Welcome to the world!

Today I became an aunt again! We welcomed little Aiko Makayla Murakami, beloved little daughter of Ryuzo and Vinny. Oh so cute! And oh so nice to return...

Kindle me crazy

I have belatedly discovered that since May 2010 Australian kindle users were able to use their device to access the world wide web...for free!

To my delight, I am able to access hotmail and the DISboards. It's not colour. It's not a touchpad. But who cares? It's free!! This post is brought to you by the kindle in the car park of North Ryde Primary School. All I need to do now is to make a test online purchase from my kindle and my life will be complete!

Free internet in America here I come!

No more soccer!

Sorry Elliot...hurray for the end of soccer season! As much as I try to embrace it, I struggle with being the Saturday morning taxi service. It can be a challenge at times to get Elliot and Lara to soccer and ballet respectively with Jonah in tow. This Saturday, we had to travel to woop woop (Kenthurst) to play our last game. Having to travel for 35 minutes by car with no traffic is having to travel 35 minutes too far. It was fortunately a great game for the boys and they ended the season undefeated.

Soccer was closely followed by a lunch of KFC with school friends to celebrate a Birthday. It was hot'n'spicy season and the opportunity was not to be missed. Ali and Richard satisfied their annual KFC quota while the rest of us simply enjoyed the fat. Hester and Shane seem to be keen on a Disney cruise in 2013. Yippee! Perhaps we might join them...

My brain seem to be incapable of coherent thought of late so I'll summarize the other highlights of the week (will have to pull up my socks for future posts...), again in no particular order:

We finally made it to our very first music trivia at the Bayview Hotel on Friday night. It was nice to have dinner together without the children, however, it felt strange being at the same pub 2 nights in a row. Amanda was the only other member of our team that night and we confirmed our ineptitude at popular music trivia. Fortunately, she seemed to know a lot of the answers and for a team of only 3 (compared to the 8s and 10s of other tables) we came a respectable 9th out of 17 teams. It also made Malcolm and I feel better to read that official rules cite "teams must have at least 2 members. We were vital after all!

I had a lovely day out at Bronte Beach with Su and her cousin on Thursday. We had every intention of walking the Bronte to Bondi walk. We turned around at Tamarama Beach. I blame Jonah and the pram. I had planned to take so many photos for my scavenger hunt like "lifeguard" and "kite in flight" just to name a few. Alas, I had to be content with "pail and shovel in sand". I had to make good use of the props that I lugged all the way from home.

My visit to Canberra for a TGA visit on Friday was thankfully cancelled. Well, I didn't have to go...the rest of team went ahead without me. I finally managed to get myself to a hairdresser. My first haircut in over 2 years. Now my mother will hopefully stop nagging about me being "tight" with money.

We bought the in-laws a "bab"-top to help with communication. Teaching them how to use the device was interesting...They have finally made it on to their Asian Odyssey cruise. Hopefully they'll be able to have a decent break with no incident. Fingers and toes crossed in earnest.

My Kindle has developed a cracked as a result of the case. Fortunately, it appears that Amazon will replace my Kindle at no charge including shipping of my Kindle back to them. They will also credit me the cost of the Kindle case. Hallelujah!

Noodle Mania

I can't believe its August already. That means there's only four months until we leave for our American adventure. Hurray!

We took the opportunity to pay off our cruise yesterday with the Australian dollar being at a good place. We also paid for our Walt Disney World package. With flights also paid for already, a big chunk of our expenses have been taken care of. This is a big relief...for Malcolm. Although my shopping list seem to be getting longer by the day, not sure if he is aware of this yet. On top of the obvious Disney merchandise, clothing and footwear that must be purchased, I have decided to buy myself some camera equipment as well. And if space permits, I might add on some manchester. Why is everything so much cheaper there?!?!?!

I've been mulling a lot about what I want to see and do and New York. So much choice! In particular, I'm rather confused about which Broadway show I want to watch. The two closest theatres to our hotel (half a block away) are actually showing decent shows, Jersey Boys and Wicked. Unfortunately, Jersey Boys just happen to be one of the most expensive shows on at present. At close to US$200 per person around Christmas time is just a tad much. Wicked is thankfully a little bit cheaper, however, the reviews have been fantastic for Mary Poppins which I think the children would really enjoy. We would have to catch a cab to get there (yes, I'm being stingy I know).

Our cruise adventures at each port are thankfully being arranged by everyone else but me. It will be nice to just get off the ship and enjoy myself without worrying about logistics. Malcolm and Sharon have been hard at work and some of the tours and excursions have already been organized.

We finally made it to Ryo's Noodles, supposedly the best Japanese ramen house in Sydney. We arrived early only to be stalled by the traffic lights and was beaten to the shop by a group of 5 Asians. They took the last big table. AIYAH!!!! Of course, it was then Malcolm's fault. Why didn't he run across the road faster? He knew that I was incapable of jay walking. As a result, we had to wait and watch 3 other groups go in before us. I was not pleased. Luckily, Asians eat quickly and we didn't end up waiting for too much longer. The ramen did turn out to be good and I would definitely return, but next time I will show no mercy and send Malcolm on ahead first...

The group of people who beat us to the door...

Waiting outside patiently

Enjoying our ramen!