Blogging From Michelle's..

Not having net access.. AND being on leave from work.. SUCKS!!!!

Bah!!

Bah.. Gastro..

Bubby is sick ;-(

She has had diarrhoea since the weekend and yesterday she started throwing up. She has been on bread and vegemite and water for days, and yesterday only had half a piece of toast. Poor thing.

Tony picked her up from Baba's last night and I met him at the Children's Hospital. Poor thing threw up while we were there, but we got looked at almost immediately, and they confirmed it was Gastro.

We took her home and she slept with us last night, waking up at 4am to throw up again.

This morning she was a bit better and as Tony was taking her to Granny's they had this conversation:

Josie: You must tell Granny not to give me any lollies or 'matos or grapes or milk, toast and water only.
Tony: Yes sweatie, but you know, you could just not ask for those things?
Josie: Why?
Tony: Because you know you can't have them.
Josie: Can I ask Mummy?
Tony: No, don't ask anyone, cause you can't have them.
Josie: Awww man!

So she understands that she can't have the bad foods when her tummy is upset. So thats good.

Poor bubby..

Where are my pants? Who's pants are these?!

And the lunacy continues....

Mari (refering to a recent speech night at the school): they sang Advance Australia Fair and Hatikvah...I love Hatikvah...such a beautiful song
Tony: How does it go?
Mari: I dunno...

Aaaaaalrightythen...

And Still Our Lives Get More and More Exciting..

Well we had a rather exciting night tonight..

Went to the house after work.. cleaned up the kitchen.. Tony had a look at the newly delivered shed and how he was going to go about putting it up and afixing a floor..

Suddenly I hear him call me over..

He says: Look, we have a dog..

I look in the backyard and there is a gorgeous little puppy. Luckily she had a collar and tag with phone number so we called the number and found that she belonged to our neighbours who live on the other side of the semi. Dogs name is Rosie. Very cute.

So a little after that, we get a call from Granny who tells us that Josie may have swallowed glass.

HUH!?

She apparently broken a glass jar of vegemite and by the time Granny got to her she was scopping up vegemite with her finger and putting it in her mouth, glass and all. Luckily Granny heard a crunching and made Josie spit it out, which she did. But we weren't sure whether she had swallowed any previously so we took her to the Sydney Childrens Hospital. What a fabulous place!

Always before we would just take her to the local hospital and then we would spend hours waiting in emergency with scores of people. But because this was a Childrens Hospital, we got seen within about 15 mins, checked out and were gone within 30 mins. Josie was alert, happy and fine. The Dr checked her over and said to watch her for vomiting or any other symptoms.

So now we are back at mums and Josie is happily asleep.

I have induction at work tomorrow so hopefully it will be a short day ;-)

Good night!

The story of The Pot And The Kettle

So I get a voicemail on my mobile last night from the missus which starts with the following shouting:

Mari: WHAT is the point of having a mobile if you don't ANSWER it?!?!

And is immediately followed by :

Mari: My mobile is in the car.....

Uh huh, yeah....

Time For An Update Methinks!

I realised that I haven't updated this blog in a while! Life must be hectic!

We moved in to the rental house over the weekend and are still unpacking somewhat but we finally spent a night there last night.

The first night we actually got the beds ready to go, but as we were getting ready for bed, the cockaroaches came out and we fled back to my mothers (after spraying and putting down baits). Apparently the house has a cockaroach problem ;-(

I guess thats what happens when you live in a house. It apparently got sprayed a few weeks ago.. but not well enough obviously.

Well after putting the baits down and spraying, the next morning we found a lot of dead roaches, so it was a good start! That night we only had a few roaches come out. After more baits and fleeing to mums for the night, last night was a lot better.

Only one roach was spotted, unfortunately it was on Josie's bed, on Josie's blanket, on Josie as she slept!

We very nearly fled again, but we decided to stick it out. We took Josie to our bed, and we finally had a comfortable nights sleep, in our king bed (with no more roach problems!).

Hopefully tonight will be even better!

We had our new oven and rangehood installed this morning (the old one was broken). It looks really nice, but I cant use it till the kitchen is a bit more usable!

And our shed is being delivered tomorrow, and being put up over the weekend!

Its all happening!

Oh and work is going well, Josie's last day for this year at school is tomorrow and I get two weeks off over Xmas!

Woohooo!

Men and Their Inability to Stay CALM!

On my way to work this morning, went downstairs to find that Tony had left his ipod in my car the night before.

Very annoyed.

Took it back upstairs for him and placed it on a little stool right next to his side of the bed.

930am (Josie needs to be at school by 915am!), phone call:

Tony [very annoyed]: WHERE DID YOU PUT MY IPOD?!
Mari [very calmly]: What do you mean? It was right on the stool on your side of the bed!
Tony [removing the foot from his mouth]: What? Oh.. Its on my belt..
Mari [amused]: Running late dear?
Tony [sheepish]: Bye!

Mind you, he is lucky I even took his iPod back upstairs!

MEN!

Air Con and Coffee !

Ahhh you know you are back in the corporate world when you spend the summer in the cool comfort of office airconditioning.. and have a coffee machine and boiling water at your disposal.. woohooo!

On the other hand, my PC is locked down so I can't change my desktop picture, I can't change my screen saver.. I can't install software.. they monitor emails and internet usage..

Blah!

On the other hand, I get discounted office products (including IT hardware, software, consumables, cleaning products, furniture, whitegoods, snackfood.. etc), the company has some great benefits and specials in regards to car insurance.. salary sacrifice.. etc..

And we are moving in 4 days!

Life is getting better!

Our First Joke

Firstly, Happy Birthday Uncle Mat !!! (You old fart ;-)

Some background: When Tony and I moved out and rented together for the first time we moved into the north shore where there are heaps of jacaranda trees, which have gorgeous purple flowers. Tony and I made up this game where everytime we drove somewhere the one who saw a Jacaranda tree called 'purple tree!'. This eventually evolved into 'purpakey!' cause there were so many and so we had to say it really fast.

So a couple of weeks ago I told Josie about the game and showed her the purpakeys on the way to school. There aren't as many purpakeys in the east though.. so...

This morning in the car:

Josie: Where are all the purpakeys?
Mari: I haven't seen any yet honey!
Josie: Maybe they all fell down?

Josie: That was my joke mummy!

She has such a great sense of humor!!

So we had some adventures this morning..

Bright and early, Josie and my dad and I went to the new house (after living my entire life in units, it feels wierd saying 'house' !) so dad could look around, see what needs doing and also do a floor plan.

So there it is.. the new place.. I have a bunch of photos too but I haven't cleared my camera since we moved in with my mum and dad!

So anyways, we got back and took Josie to swimming, where she complained before we got there, and then had a ball afterwards!

