Cardiff Capers

Another busy week has flown by. I have one more week before my maternity leave starts.. not that I'm counting (5 work days!). ;-)

We've just finished our third and final antenatal class. It was a good one - lots of practical and useful tips for after the little one arrives. It's all becoming a bit more real now.. Here's the latest bumpdate, taken today:

Definitely feeling huge and with four weeks to the estimated due date I've got all the little niggles to deal with.. including feet like this:

Not the most pleasant pregnancy side-effect but at least it doesn't hurt. Photo was taken Friday night and Saturday morning (after sleeping with my feet on pillows) - I don't even think that Friday was a particularly strenuous day! 

Yesterday I washed more baby clothes. We've been doing some with each light wash (the only light stuff we have are B's shirts, so it's helped to make a full load).

Work-wise, this last week has been very busy for both of us. I headed to Aberystwyth with a team on Monday, Tuesday we ran workshops for 40 students and 8 teachers before driving back to Cardiff in the evening, Del flew down from Bangor on Wednesday morning so we could go over some handover (my maternity cover starts the Monday after I finish) and we headed to Swansea to run an evening training session, Thursday morning I was at an event in Treforest (only half an hour away), and I started sorting out my office on Friday. *phew*

Bruce was just as busy, running workshops in a Cardiff school on Monday, had a probation meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday had a sleepover group to entertain on the flight simulator, Thursday he had two science shows and workshops (and really disorganised staff/helpers), and a group of older students visited for a tour and workshop on Friday! *phew again*

Tomorrow, Prince Charles is visiting B's work, so there's all kinds of crazy security that he'll have to negotiate. But he has been invited to a gala, orchestra, choir thing (and will need to wear a suit and tie). Fancy!

More next week.

Your turn!

Glamping in Glastonbury, a weekend in Wednesbury, and Chemistry with the Cubs

Hi all,

The last three weeks have simply disappeared! So here's all three bumpdates at once.

Glamping in Glastonbury

In Mid-May B & I decided to try to fit in a babymoon - a short holiday before bub arrives and changes everything. We started looking, with a few caveats - it could only be a weekend (B doesn't have much leave left for the year and we want to save that for after the little tyke arrives), somewhere close-ish (long car trips weren't that comfy for me), and obviously, not too expensive. And as the title suggests, we ended up glamping in Glastonbury.

We stayed in an ePod on the edge of a field - a little wooden building with a fridge, toaster and kettle. There was a Weber BBQ outside for cooking, and a private bathroom & toilet a short walk away. It was really relaxing to have a couple of nights semi-camping - food cooked on the fire, surrounded by greenery, listening to relaxing birdsong.. with the luxury of a real bed, blackout blinds, and access to a heated swimming pool! Divine! 

Saturday was our day for exploring (we arrived Friday and had to drive back Sunday). We started with a hike across fields to the Glastonbury Tor - apparently one of the most spiritual sites in the England. What a good place for a bumpdate:

From there we walked into town, past the Chalice Well (another spiritual site, but too expensive to look through a garden). Glastonbury is a strange town.. loads of hippy-type shops but with prices that seem above average. Bruce called them rippies (rip-off hippy shops, or shops for rich hippies). :-) After a tasty and random lunch (cream tea, chips & cheese ploughman's - all shared) we walked back out to the camp and had a swim. *phew* we certainly earnt our smores that night! For those who don't know, smores is a North American treat, we made ours by making a sandwich with chocolate digestives and marshmallows and heating it on the BBQ. :-)

All in all, it was a lovely relaxing weekend!
Some more photos here

Weekend in Wednesbury

Last weekend was British Father's Day, so Friday night we headed up to Wednesbury. We went shopping in Willenhall on Saturday, and visited Grandad on Sunday before going for a short walk around the Swan Pool.

And here is last week's bumpdate..

Chemistry with the Cubs

We've had a busy weekend this weekend! Yesterday Bruce had to keep 21 Cubs and 5 leaders occupied from 1pm-4pm. He hadn't been able to find any helpers, so I went along.

We ran three different activities - solar windmills, hydrogels (disposable nappies), and red cabbage chemistry. The first activity was engineering, the next two were chemistry (although hydrogels are a smart material and so they also fit under the materials engineering banner).

