New Relatives and a Very Busy Friday

On Thursday night we went to dinner at my mums where we met some second cousins from Russia. My mum's mum's sister's grandson and his wife. They were very nice, Grisha & Ira. Ira spoke and understood some english, Grisha not so much. They are planning on moving here in the next 12 months on Student Visas.

Today (Friday) was a very long day.

It started at about 7am when I hurried out of bed and got ready to be at the school by 8am for a talk on drugs, alcohol, smoking and cyber bullying.

It was extremely interesting with great presentations and insights from psychologists, police, researchers and youth support people. It raised some things that I couldnt even begin to imagine existed. Such as parents who let their year 8 kids leave the house on a Friday or Saturday night (any night really) with a bottle of vodka, so that they will only drink from that bottle all night, and not from a strange bottle that could be spiked.

Uhm, hello ?

14 year old kid? Shouldnt be drinking anyway?? What kind of world are we living in??

During the Q&A one girl (there were parents and students in the talk) asked about catching buses home after a party in groups, "because we can't expect our parents to come get us at 1230am"...

Uhm, hello? Why the hell not?!?! What kind of parent lets their kid leave the house on a Friday or Saturday night without having organised exactly how they are getting home, and certainly NOT on public transport!

What the hell??

Anyways, we came away from that talk a lot wiser, and I hope the kids there (from Year 8, 9 & 10) were listening very carefully.

After that I went to work for about 3 hours before having to leave again to pick up Becka and Josie and go to a Pain Study at the Childrens Hospital.

The study was very interesting too.

Since the age of about 2, Josie has had leg pain at night on and off. We always put it down to too much activity during the day.. but then I started thinking maybe it was rheumatism, because almost all the females on my mums side of the family, including myself, my sister and Becka, have always had this muscular rheumatoid type pain, since childhood. We have always said it was rheumatism, but we never actually got it diagnosed. It was usually fixed up by keeping the area warm and taking some Panadol or Neurofen.

Anyways, so we went in and the researcher did a bunch of tests on Josie to show how much she was feeling the touch. They think that the pain is caused by a high nerve sensitivity. She used different tools to touch Josie's legs, arms and tummy, and asked Josie to tell her whether she felt the touch more on one leg or the other etc. It as very interesting.

I spoke to the Dr in charge, and told him about the rheumatism that has always been in my family and he said that it probably was not rheumatism, but was actually Fibromygalia.

The 'Growing Pains' that Josie was experiencing would most likely develop into Fibromygalia as well. So now I am trying to find stuff about it ;-)

So after the study, we went to Anna's place, where Becka was babysitting Jayden for the night, and we stayed and played for a while before dropping Anna off at the station and heading home.

It was a fairly looongish day..

Should be an interesting weekend ;-)

Long Weekend and a New Baby!

My best friend Harri gave birth to her first child yesterday. She and her husband Sven named her Ella. What a gorgeous name, and we are so so happy and excited for them.

Still waiting for photos and measurements though! Ahem! Its not like she's... busy.. or anything.. ;-)

Can't wait to see ;-)

This past weekend has been pretty full on.

Of course we had Dance class and swim class. Tony as usual took her to her classes and I went and did the grocery shopping.

But to pack even more in we went to Mamacinos with Roman, Helen and Stacey for brunch (it was great fun and the girls loved playing in the play area) and ontop of that off we went to a birthday party for some girls in Josie's class. That was good fun too as they had a big trampoline set up with the side nets so the kids had a ball in there.

To top it all off on Sunday night we went to Mat's for dinner with Wendy's family. Wendy's family is so lovely and we always have a great time with them. Josie had a great time, as always, at Uncle Mat's place.

During my weekly shopping I came across something that I had only seen once before at the school. Its called Floy and its like playdough but slightly different. Its little white balls in this gluey, slimy mixture, and you mold it like playdough, but when it dries, it feels like polystyrene. Its fabulous! I got a kit of 5 colours for Josie and we had a great time playing with it.

I had an appointment with the dentist today. I havent been since Xmas 2004 so I was long overdue and my teeth aren't the best anyway. It took him an hour to clean only the top left quadrant. I have to make some more appointments to finish off the whole mouth. My health insurance is not going to cover them all. I don't know how we are gonna pull this one off.

This week is fairly hectic at work. We are one down, actually we are two down with one coworker on paternity leave for two weeks (everyone is having babies!!).

Anyways, theres my update. Ive been kinda slack lately but Im hoping more interesting stuff will happen ;-)

Four Under FOUR!

Huge congrats to my cousin and his wife.

They have just had their 4th, yes FOURTH daughter.

Thats four (4) girls, under 4 (FOUR) years old.

FOUR.

Under FOUR.

Girls.

My eye is twitching..

Twitching.. but decidedly jealous ;-)

My Child is a Genius

Tony has set up a profile on my iMac for Josie and showed her how to log in.

She now knows to:

Click on my name in the top right hand corner, then select her name in the drop down menu.
Then it comes up with a window asking for a password and she knows how to enter her password (josie).
Then she has her little dock of games and applications at the bottom and she knows how to click on them to load the programs and away she goes.

Four and a half years old.

Genius I tell ya.

Four and a Half, Going on 40

In the car this morning..

Josie: I can be lots of things. I can be a girl fireman, and a fairy, and a butterfly and a pony..
Mari: Yes honey, you can be anything you want to be..
[A few minutes to ponder]
Josie: Mummy, I just can't help the silly moments..

;-)

On.. In.. Doesn't Matter!

Ok I haven't been posting any conversations with my dad cause my mum told me off for embarrassing him in front of the entire world (cause thats who reads my blog, didn't you know??). So I stopped. But this I couldn't resist.

He had been given a second hand laptop at work and wanted us to have a look at it.

Mari: well bring it tonight and we will have a look over the weekend
George: so don't be late today
Mari: I will be there before you
Mari: and if not you can just leave it
George: ok see you
George: it is on my car
George: so it is mine already
Mari: well take it off your car before you leave because it will fall off when you move the car
George: no it is on the car box
Mari: your car has a box ?
George: yes on the boot
Mari: well you need to take it off the boot because when you move the car the box will slide off the boot.
George: it is inside of box
George: and box is fixed to the car
Mari: on the boot ?
Mari: you fixed a box to the top of your boot?
Mari: how do you open the boot ?
George: it is inside of my boot
Mari: ahhh right
Mari: so IN your car.. not ON your car then ?
George: at least
George: for my it is the same
Mari: its at least in your car?
George: on.....in.....
Mari: and at most under it ?
George: you want competision in russian
Mari: no thanks.. I dont live there
George: i will laught too
George: you was born....
George: and you first languch was russian
George: so you probably just forgot russian
Mari: probably

My mum will probably have strong words for me.. but after three days of taking care of a house full of sick people, it was a good laugh ;-)

Harika & Sven's Baby Guessing Game

I have set up a Guessing Pool for Harri & Sven!