After that, Michelle and I took the girls to the shopping centre so Michelle could get a few things and then Michelle dropped us off at Uncle Mat's place so we could wish him a happy birthday, and get changed for dinner. We had dinner at the Crabshack again, so most of the night I was up to my elbows in crabs.. ahh heavan!

While we were there I realised that I had left my handbag in Michelle's boot and since we were going to get our hair cut together tomorrow she would bring it with her..

However, we got back to mum and dads place, and of course then I realised that my keys were in my bag in Michelle's boot, and mum and dad were out at a birthday party.

Mum wasn't answering her phone.. Michelle nor Sam were responding to SMS (it was almost 10pm after all).. so last resort I called my sister, knowing that she has a spare set of keys, but forgetting that my parents changed the bottom lock a few days ago cause it was faulty and of course my sister doesnt have the new key yet.. *scream* !! Luckily Josie was already well and truly asleep..

Sis came to the rescue, rang a few of mum and dads friends, and we went and picked up mums keys, luckily the restaurant they went to was close!

Ahhh Saturday night adventures..

Bring on Sunday!

Another Thing We No Longer Need to Worry About!

We got the Semi!!

Wahooooo!!

Signing lease tomorrow, and moving next weekend!

What an absolute relief!

I just cannot wait to be able to sleep in my own bed!

Although how convenient would it have been if we could have moved before I started my new job (which is on Monday!!). Ahh well, I will just have to manage over the weekend!

Now to find removalists!

First Day of Freedom

My first day of not working was fabulous!

Josie slept at Granny's overnight so I got to sleep in till 9am this morning, and I actually got a good nights sleep, comfort and everything! OMG I just can't wait to be able to sleep in my own bed!!

I went to see two movies with my mum today.

The first one, Children of Men, was a great concept. The world had a bad case of infertility for 18 years, and basically went to hell. Then of course someone did get pregnant and it was a mad struggle to get her to safety etc.

The second one was Keeping Up With The Steins. This was a typical jewish comedy about a kid and his barmitzvah. Very funny, but mostly only if you are jewish.

Tomorrow I am taking Josie to school where they have an open day for the Yoga classes she has been taking, mum and I are gonna watch that and then go to the local shopping centre and then we are going to see this semi for rent. Can't wait!

A Jam Packed Weekend

Yes, the weekend was full of jam!

No. Im kidding.

Well at least I am feeling a bit less stressed now that I can kid! Woohoo!

So we had a pretty busy weekend!

On Saturday we left Josie with Baba and Dyeda and we went house hunting. Only had about 6 or so places to see but we stumbled upon two which really jumped out at us!

The first one was almost at one the beaches. It was a unit in an Art Deco block with a round wooden staircase leading up to the units. The unit itself was quite large with a big sunroom hidden behind one of the bedrooms. The bedroom had a ceiling to floor, wall to wall built in with doors that opened out. The middle door opened to a sunroom. It was quite cool! Plus a large kitchen and space for a dishwasher, and a LUG, was a nice place. But it has carpet.

The second one was a semi near a shopping centre. It was had a big sunroom off one of the rooms, and a big kitchen (no dishwasher tho). The living room was smaller than we would hope, but huge backyard with a shed and lots of street parking. It also has floorboards and pets are allowed!

We are seeing the second one tomorrow and putting in applications forms.

Fingers crossed!

So after that we came and picked up Josie and were going to go swimming, but didnt have time so we went and picked up Michelle and Rachel and went to the swimming lesson. Josie did not cry once! Not once! Daddy stood by the pool with her, but she went with the teacher and did everything so well. We were so proud of her!

Afterwards, Michelle and I took the girls to the swimming pool and we had some fun there for a while until we had to get out and go back home to get ready to go to the Crabshack!

It was a great night and I was up to my elbows in crabs! Heaven!

So Sunday was pretty full on too.

Had a 4th birthday party for a school friend in the morning and then went to Trudy's for Jacqui's 18th birthday!

Can't believe she is 18 already.. geez these kids grow up fast! ... listen to me.. I sound like my mother..

So both parties were good fun and Josie was totally nackered by the time we got home.

A very full weekend!

A Little Less to Worry About..

Well it looks like I have scored a job! What a relief!

The company is an office supplier who provide everything from stationary to furniture to consumables and computers and everything that an office might need.

The position is Catalogue Analyst, and as vague as that sounds, its basically data analysis and database management type of work.

I start on Dec 4th, so straight from one job to the other, which is great, cause we can't really afford the break. And its in the East, so close to home!

I finish with MH next Tuesday and I am taking the last 3 days in lieu so at least I will have a few days off.

So now, back to house hunting.. blergh..

The Craziness That Is Josie..

Here’s another funny one.. from Tony.. October 2005.. Josie is almost 3 years old..

My Wife’s Morning:
=========
Mari says: oh for goodness sake heres the story then
Mari says: noticed flat tire in Artarmon
Mari says: drove back home to swap cars
Mari says: went up to get the keys and stereo
Mari says: got them
Mari says: came down
Mari says: went to put child in car
Mari says: child wet
Mari says: went up
Mari says: child wanted to hold keys
Mari says: mummy is stressed out
Mari says: mummy lets child hold keys
Mari says: change child
Mari says: child leaves key on nappy table
Mari says: go down, put child in car
Mari says: no keys
Mari says: take child out of the car
Mari says: go up get keys
Mari says: mummy going mad.
Mari says: meanwhile child going 'lets try again'

My Morning:
=========
Get woken up every 5 mins by my wife either ringing me to tell me she's about to dump a car with a flat tire on me or tromping through the house muttering to herself and the child about the latest twist to the debacle that was her morning.

And Mat’s response..

See this happens because in general women are always thinking ahead. Women need to have a plan that stretches ahead through the day, and know what they're doing for the rest of the day. Guys concentrate more on the here and now. Women berate us for this, saying that we can't multi-task when they can.

The truth however is that their multi-tasking takes a toll on the quality of each individual task.

They get stressed out because they try to think about too many tasks at once, rather than just concentrating on one at a time.

; )

Ok so now I am off to beat my brother in law about the head.. again.. ;-)

Electronics Wiz..

LOL.. another one from Mat.. March 2005.. Josie is just over 2 years old..

Earlier today mother called me. She was unable to display a DVD on the TV and wanted to know what we'd changed yesterday .. when we were watching DVD's. I tried talking her through checking various things but she was unable to give me even a halfway decent description of what the hell she was seeing on the screen and on the VCR readout. Eventually we decided to wait until tonight when Ant picks up Josie and then he could fix it.

She just called me and told me Josie had fixed it.

I don't know whether to be scared of Josie's abilities with electronics or sad that a two year old can operate appliances which our mother cannot.

LOL.. thats too funny..

