A Day At Work

Head Office

My reward for answering questions correctly

It was a more relaxed day today. I was able to sleep until 7am. After a leisurely breakfast, I headed for the station with my manager. It was a 30 minute train ride to the Head Office building. The day was long but the material covered necessary. Some highlights included:

• Lunch at the office Cafeteria – we got to choose our meat with salad on the side and then picked up our miso soup, rice and accompanying dessert, followed by our choice of drink. The cost was covered for us on the day of training but for the rest of the company, it would set them back a mere 300yen ($3)!
• Getting to meet colleagues from other affiliates as well as head office staff
• The dinner party at the end of the day held in the office’s entertainment room complete with karaoke machine
• Acquiring an impressive collection of business cards

A Kick Up The Butt

Nothing like an upcoming trip to kickstart the blog again!

The fact that our computer had taken its last dying breaths weeks ago hasn't helped. Our building project has kept us busy as has working out our new routine, but life goes on!

The children have settled in remarkably well despite their disorganised parents missing parent teacher day. We have welcomed a beautiful Italian au pair who we love! And as stressful as the building has been, things are moving along. We're now hoping to be able to move in at the end of July.

On Monday, I'll be flying to Japan for a day of training. Fortunately, things have worked out in such a way that I will have time to visit the very last Disney park that I have not yet visited...Tokyo Disney Sea! That is definitely blog worthy which is why this update is occurring.

With virtually no knowledge of anything related to the park, it was a scramble over the past three weeks to cobble something together that somewhat resembles a plan. This was no way to attack a Disney park! At this point, I thank God for the existence of the DISboards. Malcolm and the children were not too pleased about my solo trip to visit a Disney Park. Fortunately, the children were easily appeased with the promise of flavoured popcorn. Malcolm reluctantly settled for a Disney cap to add to his collection.

So here are some random photos of events of recent months. I will add some more of the gaming convention upon my return from Japan.



Elliot made it into the 4ths in basketball despite having never played before. Yay!



Happy Chinese New Year! If only behaviour matches the angelic look...

The colour of good fortune!

Chinese New Year not complete without food

Lara's first major sporting event at school

And her collection of ribbons

Enjoying the last of summer's warmth

We missed our Asian food whilst in Europe!

Mmmm...Thai food

The two double bass players in the Yr 3 string Orchestra at their very first concert

Happy Birthday Malcolm! Spoilt by his mum with a home made icecream cake

Happy 8th Birthday to Lara!

Update Time

You know what it means when I update my blog...we are going on a holiday! Yes the time has come. Tomorrow, the Albanys will be heading for the gaming convention and I will be trying to defend the championship.

But before I can blog about that, the anal person inside of me is niggling me to give an update of events since...January! GASP!!!!

So here goes...

House Matters
The old ancestral home has been demolised much to the sadness of the oldies. However, much to our frustration, the new has yet to be started. The good thing is that we get to more time to save up...

Goodbye old house

Birthdays Galore
Happy Birthday to myself, Malcolm and Lara!

Let's take a family photo! Oops...forgot the birthday girl

My awesome birthday presents...Snow white ipad decal! along with a seven dwarves iphone case

Most precious card from Lara! One of three...

A pair of lose more calories shoes from Malcolm. Is that a hint?!?!?

Redeemed himself with a bargain of a shirt!

Yet another special gift. A disney share! Yes I am now officially a Disney shareholder (along with Malcolm)!

Au Pair Affairs
We farewelled Heather, our wonderful American au pair, and welcomed a french au pair. Due to unfortunate circumstance, we had to give her notice. She has since left and we are awaiting the arrival of our very first Canadian au pair. In the meantime, we have also found an amazing au pair for Jan 2013~Will keep you update!

Easter Break
What a great time to reflect upon what an amazing thing God has done for us through Jesus Christ. A great time spent with family and friends!

Family golf day. Never too young to start.

Action packed day. BBQ with friends at the Armoury

Gaming practice. The countdown begins as revisions begin in earnest!

A New Beast
Yes the big red tomato is no longer...We now have a new silver CX9 with number plate to match. CEO!


A New Job
With impeccable timing, I have scored myself a new job just as we lost childcare...

New Beginnings
Jonah has begun piano and swimming lessons much to his mother's dismay. Life is just that little bit harder...On a positive note, we managed to get ALL three children in the same timeslot for swimming lessons. Woohoo!!!

Trivia Specialists
We won the jackpot...all $650 worth! And tonight, we won, earning ourselves a $75 bistro voucher. Go the Fruitloops!

Any excuse...

Today was my last day at work. After more than 6 years of service, I was made redundant as the role was made full time. I am grateful for the opportunities that I had been given. For one, I was able to work part time to enable time with my children. I was fortunate to be able to work with some wonderful people who gave me a memorable farewell. I can honestly report that I walk out a happy woman. So much so that I had to buy something to celebrate the next phase of my life. What better things to purchase than shoes! So here they are...all three pairs of hand-made leather shoes all the way from Brazil!

Luna Park

Last Sunday was our very last Luna Park day. Every year at Christmas time, my company organises a family day at Luna Park. Seeing as this will be my last year with the company, we were determined to go rain, hail or shine. Fortunately for us, the miserable rain that had plaqued the city for the whole week magically disappeared! This has happened for us each year that we've been! The last time we went was in 2009 when a 4 year old Lara was unable to say fairy floss (fairy floff). Other than an improvement in linguistic skills and a change in the colour scheme of the function room, much of our day was the same! So I will simply insert some photos and let you read the post from two years ago...

Yay, we're here!

Our air-conditioned function room!

Multicoloured instead of blue and white, but the same room!

Guess who went straight for the free coffee...

Ferris wheel with an amazing view

Hmmm...this photo looks familiar, just insert different child. Elliot was too big to go on!

Jonah had a ball on all the kiddy rides

As did Lara

Elliot in the meantime preferred the big people rides!

Coney Island fun as ever

Jonah wasn't afraid of the big slide!

The lovely ladies from work

Ice-cream time! Free of course...

 

Woohoo! We are a winner!

From this...

...to this! Storms coming in

One last ride before heading home