Please have a guess!

A Sick Household

Bah.. this is fun.. NOT..

Josie has the flu.. Tony has the flu.. Granny has the flu.. everyone has the bloody flu!!!!!

Josie has had temps up to 39.5. Tony hasn't had temps but he has thrown up all over the floor.

Gloria is sick in bed with temps AND throwing up.

I'm fine ;-) I had a flu shot. I'm ALL good.. so far.. lol..

I managed to be at work for a whole hour before having to come home and take care of both sick people.

Tomorrow Josie will be going to Baba's, Tony will be home and I, hopefully, will be going to work.

Mini Update

I know I haven't blogged for a while..

Just been very slack is all ;-)

I have updated Flickr with a LOT of new photos.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos/.. check them out ;-)

Everything is fine with everyone.. although Josie is kinda sick at the moment with a cold..

Its 1130pm and I need to get to bed now.. enjoy the photos..

Fall of The Great Thinker

See.. even the intellectual have their moments..

Mat: tried to get some cool photos of the moon two nights ago
Mat: was very full and yellow over the water
Mat: couldn't stop the camera shake .. even on a tripod
Mat: just pressing the button moved the camera
Tony: set the timer
Mat: bought a remote shutter release on Ebay for $6
Mat: ok you know what .. you go to hell
Mat: you go to hell and you die
Tony: ROFL

And More From Josie..

She was just full of conversation today..
_____________

From Becka..

We are all watching The Bold and The Beautiful and Josie starts talking:

Josie [in a nagging voice]: Becka... Becka...

Becka: Shhhh Jose we are watching..

Josie runs into the other room and returns a few minutes later.

Josie: Becka you were silly. I thought about it. I went and sat in the naughty spot and I thought about it, you were just being silly, ok?
_____________

Then on the way home.. out of no where..

Josie: Mummy, Bambi was little.. and then he growed big..
Mari: Yes honey, Bambi was a dear..
Josie: But I am already a dear!

and later still in the car..

Josie: Mummy, do I have any bruddas?
Mari: No honey..
Josie: Do I have any stisters?
Mari: No honey.. you have cousins..
Josie: Yeh like Matty.. he's my little baby boy.. he sits on my lap and he's so heavy that I can't even pick him up, he's a big baby but I am bigger.. I am this big [shows me how big she is.. which is about the size of a cat]..
Mari: Yes ok honey..
[A little time passes..]
Josie: What were we talking about??

LOL..

Lions and Elephants and Josie.. Oh My!

Josie is at Baba's today with Becka..

They were watching Play School on TV and they were showing elephants..

Becka: Have you ever seen real elephants?

Josie: No because they will eat me!

Becka: No, they live in cages.

Josie: Well i don't want to go to the zoo.

Becka: But they can't eat you because they will be in cages!!

Josie: Yeh but what about the Lions?

Becka: No everyone lives in cages so you just go and watch them.

Josie: Well I just don't like lions.

Becka: Well what about if on a nice day we go to the zoo and see everything except the lions?

Josie: Yeh... But no lions.

[Pondering...]

Josie: I have an idea, what about if we dress up like elephants and go to the zoo like that? I'm going to ask my mum to buy me an elephant suit because I want to be an Elephant!

LOL.. I'm off to the shops..

A New Babysitter

For years now our niece Becka has been bugging us to let her babysit Josie. We have always been reluctant because we were not confident in Josie listening and following the orders of anyone else. We were worried that Becka wouldn't be able handle an out of control and willful Josephine.

Over the last couple of months we have noticed a new maturity in both Josie and in Becka. One shows more promise in listening and following orders, and the other shows more maturity in thought and deed. So we decided to give it a go.

So last night, Tony and I went to see Fantastic Four (which was fabulous!) and left Becka in charge of Josie at home.

All worked out very well. Becka made sure that Josie had dinner (finished all her veges too!) and had her in bed and asleep by 8pm. She did a great job and Tony and I were very impressed. Well done Becka!

Its nice to think we now have another option at babysitting, and this one Josie will enjoy the best.

So the night before last Becka came over in the evening (to wash my dishes cause I am a lazy woman who let her dishes pile up to a state where I couldn't bare to look at them and had to go to rent-a-niece to get them done) and Tony took her home after that. The next morning Josie wakes up, comes straight to me, wakes me up and says:

Josie: Mummy! Why is Becka not asleep on the couch!?

I had to explain to her that that was happening the following morning.

So the next morning Josie joined Becka on the couch.. see below..

Mari & Josie == Everything

I related a set of events that happened today that renewed my appreciation for my wife and child on the message board of a podcast I listen to regularly (The Deadpan podcast).
Not going to re-write it here, you guys can deal with second hand content. So without further ado:

"Hey guys,

Sorry i haven’t contributed to the community in quite a while Jack (and after you gave me such a high by mentioning me in a list of new community members and all) but I have been listening to the podcast (Deadpan is indeed the way) and lurking in the boards every now and then.

Anyway, I wanted to share an experience I had today that involved the deadpan in finale.

I had a dream/nightmare last night (ie it started off ok and then went bad):
My wife and daughter and our 3 cats moved into a new house in a great neighbourhood.
My wife left the house to go to work leaving me and the Spudlette (my daughters nickname which is short for her super hero name “Spudlette The Crazy Chicken”….erm….mine is “The Bowel”…don’t ask. My wifes is “The Glare”…anyhoo!) to start getting the house into some kind of order.

Well after a few bits which aren’t Germain to the nightmare part the time period sort of changed such that even though time had gone forward I no longer had ever had a daughter and my wife had left me. And I was still in the living room of the house (with just the cats now) having to start the unpacking.

Just as I finished the unpacking and was doing something at one of the windows I saw my wife's car pull up and she got out in a wedding dress. Somehow I knew she was coming back from her honeymoon. She and her new husband who was an old friend of mine. They were going to live in the new house. My mother was helping her out of the car (because of the dress being so cumbersome) and into the house.