Uncle Mat's First Babysitting Assignment

Here's another old email.. from November 2004.. Uncle Mat was assigned to watch Josie (almost 2 years old) for a few hours at his house..

Well let's see. I had the XBOX all set up with Spirited Away and thought we'd sit and watch, and I'd feed her. HA! Little did I realize this was the daughter of my brother I was dealing with. Not interested in Spirited Away. Shrek 2 managed to hold her a little longer but then the cat came to visit and all bets were off. She ate one mouthful of the cereal stuff Mum brought over and then she was off. Chasing the cat round the backyard, with me barefoot and in shorts. Bloody cold it was. SHE was all dressed up warmly. I on the other hand ...

Then she wanted to stand in the front yard, propped up by the fence, and watch the cars and the buses go by. Then it was time for more cat chasing, only the cat had meanwhile made itself scarce so it was back to watching Shrek 2 for a bit. Finally Mum got back and managed to convince her to eat a bit more.

At one point she discovered the dustpan and brush. Thought she might make herself useful and clean my house. Very surprised that after wandering around the house with them, she then proceeded to put them back where she found them.

She has very long and complicated conversations with cats. Presumably because they don't argue.

See its not all kisses and cuddles.. ;-)

Reminiscing..

From an email from Daddy in October 2004. Josie was almost 2 years old and I had just gone back to work..

Fine, I poo'd she poo'd we all poo'd together....again.

I was sitting on the can trying to read my comic when she comes to the side of the door way (just outside you know?) and starts pushing her little bottom out and screwing up one side of her face and staring intently at nothing etc. And I say "Hey Jos', did you do poodies?" and she goes "nah!" and scampers off.

So eventually I get out and I open the gate and I open the door to her room and she takes 2 steps towards the doorway and stops and realises this is likely to involve a nappy change and turns and tries to make a break for it into the lounge room.

So after retrieving the child from her escape attempt I get her changed and we get out of the house at 8:15am.

I forgot a dummy. *8(

Half way there she starts complaining and I THINK I'm out of rusks (there are in fact two rusks wedged into the tissue box in the center console but I took the box out without looking (I was driving) so I could feel around in the console for the rusks!!! So I didn't find them and am trying to placate her with various toys/water bottles etc (all of which she plays with for 5 seconds and then hurls from her). Eventually she starts squealing and eventually I was squealing right back at her. This sometimes confused her and she stopped to think about it and sometimes just made her more hysterical and she started flailing about and slapping herself in the head.

Then I gave her a book and she settled down and read the book.

Then I found the rusks.

But by then she was engrossed in the book and didn't need so I hid them again. No doubt I will fail to find them again next time.

When we pulled up at mum's she looked up from her book and seeing we were at Granny's she says "yaaaAAAAAYYYYY!!!!" as she does.

She barely acknowledged my presence thereafter.

When I left she saw I was going and made a bit of a protest but she was engrossed in her stacker cups by that time and went "heeeeeyyyy!....oh bugger you then, I have stacking to do, see you tomorrow" and went back to her cups.

I've been out of sorts since. *8(

Hehehe.. I am going through old personal mail at work and ran across this.. might have some more to post too..

Over Licked Muffins..

Now theres a wierd title for a blog post!

Anyways, I was checking my email this morning with Josie on my lap and opened up an email from Josie's school with Thursdays and Friday's daybooks in it. They send out a page of photos and description of what they did all day. Fantastic thing I reckon!

Anyway, we saw a picture of one of the teachers' niece, who was visiting the class and showing them how to make muffins.

Mari: What did she make?
Josie: uuuhm.. muffins! But I didn't like them [great big pout].
Mari: Did you try one?
Josie: I did! I licked it soooooo much, but I didn't like it.. [another great big pout!].

At least she tried it! I hope she didn't put it back after she had licked it though! LOL.

Our First School Excursion !

Josie had her first school excursion today. They went to a famous Aussie park.

The morning was the morning from HELL.

After the weekend's Animal Expo trip (where she insisted going on a couple of rides that she did not enjoy at all) she decided that the bus trip that the school had organised to take them to the park, was going to be scary like the rides. We tried in vain to convince her otherwise but she would have nothing of it.

So we dragged her out of bed and into the car, all the while Josie was crying and calling for daddy.

I took her to school while Tony went to work and when I got there I thought Rachel being there would help, but no, while she was pleased to see Rachel, she REALLY did not want to go on this excursion. She was really scared.

At home we told her that if she was still scared after seeing Rachel that I would go with her, but I knew right away that this was a bad idea. The teachers strongly disapproved of my coming along, and I agreed with them. She needed to learn independence and my coming along only justified her fright.

So I extricated myself from her visor like grip, handed her to her favourite teacher, and went out to the front room, where I could see her but she couldn't see me. And I could see that she was already settling down.

It was heartbreaking leaving her. It was harder than when she first started school because she wasn't absolutely petrified then.

I drove off, and got a phone call from the director saying that Josie settled down completely after I had left, was laughing and playing, and got on the bus with no problems. This was a relief.

And I just got another phone call from the school saying they were back and Josie had a terrific time, and enjoyed herself immensely, and even went on the train with everyone.

I am glad I made the decision to leave her. It is better for her to learn to deal with her fear, to face it and overcome it. The teachers know what they are doing and this only reinforces my trust in them. We made a good decision when we sent her to this school.

Josie-Speak and The Weekend

In the car yesterday:

Josie (singing): oh I just can't wait to be king..
Mari: Oh sorry honey, I forgot my ipod.. I dont have that song here..
Josie: I didn't ask you.. if you had your.. ipod.. with.. I just can't wait to be king on it.. I'm just singing..
Mari: Oh.. right.. go on then..

LOL

We had a jam packed day on Sunday.. in the morning we went to The Animal Expo at Rosehill Racecourse with Vika and Becka.. we saw heaps of dogs and cats and farm animals.. Josie was a bit tired and out of sorts though..

When we got back, we went to Rachel's place for a play and dinner. Josie and Rachel had missed eachother so much while Josie was off school for a week with her ear infection. We took the kids to the park and they played on the equipment and then threw them all in the bath while we had dinner. Going home was a problem cause Josie just did not want to leave.. but luckily she fell asleep on the way home.

I don't remember Saturday much.. I was so tired all day.. not sure why.. at about 1pm Mat called to say he and Wendy were going to check out the Sculptures By The Sea at Bondi and did we want to come too.. we started preparing to go and we actually made a start but we had so much trouble finding parking we decided to go back to my parents place so I could change my pants (I had worn jeans and it was just too hot), and then Tony went to the bathroom and by the time he came out I was asleep on the couch! We gave it up at that point and I went to lie down in the bedroom.. that was about 330pm.. I woke up at 730pm.. Nackered I was.. obviously..

So this begins my third last week at work.. Ive got a bunch of jobs bookmarked and will be sending my resume out today..