It was a super-busy day - we spent the morning collecting everything for the workshop and then the afternoon running everything (and cleaning up). As a treat, we stopped at Wagamama for dinner on the way home (mm, ramen). We ended up being out of the house for more than 12 hours, and my ankles certainly showed it (where did they go?!).

On the up side, we had some lovely weather at Swansea Bay Campus, so this week's bumpdate is from there:

Today we had our first antenatal class, it ran from 10am until 4pm. We were asked to bring along sharing food for lunch.. but apparently it isn't something that the British do. We took a tasty salad (mango, strawberries, bacon, chicken pieces, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and a yellow pepper - using veggie "meat" of course).. and we'll probably be eating it for the rest of the week! Other contributions included crisps; crackers and hommous; shop bought flapjacks and slices; grapes and watermelon; and cold pizza. O well.

We now have some idea what to expect next month (! Time flies!!).  We've got the second (and final) class next week. It's quite an intensive course but we couldn't fit in any of the "slower" classes (that run a couple of hours each week for 5 weeks) because either B or I were away for one of the sessions! We're lucky to have found any course that we could get to!

I've got two busy weeks before I start my maternity leave - I'm off to Aberystwyth tomorrow, back Tuesday.. then with training sessions in Swansea, ChemNet events in Treforrest and an open day, I'm already looking forward to sleeping all day Saturday! Bruce also has a busy June.. but he's promised me that he has no events booked in from mid-July - in case bump decides to arrive early. :-)

Everything is going fine with bump.. lots of moving and kicking (often when I want to sleep). We still don't feel ready, but we did get a pile of baby clothes from one of my friends (she got them in the grand tradition of hand-me-downs). Once I'm on leave I'll wash everything and get the Moses basket set up and all of that kind of thing. It's really weird to think that the due date is only four weeks away!

Apologies for another mammoth post. I'll keep the next update shorter. :-)

Gordon St Gossip

A week and a bit ago I managed to come off my bike. I was riding on the road and tried to ride up onto the footpath only to discover the gap between the two which I thought was manageable was actually quite wide. The bike went into the gap, and I continued with great force into the footpath.  I was a bit battered and bruised, and indeed my left shoulder is still recovering (I'll be sleeping on my right side for a while yet I suspect)

It's messed me about, but I've continued with my passion project - building a complete set of 16th century Japanese armour. I started it as a way to improve my non-existent handyman skills, although about 800 holes later I'm possibly only improving my skills with a drill. To buy a set of armour costs around $1000 though, so slow though my progress is at least, using the scrap metal I found around the shed, it's pretty cheap.

Apart from that I've been working. One animation job has turned into 4, but hopefully once they're finished I can have a bit of a break. I did find the first one I completed up on YouTube, so if you feel the need you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SNAxpQR1fc

Cheryl has finally caught the cold that's worked it's way through the household. It doesn't mean she gets a break from ferrying the kids from place to place, it just means she feels a bit more miserable while doing so. Hopefully she'll be better soon. Her bro will be arriving back in Bendigo with his family at the end of the month, and possibly Rach as well, so it will be great to catch up with them all again.

Oscar is doing much better at school - I think he's found his group of lunchtime friends, which is good. Right now he's all about the Pokemon card game, and I think they might regularly gather in the library to discuss it. Totally not like I used to do with Magic: The Gathering.

As I mentioned on Facebook chat his swimming skills haven't been advancing like we would hope, but the Swim School have offered him (free!) one-on-one classes to get him past the block. The school is pricey, but they definitely care about their students. He had advanced okay, and then went backwards, so hopefully this will get him back on track.

Lil is doing well with her dancing, swimming and kinder. She's a cheeky little bugger. This morning I gave her a pair of socks, and she said she already had some from the night before. I asked her what she did with the extra pair, and she answered "chucked 'em in the BIN" before running off chortling to herself. With no pants on of course.

That's about it from us for the last couple of weeks.

Cardiff capers

I've had a really relaxed week - long weekend + couple of days leave = one day work week! Score!