They all entered the house and while my mother and my wifes new husband and (perhaps) his mother were all sorting stuff out my wife (Mari - ironically…you should have seen what a clown I looked like when I asked her father for his permission to “marry…er…Mari”) came into the lounge room and started to talk to me like nothing was wrong, like we must have had a perfectly amicable split. That wasn't how I felt. I felt destroyed.

I left the room, pushing past her and heading for the kitchen. She followed me and I realised I was going to try to win her back. With her standing in a wedding dress and having just returned from her honeymoon. Tough but I needed her. I couldn’t live without her. And I remembered my baby, like she was a future that had been changed because I had stuffed up and lost my wife.

Just as I was starting to talk to her the husband, my friend, walked into the kitchen and knowing our history he was suspicious and well to cut a short story shorter we started to fight.
A sword fight.
With hard cardboard tubing.
Awesome fight. Very kung fu.

In the middle of the fight I woke up in my bed. I looked over my shoulder and my wife was not there. And my heart just about exploded until I rolled further and bumped up against something. Turning over fully I found it to be my little girl snuggled up in the covers up against me. And my heart did burst. I drew her into my arms and held her against me for a long time. During which I heard sounds of Mari in the other room getting ready for work. Everything was ok.

The dream didn't really linger in my mind very long after I too got up and started (very hurriedly) getting ready to take my daughter to school and then myself to work (we were running very late now) but when I got into work I remembered the dream and started to related it to Mari over IM. By the time I was finished I was feeling very emotional again and sad. The feelings were still very fresh. Just as I finished recounting the tale I hit the end of Deadpan 59 (which I have listened to before but I like the Tee Morris interview enough to keep listening when my playlist clocked over back to the beginning) where you (Jack of course) played the song which I don't know the name of (To Make You Feel My Love seems possible) and I just about lost it completely. Being an emotion junky and a bit of a masochist I don't know if this was the worst time or the best time for that song to kick in but it had a pretty spectacular effect to say the least.

Mari suggested chocolate to cheer me up but I opted instead for the solitude of the bathroom for a little breakdown. I’m ok now though.

Thank you Jack, for playing that song as frequently as you do. Though it may have been painful it enhanced an experience I was having and made the lessons learned all the more powerful.

Deadpan for life.

Myrddin"

We Have Harry !

Woohoo!

Harry Potter Gold Class! First Saturday, 1pm! Back centre seats!

WOOHOO!

Weirded out by Josie

I often feel like I'm going slightly mad in the moments between when Josie suddenly starts talking out of nowhere and when I figure out what she's talking about.

This morning we were sitting in traffic on our way to school and I'm thinking about stuff going on at work when I hear, in the background of my thoughts, floating out of the back seat as if on the wind:

Josie: The chicken is holding the cats label...
Daddy: *distractedly* is he?
And then as my sub-conscious begins to start rapping smartly on my conscious for attention and the words "DOES NOT COMPUTE" start to light up in my head I become confused and swivel around in my seat in the hope that if I can see and therefore focus on the child she will start to make sense and the feeling of holding onto sanity by my fingernails will fade...
Daddy: Huh, hang on what? The cats hat?!
Josie: NOOOooo, its LABEL!
Daddy: Wha?!
But before I have time to ask some questions to try and make sense of this conversation she quickly hits back with...
Josie: *in her special thinking voice* I think it's a duck.
Daddy: *completely out to sea at this point* Wha? Duck? What?
Josie: It's not a biiiird! *VERY earnestly*
Daddy: *nothing. But in my head I'm screaming*
Josie: It's a chicken *her mind is made up by the tone in her voice*
Daddy: *I go to my special place...again...in my head* Dribble
Having decided what it is (whatever IT is) Josie now has enough bandwidth to notice Daddy is drooling into his beard and in exasperation points past my shoulder and says...
Josie: The bird!!! Hanging there!
I turn and see the bird and cat fluffy toys which harbor the deoderisers for my car and suddenly I feel myself washed ashore once more on the land on sanity.
Daddy: Oooooooh -thank christ for that-
I turn the bird around to get a look at it and proclaim...
Daddy: It's a toucan sweety
Having now had a good look at it and clearly disgusted by Daddy's paltry mental abilities Josie deadpan-stares me and matter-of-factly states...
Josie: It's a parrot.

Adendum
After we started moving again and a small pause in conversation I tried to reclaim some of my lost status with my daughter by suggesting...
Daddy: Is it a Pirate Parrot?!
To which Josie replied simply...
Josie: No.
In a tone which clearly stated "You are neither funny nor particularly bright. Now, I have intelligent conversations to pursue with my imaginary dollies ... shush."
I shut up for the rest of the trip.

First Ever Layout

I got the scrapbooking bug last night. Decided to try some digital scrapbooking. Here is my very first attempt! A bit simplistic but there you go ;-)

Who Is Family?

As we were pulling into Granny's driveway over the weekend we had the following conversation.

Josie: You are my family..
Mari: Yes honey, we are, good girl!
Josie: Me and Daddy and Mummy are all family.. and Granny and Baba..
Mari: Yep, and Grandpa and Dyeda and Uncle Mat and Auntie Wendy and Becka and Vika are all our family..
Josie: yeh and Auntie Harri..
[Dramatic pause while I wipe a tear..]
Mari: yes honey..
Josie: And Matty.. and Jayden..
Tony: Who is Jayden's mummy?
Josie [thinking]: Uhh I dunno..
Tony: Anna!
Josie [slaps forehead]: Yeh! Anna!

lol..

Tales from the back seat (get your mind out of the gutter)

Heard floating out of the back seat while driving Josie to school this morning:

"Dear Rachel,
Sharing is clareing...and Hairy A'Clarey is afraid of Slinky A'Linky...He's a Bad Cat!...I'm goina wrap up this [feather] for Rachel..."

Some Photo Compilations

I've been busy..

A Breakthrough!

For the first time in years and years, Josie went to bed by herself!

Since she was a baby, we have always stayed in the room with Josie as she was falling asleep. A VERY bad habit to fall into, I know, but there you go, we fell. A few periods of time through her younger years we have had succeful results from control crying, and she would go to sleep herself but then she would get sick or something, and would revert to needing one of us in there.

So tonight, she was at Rachel's house, and was being naughty. Wouldnt get dressed to go, wouldnt clean up, and I have had a very long day so I lost my temper and went off at her. Her punishment would be no story and no daddy for bed.