Also, had an appt with a couple who may be interested in buying the old unit with the tenants.. cross your fingers.. if this comes off, it could seriously save us from the poo.. we will see by the end of the week hopefully..

hooroo

Tales From The Josie-Meister

From the desk of Uncle Mat..

Josie: People are ... BAD
Ant: Why?
Josie: Because .. big girls .. don't wear nappies!
Ant: Well when you stop peeing in your pants at night then you can stop wearing nappies at night.
Josie: ... Oh...

Josie: .... (stuff going on .. people talking to Uncle Mat in grandpa's bedroom .. Josie not getting the attention she wants) .. MAT .... (comes over next to Uncle Mat) ... MATTY! MATTEEEEEE!
Mat: Yes Joseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Mat: she showed me her lucky rock ...
Mat: we had fun for a while where I was trying to convince her it was "RUCKY LOCK"
Mat: and she kept having to correct her derranged uncle

Mat: oh yes .. there was one point where she threw her lucky rock up in the air .. hit herself on the head .. and stood there rubbing her head looking perplexed
Mat: think she just invented gravity

Mat: When I got there Ant was trying to help dad use a new credit card with his TAB account .. he was on hold and had been for some time ... then he made me take over .. I was then on hold for 25 mins with no idea of what I was doing
Mat: When we eventually talked to someone, Dad had to identify himself to them .. again ... so he's trying to hear what's being said .. Josie is jumping up and down on his bed and singing Shabbat Shalom at the top of her voice
Mat: Ant is trying to convince her to be quiet while Dad's on the phone
Mat: Josie's looking at him as if he's gone completely mad and shaking her head saying "Noooooooo" with that look on her face that says "you obviously don't understand how the world works daddy"


lol..

Because Our Lives Aren't Exciting Enough..

So.. along with..

• having to give up our home

and

• move in with my parents

and

• all sleep in one bed

and

• trying to find a rental

and

• not finding diddly squat in our price range with our List of Requirements (tm)

.. we have had the most exciting weekend!

Firstly, Friday morning, I was told that I was being 'let go'. Thats psychologist talk for "I'm firing you, not because of anything bad, simply because I don't have any more work for you and I can't afford you anymore".

And then Sunday Josie comes down with an almost 39 degree fever!

Somebody up there is honestly playing some weird practical joke on us. Seeing just how far I can be stretched before I lose my mind and go on an American style shooting spree.

And to add to all that.. I can't seem to catch up on my Tivo..

I think its time to drag out my favourite saying..

"Everything happens for a reason.."
"Everything happens for a reason.."
"Everything happens for a reason.."
"Everything happens for a reason.."

..doesn't it.. ?

A New Blog and Bathtime!

I have started a new blog.. a bit of space for my ranting and raving on various different topics..

But I want to keep it away from the family blog, so if anyone is interested in reading/subscribing to it, send me an email, or leave a comment with your email address on this blog (I won't publish the comment with your email address in it) and I'll send you the link..

And on a different note, we had a great time with Rachel & family yesterday.

Had a birthday party in the morning for a school friend, and then went out to lunch, then a park and then back to their place where Rachel, Josie and Ben had a bath! Got some great pics throughout the day! Will post them once I get them off my camera..

Toodles!

A Hunting We Will Go..

So here we end another weekend of house hunting..

Well to be fair, today was the first day of real house hunting, we were distracted last week by the repairs on the old unit..

So we saw about 15 (yes thats FIFTEEN) rentals today. We took two application forms but I don't think we will fill any in.. there were some good units but nothing that really made us want to go for it..

And we also realised that we have been looking for places in the $350-$400 price range because of the possibility of extra storage, which we sorely need. But we realised that if we get something cheaper, we could potential keep a storage room for up to $50 a week, without going over our budget.

So I will now be looking at cheaper places with possibly bigger rooms and not necessarily a LUG..

I got a call yesterday from the swim school where we want to get a place for Josie, they offered us a casual place for today, which we couldnt take but this means they will be calling on Friday's with a possible place for her on that Saturday. This was very exciting!

So today we went and checked it out, and timed it with Rachel's swimming lesson there. This was great, we got to see Rachel in her class and the teachers in action and it is everything that everyone always raves about.

Tony went to swimming lessons there when he was a kid and its gonna be great for Josie to go there too. So I spoke to the lady in charge there before we left and asked her if we could maybe get a place in the class with Rachel and she said she is confident we could get that place each week. That is just fantastic and I can't wait to start with her next weekend.

The only catch is that parents don't go into the water with the kids. Josie has never had a swimming class on her own before so I am hoping that having Rachel there will be helpful.

Tomorrow is a big day, we have a 4th birthday party for a school friend and then are spending the afternoon with Michelle, Sam, Rachel and Ben. Don't know exactly what we are gonna do but we will see.

Josie had a great time today, while we were house hunting, at the park with Vika, Becka and a friend of Becka's, Alison. Vika said she ran around for 3 hours straight.

We are currently at Uncle Mat's about to have dinner.

Tata!

Weekend Update

Well we have made it through 1 week in the Eastern Suburbs!

I have to say, 15 mins to get Josie to school has been an absolute joy! I love getting to school early, even beat Michelle and Rachel this morning!

We have some BIG news too! We have tenants! 12 month lease was signed on Saturday and they move in on Friday! Thats one big relief! Now we can start seriously looking for a place for us.

So Saturday was a long day. We left Josie with Baba and Vika for most of the day while we intended on going rental house hunting. We had to go to the north to do a few repairs at the old place, and then I had made a big list of opens to see. Well by the time we got finished at the old place.. we missed all the opens. Managed to see 2 places though, one was seriously on the 300th (4th) floor, with NO lift! No chance there. Even if they paid US! LOL. The second place was an old house that was just gross and unlivable. *sigh* House hunting was a big flop this week. Hopefully next week will be better.

After househunting we went to Vika's hung out for a while, picked up Josie and by the time we got back to Baba's she was asleep. So we put her to bed and watched tv for a while.

Sunday was great! We met Michelle, Ben and Rachel, and Vika and Becka at Fox studios. The kids played in the playground for a while, then we went to Bay Swiss for brunch, by which time Ben had fallen asleep on Michelle's shoulder, so she put him in a beanbag they had on display and he slept there for about 45 mins. People kept walking past and asking if he was real or not, and if he was for sale etc. Funny stuff. Then Michelle took Ben home (he was a bit out of sorts) and we took Rachel and Josie and they went on the merry go round, and then had an ice cream and played in the playground for a while longer before we took Rachel home, had a chat with Sam and Michelle while Ben slept in the car, and then went back to Baba and Deda's.

It was a lovely and relaxing afternoon at home. Tony set up the Tivo (WOOHOO!) and we caught up on Aussie Idol. Went to bed around 10pm. It was a nice relaxing evening too.