Bruce, on the other hand, was back at work on Tuesday and then headed up to the Urdd in north Wales on Wednesday, spent a couple of days taking about engineering, and drove back Friday. Luckily he wasn't by himself - the traffic was horrendous. On the way there, they were hoping to arrive around lunch time and it ended up being closer to 3pm! Coming back was a similar story (he left just after lunch and got back around 8pm). The journey should have taken 4 hours! Poor lad, he was exhausted by the time he got home. 

Here's this week's bumpdate:

This is one of the few maternity tops I bought - I've been making the most of stretchy materials so far :-) and I've been living in the two pair of maternity jeans we bought in Abu Dhabi! Bub is kicking me regularly these days, but usually stops just before Bruce gets to feel. Heheh.. tricky little thing.

We bought more of the small things this week - grow suits & sleep suits, blankets, socks, and a musical Winnie the Pooh (cos everyone needs one of those, right?). Mum, thank you for buying us some reusable cloth wipes and some long-sleeve baby grows (we used the Cashcard - and plan on getting some more things with it too!). There are plenty of things we still need (I think) - but not really sure what... did you guys buy a receiving blanket to bring your little ones home in? 

p.s. if anyone is feeling creative in a sewing way, I'd really like a 'birdie blanket'.. ;-) fleece on one side, flannelette on the other (wasn't it Mum, Lis?) We had those things for AGES! And if anyone wants to make one, Mum can bring it over when she visits. :-) Right?

Love to all.

Cardiff Capers

Firstly, a bumpdate (taken just now).

This week I've had the joy of swollen ankles at the end of the day (where did my ankle bones go?! 😱). Bump is getting biggest and heavier - I sound like an bear when I roll over in bed or get up off the couch.. and there's still two months to go!

Work is still busy - I worked the last two weekends. The first was a conference in Fareham (3 hour drive). The conference was at a spa hotel and I made the most of it. :-)  I arrived on the Friday evening, just in time for dinner and drinks (non-alcoholic ones for me). Saturday morning we were all woken abruptly by the fire alarm - imagine a constant loud blaring at about 6:45am! Not a good way to wake up. But since I was up so early, I went for a swim (ooh, weightless bump!) and booked in for a massage. Got to make the most of the venue! ;-) After my massage, I set up and delivered my two workshops and, after packing up, that was my official work done. Although I did go to some of the conference talks because they sounded interesting (and were). Saturday evening was the fancy-dress disco - the theme was The Letter T. Can you guess what I went as? (note: that's non-alcoholic champagne, Mum, and a roll of cardboard as my 'ciggy').

The conference finished on Sunday - I spent the first session getting a pedicure (I struggle to reach my toes now.. and if I look straight down, I can't even see them!), and listened to a couple of talks before driving back to Cardiff. *phew*

Last weekend I headed up to Newcastle for another conference (flew there in an hour, got the train back and it took about 5 hours!). This was the RSC Outreach conference and all I had to do was take part and to help facilitate a table discussion or two. Easy. The conference dinner was in the Centre for Life (a science centre) and we got to play with the exhibits. Good fun! 

Centre for Life, Newcastle

Playing with perspective

Music creator

I also managed to find some time before the conference for a look around Newcastle - the Castle Keep was interesting and had some great views from the top (loads of stairs tho! And I didn't even have my fitbit!).

Views from the top of the Castle Keep

I'm glad that it's finally the weekend and I don't have to work! And it's a long weekend at that. Yay! We might go to the movies sometime but otherwise I'm enjoying not having to do anything! 

Lisa, you and your family haven't guessed bub's birth date etc. Neither have you Damien - have a go (there'll be a prize.. of some sort):   http://bit.ly/mini-family  

Hopefully we'll catch up with you all online soon.

Cardiff capers

I've been at home for the last week. I'd like to say that I've been relaxing and making the most of my leave, but I've spent most of it trying to find the balance between mobility and pain management. It was nothing serious - I seized my neck up putting out the recycling last Sunday. So foolish! So painful! 

Needless to say, Bruce has to deal with all of the rubbish from now on. And I'm much more aware of trying to lift things - just because I could lift it before, doesn't mean I should lift it now! Makes me feel like an invalid. :-(

Fortunately, it was much better by the weekend - I still have to be careful turning my head, but at least I CAN turn it now. 