She was on her best behaviour for the rest of the night, expecting us to relent if she was good. We didn't, and she was qite upset going to bed, but Tony took her in, changed her and got her ready for bed, then explained that he would leave the door open and we were right outside.

He came out and we very quietly watched TV.

We didn't hear a peep out of her, and she just drifted off to sleep!

WOOHOO!!!!

Now I have no illusions.. this was a punishment, so I have to be very careful how I encourage this, but hopefully this is just the beginning!

Yay Josie!

From the Mouth Of A Babe

Driving back to Vika's from school..

Josie: are we there yet?
Vika: soon
Josie: vika, you are slow
Vika: well i cant go too fast i have to wait for the other cars, cant jump over them
Josie: no you dont have super powers, my dad can, he can do anything, he is super...ahm, special.
Josie: vika go faster
Vika: i cant go too fast or we can have an accident
[a few seconds of thinking....]
Josie: did you know that granny had an accident
Vika: no, what happened
Josie: granny smashed when i took seat belt off, she smashed into a
man with brother and sister and i took seatbelt off because i wanted to
so i did and when i did granny had an accident
Vika: you took seat belt off while granny was still driving?
Josie: yes and she smashed into man and brother and sister.

She is a bit confused..

Josie has gotten in trouble twice in the last week or so, most recently yesterday, for taking her seatbelt off while Granny is still driving the car. She got a stern talking to last night.

On a completely separate occasion, Granny had a small prang while Josie was in the back (with her seatbelt on).

Understandably, Vika was quite concerned when she questioned me about this.. ;-)

Josie, Road Rage And The Jean-Stock

Yesterday evening, having picked up Josie from Granny's, we were driving home. I came to some lights and edged forward to turn right but there was traffic so I didn't have enough room before the light turned red again. Seeing as I was out too far I started back up a bit, the car behind me was quite a way back so there was no problem, however seeing me back up, the silly woman started beeping at me. I groaned.

Mari (looking back): Yeh yeh, I SEE you!

So I back up and wait for the green light. Lights change and I go, having turned the corner, we passed a bus and a truck, who after an altercation of some kind started beeping at eachother. Josie has learnt well what to do in this situation.

Josie (from the back): Yeh yeh, we SEE you!

LOL.

Then...

Driving to school this morning, Josie was reading from her Read-Along Jack and the Beanstalk book. When you open the book and turn the pages, it reads to you. But alas, it has stopped working, so Josie has to do the reading herself, but seeing as she can't read yet, she makes it up as she goes along. Here is a snippet..

Josie: Jack gave some coloured beans to his mummy but his mummy didn't like them so she threw them.. out the window.. but Jack went up the jean-stock and saw the giant and he got scared and came back down.

Pretty succinct, no?

The Perils of Paying BIlls

Ok so my dad is not the only one.. here follows a story from Mat..

Mat: your husband sucks
Mat: never answers his phone
Mat: there is NO WAY that I am related to my mother
Mat: you think your dad is bad
Mat: you have NO idea
Mat: I need alcohol
Mari: LOL
Mari: whats happened?
Mat: oh where do I start
Mari: heheh
Mat: she was trying to pay her council rates online
Mari: oh dear
Mat: so she calls me up to say she's at the Botany Bay council website but can't find any sign of an option to pay rates
Mat: so she tells me the URL and I go there and there's a button to pay your rates
Mat: after some mind-destroying investigation it becomes clear that she's searched for the council via Google
Mat: and is most likely looking at a Google cached version of the page rather than the page itself
Mari: LOL
Mari: ahhh google is becoming the bane of our existence methinks..
Mat: so I click on the link on the page I'm looking at and it sends you to a third-party financial portal
Mat: so I figure I may as well just get her to type THAT URL into the address bar and go there
Mari: lol
Mari: ok
Mat: so .. I begin telling her what to type
Mat: this was painful in itself
Mat: I tell her to select the text in the address bar .. so that begins more pain
Mari: lol
Mat: "Where's the select button?"
Mat: "How do I select?"
Mari: PMSL
Mat: "USE THE MOUSE TO SELECT THE TEXT"
Mat: "Where?"
Mat: "IN THE ADDRESS BAR!"
Mat: "What's that?"
Mari: mwahahahahah!!
Mat: "OH FFS!"
Mat: so I help her to find the address bar (or so I think but that's giving the game away)
Mat: and I start dictating this URL
Mat: "type clearance"
Mat: "clearance?"
Mat: "yes .. the word clearance"
Mat: "there's no ... clearance"
Mat: "IN THE DICTIONARY THERE IS A WORD CLEARANCE"
Mat: "oh you want me to type it out ..>"
Mat: *SOB*
Mat: through much pain she types out the whole URL
Mat: and hits enter at my behest
Mat: page not found
Mari: ROFL
Mat: crap, I think, she's typed a bit wrong ..
Mat: "ok click the back button .. no wait .. don't ... it'll probably go back to the cached page you had up ... what does it currently say in the address bar?"
Mat: "it still says http://www.google.com"
Mat (starting to have a meltdown): "you typed that whole URL into the Google search box didn't you?"
Mat: "What's that?"
Mat: "it's too difficult"
Mat: "No Mum it's not .. it's really not .. kids can do this .. Josie will be able to do this shortly!"
Mat: "What is at the top of your screen ..."
Mat: "There's a box with http://www.google.com in it .. and then Q .. and then there's google and another box"
Mat: "and that's the box you've been typing into haven't you?'
Mat: "yes ..."
Mat: "ok just tell me your goddamn rates notice reference number...." (start to do it myself)
Mat: finish rate payment and bang head on desk
Mat: repeat
Mari: ROFL
Mari: ok are you gonna blog this or am i
Mat: heh .. you can ... I told her i would when I was going through the ordeal .. but now I just want the memory to fade
Mari: LOL ok

lol.. See at one point we all thought Google was the schnitz when it came to getting our parents off our backs when they were looking for something on the internet. "Just google it!" we'd say.. but alas, those days are over.

Last week my mother was trying to find the specs on a Toyota Tarago. She of course googled it, which is great, but then she didn't go to the actual Toyota website when google came back with the search results, so of course didn't get any further. And of course when she rang me for help she told me she was looking at 'toyota page' which I took to mean http://www.toyota.com.au. Obviously she was still looking at the google search results.

