February 1st 2009

After having Laura and Graham up last night for a swim, we stayed up to tidy up, once the kids were fast asleep Tony and I went for a nice quiet swim with no one, no kids, no dogs......Oh my god this was the life!

This morning we got ready early and went to Mawson Lakes, I have never been there and the brochure I have made it look great. I am so ashamed I bragged to my friends I was going there, it was such a ......nothing. We took the kids to the cove, which is just a bit of the lake, nothing special.....the water feature, there was a statue thing but it wasnt a water feature as such....Mobara playground was 3 things that didn't amuse the kids for more than 5 minutes. If anything we had a nice long walk and a long chat with an elderly man that thought we needed to know everything about remote control sailing boats. I appreciated that he likes it and let the kids have a photo with his boat.....but really, I am over it.....

Mobara Park in Mawson Lakes, the best bit of the day out.

For tea we had Laura, Graham and the boys, aswell as Kym and her girls here for a quick throw together BBQ and a swim. Tony did his usual and stressed big time about the house, the garden and everything he could, thanks to this he dropped half the meat, if not more after he had cooked it, so the dogs got that. I think there was still plenty for everyone, he doesn't. For the swim we had to contend with ants and european wasps thanks to the meat he gave the dogs....this was turning into a stuffed up bbq. But everyone had fun, kids and men had ages in the pool, us women watched for a while then relaxed in the airconditioned room playing with Mitchell and talking.
I think it went ok and find it quite funny really now. Maybe next time I will help Tony and stop the stuff ups.

Amy, Luke, Mia, Akasha, James, Sarah and Harrison.

30th January 2009.

Well we have one day left of January, so I sat down and looked at the blog and I am absolutelly amazed at how much we have got tdone this month, I am so glad I started the blog or I would be sitting here thinking we have wasted a month doing nothing but always being busy.
This past week with the kids at school has been quiet to say the least but it has been too hot to enjoy as we are in the middle of a heatwave, 45 degrees here for the last 2 days. Tony has managed to fix the pool to the best he can at the moment but we really need to save up for a new pump and filter to be able to use it properly. Still we all enjoyed a late night dip last night, not sure what the neighbours would have thought though.
All sports were cancelled this week due to the heat so we have had more us time to sit back and relax, I have actually found the time to sit and watch some tv and even a movie. Girls fundraising for netball is over today, they were selling Krispy Kremes, I am so glad it is over, I forgot how much I hate fundraising things, asking people for money they just do not have.

Tiger Airlines screwed us.

Sarahs flight to see Ron took a big change today, we sort of knew something was happening but today it all came to us and we know now. After booking Sarahs flights on the 22nd, I realised I had the wrong date to come home, no problems obviouslly I had stuffed up, so instead of stressing, I put money in the credit card and logged online to change the date to the 16th. Done that got to the checkout to find the date was the 15th again and I owed more money, not sure how that worked I refused to pay and tried to phone them.
Everytime I rang I got an answering service and it hung up on me, so I wrote a letter and we faxed that off. It took the post office about 20 attempts to fax but eventually one went through.
Yesterday a guy from Tiger in Singapore rang us, he had received the fax and could fix the problem, just pay by credit card now. Thinking this was sus I was not going to give credit card details to someone phoning me asking for them, I might be stupid but not that stupid.
I told him I needed to put money in as it is a debit card so I will phone him on the singapore number tommorrow or can I do it online, he went to look online and came back to me saying online wasnt working, it would only give me the 15th.....a problem with their website.......
OK so obviouslly the original date was not my mistake its a website error, so I took this morning to phone Auntie Carol for advice, then phone singapore and waited for half an hour for no response, no answer.
I phoned consumer affairs who said I was vertually pushing shit uphill, tiger rip off 80% of their customers and due to the fine print get away with it. I said I was still wanting to try the complaint process, I have 7 months to get these bastards, I feel like they have stolen my daughters money and her dreams.
I also contacted 5aa talkback, he was useless, told me to phone consumer affairs as its not right then he hung up on me.....yeah thanks!
So I spend most of today with a puffy face, loads of tears and really shitty. I will not stop on this matter, but it broke my heart to cancel the accomodation at Ron's, and to tell Sarah. I told Sarah to write her thoughts down so when she does go over to WA she can see what she went through to get there......wrong thing to do. I read it and it all blames me, me for booking wrong, me for not paying again and saying we will go through another company.......
What a fucked up day, days like this I hate living week to week, if I had saving then she wouldnt be in this situation, she wouldnt think I have ruined her dreams.........
OK saving start now I have 6 months to get her that flight on a nice carrier, priced the tickets and have alot to aim for, she will go just wont have the 6 months of looking forward to it.
Please if you are reading this never ever fly Tiger, let everyone know.