Good to speak to some of you on the weekend. For those who missed the conversation, here's the latest bumpdate:

John and Gwen visited for the long weekend - they helped us move furniture around the flat. I'm happy to say that we now have space for all of the baby stuff we've been accumulating (and even more went to the tip or is ready for the op shop). 

On Saturday we went to see the Radyr and Morgantown Festival. It was very small.. A handful of stalls in the carpark of the church rooms and a tiny "procession" (local kids walking along with their parents, about a quarter of them dressed up in some way.. A handful of Roald Dahl characters and a few with team t-shirts and pom-poms). Fortunately, the local cafe was open (for once) so all we had a cuppa and cake. :-)

I'm back at work Thursday, so I'm planning on having a relaxed day tomorrow. What's your update? 

Where did that month go?!?

Hi family,

It feels like it's been ages since I wrote an update.. and after checking the last few posts, it's been more than a month! How did that happen?! And what have we done with ourselves since then?

The last couple of weekends have seen us in 'Spring Cleaning Mode' - we've taken a car-load to the tip and 5 bin-bags full of stuff to the op-shop. I've packed up half of my wardrobe (all of the things that don't fit me right now but that I want to keep) and Bruce emptied out at least half of the shelves in the store-room and moved around some of the furniture in the lounge. *phew* Clearly, this is all part of the 'get ready for baby' preparations and we know we've got lots still to do.

Speaking of preparations, for those of you who missed the photo on hangouts, here's the bumpdate. This was from last weekend when we were out looking at prams and cot-beds (note: it's still not warm enough for t-shirts yet.. not for longer than a few minutes anyway.) :-) This week I'm having a glucose test (fingers crossed for no gestational diabetes) and I think we're almost sorted for all of the 'big' purchases - car seat, pram & cot-bed. Now it's just all of the 'little' things we need to work out (and I don't even know what they all are!). And I realise that I need to get in-shape - I've got about three months to build up my strength and flexibility. Anyone got any good links/suggestions for programmes/stretches/etc?

Work has been keeping B & I busy, as always. We've both been travelling lately, with more to come over the next month.

Easter was a welcome break - we had a lovely quiet Easter at home and then headed up to Birmingham(ish) for Phil & Sarah's wedding. Phil and B have been mates for years, so B was a Best Man. Here's a pic taken by Gwen - I'm sure you'll agree that Bruce scrubs up pretty well. :-) The wedding was lovely - religious ceremony in a little church followed by reception at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Good food, good company and we stayed at the hotel, so I didn't have to wait for B to be finished before I could go to bed. Yay!

After the wedding we headed even further north for a short-break with Vicki and Stephen. We stayed at a lovely little flat in Gatehouse of Fleet (Southern Scotland) and spent the time exploring castles and abbey ruins, spying on the local wildlife (we saw a seal in a field!), playing games whilst it rained, and enjoying wine, cheese and chocolate! I haven't looked through my "real" photos yet, so here are a few from my phone.

Caerlaverock Castle

Feeding the red kites

Sweetheart Abbey

The coming month is looking like it's as busy as the last - I've got two weekend conferences and at least two trips to North Wales! But we've also got two bank holidays in May (yay!) and I'm planning on taking some leave (not to go anywhere, but to sleep-in and relax a little). Next weekend is May Day and there's a local festival in Radyr and Morganstown - we might even see what that's all about.

What are the rest of you up to?

2016 Seminar and Grading

We got the kids out of bed, into clothes and into the car early Saturday morning and were off to Melbourne for the 2016 Hokushin Victoria annual grading and seminar. What was originally planned as a single day of training turned into a two day fiesta of swordsmanship, but at the end of it I think everyone was exhausted and happy.



Saturday morning Shihan Tao flew in from Adelaide, and classes kicked off with him at 10am. It was a big group, so we split up teaching duties amoungst a few of us - I was looking after a couple of kids from Karate who had wanted to try it out. We broke for lunch (a fundraising BBQ organised by Melbourne) and then returned for a special Instructors session with Tao while one of the other students taught everybody else. This event was the main reason (for me) to take part in the seminar - it was 3 hours with just three other students and I working with Tao, so we learned a lot. We also Skyped the session to a couple of instructors in New Zealand.