I was taking Josie to school this morning and we had this conversation:

Josie: Who is going to pick me up from school today?
Mari: Vika and Becka!
Josie: *gasp* No WAY! I LOVE Becka!

LOL

Uh Oh.. Zak's In Trouble Again..

Tony went and got the cats last night. And poor Zaki was in trouble again. Zelli decided that the disruption to her life was all his fault, as is everything that goes wrong in her life. Bloody men!

We prepared my parents by getting them to remove all rugs, big and small, from the floors. That way Zelli wont have anything to pee on except the wooden floors.

So Tony brought them in in their respective boxes and of course as soon as I let Zelli out she started hissing and growling at poor Zak. So she went into the bathroom for a while, while Zak, the normal one, got the explore the place.

After a while we let Zelli come out and basically left them to sort it out.

She will have the shits with him for a few days, and after putting him through the appropriate amount of misery, she will forgive them and all will be well.

24 hrs later, she is still hissing at him a bit but seems to have settled down a fair amount.

Josie is at Granny's tonight. Twice a week we've decided she will sleep at Granny's so we can get a decent, comfortable sleep in the queen bed we are using at my parents place.

Ok so bedtime.. gnite!

Well, We're In..

Just!

5 two tonne truck-fulls.. thats 10 tonnes of cr*p !

I am over it. I have decided I am not doing it again. I don't want any of the stuff back. I just wanna start again.

On a more positive note, 15 mins to get Josie to school, and then about 20 mins to get into work. Nice!

Now someone find us a TENNANT! Please!

ps. Thanks for the photos Mat!

The Last Night..

Big move is tomorrow..

I am so incredibly sad to be leaving this amazing home that we have loved for the last 16 months.

I really don't want to go.

I guess we don't have much choice, and everything happens for a reason. Life is going to change quite a bit for the next few months.

We can't find a place for ourselves till we have a tennent, and we dont have one yet. So we will live with my parents for a while.

I guess it could be worse..

Introducing...

My parents..



















Need I say more??

Actually I should say more.. that was a fancy dress party.. my mother doesn't usually dress like a street walker ;-)

Weekends These Days..

We had a pretty jam packed weekend..

Saturday was a lot of packing. We did quite a bit on Saturday so I am happy with that. Still have a bit to do, but we got the big things packed away.

Sunday we packed some more, and then we went and saw Play School at the Opera House. Georgie Parker was in it and it was just fabulous. Josie enjoyed it immensly.

So now we are pretty much moving in with my folks for a few weeks, next weekend. Need to put everything in storage etc.. Am NOT looking forward to it.

And as for moving in to my parent's little 2 bedroom unit.. well.. you can imagine.. don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful to my parents for having us, but geez, if we get out of this with our marriage intact, and not having been disowned.. well that will be great ;-)

Bah..

Rental Updates

Ahh.. finally a normal blog update..

Since returning from the USA I have been busy ringing around prospective rentals and enquiring about whether cats are allowed.

And here comes the tirade..

I am so So SO sick of:

a. Agents who DONT KNOW! For gods sake! Its their JOB to know! I pisses me off completely! And then..
i. Agents who can't just go find out BEFORE calling me back/replying to my email
ii. Agents who insist on us seeing the place, then filling out an application, and wasting our time!
b. Agents who say no without actually finding out from the owner
c. Agents who don't reply!
d. Agents who don't call back!
e. Ads that don't have any mention of whether pets are allowed

I mean seriously! I made sure our agent was well aware that we don't mind people with cats. This means that the information is there should someone ask!

I am just so sick and tired of calling agents who are just.. unhelpful! How hard is it to ring the owner and say: Do you mind if they have cats?

ARGH!

So we are seeing another couple of places tomorrow, but mostly we are packing. We have to be out of our place by Oct 16th, which means next weekend we are moving. This is a scary prospect. If we haven't found a place, we will move our stuff into storage, and us into my parents place. We can't sign a lease ourselves until we have a tennant for our place.

I feel so stressed at the moment. Feel like I am stuck betweek a rock and a hard place and theres no where to move.

And to top it all off, I have to change my PO Box ;-(

Life sucks right now..

Thats IT! I'm DONE!

Good lord I can't believe I am finished!!

All the US Trip posts have been updated with photos but you should really just have a look at the flickr site cause that will have more.

Now back to regular blogging..

Ok! Photos Are Up!

Well some of them..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos/

These are the photos that Sven took.. some of them..

Blog updates from the trip will be updated tonight! I hope! Don't quote me on it!! ;-)

Just A Dancin' Fool

Our cousin Jacqui performed in a dance recital last Saturday. She learns tap and jazz at the Greenwich Dance Centre. The dances all looked great this year and Jacqui seemed to be having fun.


Normally she's a little self-conscious, and I'm always impressed when she can get up on stage in front of hundreds of people and be part of a show like this.

Okay! Okay! I Know Everyone's Waiting..

For photos.. and I'm working on it.. but almost 1000 photos is hard to edit and organise!

Hopefully by the weekend I should have it all done ;-)

In the meantime, here's a word from my dad..

george says: VIKA
george says: i need phone bingle on Mascot
vika says: yes
george says: please
vika says: i have no idea what you just said
george says: i need call to
vika says: oh ok
george says: shop BINGLEE
vika says:

So I reckon now.. Bing Lee change their name to Bingle.. I think it sounds catchier anyway ;-)

An excited cat

Zellie: They're home! And they brought me a new bed! Yay!

We're HOME!

Ok so its midnight, Tony is trying to get Josie to bed, and I am nackered!!

The flight was ghastly. Well it could have been worse.

We got 4 seats to ourselves which was great, but Josie was just a real handful for most of the flight. Neither of us got much sleep, but Josie slept between us for about 5 hours. Oh how I wished I could lie down! ;-)

Nevermind.. Mat picked us up from the airport, we got in about 9pm but didnt get through Security, Customs and Quarantine till almost 10pm! I'm happy to be home though.. but its still a big downer to have finished our wonderful holiday.

Now.. sleep, unpack, watch some TiVO!

In that order!

Day 13 - Hollywood, Jay, Silent Bob & Packing

What a sad day today. This is our last day with Harri before flying back to Oz. :-(

I am sooo tired though, have been packing for the last few hours, with Harri and Tony's great help.

So this morning we set off for Hollywood. We parked at the Kodak Theatre and walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard (I think?!) looking at the Stars on the ground. I got some great shots of various actors/singers' stars that we liked, and we also checked out Mann's Chinese Theatre and got some pics of the different hand and foot prints.

We had lunch at Johnny Rockets, but they didn't dance this time!

I got some magnets and a tshirt for Josie at a souveneer shop and then we went off to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash.