27th January 2009. (back to school)

I believe this is where my blog will start getting done weekly due to severe lack of time for me and my things. Kids went back to school and I promised myself I would not stress over everything that happens, I will find other ways around things that come up. Good timing as Tony tried to get the codes we needed for the kids to do the Premiers Be Active challenge as I want to do it in term 1 while the kids have all their sports, school was so not helpful, didn't really want a bar of it. This is proberly why only 6 kids got it last year at the school. Anyway back home an a quick email to the organisers and the kids are doing it, without the school's help, which should really upset the school if the kids win the school the money that goes with it, as we decided to donate it to a small country school that needs help and is willing to help it's students.

Holly missed the kids and I was sick of being asked to have a picnic with her. Tony tried to bake cookies with her, but that didn't work. We tried movies and hide and seek......when the kids got home I thought it would be ok but that just gave her reason to shout at them. There is no winning with that girl, I was never that bad, not even through puberty.

We are in a heat wave at the moment and regrettably our pool is green, we need to go and buy a pump, so off to the shops tommorrow and fingers crossed they are not that expensive and its a quick job to clean, I miss not swimming with the kids.

25th and 26th January 2009 Australia Day.

Happy Australia Day Everyone!

An early start for the holidays, we made it to Fremont park for the 8am breakfast. We were suprised at how many others were there at this time and joined the queue of about 200 people for the BBQ.

James was excited when he was recognised by one of the volunteers, a little athletics Nanna, also the kids were stopped by numerous friends from god knows where. I have realised we have popular kids.

We sat on the dry ground which was hard to find a spot amongst the bull ants to eat our bacon and egg sandwhich, which really made us feel Aussie.

After breakfast we walked around to look at some of the old cars, queued up again for the balloon man, face painter and the drink stand. We decided that we would not go to the next spot today as we are just sick of so many people, it would be more comfortable at home.

Up to mums for a quick drink then back home.

Just a few of the wonderful volunteer's.

James as a skeleton.

My little Aussie beauties!

At night I sat and looked at my diary and calander again, trying to work out why we never have any time to do the things we want. Sitting there I worked out the days the kids were supposed to be at Santos for Little Athletics, those days we hate, so I scheduled in fun things instead. We booked holiday's, downloaded some maps, all those fun things.

We also looked at the face painting course in more detail, and booked Tony into it, that way he gets his kit and knows what he is doing, I will no doubt pick it all up quick again just with some practice. We put him in balloon animals aswell, all for March. So life is looking rosy, busy but rosy.

25th January.

Was just a quiet day at home, tidying etc. We finally finished the big house clean by doing the Dining room.

23rd and 24th January 2009. (St Kilda)

24th January 2009.

A quiet day bathing the kids, hair, nails, ears....all getting ready for school stuff. Also I sat with my diary for a while and tried to work out our first school term, I hate never having time to scratch myself and I want to work out how I can change it. So my diary and I got to know each other very well today.

Holly hates me after combing her hair lots so she has asked to sleep at her Nanny's, yeah a quiet night! Sarah also thought of a sleep over and phoned my mum, I have now lost all the girl's and am very thankful. Tony and I took the boys down St kilda to go fishing for a while. It was very interesting to say the least.

