What's Up Buttercup?

Date: December 15th--Still in My Archives, coming to you "AS IS".

Hi Ya'll. So this is a bit of a blast from the December that just past! We were on "holidays" at home and this post tells you a bit of what we were up to during those days The Man had off work.

I was off from blogging on holiday with The Man and Kids. I missed blogging, but the time and the isolation of where our dead battery laptop is stationed made it tough to get on and do it. Not sure how much clarity I would have had. I've just been exhausted and perhaps we will cough up the hundred bucks and get a new battery here soon.

We stuck close to home for the holidays because it seemed overwhelming to relocate for even a weekend, when it now seems we are squatting here at the Greenwich home. I also did not want to add any stress to Muffin, though I do believe a large part of her behavior of late is tiredness. Recently, we seem back on track and it has been refreshing to have the happy ladybug back! Except for last night when I was on my own when The Man went to check out hockey again. This time his team was playing, but all his gear is still on a ship somewhere here in Australia probably setting off the doggy sniffers with the eau de hockey stench. All three of us got bathed, baby went to bed. Started on the girl and baby woke up and storms from hell poured and cracked above us, with the noise magnified by the lack of air conditioning and need for open doors .It ended up being a late night. But made for an early one tonight with no real meltdown period. Alleluia.

Besides our visits with the Aussie bossies we:

drove to Manly Beach one day and checked it out. We were going to go to OceanWorld Manly (we have a season pass that includes this location as well as The Eye, and the Aquarium and WildLife place in Darling Harbor) there but both kids were napping and we decided to keep the peace and keep driving...It is quite the happening strip of beach with a sidewalk like board walk and then shops and restaurants across the street. There are parking restrictions though. Do many people go to the beach for just two hours? Also, is this why you see Surfer Dudes walking around with their surfboards in the city? Seems so strange, but the beaches are so close and are reachable by public transport which is nice, but hard to bend my mind around with two kids. I am a beach going snob. I like it for a little while with ease of use. Meaning, I want to be able to get kids cleaned up and comfortable before getting in a car, bus, etc. I am not good at doing public clean up of my kids and find the whole hubbaloo stressful. Icky sticky sunbabies! I haven't quite figured out why people think the beach is such a great vacation place for when you have babies. Please share your tips and secrets with me in the comments section below. Please do not advise on consuming large volumes of alcohol. I already got that part understood. Thank you.

We went back to the cheap yummy wines source, Cogno Brothers Winery in Cobbity and stocked up on some vino. We planned to include a trip to an Aboriginal Museum that day as well, but they were closed, so we discovered The Museum of Fire and played in the Children's section for a while. Basically, there was a bunch of fire trucks in the museum. (My dad would probably have liked it a bit).

We went to the Australian Reptile Park where we pet koalas and kanga's!

We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 3. I don't think the Muffin even really liked it. But she loved dancing to all the credits.Save your money for the video release. Ughhh!  Let me tell you about this Aussie movie theater in a local mall, the same mall that has those cool family bathrooms I told you about, or toilets, as they say here in Oz. We call it the Ikea Mall, but of course that is not what it is really called. They have a soundproof crying room with a changing table in the theater. They have Gold Level Seats with what appeared to be reclining seats that are open for later movies where you get served like club level seating at a Washington Caps hockey game or something! The regular seats were even quite comfy. Not sure if we got the matinee price or if they do that but here is an idea of what we paid to sit through this thing...Adult ticket was $17.50 and three year old was $13/ Huckleberry- free.

While there I ran into Target to get some sun hats for Muffin. She has to have one for school because no hat, no outdoor play. It's the Aussie way. Nicely, they put the sunscreen on the kids 20 minutes before going outside. She also had to have a "jumper" for Preschool which is a jacket for the cool days. (Baby boy needs hats,too. One or two fit still but the dinosaur favorite is really too small. I'll get him next trip). As an aside, Target kids stuff is not as nice as US stuff. Lots of character clothes and some cute things but just don't seem as well made (I know, Mother, you hate Target stuff, but in US Target stuff really is cute and affordable, especially for kids!)

Muffin and her daddy took a plunge in our pool for the first time. I stayed in with the sleeping baby. The idea of a pool is kind of cool, but not too practical for me at home alone with two babies.

We took it easy and when we ventured out it was usually after a slow morning that afforded Huckleberry his morning nap in his own crib, the way he likes it.

We hit the Costco on the way home from somewhere one day. It wasn't bad. Immediately saw two parking spots and took one. I have never see so  many people at the seafood counter. We got some stuff, then got dinner. Took a pizza home and Muffin had a hotdog and reminisced abut her hotdog lunch with her Mack grandparents at Costco Midlothian, VA. .So we will have to hit it again sometime, but no rush. Nice to see some familiar brands, but we don't have tons of room to buy bulk stuff in our Sydney suburb house. Some of the items we bought that I can remember are:

• beer
• Colgate toothpaste
• some shampoo
• Qtips because I go through them like a nutcase.
• Kirkland baby wipes (Yippee! Got the last two boxes on the shelf)
• that's all  I can remember!

It was interesting to see what other people had in their carts once we were leaving. Next time, we shall go with a list.

 We went back to Il Bolognese Restaurant near the tacky lights tour. I had read they have a BYOB policy but had forgotten. It seems all of the other diners were toting their hooch with them. It was Sat. night and we were there with a bunch of older people and it was just relaxing and GOOD! I think we might have scored a Sat. night spot. Maybe we can be adopted by some grandparents. Just saying.

We went to see the Fleet Foxes ( a Seattle, WA band) at the Sydney Opera House and made reservations at a neighboring restaurant called ARIA, check it out online. You won't believe the view we had, especially as we just made our reservation the day of. Once I get it figured out I'll add them. We had prime seating and view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. It was the best meal we have had by far and it was simply wonderful not to be feeding our little ones mouths first for an evening as they were left in the hands of a sitter. Also, having the sommelier (love that word and what a life, great job!) pair wines with our meal. The only down side of the night: too tired and old to want to stay out till 11 which is the time we requested for our babysitter and little girl was still awake at 10:30 when we came home. If we had a couch here, she would have fallen asleep sooner, I am guessing. But we had no expectations of anyone getting her to sleep but her crashing from sheer exhaustion. By the way, the sitters name was Phoebe. I adore that name. <3 Maybe my next poodle, if its a girl as there will be no more children from this little factory.

If  I am missing anything, it must not have been much, huh?

Missing you all and missing the days of being able to see our family over the holidays as our entire family lives 10 minutes or less apart from each other, so once there, (two and a half hours away from our Richmond, VA home), it's easy sort of, easier if they come see us:)

As Muffin says, "Take two planes and one train. That's all you have to do." We'll leave the light on for yah;)