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Happy Easter
We had a low-key Easter this year. Well, most years are pretty low key. The night before, Lego Lover colored eggs. He is still staunchly loyal to this ritual. This year he was the only one who did the coloring but most years both the Scientist and I do one or two also. Then there is the egg hunt where Lego Lover searches the house for eggs. We used to do this outside before dogs but he refuses to do it outside now. I was terrible at hiding eggs this time and he found all six of mine easily. It took a bit longer to find those hidden by the Scientist.
The Scientist made this cake for us to eat after dinner. It was really yummy and was just finished off yesterday. All that was left were some of the chocolates from on top and nobody else wanted them. So I’d been eating a few at a time. Yesterday I just wanted it done so finished it and consequently ate too many chocolates. :)
Yummy! I had intended on going to Whiteman Park for exercise but the trails were all closed due to extreme heat so I opted to do my usual bike ride. We had record heat that day but it cooled right off on Monday and I did go to Whiteman Park that day.
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Happy New Year!
It’s a brand new year with all sorts of possibility. We had a quiet new year celebration watching tv and drinking sparkling grape juice. Even the neighborhood was pretty quiet compared to usual. Most of the noise happened hours earlier so I suggested all the noisy things were used up too early. I’m working on a few posts covering the past nine days and hopefully will have those finished soon before I forget things. We’ll have a low-key new year’s day aside from a trip to the airport this afternoon to meet my father-in-law who is returning from Sri Lanka after several months.
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Christmas cheer
The day started with the boys impatiently waiting for me to wake up. Both had barely slept during the night and had been waiting for hours for the day to begin. The Scientist already wakes pretty early so I was the lone sleeper for several hours. I finally dragged myself out of bed and the boys opened their gifts. I think both were quite satisfied with their gifts, even the couple of items that hadn’t been on their lists. Lego Lover doesn’t seem to mind alternative gifts too much but Game Fanatic isn’t too keen on surprises. Both also seem to like the now traditional pair of boring underwear that appears in their stockings each year as a bit of a joke.
The Scientist and I had the traditional Christmas breakfast to attend so we left the boys and made our way there. We didn’t stay particularly long at the breakfast, just long enough to eat a bit and chatter with people we rarely see. It’s much nicer now that Game Fanatic is older and we can leave the boys at home. They hated going and it was a stressful experience for all when they were there. Still we don’t like to be away for too long on Christmas.
The remainder of the morning and early afternoon were spent relaxing for the most part. I was still quite tired so got in a short nap just before noon. It was that sort of tiredness that would have really dragged me down and the sleep was just enough to keep me alert the rest of the day. In the afternoon I started baking the chickpea patties and, with the Scientist, did some last minute preparations before our visitors were due at around 6-ish.
The Scientist’s older brother and family arrived pretty soon after 6pm and the kids opened their presents soon afterwards while the adults chattered. His mum and other brother arrived a while later and the present opening continued. I believe all were quite happy with their gifts. Lego Lover did quite well through all, especially considering he’d had only four or five hours of sleep.
We then moved outside for dinner. The Scientist had cut two of the small pre-cooked hams and the turkey beforehand. In hindsight, it would have been better to just slice one of the hams because it didn’t go over that well. It was far too salty in the end. My MIL also brought a turkey, not realising we’d gotten one so there was more than enough to go around. She’d also brought several packets of rice and curry called lamprai, which is a Sri Lankan burgher specialty. There were also a few salads along with the chickpea patties. I made the mistake of making a small number of the patties without the chillies I used in the rest, just in the event some of the chilli sensitive family would try one. I forgot to specify this and my MIL ended up eating from that plate and none of the chilli-sensitive family gave it a second glance.
For dessert we had gingerbread cookies that had been made by the Scientist and Lego Lover on Christmas eve. These seemed to be a big hit, especially with our dairy and soy allergic niece. We also had a cake for my brother-in-law’s birthday which is on Christmas. I think that went over quite well. Darkness soon began to fall and the colorful solar lights on the arch and one of the trees came on, along with some regular solar lights that are spread out through the backyard. The Scientist brought out the telescope and did a mini-viewing, which proved rather popular with the cousins. Lego Lover had by this time run out of steam and was mostly staying in the background. He didn’t eat any of the food aside from several banana muffins I’d made to use up some ripe bananas and the cake.
By 8:30, everyone had gone and we were left to relax for the remainder of the night.
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Not Too Bored of Board Games
It’s been a couple years since Game Fanatic started playing Dungeons and Dragons and it’s pretty amazing he is still playing. He tends to get bored of just about everything after some time. It’s not so much that he’s still enjoying it but it is his one social outlet during the week. He has lost interest in the game and started looking for some alternatives. Through his favorite website, he found recommendations for a couple games and was very keen to get at least one or the other. The game he really wanted is called Small World and is apparently sort of like Risk, but different. Game Fanatic checked the website of the best games shop in the area and discovered it cost $100. On the same website was advertised Arkham Horror, a game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthullu Mythos, which also interested him. That was listed for half the price so he was leaning towards that one due to lower cost.
We went into Perth to the shop, discovered Small World had sold out, then looked at Arkham Horror, which showed a price of $110, considerably higher than what he’d seen online. I hadn’t seen the website so decided not to pursue it at that point in case Game Fanatic had misunderstood what was listed online. After browsing the hundreds of board games, we left it for that day. When we returned home I confirmed that Game Fanatic had been correct about the price discrepancy. The following week we happened to be near Perth again, so we stopped at the shop again. We’d been told Small World would be in that week (on the previous visit) but apparently it had sold out quite quickly again. I queried someone in charge about the price discrepancy on Arkham Horror. The guy checked the website and said that the picture and price were correct but it supposed to be for an expansion pack rather than the original and the wrong text had been listed. I suggested they might want to fix that error and left it at that.