A landmark that reminds me of St Kilda.

While Tony set up, I took the boys to the playground, first off was the boat, I hate the boat at the best of times but later in the day is worse as we found out. We discovered two grown men in a somewhat difficult situation which left me to explain stuff to the boys...hmmmm I suppose I will laugh later. This made the playground a very quick stop as I just didnt want to be there to see more.

Back to Tony and he had caught us the smallest thing he calls a fish....Then matched it with it's twin. So we moved on to the other side of the shops and caught nothing there. Loads of mozzie bites though and we had a good old laugh.

How does he expect to feed a family of 7 with this?
The scarey thing was Luke measured to see if it would feed us!

A man and his teenage son pulled in their boat and the man was stepping onto the jetty thing.....splash!!! Gees it was funny, he was so funny with it and his son didnt help by quickly grabbing his phone to phone mum and tell her.

23rd January.

A nothing day really, relaxing at home, playing wii and just chilling for a while.

Girls played netball later in the day and won yet again. I think the heat has got to Sarah, even down to her asking to come off the court for a while, I was not too hapy when her coach said no, but Sarah didn't let me speak to her about it.

22nd January 2009. (Airport)

Had a slow morning as Tony couldn't do much with his foot, looks like it is a strain, and also James was up alot last night with bad coughing. We have decided to turn the air conditioner off to see if that makes a difference, so it is hot at home now.
I tidied up from last night and dealt with Sarah being sad about Ron leaving, to deal with Sarah we got onto the net and I showed her how expensive it is to fly over for a holiday, that way she knew how hard she has to save.....big sale on tiger flights, and we ended up booking her and Tony flights for her birthday. Not sure how I feel, I am excited for her but scared at the same time, luckily its only for a couple of days. She is very excited but scared now aswell, she wants to know what it looks like on a plane, what the seatbelts are like, how noisy it is.......
She has worked out a job list so she can make pocket money to get enough money for spending money now, so we will see how she goes.
We headed up to the airport to see Ron and Lauren off, Sarah had written them a note to read on the plane, so we decided to take that up to them. At the airport we had Hungry Jacks then went to find them, I was a bit shocked they were alone, but we soon swamped them. We had time for a little chat, a photo and then they were off. It is great to finally have a cousin that I get along with, and I am so pleased the kids have taken to him so well. Amy, Lauren, James, Sarah, Ron, Luke and Holly.
Back home to relax, watch tv, and sort through some stuff Ron's Nanna sent up for us.

21st January 2009 (Ron and Lauren visit)

Luke, Lauren, James, Sarah, Ron and Amy.

This morning was a bit of a rush trying to tidy the house a bit and get ready for a family BBQ tonight. Ron and Lauren were coming for lunch aswell, I was laughing but really admired Sarah as she waited outside for them for about an hour before they came, she was so excited.
Kids and guests played Wii for most of the time, we ate lunch, the board games came out for a while aswell.
After lunch and a bit of play time Mum, Auntie Linda, Uncle Ian and Ashlee came for the BBQ. Ashlee took straight to Holly and they played great for the rest of the evening, only one arguement over Dora and Boots toys.

Holly and Ashlee.

Tony spent alot of time cleaning the pool but in the end it was a lost cause, our vaccume and pump are piss week for a bigger pool, but Robert tried to save the day and when he visited he came with a new vaccume. Sarah and Amy tried with Ron's help to clean it but we had to stop for karate.
I felt rather guilty running out on the BBQ for karate, but that was the plans. Ron and Lauren came to karate with us, Mum came part way through for a visit. Tony stayed home with James, Holly and our visitors. Also to rest his foot as he hurt it after eating. Might need the dr later.
After karate we had talking and photos then we drove Ron and Lauren home. The girls came with me and were quiet all the way. At home they were sad because they missed Uncle Ron, Sarah is straight back into saving to go and see him again.

Ron and Holly.

Sarah, Lauren and Amy.

