Weekend

Did some painting in the sunshine on Friday afternoon.

Woke up early on Saturday and headed to Palm Beach.

Found a lovely shady spot and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh breeze.

Abi and James went to the playground and Abi made friends while I fed Ted and we cuddled on the rug.

We devoured some simple cheeseburgers and headed back home.

Detoured on the way and signed up to a new gym in our area, Virgin Active.

James and I both need to change our lifestyles to include alot more exercise.

Am already looking forward to swimming and yoga and pilates.

Am sure I will bump into both my sisters, because they both work out there.

Headed to my niece's 2nd Birthday party yesterday.

Tried to stay cool in the shade with Edward while Abi climbed the playground with her cousins and friends.

Made bacon and egg rolls for dinner and read the papers.

Went to bed early and watched a few episodes of Arrested Development.

Enjoyed every moment of the weekend with my loved ones. This weekend is going to be busy. We are off to a wedding in the Hunter Valley, cannot wait!

Disney on Ice

Saturday 17th July sent us to Acer Arena in Sydney to see Disney on Ice.

My husband saw these shows many times as a youngster and declared we must go. I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale, and lucky us, secured seats in Row A, the front row.

We dressed Abi in some gorgeous new threads and off we went. She was a little apprehensive at first, and clutched to her new toy elephant, a gift from her Grandma who picked up this gorgeous little plush toy in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The show was really cute. Lots of little girls in the audience dressed as Cinderalla or Snow White. Some boys had Buzz Lightyear costumes too.

I forgot to take along Abi's 'Minnie Ears' which we bought her in Hong Kong Disneyland in March 2009.

At interval, a tiny zamboni came out to resurface the ice rink which was melting quite quickly.

The crowd was quite rough though. Too many kids eating oversized "Disney' lollipops, eating fairy floss and eating shaved ice from "Lilo and Stitch" cups.

Would I go again? Perhaps. Tickets weren't cheap at $65 per seat and kids over 2 require their own seat. Abi has been talking about it ever since though, which means it was a hit. I think I'd rather save my pennies and take her to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA instead!

The leaders of the pack.

The teacup ride, one of my favourites.

The gang dancing with The Incredibles.

The finale dance.

5 days ago...

Date: Thursday 22nd April 2010
Venue: Lyric Theatre - Star City, Sydney
Event: The Wiggles 'Wiggly Circus' Live in Concert
Attendees: Myself, Abigail, my sister Jacki and her son Mikey.

After seeing Dora the Explorer in March, I decided to purchase tickets to see The Wiggles LIVE. Even though both Abigail and my nephew aren't into them yet, I assumed a morning at a concert full of young children and live music would be fun... And I wasn't wrong. The 2 kids loved it. Abigail spent most of the concert sitting next to my sister trying to eat a packet of biscuits in Jacki's handbag and Mikey danced in front of the seats, bewildered by the bright lights and characters dancing.

The crowd of children were much older than that of Dora's live show. The parents seemed more relaxed too, obviously with older children they could really sit back and watch / enjoy the show.

The Yellow Wiggle is my favourite for sure. He's the youngest and newest member of the group, and it shows. He actually did most of the singing and is the official band leader. We had a really fun morning and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Our next concert is Yo Gabba Gabba Live on Saturday June 5th, I cannot wait!! Abigail will be beside herself on the day.

xx

2 weeks ago...

2 weeks ago we took Abigail to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. We made a bee-line for the animal nursery which was only open once at 9:30am. Abigail loved petting the baby animals and walking around with other kids in the nursery. The nursey was really the highlight of the day and I contemplated hiding a baby goat under my jacket and making a run for it. We saw the cows, pigs, sheep and bulls. I felt guilty walking through the animal halls and said to James I was considering becoming a vegetarian... I couldn't look a pig in the eye for the rest of the morning.

The showbag hall was so huge, we bought Abigail 2 bags. The Dora the Explorer bag and the Sesame Street bag. As a child my favourite showbag was the "Gag Bag" for $12 jam packed with random junk. Fly in the ice cube, a fake bloody thumb to put into someones drink, woopee cushion, plastic flat vomit that you could try and cast off as your own to get out of school, that kind of stuff. I walked past and laughed when I saw it, remembering how cool I used to think all the showbags were.

We lasted 4.5 hours and that was more than enough. Highlights of the show were the animal nursery, racing pigs, the $3 Giant Slide, and watching Abigail enjoying the whole experience. Lowlights were the cost of the whole day, rough teenage kids at the rides, Robosaurus, parents feeding their TODDLERS chips and coke for lunch and most of the all, the junk factor.

I think we might go every 2nd year, if at all. Might just stick to the children's concerts that tour Australia. Next up is the Wiggles this week then Yo Gabba Gabba in June, then Disney on Ice in July. Yayayayay.

xxx

Mother+Daughter Day - Wildlife World Darling Harbour

Date: Sunday 14th March 2010
Weather: Sunny but fresh
Mood: Lonely. Sorrow. Need a change of scenery.
Action: Walk the 500m down to Wildlife World in Darling Harbour to see some animals!

This wasn't Abigail's 1st time to a Wildlife Park. She has been to KLCC Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur and Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast in QLD.

After paying the $31.95 entry fee for myself (kids under 4 are free), we walked into the dark tunnels to discover all the wondeful animals and reptiles.

Abigail's favourite animals were the kangaroos, koalas, snakes, butterflies and wombats. She also liked the possums and bush mice which freaked me out! She was a little scared of the crocodile in the main tank and didn't seem to like th spiders at all. She must take after her father in that regard. James suffers from terrible arachnophobia.

It wasn't very busy, even on a Sunday afternoon. Mostly American, Japanese and Sth American tourists, taking photos, counting all our venomous snakes and spiders.

xoxo