Fast forward a few days and I get an IM from my dad wanting to know how to bring up an ebay auction from an ebay auction number he had. Did he go to http://www.ebay.com.au? Of course he didn't. He went to google. When I told him to put the number into the search box in the top right hand corner of ebay.com.au he said there wasn't a search box there. I asked him if he was on ebay's website, and he of course said yes. Was he? No of course he wasn't.. he was on google's search results.

Come on!! Its really not that hard to understand!!

Parents! Listen to your children!! Stay AWAY from the internet!!!

A Hard Day's Night..

We were watching TV in the living room when I heard what sounded like the plastic stool beside Josie's bed moving.. Tony went in to check it out.. and this is what he found..

The four year old teenager ... Oye!

Josie was describing her morning to Rachel the other day while I was driving them to their swimming lesson:

Josie: Mamma got up with me this morning and we were watching tv.
Rachel: Uhuh I like DOOORa!
Josie: Yeah and ... weeeeell I was being naughty
Rachel: Uhuh
Josie: and Mamma ... FREAKED oooout! *complete with the waving of the hands*
Rachel: *Gasp*
Josie: an' I cried.
Rachel: *nods as if to say "yeah, good move. Nice one."*

Update
I thought I would tape Tony telling the story, the blog just doesn't do it justice..

Click To Play

The Cleaners Are Coming! Run For Your Lives!!

We have a couple of guys come and clean once a month, they are really great and we have been using them for a number of years now. You would think that Zelli would have gotten used to them by now.. alas it is not so...

After they left, I, as usual, went to see that the cats were ok.. this is what I found..

For The Love of My Job..

I have had such a busy week.. so much work to do.. and I have loved every minute of it.

This is such a wierd thing for me. To love where I work, and to love what I do. I have never really had very much in the way of career aspirations. I always just wanted to be a stay at home mum and just bring up a huge brood of kids. And job after job I have started off liking, but after a while I just grew bored and frustrated.

But this one.. I am so in my element. I am so content and happy and confident. I am finally happy in my job. Blissfully happy. And I just can't get over it.

Imagine.. looking forward to Mondays!

Mother's *Cough* *Splutter* Day

Well I made it through Mother's Day! With a sore throat, constant coughing, an all day fever and various other aches and pains, but I made it!

And here endeth the Pity Party!

I had a fantastic Mother's Day!

It all started with my present from Josie. It was a gorgeous little silver box with little jewels stuck on the lid, and a hand drawn card with MUMMY on the cover! Just gorgeous ;-)

Then at 10am we met Baba and Dyeda, Vika and Becka and Anna and Jayden at Yum Cha. It was nice and early so the crowds were non-existent and the food was quick and plentiful. For anyone in the Sydney region, there is NO better Yum Cha than at Marigold! It was, as usual, delicious, and Josie loved playing with Becka and Jayden again.

After Yum Cha we went to Granny's for a bit while Tony fixed the gate so that Rascal (the annoying mutt!!) couldnt get out. Its a metal chain link fence. And he chewed through it! Then about a year ago Tony attached some perspex against it and that lasted a while before Rascal finally demolished it. Into itty bitty pieces (ok so Im taking a bit of poet license here). So now he has attached some wood to it so hopefully it will last a bit longer against the might of Rascal the Destroyer.

So after that was done we all went to Uncle Mat's for lunch and games. After eating MORE delicious food, we sat around for a bit while Mat and Tony and Jacqui played with the Guitar Hero, and then we played Cranium for a while before it was time to go as we had ANOTHER get together to get to!

Now since last week I had been telling Josie that she had to stay overnight at Baba's this night because mummy and daddy were going to be going out and we were getting back very late. She wasn't too pleased, she's gotten a bit difficult about staying overnight at Granny's and Baba's places. So all through the day I kept reminding her, and then when we were coming back from Yum Cha (with Becka and Vika in the car) she had a bit of a tantrum cause she wanted to go to Becka's house to play. So I told her that if she was a good girl and came to Uncle Mat's place for a while, then we would take her to Vika's place and she could sleep over there. She uhmed and ahhed and then agreed.

Mari (looking back at Vika): Mum's gonna have a cow..
Josie (in surprise): Did you just say.. Baba is going to have a COW?!?
(hysterical laughter ensues)

Mum actually took it much better than expected..

So after Mat's we go to drop Josie off at Vika's place. She got a bit clingy when we were going to leave but she was ok. Luckily Becka is reading The Hobbit for school, and Tony is in the middle of reading it to Josie each bedtime, so Becka was able to read to her from it.

So off we went to the climax of our night.

Eurovision at Ines' place! We got there with seconds to spare, Brig was already there, so we rushed in and got settled on the couch (the boys on the floor) and took out our scoring papers, and Harri's printed out score sheet.

Yes its that time of year again when Europe (and some tag alongs) get together, choose their wackiest (and I mean WACKIEST) singing sensation, make their politically correct votes and entertain the world.

And may I start by saying WACKY!

Leading the Wacky Pack was most definitely Ukraine. It was a fabulous song, but the act, well, lets just say they used a lot of aluminium!

Runner up in the Wacky Stakes would have to be the guy in the feathers, silver bolero jacket and huge thing around his neck from Sweden. He took his jacket off. That could be bonus points, or it could be loss of points, depending on how you look at it.

I really loved Romania though. No one else liked it, but I thought the song was great ;-)

The voting was the usual politically motivated rubbish. How else would have Serbia won? I mean she was good. Better than a lot of the acts. But I swear the Ukraine should have won on sheer wackiness! They did come second though!

Now having been watching the TIVO'd prelims from the night before as I write this, I have to say, Denmark, I cannot believe they didn't make it into the finals! A man, dressed in a hot pink, sequinned, revealling dress, and feather head piece.. a shoe-in I would have thought!?

So that made for a late night, with Tony lamenting the over abundance of clothing on the female performers, and the lack of clothing on the male performers, but it was a great conclusion to a fabulous Mother's Day!

For last year's recap, click here.

I fell asleep on the way home and went straight to bed because I had to be at Vika's at 7am to pick up the kids and take them to school.

6:20am my alarm went off. With my coughing and not feeling well it took me all my will power and determination to get out of bed!

So after picking up the girls, dropping off Becka at school, then heading down to the preschool, I parked the car and got out, putting my phone in my pocket. Which normally isn't a problem, except this morning it had to be a problem. As I turned around, the phone popped out of my pocket and flew under the car. By this time Josie was out of the car and I couldnt be bothered putting her back in in order to move the car so I left it there.