Game Fanatic had done research on more games during the week so we browsed several other games of interest. But I felt he really would only have been satisfied with the Arkham Horror so we got that despite the much higher price. When I went up to pay, the shop person gave us a generous discount of $30, which was much appreciated. So it worked out quite nicely for us on that one.
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Holiday, part 2
To continue the story of our holiday…Wednesday was a fairly wet and chilly day but we made the best of it. Our journey took us into Denmark, about fifteen minutes away from our cottage. Our first stop there was the visitor centre, which seems quite big for such a small town. It also houses a collection of barometers, including the largest in the world. One of the volunteers provided a map with some local attractions. We chose to visit just a few attractions due to the rain and the limited walking we could do with Game Fanatic’s sore foot.
We spent most of our time in the town centre and visited a few shops. I went into a craft shop that also sold ice cream, a rather bizaar combination. They had a lot of really nice yarns there but I opted not to buy anything since I’ve still got projects to complete. Lego Lover was hungry, of course, so the Scientist and Game Fanatic took him down to the the award-winning bakery for a sausage roll. It was much bigger than what he usually gets and he really liked it. With his lunch taken care of, the rest of us ate lunch at the Fig Tree Cafe. I had a veggie patty on a roll with chips (thick french fries). The rolls was huge, with a thin patty, lots of salad and sauce. It was very messy, but it was good. After we had lunch, Lego Lover was taken to the craft shop to buy an ice cream and they even had his favorite, cookies and cream. It should also be noted that all of us got something to eat at the bakery during our brief time there. The Scientist bought a vanilla slice when he got the sausage roll. I bought a hedgehog slice for dessert (best I’ve tasted and I’m not that keen on them). Then just as we were leaving, we got Game Fanatic a curry pie, which he said was very nice.
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Holiday, part one (long)
So we left on Monday for the six hour drive down to Cape Howe Cottages where we were staying at the Snug. It was cold and rainy as we left the city, with forecasts for the same over the week. The drive down was mostly uneventful, aside from a bit of a mechanical scare with the car where it was refusing to change certain gears just as we were leaving the city. It was okay after awhile and all was fine the rest of the journey. We stopped for lunch in Kojonup, a small town about two hours aways from our destination. Lego Lover refused to eat there or even to stay inside so waited in the car while we ate. He ate some of the snacks in the car instead and I guess was just fine with that.
We arrived at the cottage around 3pm, I think. It was late afternoon and the owner happened to come out to the gate just as we arrived, which was very timely. The rains had stopped at this point so we were able to take all our belongings inside in our own time. The kids were over the moon to be there and Lego Lover quickly unpacked his little bag and put everything in its place. He and Game Fanatic settled in quite quickly to just hanging out.
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Vacation
We went away on a holiday this week and I’m still catching up from my internet withdrawal. We had a great time and I will post more this weekend when my brain is working more effectively. Of greater importance to me at the moment is why so many of the l’s and i’s appear to be green rather than black right now. Perhaps my eyes are playing tricks and I should just go to sleep.
Also of interest to me is why Livejournal have yet to update the url of the syndicate I created for this blog, even though I requested it to be updated over a week ago. I discovered more recent requests that have already been answered…curious.
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Upcoming holiday
I think I may well bypass the full cold that has been passing through the family. I had all the signs of getting one, right down to the scratchy throat, tiredness and the achiness that sometimes accompanies a cold. But it doesn’t seem to be going any further than that. I hope it’s not saving itself for the week after next when we are leaving for a three-day holiday down south (between Albany and Denmark).
I think we are just about set for our departure. I have gotten the cat vaccinated and organised boarding with the vet service. Our weekly paper delivery will be delayed until we return because there is nobody to take it over. The supervisor was going to just cancel the order for our area as he does for others on holiday but we decided that we’d deliver them after our return rather than have some of the residents miss out.
I’m going to have the boys plan out our travel route next week and see how they do. I suspect the Scientist and I will have to help out a bit but I think they should be able to plan most of it.
It’s kind of funny to think that our planned trip to Sri Lanka for two weeks in February was cancelled and this is the replacement. It’s not quite the same but it will be nice to just be away from home for a short time.
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Timing
Amazing…Just as I was making a long distance phone call this morning, a really loud and ugly noise from outside started. It had been quite peaceful before then. I think it’s a truck with a large mulching device although I cannot see it well enough to be certain. It certainly sounds like a shredder of some sort.
I was on the telephone to make a booking for a short holiday at the end of July. We had had plans to visit Sri Lanka in combination with work-related business of the scientist back in February. The escalated violence, especially around Colombo, put at least a temporary halt to those plans. Instead, we are travelling to the southwest coast of Western Australia to stay in The Snug, which is located about halfway between Denmark and Albany, for three nights. Sadly, this is only our second visit down south. Our last trip, to Busselton, was nine years ago when Lego lover was only eight months old. Come to think of it, we did visit Bunbury last year as a port of call while on a short cruise. So I suppose that should count as our second visit. The ship was supposed to make a port of call in Albany, too, but bad seas prevented travel that far and the visit was cancelled. To amend the above, this will be our third visit down south.
As it turns out, I was partially correct about the shredder device. There were actually two trucks, one with a shredder and one with a cherry picker. The noisy background sounds were provided by both the shredder and a chainsaw. Both have gone now and peace has returned to the neighborhood.