Classes finished up at 3:45pm, followed by photos and then a short break before a big group dinner at 5:30. We headed back to a hotel pretty early on that evening in preparation for Sunday (and Tao flew back home to Adelaide).

Sunday morning (after a Maccas breakfast nearby where I saw 3 other students who were staying at the same hotel) classes kicked off at 9am. I really like this photo, because it shows how tired we all look pre-9am before getting focussed and back into it.


We trained for 3 hours, then broke for lunch (pizza this time) before returning at 1pm to continue training while students were called over one by one to grade. Around 3:30 everyone was getting pretty tired so we started to wind things up, and finished with certificate presentation, photos and the like. This photo was from Sunday - it was a massive class


After the training we also had a quick AGM for Hokushin Victoria, where I was reelected into the role of President. I even nominated someone else! I'd like to rotate people through the roles a bit more, but I'm happy to do another year. Oh, I was also awarded the title "Chief Instructor", I guess to put me above the "Senior Instructors", "Instructors" and "Assistant Instructors".. it's pretty much a meaningless title (kind of like Vic President) but it's nice of Sei Shihan to try to assign a hierarchy I suppose.

You can see all the photos here.

Monday we planned on having a day shopping in Melbourne, but Ossie was feeling nauseous and my legs were getting pretty tired (especially after carrying Lily) so we basically did a big loop through the mall and then headed home. I bought a massive TMNT hardcover comic so I'm not complaining ;)

While I was doing all this, of course, Cheryl and the kids had their own adventure. They'll have to tell you all about it - suffice to say it involves DINOSAURS and so is much more interesting than anything I did ;)

Bendigo Easter Festival

For anyone who missed the posts on Facebook, Hokushin Shinoh Ryu Iaido Bendigo was indeed in the Bendigo Easter Festival. I was seriously low on willing participants from my membership, with just five of us plus juniors Trin and Is, but was helped out by Shanny (one of my students) bringing 5 of her mates along, as well as Carolynn volunteering, and Issy's Dad. We rounded up a few extra uniforms from people who couldn't make it, and I think presented a pretty good little team.  This was our group (plus two more who were parking the car)

In the middle is Lindsay in a set of armour built by one of the Melbourne Iaido crew. It was made of 1.5mm steel, and weighed in around 30 kilos.. that's in just four pieces - the do (chestplate), kusazuri (plates that hang from the waist), kabuto (helmet) and menpo (mask). Lins powered through the whole parade wearing it all though, including the mask, and I'm sure he terrified and delighted many kids.

As an aside, I'm now looking at making my own set of armour - lighter, but more complete than this one. I'm not sure I'll have it finished by the next Easter parade, but it's good to have a project. I may be calling on Mum some more to raid for tools as needed (but I'll return them once I'm done, of course).

Everyone did a great job. I'm especially proud of Trinity and Isabelle who not only walked the entire parade, but also ran from person to person handing out fliers.. which I think means technically they walked further than any of us. I'm sure the kids watching were most impressed by our little Samurai.

We handed out nearly 300 fliers, and I actually got a call yesterday from someone who saw us and is interested in checking out the classes. I'm not expecting a huge influx of new members, but it was a fun experience and now 40,000 odd people in Bendigo know we exist.

Nelson, er, Albany Road Adventures

It’s nice to get away for a bit.

It’s been in planning for ages — years, actually — because Dee’s mum is turning 70 in a matter of days. After much discussion, we all decided to come to Brisbane and spend the week together on Stradbroke Island: a little swimming, some nice long walks along the beach, maybe some fishing, cooking under the stars, reading books, playing chess and Jenga®. Relaxing.
Which is good, since I start a new job in April.

Yep: After twelve months of daily-changing priorities and a complete lack of direction from the highest levels of management, I’d had enough. (We didn’t even have a CEO for most of the time I was there — and for some reason they didn’t take my application for the job seriously.) Recently we gained both a permanent CEO and a CTO, but like most of the engineering staff I’d been considering my options. Then I caught up with the ex-CTO for lunch, and he told me about an interesting role within the consultancy he was working for, so after some (short!) interviews I had a new job offer and was able to tender my resignation.

