Took everyone to Puffing Billy... the old fashioned train still using charcoal to run... I was impressed everyone working at Puffing Billy are volunteers! and they all worked with such passion!

Here the steam engine... getting ready to go!

We took the earliest train possible to Lakeside, which again, wasn't a pretty lake, just a really normal looking one... and people can have BBQ or picnic around it, or fishing or paddling... but it was freezing when we were there!


Here, the charcoal for the engine...


The kids sat very still for the first 10 minutes of the one-hour ride...

And then Meredith decided she had the courage to sit by the window ledge, just like all the other kids...


Some of the views were great, we were indeed high up in the mountain...


Meredith was lucky enough to take a photo with Mr Conductor, who was operating the engine...

And then we saw this cute old fashioned post-box...check out the hand below jutting out...


Puffing Billy was right there by Mt Dandenong, so I had planned to take everyone to spend a night at the mountain, so that we could wake up to a chorus of birds and fresh air...

There were some activities for children at Skyhigh, a place you can go to look at awesome view of Melbourne...

We were too late for stories by Fairy Sarah, but were lucky to be in time for the face painting...


Even Reegan had a go! I wasn't too sure if he would take it... but look at him sitting nicely for his little face to be painted!


Here they are.... a butterfly and a star!!


Before dinner, we walked around at the 'Secret Garden' and 'English Garden'.... this plant is so special... the way the flowers look... I've never seen anything like it yet...


I am not sure if Reegan knows what to look at, but he was certainly having fun following what Big Sister was doing...


And this is the view at Skyhigh, sunset, after dinner, and drizzling...

The first place we took Popo was Ruffey Lake Park....after yum cha at Tai Pan. As usual, we couldn't eat much... but Reegan did enjoyed his glutinous rice .

This time at Ruffey Lake Park, we were determined to find the lake...and we did! Not a pretty lake, but there were still birds and ducks. Meredith made a very clever discovery... she noticed that birds have sharp pointed beaks and ducks have rounded ones!

Loved the vast green pastures and rolling hills...

After walking downhill to the lake, we all trod uphill...

even our little hero...

At the hairdresser's, Reegan was rather co-operative. But maybe because I had a bag full of tricks. He was pretty much curious about what was going on and why he had on him a colourful piece of cloth. He spent half the time looking for his covered shoes, fingers, feet...etc and I had that half of the time convincing him that yes, they were all still there!

But it was a sucessful cut, he is looking so handsome now!

Meredith has had a busy week. First was Grandparents' Day, and the following week, it was Musical Mosaic and this Friday, she is having a Prep Swim Show for the parents.

Last weekend, she attended Roy's Taekwondo birthday party. Roy had a late birthday party. His birthday was actually in March.

Meredith always loves birthday parties, and she attends every one she got invited to. And after every party, she would say THAT was the BEST party...

Roy's party was a little bit more special... she got a TROPHY! The only girl....yay! And of course I had to spent the rest of the night watching her demonstrating her very good and very powerful taekwondo kicks...


And then another thing that she has been waiting for happened!

Yep! She lost her wobbly tooth, in music at school. Her teacher stuck her tiny tooth onto a cardboard so she wouldn't lose it.

And she got all excited over the possible visit of the Tooth Fairy....poor kid, she thought this was quite the only way she could ever get some money....

But the Tooth Fairy DID visit! And gave her 4 gold coins and a very special fairy letter...

Meredith loves to sit really close to the heater. Although I tried to discourage her, she will always have 1001 excuses..."I am cold", "I want to warm up my body" or simply "I like it"...

The other day, she noticed something had happened to the chair she usually sits on...

"What happened to the chair Mum?" She was particularly worried about the protruding lump.

I told her that is what happen when the chair is left too close to the heater.

And then I reminded her how she always likes to put her face so close to the heater...

I told her maybe one day her face may become the same...

She thought about what I said for a while, she thought about it hard.

