Fete Accompli

The Albanys had a mission to be at Macquarie University by 8am today. As part of the University's annual open day, Mia Mia, a childcare centre attached to the Institute for Early Childhood Education was running a fete to showcase their facilities and to raise money. We were rostered on to set up for the book stall. Alas we failed. We didn't wake up early enough so we had to detour enroute in a hurry via the Vietnamese bakery to purchase our breakfast and coffee. Freshly baked bacon and cheese bread never tasted so good!

I was ready to take photos only to realise that I had forgotten to load an SD card into the DSLR. Elliot and Lara were delighted to return to the scene of their toddlerhood. With their help, the books were set up in no time. We had the advantage of having first pick at the excellent selection of books at an excellent price! The prize buy had to be "The Wonky Donkey". The included CD with a sung version of the book seemed to highly amuse the children (Malcolm included). As we rushed off to take Lara to her ballet lesson, we hurried bought some raffle tickets as part of our fund raising effort. Thus turned out to be an inspired move. We later discovered that we had won one of the hampers! And the hamper was filled with many, many goodies...

A reconstructed hamper. The children were too quick to dismantle before a photo could be taken.

Lara's motivation for dismantling the hamper

Malcolm's motivation...

Coffee beans

Tea

One for Mummy!

More gourmet goodies

Something for Jonah

The goodies continue! 1 free term of swimming lessons. 

$200 Photography voucher

Last but not least...movie tickets!

Malcolm had declared the hour that Lara was at ballet lesson to be Family Ball Sport time. So the rest of the family trooped to nearby Pymble Park to bowl, bat and catch. We were thankful to have received a lunch invitation at Mum's, complete with almond pudding and pancakes for dessert. Mmmmm. We had to go home to do some preparation for our upcoming trips to Canberra, to church camp and to America. Dinner was going to be a Costco red prawn curry at the Kohs', so we fed the children some McDonalds beforehand. The evening was a fun and enjoyable session of gaming. We were able to play Space Alert multiple times. So despite the tiredness, it is with great satisfaction that I am finishing off this post at 1:30 am in the morning. Off to sleep now for another early start and busy day tomorrow! Will aim to update this post with photos taken with the ipad and photos of Space Alert tomorrow.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

It has been a while and I don't know where the time went. Things are bad when the DISboards get neglected. I guess I am due for another one of my bullet point updates so here we go.

• DCL itineraries for the rest of 2012 were released. My eager hopes were dashed as the destinations were rather bland and we were not prepared to go back to the states again just yet. 2013 it will have to be! I now have to remember to move my dummy bookings...
• Have scored myself the role of co-ordinator for Mother's Group at Church. Not sure if I am ready for this responsibility or if I am the right person. Pray for me.
• Finally made an appointment for Elliot to be formally tested for giftedness. Relieved that the results confirmed our thoughts.
• Lost my wedding and engagement rings at the park. Still no word from the police.
• School holidays have come and gone. Survived!
• Found an au pair to start at the end of May. Hard to believe that Lanella will be leaving us next year.
• Farewelled my parents who left for Singapore and China. We will meet up in Hong Kong. Arghhh...plans for Hong Kong not finalised. Note to self to organise transport from the airport to the hotel on arrival
• Saw Mary Poppins at the Capitol Theatre as part of Lara's belated Birthday celebrations. Was a good show but marred by air-conditioning failure!
• Still trying to finalise car hire for our US trip in September. Why is it so hard?!?!?
• Accommodation sorted out for the first third of our trip, including Malcolm's beloved dude ranch. Can't wait!
• Go the Aussie dollar. Have gone mad shopping online. Now the whole family has a new wardrobe from the US and the UK. Have also bought a GPS from the US at half the Aussie price including delivery, go figure. Buying the Australian maps will only cost an extra $40 so we're still ahead. Have also purchased myself an Epiphanie camera bag amongst other things...
• The last 5 days have been spent at Kincumber for our annual gaming convention. My name is on the meeple! More to come on this...
• My Tokina 11-16mm lens arrived today. Yay!!!!

At the Copa...Copacabana

This weekend, we thought we'd utilize Malcolm's two days off during the school holidays to relax with the children. We found a lovely beach front home at Copacabana. We left nice and early on Friday morning and stopped enroute at Avoca Beach before going to Terrigal for a lunch of pies. After some ice-cream on the beach, we headed for Copacabana to get ourselves settled in for the next 4 days. We were greeted by the most amazing view from deck of our temporary home.

The view from the deck

The house exceeded our expectations. The living are was huge! There was foxtel and there was free internet. What more can a girl ask for? One had important Disney business to attend to at 3pm on Friday. Excursions and dining at PALO are open for reservation for silver castaway members (that's us!). I had better stake my claim before other equally crazy Disney lunatic take up my spots. I was able to book PALO and excursions fairly quickly but was stalled in my attempts to book nursery slots for Jonah and Samuel. Despite multiple emails to DCL, I am still left with a further 19.5 hours to use up. It shall have to wait until my return to Sydney.

The living area

Watching the children play on the beach from the deck

The private path down to the beach

The house viwed from the beach

The deck leading down to the garden

I consoled myself by joining the rest of the family on the beach. The children had a fabulous time entertaining themselves within a "hole" on the sand. We wondered along the beach to the local take-away shop for dinner. The burger with the lot was awesome and the old battered sav made a comeback! We ambled back along the beach back home and de-sanded for bed. We finally initiated Lanella into the world of gaming, ending the night with a couple of games of Puerto Rico.

Jonah trying to push his sister "in-nah-hole"

Success!