(Great timing: my last day is also the day of a company-sponsored Craft Beer Festival, which I’m helping organise!)

Rather a long drive for us yesterday, up to Coffs Harbour. Jules was great in the car, and really only got bored towards the end of the trip. Today we drove on to Surfer’s Paradise, where we’d booked a nice hotel (for the same price as a motel in Coffs!!), and were able to refuel, recharge, wash and then have a nice run on the beach.

Tomorrow we catch a ferry to the island, then spend the rest of the week in a beachside cabin.

Family resemblance

Do you think mini-d/b looks like us? ;-)

We had the anomaly scan this week and I'm happy to report that our bub is normal (or at least healthy, with everything in its place). Most of the scan photos are scary, like this one, but here's another profile (just for mum). Looks like a real human! (and yes I'm still mildly freaking out about it all!) :-)

Everything seems ok, so here's the "due date competition": http://bit.ly/mini-family

Right, enough baby talk! 

Last weekend was Mothering Sunday - Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums - so we headed to Birmingham to see Gwen (& John). It wasn't a wholly happy weekend, while we were away Ky died (b's snake) so we had a little garden burial whilst we were in Birmingham. We gave him an Egyptian burial and included some of his mice (don't worry, they were already dead). 

This week had been another busy one at work, including three evening events. Yesterday we came over to Taunton (in Devon, a 90 min drive from home). Bruce was roped into running a stand at a STEM event (science, technology, engineering & maths). It was at a boarding school like Hogwarts. I was having a day off, so I came over to help (and made Swansea University College of Engineering look like it does lots of chemistry.. Oops).

The perks for coming included cake during the event (just for exhibitors!), beer & pizza after the event, and a night away from home, courtesy of b's work. We're going to have a look around the town today and get a proper Devonshire tea before driving home. We'll have to time it right.. Six Nations Rugby is on and there's a game in Cardiff - traffic is likely to be a nightmare!

 

How's everyone else doing? Glenn & Dee - settled in yet? 

Gordon St Geez we need a holiday

I assume by now everyone knows that Ossie and Chez caught chickenpox at just the right time to mess up his planned birthday party and catching up with Dayna and Bruce. Thankfully for all concerned they're over it, and Lil and I have avoided it from the looks of things.

Rescheduling the birthday did allow us to get through another concern - removing all the asbestos-laden sheets around the back yard. It not only encased the shed and part of the carport, it was also used as garden edging and along the back fence for no reason I can see. Oh, and also as part of a somewhat cobbled together workbench as well.

It's gone now, and I've patched up the holes in the shed with shelving I had to tear down to make room for them to remove the asbestos, so at least that's done. Pricey (over a grand for the removal, and another $350 for a clearance certificate) but done. I'll look at getting some cladding for the shed at some point after finances have recovered (Our neighbour it kindly keeping an eye out for "corry" for me as well)

We've now got a couple of free weekends before we hit Ossie's Birthday MkII, followed by Easter (and possibly my Iaido Dojo being in the parade), and then a seminar and grading in Melbourne.. although I've already graded, so I can focus a little more on the admin rather than stressing myself about training.

Free weekends does not mean free weekdays, of course. Here's a bit more about what we've all been up to.

Ossie is keeping up with his swimming (Wednesdays) and Iaido (Saturdays). In both he's improving a lot, although I'm certain in both he needs to listen to his teacher a little more ;) He's considering getting back to soccer (Mondays) as well.

He was getting a bit stressed out about school, and we finally found out why - He's been having trouble finding friends to play with during lunch time. It's not unusual around the start of the year, when classes have been broken up and new friend groups gather.. but he was wandering around school looking for people to play with, and either not finding them or them not wanting to play with him. I do think a part of this was caused by him thinking he didn't need friends outside of Daria, but then Adam (who's attached to Daria at the hip) telling him they didn't like him.. so that left him at a loss. Daria did tell him she would only come to his birthday "for the cake and lollies" so I doubt it's all Adam making decisions there.. but then again this isn't a great time of year for Daria either, so I'm sure there's more going on then just being bored of Os.