And I could tell from her expression, in Aunty Pauline's word, which is written "all over her face", that she is telling herself, "I will NEVER sit near the heater again....EVER!"...still looking at the very disturbing protruding lump...

Today is one of those very unusual days... we did not have to leave the apartment at all...well, cept to shift the bin, for the first time in 8 months, to the front for the bin man to empty tomorrow. I have lived in this apartment for 8 months...and never knew getting the bin out to the front is my responsibility, until everyone got a love letter from Warren...guess for the past months, my good neighbours must have done it for me.

Anyway, as I was saying, we stayed at home the whole day. Reegan was not well, and slept the whole morning, must be about a good 5 hours of sleep. He woke up in the morning and literally poured down a whole bottle of water, had his breakfast and Milo and took his shower. Meredith read to him after that while I clear up after breakfast. Then he fell asleep... his sweet little face unusually crowded with oozy and drippy green mucous from his watery eyes and nose.

I did a whole lot of things this day at home though. Cleaned up the part of the house that I've always wanted to...yucks! but..., put the labels on Meredith's belongings (before she lost them again in school and I get punished by hearing a whole lot of unbelievable excuses....yawn!yawn!), packed the house, put the clothes to wash...gosh, I washed so many clothes and hanged them everywhere, even Reegan's toys had to be a temporary clothes hanger!

Meredith was busy making a book. She has started it the night before. While I was busy around the house and then trying to get some work done on the computer, I was constantly interrupted with,

"What's wrong with the computer Mum? I need your help!"
"Where did the page go Mum? I need your help!"
"How do I make this smaller Mum? I need your help!"
"Why isn't it printing Mum? I need your help!"

...every one of it said in such urgency...but after a while, I got used to it....I felt like I was doing some kind of exercise...you sit and have to get up, then you get to sit again and then get up...

Then her book was finally very and extremely painstakingly done! I was happy... for a while...

Then she went to Charlie and Lola's website, and found something else to do...

"Mum, how do I print this out?......etc"

And then she needed sticky tape and other things from me, one at a time...

I was just constantly interrupted...

I think I might have a nightmare of this tonight...

Sweet marshmallow dreams!

It's going to be another start to a new week. This week, I will try 2 new recipes...yum!

This week will also lead to a long weekend. I am still thinking if I want to take the kids out to the Dandenongs...would be really really nice...

Meredith has had a birthday party every weekend for the past 3 weeks! Parents really do spend a lot on these parties.

Emre had a baking party...

And they baked these delicious cookies...loved the thick, sexy M&Ms lips...O, Reegan had very quickly taken a bite before Meredith could take a picture.


Then Matthew had a all-reptiles party. He had invited the lizards, the snakes, the frogs...This one I was there throughout...because its too far and too nowhere-to-go-in-between...It was at their new home...very nice...


Last weekend she had Charlotte's wood works party. I didn't have a chance to take any pictures.

Reegan is saying 'Tair tyu' whenever you hand him food...very cute. Sometimes he says tair tyu, tair tyu...several times in a row...


And this page from the latest we borrowed from the library is his current favourite. He just cracks up whenever we do this...."Where is Poppy Cat?"....BOO!! (He knows he has to flip open the blue felt cat to find Poppy!) 'BOO!!'....he will say...

I was engrossed reading the school's newsletter and didn't know what happened. Meredith was in her room doing her work...so this time I am sure it wasn't Meredith.

I saw one of Reegan's socks at the corner of the room...so obviously he has pulled it off again...

But he has his shoes on!... without the sock! So......have you learned to put on your shoe by yourself????


Oh yes, I have given up putting on matching socks for him...

You know you have to treasure these....

when you get so frustrated and asked for a reason, and her reasoning reminds you that she is only 6...
when her taste for clothing clashes badly with yours but you have to know she lives in her own fairies and princesses and ballerinas' world...
when she loves you no matter how bad the day was...
when she tries to be a good helper but sometimes makes a mess...