19th and 20th January 2009

20th January 2009.
Today was a nothing day in reality, again just a little house tidy up, and preparing for my cousin's visit tommorrow. Tony has been a little stressed I think about the house being spotless but I figure this is us, like it or lump it, we always have lego all over the floor, washing in the chair to fold, and dishes.
Denise popped in for a visit, Tony did some shopping, the girls and I did some cooking for tommorrow. Sarah made jelly's, Amy made Instant whip, together we still have the cheesecakes to make, and the mousse cake.
I have been planning Holly's birthday party for March, mainly so we can afford it but also to get the invites made and sent soon.
I spent a big part of today doing the kids hair ready to go back to school. Regrettably I have had no luck getting rid of Sarahs nit eggs, but today we bought a new comb and all the kids are free of everything, it is great. I do not want to send them back to school to get them again. I also cut Sarah's hair again, I love her with short hair, she isn't too happy, I told her if she learnt to brush it daily then she could have it long....the hair arguement between us will never end!
In the evening Tony's Auntie Kylie came for a visit, it was great chatting and getting to know each other better, since we have only met her once I admire her being able to come here alone, I know I couldn't.

19th January 2009.
Today was a nothing day, I woke up moody from tiredness after we waited up til the wee hours of the morning for a Dr for James, turns out he has croup, which I doubt very much as croup doesn't sound like this. But enough I am not a Dr like I think sometimes so I will learn to listen and shut up :)
Did a little bit of tidy up, cleaned the pool, a bit of shopping and a bit of knitting. Also trying to sell Krispy Kreme donuts for the girls netball, thank god we have internet friends that help with the fundraising or we would be lost.
Have recieved lots of comments about this blog, which makes me so happy people are reading it, I am getting a big head and have realised that there is the need for a book pointing out all the free and cheap things to do with kids in SA. Mmmm might be something for me to look at later.
Netball practice was cancelled again today due to the heat, but we went to karate. Karate was a bit hot thanks to the airconditioner not working. I was happy to go back to karate as I can sit back and relax to watch the kids not like the other sports, but once there and I listened to some of the other parents dribble shit, I remember what it is that causes alot of my stress - other parents! After karate I took the kids home and jumped in the pool together until James decided to spend the night throwing up.

17th and 18th January 2009. (Port Adelaide, Laura and Graham's, Fremont Park)

After a slow morning we decided to head down to the Maritime Museum at Port Adelaide. On the way there we were stuck waiting for the open/close bridge, it took ages and although I used to love these bridges as a kid, our kids didn't seem fussed. The kids loved the interactive display's at the museum and playing on the boat but were a bit bored with all the proper display's. Captain James!

We had lunch at the pancake place and although it was a bit dearer than we would have liked it was a nice lunch, especially eating outside.

After lunch we went on the Port River dolphin cruise. Saw some dolphins and some great scene's, especially the drunk footy players on another boat showing us all different parts of their anatomy. However I think this particular cruise was too long for kids, and it would have been alot more relaxing without them.

Back on shore Tony took the kids up the lighthouse.
Home for a quick cuppa then we headed to Laura and Graham's for a BBQ. Kids loved spreading sand through Laura's house, Sarah loved Singstar and can not wait to play it again, Tony loved having a drinking partner....it was a great night, a late night but a great night. Kids are now tucked away in bed, very tired but planning their next big day out.

18th January 2009.

As it was such a late night last night, we decided to skip Little Athletics this morning. Kids and us were still so tired. We went up to visit my mum as her phone has been ringing out for 3 days now, no contact so I was a little worried. Turns out it's a fault with the line and someone will be looking at it tommorrow. Took some bacon around there for breakfast aswell, so while eating Tony did some odd jobs for mum then we came home for a slack day.

For dinner we went down to Fremont Park for a BBQ and to feed the ducks, this was the biggest mistake, the lake has been emptied, bridge pulled down, ducks and fish gone..... And once you see one fault you see more.... This was going to be a stress free year with me not finding fault with everything, but I have decided to include this as hopefully once it is fixed or what ever they are doing with it, hopefully i will appreciate it alot more. Kids were really down about the ducks, so we made it happier with feeding the seagulls instead.