Regardless, we spoke to his teacher who is now making sure he sends Ossie out to lunch with somebody, and we've also organised some more play dates with a couple of his friends, and his mood has improved a lot. Hopefully his party helps reconnect him with his old friends as well. Ossie's really good at just playing with anyone, but not so great at putting effort into maintaining friendships.. but I think he's realised he needs to and is building up his own friendship group that isn't so dependant on his cousin ;)

Lily is at kinder (Tuesdays and Fridays) and absolutely loving it. She's so social.. she chats to the teachers, makes heaps of friends, and when she gets home tells us all about it. Apparently she's developing a closer friendship with one girl, so I'll have to ask her who that is. She's so different from Ossie in this sense.. but she also can get very upset if the kids (often complete strangers) that she approaches don't want to play with her. Thankfully that hasn't happened at kinder.

Lil swims as well (also Wednesdays) , and she's started going to a dance class with Cheryl (Mondays). By that I mean she and Cheryl dance together at this class. It's a little more casual than the kids ballet they looked at earlier, but hopefully a stepping stone to more confidence and a willingness to pursue a more formalised dance class when she's older.

On Thursdays she also spends the morning at Edith and Landon's place, no doubt ordering them around and generally being a terrible dictator ;)

Chez continues to go to Pilates, while of course being a full time taxi service for all the kids activities. I don't think she's quite settled into the idea of Tuesdays and Fridays allowing her some free time while both kids are out - there's still too much to catch up on. Seriously, in the next month on Tuesdays Chez has Kinder duty, a car service, and then a Pilates catch up class (from when she had the pox). Friday is Canteen duty, a playschool concert, and then.. a day with nothing on it! Man, the 18th.. that'll be a great day ;) And of course there's all the organising for Ossie's new party.

As for me, apart from Iaido on Tuesdays and Saturdays I do try to get to the gym 2 or three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and of course work. After being booted out of the house for the asbestos removal I've discovered I really like working away from home, so I'm trying to get to the Library once a week as well.. probably Tuesdays. It's a great change in scenery, plus the internet is faster. I've also got the admin for the Iaido grading as I mentioned (working out costs, Shihan's trip itinerary, hotels and the like), and I'm waiting to hear about the procession which will be another level of organisation.

It's better than being bored I suppose ;)

Our stop over..

It was so great to see everyone over the last two weeks! Sorry that we only got to catch up with Glenn, Dee, Jules and Cheryl online - hopefully we'll see you all in person next time!

Our flight to Abu Dhabi was long and uneventful - 13 hours flying time gave me a chance to watch four movies and a couple of tv shows. :-) Thanks to a pre-booked car, we got to our four-star (!) hotel just before midnight. We didn't have to get our bags out of the car or drag them up to our room - one of the staff brought them up on a trolley. It felt so posh!

Our room was great - giant comfy bed, good view over the city, all the mod cons (including a tablet-thing that controls the lights, air-con and things with unidentifiable icons). I definitely made the most of our fancy hotel - don't know when we'll stay somewhere like that again!

We had a fairly relaxed day on Saturday - the hotel is attached to a mall, so we went shopping! It was a little bit of a struggle to fit the bargains into our cases - but we got there in the end. :-) The shops in the mall seem to be mostly American & British with a smattering of Emirati. We even managed to find a stall that makes those spiral potatoes! We may not have found them at the Scot's Day Out in Bendigo but at least we had them once on the holiday. Yum!

Sunday we went on a tour, Hala's Story of Abu Dhabi - a half-day tour to show us the main sights. We went to a date market (yum), the Heritage Village (with a museum and some handcraft stalls), and Saadiyaat (a strange island-development). The highlight of the day was the Sheikh Zayed Mosque - it's amazing! It's the largest Mosque in UAE and is the only one in Abu Dhabi (and possibly UAE) that allows non-Muslims inside. There's a fairly strict dress-code - I had to wear an abaya and headscarf (Bruce could wear regular clothes) and no shoes are allowed inside, but it's worth it to see the largest chandelier in a Mosque (12 tonnes of Murano glass and Swarovski crystals!) and the biggest hand made carpet in the world!