Playing on a near deserted beach

Climbing out of the hole

We awoke on the Saturday to a rather bleak and dreary day. We decided to go ahead with our plan to go the Entrance to see the Pelican feeding. Unfortunately, our memory served us poorly. There was no feeding at 11am. The only feeding time is at 3pm which is too late. Lunch was at a little cafe where we found some food that was not deep fried. John Dory with lemon butter sauce...yummy! Disappointment over the pelican feeding was offset by an encounter with a certain bird. The bird theme continued when we got home with a resident kookaburra making itself comfortable on our deck.

Enjoying the view

The pelican just wandering around the shops...

We were joined in the afternoon by Malcolm's parents much to the delight of the children. They had brought along Elliot's tadpoles that they were babysitting while we were at Berry the previous weekend. Nana had also boiled some lettuce and froze them so the little tadpoles will have food. Hmm...I am not sure that my dedication as a mother would go that far. I kept hoping that the kookaburra would eat the little things so that I don't have to carry tadpoles home.

Grandpa was a hit for bringing along beach rods. After watching the start of the second test match against India, an afternoon fishing expedition was in order. A man kindly pulled up some beach worms for bait, unfortunately, no fish were caught. Dinner was a social affair with friends who also happened to be in the area. Ribs and steak BBQ with asparagus and salad made a great meal. It was nice to catch up with Sharon, Paul and little Trinity. Auntie Su made a great cheesecake to cap off another great day!

Heading down for some fishing

Lara, patiently "flapping" away continually so her mother could get a photo of "motion blur"

Showing off her funky hair do

Sunday was another relaxing day. More beach sessions, naps, fishing and cricket. I also managed to get some time to google map all the attractions in New York in an attempt to choose which ones to visit. Dinner was another BBQ, this time with seafood. It will be tough having to face reality tomorrow, the only consolation will be that we don't have to leave the house until 5pm...

A Berry Good End

The weekend was filled with rain which meant that we just had to remain indoors. I guess more boardgames were in order. There was a brief moment of panic when we thought we lost Jonah. The adults were sure that we didn't see him leave the house. Then the Loks spotted a bit of brown sticking out from the red bean bag in front of the TV. And there the little tike was, so engrossed in the DVD that he didn't hear his name being yelled out repeatedly nor did he notice his mother running around the house like a headless chook.

What is that?!?!

Just Jonah...

The covered "outdoor" verandah turned out to be another huge blessing. The area was so large that the children could happily play without being cooped up indoors. The dress-up box was a big hit with the girls. We also found a cupboard full of toys!

Painting in beautiful surroudings


Jonah enjoying the verandah

Despite much fun and merriment, the games weekend, unfortunately had to come to an end. We were joined by our dear friends in Canada for the closing ceremony. And the results were a surprise to all. Tied in first place, were Ethel and Shirley, closely followed by Jason. I came a respectable fourth ahead of Malcolm. Sigh...it appears that we will just have to make another assault next year!

Shirley chose the laptop holder as her prize. We all had to donate a prize with a value of up to $10

The selection of prizes

Shirley's take on Callum's recipe, half made with Brioche and the other made with croissants. Mmmmm!

Ethel with her new shopping basket

Jason withh his multiple purpose device opener

Fishing rods for me!

Toblerone

More chocolates!

Pat the dog, screw on the lightbulb!

All-in-one remote anyone?

A manicure bag

Cable organizer

Japanes Sake cups


The cushion updated just before the presentation

Our winners for 2010!

Wrestling away the trophy from the reigning champion

One last photo!

A Berry Beautiful Start

Berry Gaming Convention 2010

The time has come. The Albanys are on a quest to claim the Meeple Cushion. We are ready. Let the games begin!

The Champion's Trophy

We left Sydney at 4pm just in time to beat the long weekend exodus. A decision was made to have dinner at Berry. We chanced upon a certain Dr Tong crossing the road! So we convened at the Berry Hotel. We were joined shortly by the Kohs and the Liews. It couldn't have happened more smoothly if we tried to organize it. Dinner was scrumptious and generous. Some good old country hospitality didn't go astray either!

The convoy proceeded to the cottage we hired for some serious gaming. Much to our delight, the owners seemed to have to sensed our needs and kindly built a separate gaming wing complete with a fireplace. The table was large and wide, and chairs were a plenty. The children were put to bed, so that important business could be attended to. Jason started studying rules for his new game. Malcolm was set the task of starting the fire. I am still unsure as to which "smart" person did the delegation. Mrs Tong commenced baking immediately. The wine bottle was opened, mood music was set, the Nespresso machine warmed up, the board games documented and the first box opened. Ethel had the honour of winning both games played, much to Jason's horror. The Albany assault will just have to start later. Besides we really wanted to lull the others into a false sense of security...

Free flowing wine

The Nespresso ready to go!

Jason slaving away

Over $4000 worth of board games...not including the ones left at home

Good music


A good hand...but not good enough to win!


Malcom's attempt

Belinda's success



Shirley's mini-cheescakes

We awoke to discover the cottage to be a real gem. The view from our room was just beautiful. The cottage is set on beautiful, expansive grounds and has some amazing facilities. It comes complete with a spa, playground, tennis court and bicycles. The children were delighted to be able to collect eggs for breakfast. Chasing the chickens also appeared to be fun.

A room with a view

Instructions for the weekend...Eat, sleep and game

The "backyard"

The "front yard"

The source of our 84g egg

Bicycles supplied by the owner

The playground

The children after collecting eggs

Breakfast was over and done with in a flash. Time is a ticking. The DVD was started and the first game of the day started. Malcolm started his assault by annihilating the field. We were then pleasantly surprised by a skype call from our gaming buddies all the way from London, Ontario. We are already missing Kwan's extremely complicated scoring system.

I shall have to go and start making my mark. My husband has just reminded me that I am not allowed to start my run too late. Duty calls.

The DVD doing its job

The first game of the day

The Yeohs on skype!