likes mine better.

MissE (November and December)

MissE hit some big milestones for 5 – receiving her green belt in taekwondo, performing at her first dance concert (with a mini solo too), moving to Level 4 at swimming (laps!) and a BIG one, finishing Kindergarten.

At grading

Yay!  A green belt

Before the dance concert, Eloise with a few of the KH boys

Level 4

CONGRATS!  She (we) made it through Kindy!

Me

Not only did we have a play date, we also had a girls night dinner.  This time we went to Kasbah.  It was a beautiful night to sit outside.  The food and the conversation was good as always!

Melbourne

Melbourne at Night

I spent the last week of November in Melbourne.  My trip was a little topsy-turvy.  Remember way back in 2013, I attended a movie night with The Langham Hospitality Group (yes, the hotels).  I won a night stay at The Langham Melbourne with Club Lounge access.  I finally had the opportunity to redeem my prize but it was before all the hard work!  I invited my lovely co-worker, Ms M, to join me and I didn’t have to twist her arm.

The Langham pink car

Room with a view

My Langham stay was as wonderful as The Langham smells!  Having Club access was the best.  I didn’t have mingle with the riff-raff at all!  Ha,ha.

Afternoon Tea at the Club Lounge overlooking the Yarra River

For our night on the town, we visited “The Croft Institute” this quirky asylum-themed bar located down a graffiti covered alley-way.  We were also able to take in Mockingjay Part 1 at the 12:01am showing.

Inside the Hygiene Department
(women's toilet)

Then it was time to go to work… after a pretty awesome lunch at The Grand Trailer Park Taverna.  I stumbled upon this gem the day before and took my co-workers back with me for burgers and alcoholic-milkshakes (Maker's Mark, salted caramel and bacon).  We were part of its grand opening and the owners modelled it off the American burger culture so we talked burgers.  He treated us waffle ice cream sandwiches too.  Good move on his part as we sent a few groups there over the next few days.  To date (Feb 2015), it's still one of the best burgers I've had in Australia (I can blog about my search for a good burger - these hipster places I have been trying in Sydney are just NOT cutting it). 

Trailer or Non-trailer?

It was a successful symposium and I couldn't be happier that it was done and dusted… until 2015 anyway.

Home Sweet Home

We have been working on a few final touches around our house since we finished Eden's Star Wars bedroom and the laundry room.  Our weekend project for November was adding some tiling inside.

Before

During

After (and my kitchen is neat!)

Next up, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm back!

Well, it’s February… I didn’t disappear.  I am here, in Australia.  I think.  December and January saw us in California (yay!), and for me I kept on flying after we returned Down Under – to Bangkok and domestically, Gold Coast, QLD!  My own bed count for January was 6 nights, and the aftermath of it was a nasty cold that I shared with Mr H and Eden.  Now that I am feeling human again, I find myself scratching my head, trying to backtrack to November!

For this post, I take a look back on 2014 with a fun info-graphic (something I have wanted to do for some time now)

My Most Favourite Time of the Year: Halloween!

I love October.  Always have, always will.  My favourite shows are back on TV – The Walking Dead and American Horror Story.  And everywhere goes spooky for Halloween.  I missed the festivities with the kids last year to indulge solo (Halloweenfest at Ocean Park Hong Kong) so this year, we were all in… well, the kids and I were anyway (one day I will get Mr H in the spirit of things).

We made a haunted gingerbread house... and it actually stayed together!

On the Sunday, we went to the Canadian Network's Halloween for Kids party at it's new location, The Hard Rock Cafe.

Pugsley and Wednesday Addams
Love them for getting into character!

Find Jack's nose

Wednesday and Morticia

Mummy wrap

Elsa made an appearance

Eden "letting it go"...

It got me!

We had a quick play at the Darling Quarter before heading home.

It's Halloween Time!

It's time for the main event!  Halloween Day!  Eden's first costume for the day was one I tried to get him into last year... but he refused: Russell from Up.

First representing the World Champs, SF Giants!

Russell and Dug
"SQUIRREL!"

In the evening, things got a bit gory.  Eloise asked to be a Zombie Princess... and that's what she got.  I spent about 20 minutes zombie-fying her and loved how it turned out.  She refused to look in the mirror (too scared).  

Daryl Dixon's clothes were mostly picked-up for a few dollars at Kmart.  I made his vest by dying it black, fusing white fabric cut into angel wing shapes and drawing on the "feathers".  I found his "ear-necklace" by fluke from a dollar store near work.  My favourite part of the costume is the Nerf crossbow.  It's pretty fun!

Mini-Daryl Dixon
The Walking Dead

Trick-or-Treat Time!

Trick-or-treating isn't a guarantee here, but at least there are options these days.  Most houses put out an orange balloon or some cobwebs to tell us it's okay to visit them.  It still felt a bit odd at times, but at least it's slowly becoming more accepted!  The kids enjoyed themselves, Eden got it this year and didn't give the candy back.

The treat-givers loved Zombie Beauty and
thought mini-Daryl Dixon was a crack-up!

Success!  With pumpkins full of candy, we headed to TGI Fridays for a Halloween dinner. Eden was exhausted and fell asleep in the car and slept through the busy restaurant until morning!  Slaying zombies is hard work!

Until next year...

Two E's and Me: October 2014

We started October with a long weekend.  I had an extra-long weekend as I took the Friday off to spend Eloise’s last day of school holidays with her.  I surprised her with a fun (and very expensive) day at Wet n Wild Sydney.

