The best holidays - Are the ones near water.

I am posting this as I think the best family holidays are the ones near water. As a child we had fun and created many memories down by the sea. My own family loves exploring in and around the waters edge.

I love Queensland holidays, they have so much to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/queensland

BEN 10 Live!

My first day of school holidays was spent taking Logan to see the Ben 10 Live show at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. I have never seen so many excitable boys all in one room. I thought I could have been done better but Logan loved it, so that is all that counts.

Logan took some of his own money and bought some Ben 10 figurines while the program was pathetic so I got Logan to have a photo taken with digitally enhanced Ben 10. 

The show went for 1 1/2 hours, when it was finally finished we found Matt and Tamika outside who had been walking around the city the entire time. By the end of the day we had walked 12.5 km around the city. I had bought more clothes too! We ate lunch on the steps of Darling Harbour fighting with the sea gulls. Matt also took us to see his new office. Quiet nice and clean at the moment. At Darling Harbour we had told the kids that they could play on this cool playground there, but guess what, they had closed it down and were rebuilding.

Dinner with friends

The Friday of the last day of term we went out for dinner with Mitch and Belinda. We travelled like a snail into the city and drove around and around with frustration setting in on the driver (Poor Binxs!). We just couldn't find the parking lot and ended up picking Matt up on a red light while sitting at the traffic lights.

We ate at The Malaya at King Street Wharf Sydney. Belinda had never eaten Thai  before as most of her life she has had a peanut allergy but this year she was retested and was cleared. She was very excited to be tasting Thai. We had a window seat with water views over Darling Harbour.

I probably ate a bit too much, but was able to control myself to small portions of most meals except for the meal which Mitch ordered - Blue Eyed Cod. EHHH! The funniest thing was it was a bit too spicy for even him.
The menu: San Choy Bow
Roti Cani with Curry Chicken sauce
Green stir fried vegetables
Blue Eyed Cod
Singapore noodles (spicy with chilli)

We ended the night with a trip to the Lindt chocolate shop. A sweet treat! YUMMY!

Horse Riding

Tamika finally celebrated her 10th  birthday with her friends. We were so lucky with the weather as there was a chance of showers but they never surfaced. The car was packed full and we even had to get mum and dad to help us take kids there.

The company were so much more organised this time around and very busy. They had so many rides on today. Matt decided that he was going to check out the saddle, while Anthony and I walked along side Catalina and Logan's horses. We also had to borrow Dad as one of Tamika's friends began to panic and wouldn't go without her horse being led. Though once she got use to the feel of it she was okay. I thought Logan would refuse to go, but her really liked it.  The girls all liked it too as they are planning to go again.

They went for an hour riding (walking it was a fair way around) but it was quite leisurely. Matt's horse had a mind of its own and Tamika was so excited that she got the same horse as last time 'Silver'. While we were walking the little kids had consistent rides on a pony, Zander and Cooper loved it!

After the horse ride we had some party food and then a sausage on a roll. The giant cupcake filled with chocolate ganche was quite sickly.

There's Nothing Like Australia!

Sitting at home during the last seven days I was doing a lot of internet surfing between grabbing buckets for sick children. This web site on Australia is awesome showing just how diverse our landscape is and giving some great advertising for the places around our country.

I have loved looking at the photos and seeing areas through other people's perspective. It also has given me ideas for trips around and places to visit.

Check it out!

http://www.nothinglikeaustralia.com/index.htm

Homework

I hate homework - setting it, marking it and getting my own daughter to do it. Every night the same resistance, same complaints and same whinging. So over hearing it! 

First day back at school for her in a week and the first things she said as she walks in the door is: "I don't want to do my homework."

A week of sickness.

Well what a week! I had so much on at work this week but all of that was put to a stop when Tamika became sick. I have spent four days  at home with her and then Logan came down with the vomiting bug as well. Now I just have to hope I don't get it... as I don't have enough sick days for that.
They are both missing their daddy dreadfully, even though he is only in the city for the week, I think that is why it is so hard for them to understand why he is isn't coming home for over a week.
Hopefully once this office move is over and done with that things will get back to normal around here and we can do some family things again and see him a bit more often.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all Dad's out there, especially all the Father's in our lives- Dad (Matt), my Dad (Russ) and Poppy Terry.