In we went to a lovely set up of breakfast cereals, assorted bagels, and fruit. We had a lovely breakfast all together with Rachel, Michelle and Miriam, and then went out the back where one of the dads had set up a Dr Smoothie stall (he owns it) and was giving out snow cups in various different flavours, including coffee, which I desperately needed!

After saying my goodbyes, I headed back to the car, where I had to reverse, hop out, grab my phone (thank god it had a plastic cover on it!), and then head off to work.

I have to say, Im still not 100%. Coughing like a madwoman, a fever lingering, it was not a pleasant day at work, but having said that, a non-pleasant day at this job is 100 times better than a pleasant day at any other job I have had so far. I continue to be amazed at how much I love what I am doing at the moment ;-)

Aaaanyway.. this has been quite a long update hasnt it? Happy Mothers Day mum!!

Tonsilitis and Photos

Again! I have tonsilitis again!! Can't swallow, high fever, and tomorrow is Mothers Day!! WAAA!!

I went this morning to the Dr to start on the antibiotics quickly. Im starting to feel better tonight but its still gonna be a bummer tomorrow. We have such a fully day planned!

Yum Cha in the morning. Uncle Mat's for lunch. Eurovision at Ines' at night.

Bah!

So I thought I might stick in some photos to make me feel better ;-)

So first up we have Josie and Jayden when we went to see Meet The Robinsons for Jayden's Birthday.

And this is Becka and Josie on the same day...
And Miss Josie posing as usual..

This one is when we had Shabbat at Mat's place. This little wooden Shabbat set is from the school.

This is Rachel and Josie at Trudy's place.. the girls had a great time and Rachel was a great distraction !

This is Josie in her school uniform for next year! We were so excited to see her in it! She is growing up too fast!

And her sports uniform for next year..

And winter uniform!

So cute!!

Mmmmmmm Chocolate !

Tony and I went to a Lindt Warehouse Sale on Saturday.

We got lots of chocolate. LOTS. We have more chocolate than you could poke a stick at. Not that you would want to poke sticks a chocolate. But I digress...

We drove about an hour to get there, and as we drove past the entrance, looking for parking, we saw the queue, with probably a couple hundred people waiting.. and Tony says "You know, your parents LEFT the USSR to get away from shit like that..".

I somehow managed to convince him to park, and 45 mins later, we were in!

There wasn't a huge variety, but they did have yummy mint, and various different darks, and creme brulee and caramel and lots of milk..

We bought about $200 worth, to sell.

$3 per 100g bar. If anyone would like to purchase, please let me know ;-)

Mari

Like father like daughter...

This morning mummy had a heck of a time getting Miss Josephine out of (our) bed.

She had a VERY late night on Saturday night due to her father being a schmuck (ie thinking it was around 8:30pm when in fact it was 9:45PM!) and has been recovering ever since (as while she has started to sleep later into the morning when she has a late night the night before, she still doesn't sleep quite as long as she needs to to be completely recovered in one session).

So this morning mummy had to get her pants/nappy off and undies, pants and socks on (with the little queen doing her best to ignore it and her best impression of a log) followed by various methods of enticement to try to get her to co-operate when it came time to do the more tricky job of getting her top changed.


The conversation (one sided as it was) went something like this:
Mummy: Josie...time ot get up.
Josie: ....*turns over onto her front*
Mummy: *in her excited, pep the kid up voice* c'mon! You'll be late for school! You don't wanna miss school!
Josie: ....*continues to lay prone - no response*
Mummy: You have playball today! You love playball!
Josie: ....
Mummy: Jooose! C'mon! Mummy has to go to work and you have to get to school!!! *mummy is starting to twitch around the left eye*
Josie: ....
Mummy: Rachel and Miriam will be there already! *usually the ultimate enticement*
Josie: .... *movement! has this done the trick?!*....*reaches out one hand and pulls covers firmly over head*....
Daddy: _until now trying to sleep through all this_ *laughs*
Mummy: Right that's it! *hauls the kid out of bed - kicking and yelling btw - and forces her to get dressed*

She managed to mollify the kid with promises of "flat ham" and "'matoes" in the car but I swear if the kid had had a handy toy - like a barbie or somethin' - she would have beaten her mum sadistically about the face and neck when she hauled her out of the bed.

'Kid likes her sleep.

Doctor-Daddy !

On our way to school this morning Josie suddenly came out with this:

Josie: I love my daddy, but I don't like when he is my doctor-daddy!
Mari: What do you mean honey?
Josie: When he is my daddy… doctor! (Obviously mum is a bit dense this morning..)
Mari: Did you have a dream that Daddy was your doctor and you didn't like it?
Josie: yep..
Mari: Was it a bad dream?
Josie: yes.. I didn't like it..
Mari: What did daddy do that you didn't like?
Josie: He put a nail in me!
Mari: You mean a needle?
Josie: Yes! A needle! And I cried!
Mari: So you had a dream that Daddy was your doctor and he gave you a needle?
Josie: ..and I cried.. Yes…
Mari: Aww ok, well you know it was just a bad dream and Daddy is not a doctor and none of that is true.. Right?
Josie: yes.. But I didn't like it!

LOL..

Busy Busy Weekend !

We had a chocka-block weekend.

Friday night we had Shabbat at Uncle Mat's. We took out the Shabbat box from school and had lots of fun setting it all up and saying the prayers.

Saturday we went and saw Meet The Robinsons with Michelle and Rachel who were back from holidays. Josie and Rachel were very excited to see eachother again. So much so that for the first time in a year or more, Josie did not spend 70% of the movie moaning on Tony's lap that she was scared and wanted to go home. She and Rachel sat side by side, and even moved to the row in front of us.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It has been a while since a really good animated movie came out. It was a great storyline, great cast and writing.

Afterwards Tony and Michelle took the kids to the Playground, where they met Sam and Ben, and the kids all played there for a couple of hours while I went to Woolies and did the grocery shopping.

We had a quiet afternoon. I even had a nap. Then Vika and Becka came over on their way to a Barmitzvah, Becka had just come back from two weeks in Melbourne. Josie was very happy to see Becka and even more excited with the Snow White doll Becka brought her.