Monday we headed to Yas island for a boat ride. We ended up being the only passengers, so we got a private trip! Yay! The captain didn't really give us a 'tour' but he did point out local wildlife - we saw storks, herons and gazelles. After our 90 minute trip, we headed to the local Mall and had a lovely day of cake - caramel cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory (just like on Big Bang Theory) and then found a Patisserie des Reves in a department store (we went to the original Patisserie in Paris with Mum in 2012!). 

We had a car booked to take us back to the airport on Tuesday - they took us to the first class check-in and we were through security within 5 minutes! That would have been great if there were any decent shops to look at.. instead we just used the free wifi to catch up on email. :-)

If you want to see the rest of the photos from our trip, they're in this album.

We were both back at work on Wednesday - straight back into it! I'm pretty tired this weekend but hopefully everything will be back to normal by next weekend. :-)

Updates from you lot?

Lynwood Life

Great to read what everyone's been up to! 

Little Masons, sounds like you had a fun (and productive) holiday! Congrats, Damo! It's so cool that you're so far up the ladder with Iado.. But that you continue to climb and improve yourself. Cheryl, I've seen a few of the fb pictures, so even tho it sounds like the kids were a bit difficult, still looks like everyone had a fantastic time! I love Lily's comment about being naughty but still getting chocky! 

G&D, we'll keep our fingers crossed for you! Sounds like what B & I had to deal with lay time we moved! It's so disheartening! But keep your chin up, something will come along.. Hopefully soon! Our flat here isn't as lovely as our last one - hard wearing carpets, odd shaped rooms, no built-in a wardrobes.. But it works and is convenient for both of us getting to work (easy and fast train links for me, not too far to the motorway for B). We actually had a brief look at the market (both rental and buying) a month ago - there's nothing out there that's as good as this place in the same price range! So we're staying here for at least another year.

For the last fortnight, work has been full-on! I was in Bath Monday for my quarterly review in Bath (my RSC line manager is going on maternity leave soon, & it was easier for me to travel to Bath than her come all the way to Cardiff) - of course, no issues, keep doing what I do! Tuesday took me to Swansea to talk to trainee teachers. Then for the rest of that week I was in Cardiff - meetings, catching up on email, and training PhD students (I run the training.. And I had feedback that it was the best training they'd done at Cardiff Uni! Woohoo! Even if it was only one person's comment, I'm taking that and framing it!). *phew*

Last weekend we took it easy - went to a couple of shops on Sunday, nothing much.

This week has been even more mental for me - I spent 10 hours on trains! I headed to Aberystwyth first (a Local Section meeting..) But I had to leave early to get the train to London! Our Regions Team meeting was in London Tuesday, then they bussed us to Cambridge for night & second day. I started an extra night (didn't fancy another 13+ hour work day this week) and came back to Cardiff Thursday. I even took the afternoon off to make up for Monday's mammoth day! Yay! Yesterday I ran another training session and hopefully this means I won't have to go out on as many SIAS sessions! Hopefully! 

So, not very exciting.

I'm definitely counting down to our trip to Aus (less than two weeks!).. Might start to pack this weekend (b's folks are visiting next weekend).. I've currently misplaced my fitbit, my Myki card and my Bendigo Ambassador card, so I'll probably need a few days to "pack". :-)  What's the weather like, Bendigonians?

Keep smiling! 

Nelson Street Nomads

More house-hunting today — I think we saw five places today (might’ve been more, as for a couple of them I stayed in the car with a sleeping Jules and let Dee scope it out on her own). Of those, we’ve applied for just one, a tiny place (really), but probably not any smaller than our current house, and nicer: 3BRs all on a single level, on-street parking and close enough to the city that we can still ride in.

I have appropriately low expectations this time: there were quite a few people looking at it, and I’m sure at least one of them will offer more, or not have a dog (or a child!), or bribe the real estate agent or whatever it is you need to do to get a rental property in Sydney these days. We’ll keep looking!

The other places were mostly unworkable — no yard, or smelly (damp and mouldy), or just weird. (One place had a toilet in the “open plan” bedroom — what the…? Privacy, who needs it??)

We’re not going camping this weekend, but we have taken Monday off and will be putting Jules in to daycare so we can go see a movie (thanks K & M for the movie voucher). Think I can convince Dee to watch the new Star Wars movie? (see image above)

I continue to train, but apart from that we’re being pretty boring until we find a new house.