Our once green grassed, beautiful lake.
The once nice green grass my kids liked to roll down.

After eating we played on the playground for a little while but regrettably that too was covered in litter and cigarette butts. We decided to come home instead, doing nothing is sometimes better for you.

I love this photo!

16th January 2009 (Smith Family Fun Day)

Off to another Smith Family fun day today, this one had more people there but it seemed to be feral kids with no parents......(I am not complaining, I am not complaining - keep saying it and it might sink in) Kids went on the jumping castle, did painting, mini golf, made bookmarks, cards, balloon people, origami and blew bubbles. James and Amy had their face's painted and it was as if another kid had done it, I have since come home and found all the prices for my kit, and I should be back into facepainting by the next holidays. For lunch we had a lovely BBQ of kranski's then took the kids to Denise's while we went to Leanne's to get our hair cut's. I feel alot better with short hair, but I look like a weirdo, it's all wrong :(

Before-













After -









Girl's also played netball tonight and won 3 goals 0, Sarah scored 2 of the goals and is quite pleased with herself.

15th January 2009 (Haigh's, Himeji Garden, Glover Playground)

We woke up this morning and tried not to look at the mess in the dining room, instead we packed a picnic and headed off for a nice day trip. I could not resist taking a photo of the Big Scotsman to add to our collection of big things.

We headed up to the Haigh chocolate factory to join the tour. None of us have ever done it before and I have often wondered what it would be like for our interstate and overseas visitors, little to say I do not think it was worth the petrol to get there. The group on the tour was too big so the kids couldn't see anything the lady was talking about, but they did like seeing the cocoa bean and taste testing the chocolate's. Tony and I also enjoyed the free coffee, it was better than most bought coffee's we have had.

The Adelaide Himeji Garden was next on the to do list today, once again it was a first for all of us and when we pulled up in the car, our hopes of a nice place were deminished. From the car park it just looked like a small garden, a small dead garden at that. But as you walk in the gatehouse it changes instantly.

The Gatehouse, modelled on a temple as it's a place of contemplation.
The water bowl (Chozubachi) and me purifying myself in it.

The Okunoin Lantern - "For the friendship of the two cities".
The Lake (S'ensui)

Lantern (Misakidoro)

Pine Tree (Matsu) symbolises immortality.
Deer Scarer (Shishi-odoshi).

Sea of Sand (Kare-senzui)
After the Adelaide Himeji Garden we moved on to Glover Playground, we have always driven past this and thought it looked great, so today we decided to stop and have our picnic here. The kids loved it, although Sarah made herself feel very sick on some of the rides.
Then home for lego, Bratz and a nice pre bedtime swim.

14th January 2009.

Had a hectic day finishing my kitchen and lounge room. I detest cleaning ovens as that was what I was doing when Dad died, but it is now done, thanks to Tony. Also the fish tank is cleaned which is quite a big job, especially with yabbies trying to eat you. So now I have one room left to do before it's the last minute things, I am glad as I have had enough.
Kids played lego for most of the day then after dinner we all jumped in the pool for a play, the water was so warm. Inside now the kids are watching a movie in the boys room, Holly in her room, Tony has gone for a bath and I am about to get an early night.

13th January 2009.

42 degrees today so we didn't plan on getting to much done, just relaxing in the air conditioned house. But saying that we did start more of the house work and managed to clean the freezers, fridge, microwave, rangehood, kitchen cupboards, lounge walls......we even found the lounge floor by bagging everything up to go through later.

We let the boys jump into the pool for 5 minutes before heading to my mum's to pick up the girls and have lunch there. Before leaving mum's we took another one of Robert's yabbies for our tank, he is a big ugly thing covered in moss but he is so interesting to watch.