About 2am on Sunday morning I woke up with the most massive headache, dare I say, migraine even. It was just shooting, throbbing, stabbing head pain. I took a panadeine forte and that knocked me out till about 730am when Josie woke us, and I had a smaller, dull headache, and I took a Panamax Co (having run out of PF), and then slept till 10am. I was very grateful to Tony who was supposed to sleep in, but got up and let me sleep my headache off. I woke at 10am feeling very weak but got up to get ready to go to Trudy's for lunch.

I had asked mum to make some russian food for lunch, which we picked up on the way, and it was a great hit with everyone.

Another treat for Josie was picking up Rachel on the way to Trudy's. The girls had a ball together all day and played like little angels all day. They kept eachother entertained and were just wonderful.

So now we are home, Josie and Rachel both fell asleep in the car on the way home.

And school starts tomorrow! Woohoo!

Lost In Translation

Mari is translating the russian in the new FPS of Mats.

Tony: ildgy bildgy (ie something in russian)
Mari: No that's not "Come and get what you deserve", that was another one.
Tony: So teach me to say "Come and get what you deserve"?
Mari: I can't, I can't remember what he said...something about...uhh...
Tony: Baby, you don't need to remember what he said...you speak Russian!!! Just TELL me how you would say "Come to me"!!!

Mellifluous Mari

Heard from Mari while watching Mat play a new FPS on his new computer:

Mari: Is that a horse?
Mat: Nooo that's a dog
Mari: Is that acid rain?
Mari: Is that a dog on a treadmill?
Mari: What's that white thing?
Mat: That's a dog
Mari: Why is it white?
Mat: Because it's a mutant dog
Mari: Why are you killing all the dogs?
Mat: Because they're MUTANT dogs!

Magic.

Conversations with Josie

I rang mums mobile to talk to Josie to try and convince her to stay at Granny's or Babas overnite since Mummy is sick.

Josie: Daddy? Are you coming to pick me up tonight?
Daddy: Yes but Mummy is sick so if you wake up during the night you wont be able to come in bed with us.....
Josie: Daddy, I have a lipstick here but you're gonna have to wait until I finish putting my bandaids on. Alright? Just wait.
Daddy: ok....
Josie: I'm putting bandaids on...my sores...
Daddy: ok...

A Chip Off The Old Block

It's Sunday, and I'm cooking dinner tonight for my mate Karsoe. It was his birthday the day before but I was booked out and couldn't attend any festivities. Sounds like he drank my share of alcohol anyway.

After working out what I was going to cook, I vegged most of the day - playing a few new PC games I'd bought recently, now that my newly upgraded beast of a PC was completed. Ant and Josie came round at about 4pm, and I needed to go buy ingredients. First I needed a shower. Hadn't had one yet that day.

So I'm showering and Miss Josie decides she needs to go to the toilet. No problem in our flat, the toilet cubicle is separate to the rest of the bathroom. But it does share a wall, that only comes up so far and then there's a two foot gap to the ceiling.

Josie, being as bodily functions obsessed as her parents, began the following conversation:
Josie: Uncle Mat!
Mat (in the shower): Yes Josie?
Josie: I'm pooing!
Mat: Oooo-kay .... is it a small poo?
Josie: ... *grunt* .. NO! ....
Mat: I see ..


Someone needs to explain to her the concept of Too Much Information. *grin* At least she was back to normal and wasn't exploding, that gap in the wall carries more than sound.

And then they were three....

warning
This post is not for the faint of heart.
If details about the effects of a gastro virus are too much for you read no further.
END warning

Mari has joined the ranks of The Fabulous Exploding Hills!(tm).

Let's just say Mat shouldn't take it as a critique of his cooking that the stroganoff was returned to sender after a couple of hours. She's fairing better than Josie or I so far though in that, after the main deluge out the front she has mainly had stomach cramps and firehose action from out the rear. Josie and I were stuck repetitiously throwing up stomach acid for about..well me for about 8 hours and josie for about 3/4 of a day but less often than me.

Luckily we knew what was coming when she started to feel nauseous around 11:30PM and she took Maxalon immediately. And she didn't start to erupt like Vesuvius on a bad day until 2:00AM. So it looks like she is going to come out of it better off for the experience of those who went before.

Update The First (7am)

After about 3 hours sleep, I cannot sleep no more. Still very queasy, and muchos weak, but thankfully not throwing up anymore. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. It was horrific!

So after going through Tony's post with the spell checker (Achem ANTONY!) a special note to my mum: You wanted something interesting to happen to update the blog with.. here you go ;-) Please don't ring, I am going to try and get some more sleep. I will give you a call when I can. Tony is going to stay home with me till I am feeling a bit better.

Josie's Performance At Uncle Mat's Wedding

Click To Play

Centre stage (well behind Daddy) at Uncle Mat and Auntie Wendy's Wedding.

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Another great performance from Josie at the wedding.. Aveynu Shalom Malechem..

Josie The Guitar Hero Sings Do Wah Diddy

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At Uncle Mat's place playing with the SingStar PS2 Game.

Click To Play

Rock On !

Shots and Cockapus'

After two nights at Baba's we picked Josie up this morning. Dyeda had been fishing this morning so when I came upstairs to get her (Tony waited in the car) she very proudly showed me how Dyeda had caught lots of fish including a catfish and an octopus!

Josie: Look mummy, Dyeda caught lots of fish!
Mummy: Wow!
Josie: Daddy sometimes has to throw fish back...
Mummy: That's cause Daddy sometimes catches small fish.

And then in the car on our way to see Doctor Robert afterwards..

Mummy: Josie, tell Daddy about what Dyeda showed you..
Josie: Daddy, Dyeda caught lots of fish...
Mummy: And what else?
Josie: A... an.. a.. cocka.. uhhm... no...I made a mistake... an octopus!
Mummy spends a few minutes laughing hysterically.
Josie: What??? Why are you laughing Mummy? I was wrong!
Mummy spends another few minutes laughing.

We had a quick appt with the Dr. He checked Tony over, who was feeling better, and then gave Josie her 4YO shots in the arm. Josie was a real trouper, didn't cry at all.

We spent the rest of the day lazing around, playing with the PS2, having naps (well me and Tony) and watching Superman Returns.

A very lazy day.

Sickness Sickness Everywhere

UGH!!!

Just when we got Josie all well, Tony gets sick! Seems like the same thing as Josie had. He started shooting out both ends (TMI?!) round 3am this morning. Needless to say I am a little tired, and he's.. well.. asleep.. he went to the Dr and had a shot of Maxalon this morning.