Tony is a huge fan of Kevin Smith's so he had a ball looking around the shop. Its a comic/book shop so Tony was in his element. I took some photos of the place and got a couple of things.

Then we went for some ice cream, and then home.

Josie and I fell asleep on the way home we were so tired, but Josie woke up when we got there so Tony, Harri and Josie went off to the grocery store for some last minute stuff while I stayed back and packed.

We are all ready to go now (its just after midnight). Harri gave me a pill to help me relax, to see how I react to it now in case I want to use it on the plane to help me sleep. I am now a bit woozy!!

So this is the last update from the US and the next one will be from home! Am actually looking forward to getting home now, but not looking forward to the trip!!

The next update may not be for a few days.. I am going to be just exhausted! I just know it !!

Hooroo from the USA!

Day 12 - Photo Shoot and Huntington Beach

Oh boy we had a busy day today! There are just too many photos to show! Check out my flickr site! Have a look at the US Trip sets and also the Sven's Photos sets on the right.

The photoshoot was just incredible and Josie just thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Sven's photography skills are just awsome and I can't wait to get home so I can post some of the photos!

We started out with a green backdrop, a green dress and a red iceblock. Josie did so well and I swear she's gonna be a model some day! She did all the poses and cooperated so well. At first anyway! ;-)

The promise of nakedness and paint kept her in line!

Then she finished her ice block and we moved on to the watermelon. Sven took some amazing photos of her with the green backdrop, green dress and eating a big slice of watermelon. Just superb. And then when she got sick of the watermelon, she was given a pink iceblock.

After that lot of photos, Sven and Harri changed the backdrop to white and Tony and I got dressed up, and put Josie in a red tshirt and denim skirt and Sven took some amazing family shots.

And then at last the time had come for the painting shots. Josie got naked and Harri put some globs of red, blue, yellow and green paint on the white backdrop that she was standing on. She was quite tentitive at first and then really got into it.

The pictures were just amazing. I can't even describe it. She was head to toe in paint and making the most beautiful designs on the white paper with her feet and bum.

And then we got Wowo.

Wowo is her favourite toy. He is a little white (well white when he is clean!) dog that is sold in Coles, Kmart and Target and we have maybe 30 of them lying around the families.

Well Wowo went on a wild ride today. Josie went nuts painting him all different colours. We got some photos of Wowo and he is now drying in the garage. I will put him up in her room on display. And also the resulting painting she did with her feet, I am taking home to do something with. Probably get it framed at some stage.
So that was the photo shoot. When they were done Harri wrapped Josie in a towel and Tony ran upstairs with her and threw her in the shower.

After they got out we all walked down to Huntington Beach to go for a walk along the shoreline. We took the radio flyer again for Josie to ride down in.

When we got down to the water, Josie just went nuts! She really didnt like the waves and the water at the beach in Hawaii. She was scared of the waves.

When we got to the beach today, she was more excited about building sandcastles that the water, but then we didnt stop for sandcastles and went straight to the water.

It was absoutely FREEZING at first! BRR! But then we got used to it and Josie got used to it too after a short time in daddy's arms.

And then it was just free for all! Josie absolutely went NUTS, running into the water, getting absolutely saturated with water.

I didnt expect this so she was in a skirt and tshirt. A white tshirt that was brown when we got home!

She ran almost the entire walk from one side of the beach to the other! I think it took about an hour or more to do the walk and she was running the whole way, screaming at the top of her lungs, jumping in and out of the water, rolling around in the sand (mummy was just trying to restrain her shuddering every few minutes!).

We got some fantastic pictures of her absolutely drenched! In actual fact, both Tony and I got completely drenched as well!

On the way home, because we were just not prepared, we had to wrap her in a blanket so she didnt freeze. Poor thing was like a mummy!

So we got home and all three of us jumped into the shower together. It was SO good to wash all the sand off!! ;-)

Then Allison came over and we had a fabulous Taco dinner and then Sven showed us the photos from the photoshoot. Amazing. Utterly amazing!!

So thats it for today. We have decided not to do Universal Studios tomorrow. There is really nothing much for Josie there and we would rather save the money. So its off to Hollywood and Santa Monica tomorrow! And then home to pack!! ;-( Waaa!!

~Dun Wanna Go!!~

Day 11 - Laguna Beach and The Mustang!

I felt like a real Californian Beach Babe today!

Firstly we all slept in till about 9am this morning! I got up at 9am and had a shower and let Tony and Josie sleep on, and when I got out, Tony was still asleep, but Josie was already downstairs playing with Harri and Sven!

I got Tony up and we all got ready and then I got a ride with Sven in his red Mustang convertable while Harri, Tony and Josie drove in Harri's Jeep.

It was awsome! I have never been in a convertable before and I just loved it! Tony would have been completely freaking out with Sven's accelaration at times, but I just loved it! It was like being on a rollercoaster but not having to actually BE in a rollercoaster!

So we went down to Laguna Beach (with the wind blowing through my hair!) and spent some time at the playground there while Josie had a ball and Sven lay down and had a sleep on the grass (poor thing has a stomach bug). Then Sven went home and Harri, Tony, Josie and I went to a Seal and Sea Lion Rehabilitation centre. They had 3 Sea Lions, a bunch of Harbour Seals and some Elephant Seals and pups. It was awsome watching them interact and listening to one of the ladies explain how the place was established in the 70's and how they never interact with the animals so as not to establish any kind of bond or dependency on either the humans or the animals part. It was great.

After the Seal thing we went to a party for a friend of Harri's. Their son was turning one and we were all invited to celebrate it with them, which I thought was lovely for someone to invite people they don't even know to their son's 1st birthday!

On the way we had the following conversation:

Josie: I like school, but I don't like parties.
Tony: Why?
Josie: Cause I'm scared. They're scary!
Tony: Why are they scary??
Josie: Well... there might be a monster there..

Now this family lives in the most amazing house. It was designed and built by them and is just astounding, built on a cliffside and has the most amazing views. Josie had a wonderful time playing with the kids and running around the place.. until she ran smack into one of the floor to ceiling windows. Twice. Just a testament to how clean the window was, but poor Josie was so embarassed! We had a lovely chocolate cake, which Josie was first in line for, and some great crushed ice and water from their funky fridge!

After that we headed home to change for dinner.

We had dinner at NoKaOi which is a Hawaiian restaurant where Harri and Sven had their wedding reception. The food was fabulous, Tony and I had Baby Back Ribs and I have to say that they were heaps better than Tony Roma's!

Joining us at NoKaOi was Allison and Fiona (an aussie friend of theirs) and we had a lovely time chatting over dinner (poor Sven had coke and pretzels!).

And then because Sven wanted to get some fresh air, and Harri wanted to accompany Sven, I got to drive her Jeep home. That was an awsome experience in itself. That car GOES!