Tony bought me and the kids home then he went to get Holly from his mum's. While he was gone I started knitting and the kids played Wii and lego. Wii and lego was then played for the rest of the day and evening.

For dinner we had a mixed plate of goodies from the freezer clean out, the kids loved it. It was just things like dim sims etc where there was never enough for all of us, so we had alot of selections. The kids want it again lol.

After tea Sarah complained about her sore arm so Tony went for a Dr appointment. Sarah saw about her arm - xray tommorrow but looks like soft tissue damage. Amy saw about a lump in her chest - normal rib bone thing and James saw about his blood noses and he has a specialist appointment. Great!

Holly, Sarah, Graham, James, Harrison, and Luke.

Later in the evening Laura and Graham came for a visit with the boys. Graham and Harrison went for a swim with Tony and the kids, while Laura and I chatted, held Mitchell and took photos. I realised how good Sarah is with Holly aswell in the pool, and tonight am quite a proud mum. After the swim we had drinks, ice blocks and pop corn with a bit of lego play and wii before heading off to bed.

12th January 2009.

Today was quite a warm day and tommorrow is going to be a hot 42 degrees, so we tried to get as much on the housework done as possible. We had the boys room, girl's room and bathroom done by 2pm. The girl's room was a pigsty, how on earth do they get footprints so high on their walls - maybe I do not want to know....
I started looking at the lounge which is a complete disgrace, all the seats are full, there is only a little bit of room in front of the tv without piles of stuff to go through. I really hope we do not get visitors until we are finished. Anyway we started sorting through some of the piles slowly and managed to fill 4 garbage bags full of stuff for the Salvation Army, aswell as get rid of a heap of rubbish. Still though it looks like the room was hit by a bomb.
Netball practice was cancelled today due to the heat but Denise offered to have Holly over night and my Mum offered to have the other girl's over night aswell. So after dropping Holly off, we dropped the stuff into the salvo's then up to mum's for dinner and to leave the girl's.Luke, Sarah, Mum, Amy, James and Rob enjoying a nice chicken salad.
Back home the boys quietly played the Wii together, Tony cleaned the pool ready for tommorrow and I started to clean the kitchen, which is going to be a big job.
We are about to finish our night with a quick dip in the pool followed by a movie in the boys room. Luke, me and James enjoying our late night dip.
James.
Oh on a good note Denise's pattern for her birthday arrived today, so she now has her birthday present from us.

10th and 11th January 2009.

11th Jan. Woke up in time to get organised for Little Athletics but we are going to have to get used to waking up earlier again. Enjoyed a bit of sunshine at Little Athletics but they really need to get some more shade, it was a bit pathetic in the heat to expect kids to sit out in the sun. Kids did really well at all their events and we got some personal bests which made their days. Also nice chatting to Tracey and Heather and catching up on their christmas and new year stories.



Luke at Little Athletics.
From Little Athletics we went on to visit Denise for her birthday, 49 today. I find it hard to believe she has a 33 year old son. Kids gave her homemade cards and plant pots they made but I am a bit upset that what I ordered never arrived on time, at least now I know to order things off the net alot sooner than I need them. We stayed for cake and some drinks but left so as we didn't bump into any other family members there. Luke, James, Amy, Denise and Sarah, (And Simba the Dog).James, Luke, Simba, Amy, Holly and Sarah.

Sarah and Amy.
Then home to finish off the hallway cleaning, I am impressed with the house, it's looking rather nice if I may say so. I doubt others would realise but I know it's alot cleaner already, just there is no where to sit in the lounge as thats where everything without a home or unwanted is going for now.


10th Jan. Finished Holly's room today, not that you can tell as she messed it up as soon as she walked in. Also made a great start on the hallway.
For dinner we went to Hubo's and Cheryl's, knowing it was not just a BBQ but a little athletics meeting and Hubo was trying to suck us into the committee, well it worked. It was a lovely meal and we did end up on the committee as members. Holly went to Denises instead of the BBQ, but the other kids had a ball playing Wii, DS lits, Nintendo, Badmington, darts.....