So Josie was at Baba's last night and she doesn't like to be away from home two nights in a row so I knew we were gonna have trouble convincing her to stay another night. Tony is most likely contagious at the moment so we don't want her getting sick again.

I spoke to her on the phone from work and asked her if she would like to stay at baba's again and she of course said no, so I didn't want to get into it at work so I told her I would come pick her up after work. I was going to have a chat with her once I got there and see if I could convince her to sleep there if I stayed to put her to bed.

After work I got in the car and decided to give it another go. I had a nice long chat with her and explained how daddy was sick, like she was, and throwing up all the time and that daddy and I were scared that she would catch it again and get sick and start throwing up again. She still didn't want to until I mentioned how she wouldnt be able to come in bed with us if she wakes up in the middle of the night. She tried to tell me "but if I wake up I will want to go to the lounge room!", which I replied that if it was still dark, she wouldnt be going into the lounge room, she would have to go back to sleep in her own room. She didn't like this, and after a long explanation form me, she said "Allllright!" and immediately handed the phone back to Baba.

I was so incredibly proud of her. Her ability to reason and respond logically, she's growing up! I went and got her a little present for being so cooperative.

So now I am home, Tony is in bed asleep and I am watching TV and blogging. Tomorrow we have an appt with the Dr, for Tony and also for Josie to get her 4year old shots finally. We have been putting it off for too long.

And Then It All Went Pear Shaped..

We had a jam packed bumper long weekend!

Firstly on Friday I got up with Missy Pants and Mr Tony got to sleep till midday! Then we all went and picked up Baba and went to Vika's place to celebrate Jayden's birthday and Pesach.

Had a magnificant lunch, everything was soooo good! Then we brought out the PS2 and played Singstar. We had a fantastic time all singing along to different songs, especially Josie was had Do Wah Diddy down pat! Josie fell asleep absolutely knackered on the way to drop Baba back home.

And the next morning we all woke up at 900am! Which was not good since we had to meet Vika, Becka, Anna and Jayden for a movie and lunch! We managed to get there only about 15 mins late! We saw Happily Never After, which while it was great for the kids.. well it was boring as bat poo for the adults. Then we went and had lunch and played in the playground for a while. After that we went to Borders where I bought a bunch of books and after a brief stop at Uncle Mat's for dinner, where Daddy's cousins Marty and Bradley were visiting, we came home. Josie had lots fo fun with her Uncles Marty and Bradley!

On Sunday was Daddy's birthday so I got up and took Josie shopping where it didn't actually occur to me that it was Easter Sunday and nothing would be open! We got to the shopping centre to find that nothing was open of course so we got back in the car and went to a playground near home. Josie had lots of fun playing on all the equipment, and then around 1030am we went home to wake up daddy, give him his presents and get ready to go out to lunch with Trudy & family.

Josie gave daddy Seasons 5 & 6 of Northern Exposure and two tshirts from The Lascivious Biddies. Daddy is a big fan of the Biddies.

So we got daddy out of bed, got ready and went off to have lunch at a lovely Chinese place.

Lunch was yummy and afterwards Jacqui took Josie down to the nearby playground where Josie played on the jumping castles for a while.

Once I got there it started really raining hard and Jacqui and Phillip and I huddled under a small cover while Josie was safely in the jumping castle, until of course she decided she wanted to come and wait with us, at which point she, and Jacqui who went to get her, got absolutely drenched.
After changing her we went to Uncle Mat's place when we played the new Guitar Star (?) game that daddy got from Uncle Mat for his birthday. Its basically like Singstar except you have a guitar and you have to follow notes on the screen. Damn hard if you ask me but Tony loved it.

So afterwards we and Jacqui and Philip went back to our place to play some board games.. we played Name That Tune till very late and then Tony took Jacqui and Philip home.

And here is where it starts to go pear shaped..

He got back pretty quick and we were just getting ready for bed when Josie woke up crying. Tony went to her, and took her to the toilet, just in time for her to throw up all her veges on the floor (she was standing between the toilet and the bath and for some reason daddy did not have the presence of mind to turn her to one of the two!). After putting her in the bath while I cleaned up the floor, we took her into our bed. By the time we got in bed it was about 330am. Between then and about 930am when we all woke up, she threw up about 4 times, and we changed the sheets about 4 times. We were on our last sheet!

She was not a happy chappy today. She can't keep anything down. Even water has to be doled out little by little. She has been having the hydrolyte solution 2.5ml at a time and throwing up every few hours. She is exhausted and very lethargic and wanting water and food but we cant give her anything to eat and not much water because she keeps throwing it up. My poor bubby. She had a 2 hour sleep in the evening and its now 1030pm and she has just fallen asleep again.

Tony is going to stay home with her tomorrow. Hopefully she will be able to keep liquids down then.

Update: April 10th

I stayed home from work today cause Tony wasn't feeling well either and was up every couple of hours overnight. Josie didn't throw up overnight but she did wake up every couple of hours for a drink of water. Tony gave her bits at a time and she woke up at around 630am and I got up with her. She threw up one more time around 730am and then nothing for the rest of the day. I limited the water because she threw up about 5 minutes after having some water, so we were giving her about 4ml of hydrolite and a few sips of water every 30 minutes or so. Eventually she perked up and there was no sore tummy and no throwing up so we gave her some toast and more water and by the time she went to bed, she was much better. Probably just a 24 hour stomach bug thing.

Sunday Outing

We decided to have an outing today so this morning, after a quick trip to Granny's to fix clothes lines and printers we were off to Darling Harbour. It was a bit of an expensive outing but it was fun.

First we went to Star city for lunch, which we really should have just gone to Cockle Bay Wharf.

Then we parked in the Convention Centre and walked round to the Sydney Aquarium. That was a whole lot of fun, Josie has been before but not in a couple of years so the experience was all new to her and she enjoyed it a lot more this time.

We walked all around and Josie really loved the Seals and Sharks and kept going back to pat the star fish.

We stayed there a few hours and then walked back around, stopping briefly at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe. We couldn't walk out without buying some chocolate of course.

Then we popped into iMax and saw Deep Sea 3D. As per usual Josie was quite afraid the first 15 minutes or so, especially since the two trailers they showed were about Lions and Sea Monsters! After a while she did enjoy it but she wouldn't put the glasses on. Probably a good thing. I really enjoyed it though.

After that it was about 6pm and getting quite dark so we walked back to the car and came back home.

All in all it was a good afternoon out!

I have uploaded some photos to Flickr, check out the link on the right..