So tomorrow is Photo Shoot day. Sven is gonna take some photos of us, he is a wonderful photographer and we are so lucky to have him do this for us! Check out his stuff at his homepage. And please pray that a. he is well enough tomorrow, and b. Josie cooperates!

Thats it for now!

~Later Dudes~

Day 10 - Seaworld

Shaaaaa...MU!

We saw Shamu last but he was absolutely fantastic!

We started out nice and early this morning, it was a 2 hour drive to San Diego to Seaworld. I almost fell asleep on the way there.

One of the first things we did there was meet the dolphins. They had this large pool where we all stood around the sides and the dolphins came right up to you for pats on the head. You could lean right in and rub their noses, it was awsome! Josie was a bit scared to actually pat them on the head, but she did get very close! Tony and I had some pats and it was just amazing!

The first show we got to see, after having some lunch, was the Dolphin Show, which Josie absolutely loved. The jumps and heights they got to were just amazing. There was a gag thing that we saw last time where they pick a family out of the crowd and the mother does a thing with the dolphins and everyone claps, and then the mum and dad watch while the little kid does a thing with the dolphins and while everyone is watching the kid, the mum falls in and gets saved by the dolphins and everyone applauds and it turns out the mother is one of the trainers. It was funny the first time we saw it, a bit less amazing the second time ;-)

We then headed over to the Pets Stadium for the Pets Rule show and on the way we ducked into Shamu's Happy Harbour Playground where Josie had a wonderful time on the equipment. The playground itself was just amazing, catering to kids of all ages, down to little crawlers with a supervised area.

Also on the way to the Pets Rule show we stopped in to see the huge Clydesdale Horses. Josie just loves horses and she was amazed by their size.

Just before finally arriving at the Pets Rule show we made a brief detour to the Journey to Atlantis ride where Harri was brave enough to go on the ride by herself. Tony and I are really not into rides.. we don't like the acceleration thing (you might remember from the Disneyland Update), but we did take photos and applaud Harri when she came down the huge waterfall drop.

Finally we got to the Pets Rule show. It was utterly amazing, and I htink one of my favourite parts of Seaworld. They had the most amazing trained dogs and cats and pigs and even pigeons! The dogs did everything from clean the house in preparation for a date, to catching a boat across a pool. The cats ran up a huge pole and across tightropes to run into small doors, and they all just ran from one place to another, absolutely coordinating with eachother.

They had things like 3 black cats running into a large pretend pot of cream and then coming out completely white, or 3 black cats and a white cat running into a door and then 4 black and white cats running out of the same door, as if the 3 black cats blended with the white cat. It was all very funny. Especially when a large daschund ran into this big hotdog and three daschund pups ran out.

After that it was time for the Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue show at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium. On the way we saw some sharks and Manatees but they we in dark rooms so picture taking there was difficult.

Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue show was as awsome as the last time we saw it. The Sea Lions were amazing, the Otters were very cute, and the Walrus was just magnificent.

And then it was time for Shaaaaa.....MU!

The show was just awsome. Josie had wanted to sit in the soak zone, where you get wet, but it was 530pm by this time and getting a bit too cold so we sat the the topmost section of the soak zone and didn't get wet, much to her chagrin.

The killer whales were just amazing. I just cannot put into words how magnificent they are, and how intelligent! Its one thing to see dolphins doing these things, but to see a huge whale jump and turn in the air is a sight to behold.

By the time the Shamu show finished the park was closing so I quickly got a couple of magnets and a tshirt for Josie and we were off.






I suggested to Harri, as we were leaving, that we should grab some dinner asap because Josie would fall asleep soon, but Josie and I were so exhausted that we both fell asleep about 3 minutes into the 2 hour drive home and didnt wake up at all. I was just so knocked out that I remember Harri parking the car back at home, bolting inside to go to the loo, and Tony coming around to wake me up. He kept poking me in the arm and the head and the cheek, and I remember thinking "I need to wake up", but I just could not make myself wake up, or open my eyes! I felt absolutely drugged and it took probably a full 5 minutes before I could move. Most bizarre.

Now on a completely different note, we got home to find Sven with a very funny story! Should anyone receive an email with an mpg of someone driving off with a petrol bowser sticking out of their little red Mazda MX5, that would be Sven. He had stopped into a petrol station to get some fuel, and because in the USA they are able to just lock the bowser into place while fueling, well, he kinda forgot about it and drove off. You hear about it happening, but personally, I have never known anyone who actually did it! Especially someone who works in the automotive industry, *designing cars*.

~Later Dudes~

Day 9 - Disneyland - Oh The Exhaustion!!

You really do need at least a week in Disneyland!

Thanks to Allison and her friend Donna we scored free tickets to Disneyland today! Thats a saving of a whopping $79 per person! And it included California Adventure!

We had to get there at 1pm to meet up with the guy who works there who got us in. And we left at about 9:30pm after having dinner. Josie was knackered and fell asleep in the car.

California Adventure
So first off we went into California Adventure park and specifically the California Soaring glider simulation ride which takes you all over California on a sight-seeing glide. It is really well made with the rows of seats hanging from an armature rather than being bolted to a moveable platform like similar things we have at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast etc so it was really smooth in it's movements.

Unfortunately both Josie and Tony experience fast- acceleration- giddiness which scares the poo out of them.



We thought Josie would quite enjoy it actually as she hasn't been frightened or experienced the problem for over a year and has gone on increasingly fast, spinning type rides without any issues. But this ride is designed for maximum realism and sensation and depicts a flight over many parts of California from a sometimes not insubstantial height with frequent accelerations (simulated) to breakneck speeds. So it managed to push her buttons. And it took quite a while to convince her to close her eyes when she felt bad. Tony was closing his eyes frequently from the moment the seats rose into position, before the movie even started!

In the end though he couldn't watch parts of it, Tony actually really enjoyed the ride and wishes he could tolerate the whole experience. He had to admit that Allison made a good call tricking him onto it (well more just keeping him in the dark until it was too late) as it was something he definitely would have simply refused to do if he had not found out exactly what it was right before they entered the ride.
Josie on the other hand was a very unhappy camper for another hour or so. And taking her to the A Bugs World thing right afterward turned out to not help so much as it was 3D and like all 3D movies they have to have things shoot out at you to show off the 3Dness and the audio was REALLLLY loud. So while that didnt freak her out more than the ride it did keep her the freak that she already had going on. Luckily we were there for about 9 and a half hours so the vast majority of the time she was having a ball. And it's a shame because the Bugs World thing was actually quite good. Just bad timing.

After a rather more sedate ride on the Heimlich (the caterpiller from A Bug's Life) train ride she had calmed down considerably (though she was still determined to find fault with everything at that point so agreed that the ride had been ok but despite demanding Daddy's presence when entering the train then proceeded to lament the absence of Mamma when leaving it.