We had a relatively quiet Father's Day, a nice easy breakfast, presents and a late lunch then we had dinner out with family.

The kids spoilt Matt with lots of gifts and hand made cards. I would like to take this time to thank Matt for how hard he works at work and at home to up keep the family home and help to keep a roof over our heads. Even though we haven't seen you much lately with your work move the kids love you and miss you lots.

Photos of Tamika's birthday

September sees Tamika turn 10

Wow! Where have the last 10 years gone. This month we celebrated Tamika's 10th birthday.
I remember ten years ago before having Tamika I was in hospital for 2 weeks before with extremely high blood pressure. I was induced two weeks early much to the delight of my sister Rebecca who was taking off to go and live overseas for a year and was hoping to meet the baby before she left. Her wish came true as I gave birth to a healthy baby girl 6pound 2oz (she was small) the night before Rebecca and Anthony fly out.

Unfortunately her birthday was a miserable day so we had to change our plans at the last minute. We were going for a picnic but instead we went ten pin bowling and then had morning tea at Max Brenner. YUMMY chocolate! Later in the day we had some extended family over for afternoon tea.

She will celebrate her birthday later in the month with her friends at a horse riding party but we had to wait until Matt wasn't working to be able  to fit it in.

She received some lovely big girl presents. Jewellery both gold and silver as well as pearl earrings, clothing and even an iTune voucher.
Tamika is growing into a lovely young girl who would do anything for the people she loves, especially her brother (on a good day) and all her cousins. She has a wicked sense of humour, has a wonderful personality and is gorgeous. May you continue to grow in the right direction and know that anything is possible as long as you believe in  yourself.

Yeah- Tamika Won the Grand Final

What a proud start to the weekend. Tamika's school Junior Netball team made it into the grand final for the Seven Hills District. They were the first junior team at school to made it into the grand finals for netball. 

It rained on and off all day and we waited for a call to say it was cancelled. The ground was slippery, it was coming on dusk but they worked hard as a team and won the game 5-3. 

Blacktown Music Festival

It is always proud for parents to see their child participate in any activity. Wednesday 1st September for the second year in a row took part in the Blacktown Music Festival held at Bowmen Hall Blacktown. This is an event held over two night which celebrates the education of students from schools around the Blacktown District.
Tamika has been practising her songs for the mass school choir all year. Her most favourite (and the one we got sick of ) was Popular (from Wicked) and Rockin' Robin. It was an extremely long day for the students involved as they had been at the venue all day practising and then until 9:30pm performing.


This year saw Catalina (cousin) perform in one of the items. She was in the Junior Choir item from their school.
All school students did well and we could see that Tamika enjoyed her experience.

Experimenting - Jumbo Cupcake

The lastest crave in cooking is Jumbo Cupcakes. Tamika wants one for her birthday cake but I had to experiment with cooking times and the mould itself. A fancy little contraption....

We put together vanilla and chocolate. The base was vanilla and the top was marbled chocolate and vanilla. We decided this time not to fill it but next time I will, maybe with jam.

Poor logan had to sit back and watch Tamika lick the bowl and then eat the cake. He enjoyed the icing though, chocolate with M &M's. I wasn't impressed with the icing. How do you ice and decorate the cake and the cupcakes attractively? What is the secret? It is really annoying.

Vegetable Garden

We spent this weekend fixing up our vegetable and herb garden in the backyard ready for the summer season. Trying to save a bit of money on the vegetables... healthy eating soooo expensive, but we worth it. We have lettuce, spinach, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, snow peas, cauliflower, strawberries, passionfruit (as long as it recovers from the frost), rocket and sweet corn.
Thinking of all the beautiful salads we can cook with these lovely vegetables.