You know you have to treasure these...

when 'mamu' means Milo
when 'ahhhh per' means apple
when 'mor mor' means no more and he rotates his wrist to indicate the same
when the cow 'mmmmmmm' instead of 'moooo'....
when you ask him to keep his bibs in the drawer and he knows exactly what to do
when you are so tired in the middle of the night and he wakes up and thumps himself on you
when the weather is cold and he still pulls off his socks and walks one foot bare
when you think you can get him to sleep but he insists you must read to him first


These I will treasure... and can't wait for more...

And when Sis was here earlier in June, we took every opportunity during the weekends to drive out... to the 12 Apostles and Yarra Valley. I never believed I would be able to drive up there...myself....but we did!

We stopped by on the way to Apollo Bay for Meredith to wee...and spotted Mr Koala up by the tree...we saw another later, by the roadside, when we had to stop for Meredith to poo...All thanks to Meredith, we could see them in the wild...

Made it all the way to the 12 Apostles. They have upgraded the facilities at the site...constructed an underground tunnel for people to walk across the newl car park. But the 12 Apostles is still the good old 12 Apostles.... just mesmerizing...!


The cabin we had at the Yarra Valley, at Ferguson's Winery specifically, was new and contemporary... just too bad there was nothing in the vineyard...

Reegan looked so funny in this photo...with his silly smile...

It was such precious time with Sis and the kids...we miss her already...

We made it to the snow just before school reopened for Meredith. It was a lovely trip!

Meredith had a go on the toboggan at the resort and decided she didn't like it. A lady was observing her when Daddy and her was sliding down the slope and told us she closed her eyes throughout....well, its not for the faint hearted...

We went off and found a good spot to play...

and build our snowman!

It was actually snowing beautifully... we were so lucky! Like rain, but its snow...everywhere!

We didn't have time to do much in Adelaide, only one and a half day... We went around the suburbs, the schools... but we love how the city has the hills as the backdrop.

Hahndorf was really nothing very impressive. It's supposed to be a German settlement but its gone simply too touristy...we could not see the culture and the people there didn't speak German. I'd say Solvang, a Danish town in L.A. is a place more worthwhile to visit .


We booked a hotel in the city so that we could see how 'sleepy' Adelaide is. Fact is...its actually NOT... not in the city... and we see the different people are very well blended.

The most interesting thing we saw in the city.... well, who say you can't take your piano out into the streets???


We had two nights in the hotel room, spending some wonderful time together...think I remember Meredith was throughout rather cooperative, cos that will make it or not...sigh...anyway, I love this picture I took of the kids, fresh out of bed, sitting nicely having their brekky... toasted croissant as requested by little Miss Meredith.

On our way back home, we stopped by at Keith for lunch. And how lucky for us this place has a little train which was so fun for all to get on!

One of the places we've always wanted to visit is Adelaide. On our way there this time, we spent a night in Robe, which is 3 hours away from Adelaide. It was such peaceful little coastal town, right there by the open water.

It was a long drive... and the kids had to be kept happy. Reegan was dead serious reading his tiny little book. He really enjoys these little books, looking at the pictures and mumbling and tapping his little index finger at them, as if relating them to his personal experience.



Meredith was very kind to lend him her Gameboy... looking like a pro here, he was merely staring at some static images... nonetheless having what seemed the best times though...


The motel we checked in was everything it promised... view, rainwater as drinking water, peaceful... We missed the sunset but caught sunrise the following morning...room by the lake...

Robe meant a little more to us because it was here, at the bay, the treacherous and unpredictable bay, where the early Chinese gold diggers, determined in every sense of the word, had landed and walked on land to the goldfields... that was a very very far distance!


The morning we went exploring Robe, it was cold and very windy... of course, its right there by the open water...

We visited the old goal (jail), which had only 3 cells... of course, for this tiny little town... Not sure of the population then, but now, there are only about 1000 people living in Robe.



This is what I meant by open treacherous water. Its rough. But beautiful in its own way... very beautiful... brrr...I can still remember the constant strong and cold wind...

Robe was actually more enjoyable than Adelaide. It's such a lovely little town...