Next we went and walked through an area which showed off some American farming stuff and I swear they had cow poo smell going on the approach but when we go to the display area the cows were fake!!! In this area we went through tours of how both Tortillas and Sour Dough are made.

The Tortilla tour was very informative but the Sour Dough one had Rosie O'Donnell and another commedian doing a schtick presentation to explain the process and it was heavy on the schtick and extremely light on the explanation. Absolutely no idea how Sour Dough is made or why it is any different from other bread. Something about a patented strain of yeast bacteria.

But the tours made us hungry (man! Corn Tortillas taste gross on their own!) so we then decided to stop for lunch and let Josie continue to decompress from the false start. She was actually really interested in the Sour Dough baking machinery so she was well on her way to enjoying the rest of the day already.

After lunch we hit the Muppet Show 3D experience for out last thing at California Adventure before heading over to Disneyland!!! The muppet thing was really good for Tony as he was an avid fan as a child and we got him the DVDs for his Birthday one year. Josie is starting to like them too but they were for him originally. It was again quite loud and things jumped out at you so Josie was not completely taken with it but she had settled down considerably by this stage so she seemed to enjoy most of it.

Disney Land
First stop in the wonderful world of Disneyland was a picture in front of the Mickey Mouse floral clock and then on into the park. Inside we immediately hit a shop where we bought Mickey Mouse ear hats for Josie, Rachel and Miriam. They shall hence forth be known as The Three Mouseketeers.

Well once we get back home and give them to them that is. While Allison and I were in the shop Harri, Tony and Josie had lined up to get a pitcure with Mickey but it turns out Josie was still not happy enough to have a picture taken with him and refused to exit her pram that Hari had precured for us. Even the reverse psychology failed us as Tony's leaving Harri behind in line failed to spur Josie to leap from the pram to rejoin the line. So Harri got her photo taken with Mickey instead!

Hat's secured we went onto the Walt and Mickey statue and took photos in front of them and each little statuette they had of other characters around that little area. While Tony and Josie and I were about this Harri and Allison headed off to the Space Mountain rollercoaster and we proceeded through to Sleeping Beauty's fabulous, HUGE, PINK!!! castle. Inside we found the promised Merry-go-round that we had been instrumental in bringing Josie out of her funk. She immediately started to jump up and down and shout "horsey!! horsey!! mewwy-go-wound!" at the top of her lungs and was her normal self again. Tony took her on while I took pictures and I should mention at this point that all these rides and experiences we had been on so far had had no more than a 5 minute wait to enter! At Disneyland!!!! The number of people there today was just fantastic! Not deserted but not packed to the gills either. Cos really a funpark that is deserted is an interesting experience (we've been to Australia's WonderLand when it was well and truely on the way to the scrap heap) but not what you want for your first time at freaking DISNEYLAND! We didnt feel the amount of people that were in there with us until closing time when everyone was packed onto Main Street all heading in the same direction. Even then it wasnt what it would be on a busy day but it did show you how many people you can pack in there without it looking very full.

Anyway, the merry-go-round went well and then after an abortive attempt at the Dumbo ride (one of the ones that you sit in little containers - in this case in the shape of dumbo - on the end of an armature and they start to go round and round and also up and down) which once it started up and Josie saw how fast it went (not one of the sedate versions this one) was quickly turned down. She was definitely not up for any more fast-paced action today thank you very much. I was still quite proud of her because on the way into the line for it she was saying she was scared but she wanted to go on anyway. So at least she had the gumption to face her fears when it was anybody's guess whether the ride would actually be scary or not. And if she knows she's not going to like it then why go on it. I say she did well to face her fear and made a good decision in the end to boot.

Instead we took some pictures in a peter pan sky sled, a tea cup and found the spinning tea-cup ride which Josie did go on with Tony and had a ball (she always loves that one) and came out absolutely back to her old self and excitedly yelling for Mummy and telling me all about how she went on the "spinning tea-cup wide!". Of course she proceeded to act very silly and increasingly looney for the rest of the day. Wack is a mild description of our beloved daughter when she is in high spirits.

By this time Harri and Allison rejoined us (Josie really must have been feeling better after her fun ride on the teacups because she immediately abandoned Daddy - her usual refuge when she is 'out of sorts' and attached herself to "Auntie Hawi".
Im so happy with the way Josie has absolutely bonded with her Auntie Harri on this trip and simply loves to be with her. And Sven is turning out to be a big hit too. Both Harri and Sven are very young at heart types who get the most out of life and Josie responds to that. And they are both exceptionally good with kids - based on their interaction with Josie at least.) and we headed off to find the ToonTown area and this is where we spent the rest of the day in the park itself (about 2 - 3 hours).

Josie really loved everything in this area and completely sparked up and we thought why not just let her go on whatever she chooses in that area rather than rush around trying to see little bits of the other sections and not really have time to enjoy them. So we turned her loose and she just went for it.

She climbed all over the ToonTown Trolley (which was an excellent find because we had promised her we would go ont he Waikiki Trolley and we never got the time to do it), went through Minnie and Mickeys houses and at the end of the Mickey house tour we found Mickey waiting to take photos with us! And Josie agreed to pose with mummy and daddy for photos with Mickey. She even kissed his nose. And I have to say, the guy in the Mickey constume was really very good at expressing that happy, positive Mickey vibe with just physical movement. He made her completely relax and giggle and enjoy her time with Mickey. Although she still refused to leave the safety of Daddy's arms for a one-on-one with him.

After the photos she returned to the main section of ToonTown, played on some kiddie cars and went into Goofeys Backyard for some playground action. Where she (and mum and dad) found Allison and Harri already sitting on a bench like two old grannies watching there grandkids play.

Josie had a ball playing on the slide and climbing through the watermellon tube and the boxes and drinking water from the sprinkler out of the air (which Daddy was not thrilled about but managed to restrain himself from interfering with - Go Daddy! Progress!) until it was time for the park to close.

We got halfway out of the joint when we remembered we had to take family pics on the steps where Kye's family always take family pictures every time they go to Disneyland. I think they have pics from their honeymoon up to having both grown up kids in them. It is a really wonderful tradition and Kye asked us to continue it on our visit and we were happy to oblige. I only hope there will be occasion to add to the first one at some point in the not too distant future. And with more kids too!

After a brief stop for magnets and a hoody for Tony and shirt for Mat we exited the park and had a lovely dinner in a restaurant attached to the park.

All in all Josie behaved beautifully all day. Even when she was out of sorts she was not overly cranky or willfull or naughty. She was a real champ today and overcame a good scare to have a great time. My only one regret is that you really cant do Disneyland in one day. It takes at least 5 I reckon! Hopefully we'll get the chance to finish what we started.

~Later Dudes~