The Rocks Walking Tour

I took my year three class on an excursion into the city to go on a guided walking tour of the Rocks area to learn about the arrival of the First Fleet and convict life. The students complained that it was a long walk around but they really enjoyed it and once we got back to school I could see they learnt alot about that time.

http://www.rockswalkingtour.com.au/

Each child was given a convict that they had to be for the tour and walk around the city to the significant convict places learning about what the convicts did and why they were here. One convict even tried to escape and got as far as Indonesia and another one was sent to Pinchgut ( now Fort Denison) for being a very bad convict.

Netball 2010

Another year of  netball is nearly over. Tamika's team haven't faired very well on the competition status this year but I think that is because they were placed in a higher grade since they did so well last year.

On Sunday 8th August Blacktown Council held a Gala day. It was a VERY long day, but Tamika and the other girls in her team enjoyed it. They also learnt alot as the following week they won their game 14 - 5. That was only their second win all season.

Tamika was determined NOT to let go of the ball and make it hers.

Gluten Free Expo

On Saturday 7th August we headed to the Olympic Park Area at Homebush for our first Gluten Free Expo. Logan had been waiting for this day to arrive for a very long time as Nanny Lynne told him that he would get to tast alot of food and go away with samples.

We lined up early expecting it to be busy, we of course were the only ones there 45 minutes before opening time. Once inside there were sooo many products no one would become hungry. There were stalls advertising new Gluten Free Products and some that were selling their products at a discounted price. Take the loaves of Country Life Bread, usually $6 a loaf in the shops at the expo we picked up 5 loaves for $20. Bread freezes....

We came home with bag loads of food and then I had to clean my pantry to try and fit it in, cereal, biscuits, pasta, cake mixes, snaxs etc. The most delicious item at the store was the 'Cake Mark coconut delights'. They may be Gluten Free but they sure as hell aren't healthy. Weight Watchers would die at the points... lucky I only had a half. Now I will never look at them the same way again.
Yes, it will take Logan a quite a while to get through this pile of food.

Whale Spotting

Yes, of course we missed the whales by 15 minutes. Tamika had a by for netball so we decided to do something productive and get out of the house for the day. Packed some goodies and took off in the direction of North- Head in Sydney (on the recommendation of The Daily Telegraph's Best Places to spot whales).
Arriving there we found volunteers from Macquarie Universtiy counting the whales... and found that a pod of teenage whales had been seen about 15 minutes ago over towards Vaucluse and they were waiting for them to come over towards North Head to leave Sydney. We waited... and waited... and waited, but they never came.
Tamika  and Logan were disappointed but I didn't tell them that we had left it until the end of the whale watching season to head out.

They didn't go away totally disappointed as they had seen bunkers in the area from WW11, seen a lovely cliff face of Sydney and off course had lunch out at a park, cheese and rice crackers were on the menu.

Disney On Ice 2010

The kids with their cousin at Disney on Ice.

The characters on Disneyland Adventure.

The characters on their boat ride around Disneyland.

AHHHH! until they see the alligator.

The amazement all everyone's face as they watched the show.
Matt thinks it was the best one he has seen, but he has gone to Disneyland so it means more to him.

It truely was a great show. I loved the Disney characters and this was the first time we have seen Alice in Wonderland in a show like this. Logan loved Buzz Lighyear and Tamika loved the whole thing ( Alice a favourite).
Can't wait for next year - a new one for boys. It has Lightning McQueen.

Reptile Park- Gosford

During these holidays we took a trip to the Reptile Park in Gosford. I haven't been there since I was a kid and I was sure that I could find it to be able to drive myself. Mum decided that she wanted to join us on our outing. So we packed our lunch and the kids and took off. It was a cool morning with some clouds and a chance of rain, but we took out chances.

It is a small part that has a lot of hands on exhibits and animals for the kids to touch and feel. The Galapagos Tortoise was extremely big, active and alert. It was only about 30 years old. They actually let these tortoises out for the visitors to touch and watch them feed. Logan loved watching the dingoes play. Tamika enjoyed touching any animal that came her way (though she wasn't too sure on the baby alligator, lucky the staff had its mouth clapped shut). Their alligator lake was full of the sleeping creatures.