Wet n Wild Sydney

Wet n Wild Sydney opened last year and with the crowds, I stayed far away.  In its 2^nd season, I was hoping to get a chance to have a splash.  All week the weather was beautiful and of course on Friday, the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped slightly.  BUT this could also work in our favour and keep the crowds away.  I was right!  The longest we waited was to buy our tickets in, but that was because I had to take a 2^nd mortgage out.  Ha!  I am just kidding but seriously, it was $140.00AUD for the 2 of us and it should have been more (thank goodness Eloise’s height is deceiving).

We’re in!

After stashing our gear (Ching! $12.00) and slip, slap, slop we headed to Junior Wet n Wild.  We grabbed our tubes for our first water slide (a mini-boiler), then Eloise checked out the solo slides and the waterplay area.  I was itching for some bigger slides so after confirming Eloise was okay to ride (there were only 5 she couldn’t go on), we started the climb.  I let her pick the slides by colour and she picked the purple and blue one first – Half Pipe.  And she really didn't like it.  I let her take a break to restore her confidence and we went around Boomerang Bay twice, then I got her back onto the slides.  She liked the next one but was hungry so we had a break for lunch near the wave pool (Ching!  No meals were less than $16.00 each and they search your bags to make sure no food is brought in).  After lunch, we finished the rest of the slides which Eloise agreed to try since she was allowed 30 minutes to do anything she wanted after.  It was lucky last for us; Typhoon was both our favourite and a great way to end the day.  Eloise was excited to pick-up Eden and tell him all about our day.  (Ching! Parking $8.00 only because I pre-paid) We had a fun day together but were both exhausted (I crashed at 8pm).  Total: $192.00

Splish Splash fun!

Tulip Time

On the Sunday, we wanted to see some flowers.  We had originally planned to spend the weekend in Canberra for Floriade but decided against it as we were away the weekend before.  I found a closer solution – Tulip Time in Bowral.  It was a 1.5 hour drive (versus 3 hours) and just as colourful.

 

Corbett Gardens 100 Years Anniversary

Kisses for Jie-jie

The Cherry Blossoms were also in bloom

NRL Grand Final

That evening, we BBQ’ed for the NFL Grand Final (and went for a swim – BRR!).

How many licks?  Ice creams!

 Public Holiday

Last day of the long weekend, we enjoyed more sunshine at the beach.

Jump on in!  The water's fine!

Digging for dinosaurs

On the following weekend, Eloise had a birthday party so we asked Eden what he wanted to do.  First it was stay home.  How funny is it that the 2^nd one is usually unsure what to do without their older sibling?!  We ignored him and took him to lunch and a gelato fix.  

I scream for ice cream!

Funnily, he spent the entire lunch saying how much he missed jie-jie, then asking why we didn’t go to a water park.  You didn’t ask?

Now this is water play!

So the next day, we indulged him and went to Blaxland Riverside Park (otherwise known as ‘Teletubbie Park’).  It’s been awhile since we had been there as it’s such a big park; we need to be 1:1 and parking is a problem.  We were up early so we hurried there.  When we first got to the water play area, the water was “resting”.  Eden was disappointed, frowning and asking where the water was.  5 minutes later, it started… and was so much fun.  There were a few dads in there too.  The kiosk near-by had coffee (YAY!), hot chips, ice cream and it was fast (the only café there used be so slow, it was beyond a joke).

Overlooking the Parramatta River

Day Trip: Mt Tomah

Every once in a while we like to get-away for the day (like Tulip Time above).  There are so many places in driving distance to explore in Sydney.  This time, we drove a little over an hour through Bilpin (home of mountain apples!) to Mt Tomah.

Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens (Waratah Festival)

At Pines Orchard {mountain apples}

Holly Polly

We had a chance to host Holly Polly, the bunny, for the weekend.  I wasn't too sure but she is such a lovely bunny, very tolerant of the kids’ obsession with her.

KH Assembly

The Day the Crayon's Quit skit

MissE’s class hosted an assembly this month.  Each child had a few words to practice and say on stage.  MissE nailed it.  I am very proud of her, as there were some big words for a 5 year old!  She didn’t need any help at all.  She also received an award (her 2^nd one)!  It was a nice surprise for her.  I took her for a special treat after school to celebrate.

Eloise's Big Speech

Go MissE!  Another merit certificate!

As the red crayon

Well-deserved treat for MissE!

MissE Says the Darnedest Things

During MissE’s usual dissection of weddings:

Me: Who are you going to marry?

MissE: I am going to marry Benjamin.  We are going to kiss on the lips and have a candy bar.

Me: A candy bar.

MissE: YES!  With all my favourite candy.

Aww…

MissE and MrE were arguing in the car (as usual).

MissE: Why are you sharing with me?

MrE: Because I love you!

Me

I swapped Hong Kong for a domestic trip this month.  While I had FOMO (fear of missing out) pangs for Hong Kong, I really enjoyed my domestic trip to the Gold Coast, thanks to the fabulous QT GoldCoast.  (Does this hotel sound familiar?  It's where Justin Bieber did some painting for them)  I also had the chance to have a drink and dinner with a mama friend that moved to live the good life in sunny Queensland.  Looking forward to the trip back in the new year!

Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast Qld

QT Gold Coast Hotel

Hi there!  Nice socks!

When the QT gives you lemons... you enjoy the view!

The Welcome note is made of chocolate... as they all should be from now on!

What a terrible view to wake up to!

Until next time...