Exploring with Daddy

**Unfinished Post**
I will have to leave it to Daddy to do a more thorough post - but I cannot leave out the two "exploration" trips that Alex and Sebastien immensely enjoyed, one with Uncle Craig along.

One was to Mt Majura Nature Reserve and the other to the Jerrabombera Wetlands.

They had a ball, as you can see from the photos. I'm sure Daddy with update this post once he sees it ;)And then the trip with Uncle Craig:
And what exploration would be complete without the obligatory stick?More information to follow I'm sure!

Who wants to be a Princess?

It was going to be a looong day on Sunday - Aunty Annie, Chelsea and Kalan would be at our house before 6am to change carseats to our car and then drive to Sydney for an 11am show. Sebastien was going to spend some quality time with Daddy. Here are the kids filling in time while we make the carseat change. All strapped in.After a long drive - sorry about the detour Aunty Annie:) - and a near roo incident (the closest Mummy has ever come to making her own roadkill) - Mummy pulled into the empty floor of the parking garage, and by the time Alex had changed into one of Chelsea's princess dresses it was almost full! We met Chelsea's godmother, her Aunty Ida, who was watching the show with us. We found our seats with ten minutes to spare - just enough time for a little snack to tide us over. Our seats were really close - just 10 rows back - and gave us a terrific view of the ice rink.And on with the show (photos are disappointing - but Alex is excited to see them).
Mesmerised is the word that comes to mind. I even heard a little singing along every now and then. **update** Alex didn't really talk much about the show until almost six weeks later when we were back in China - she excitedly described to her Daddy how the princesses danced on the ice and all the lifts that the princes did, and how the princesses waved to the audience. She was very animated about it.**

Alex was a little unsure as to why only a part of each princess' story was told - just a "wish come true" part - but was excited to see all of the princesses she knows and loves. All of them, in fact, except for Pocahontas. She was equally excited to see Minnie and Mickey come out - but needed to be told who Tinkerbell was.

Mummy's favourite part was the dragon which breathed fire in a zigzag onto the ice - very well done! Alex was still scared of Ursula the sea witch from Ariel - just as she was when we saw her in the Disney parade in LA.

All too soon it was over. Alex had $20 to buy a special souvenir and chose a flashing tiara...as you do. We drove back to Canberra, enjoying a McDonalds dinner and play break in Goulburn on the way. We had a great time and are very happy that Aunty Annie thought to ask us along. We would love to do it again!

On with the weekend!

We had probably the busiest weekend for a while planned - morning tea with the Nevin side of the family at the Botanic Gardens before Grandie left to go home followed by lunch with the Graham side of the family at Gungahlin/Yerabi Park. We also had a date with some Princesses on Ice on Sunday - but more about that in the next post!

A wonderful suggestion was made to have a morning tea at the Botanic Gardens - it was a lovely winter morning and sitting outside in the sun was an excellent way to start the day (well for some it was the start of the day - we'd been awake for hours ;)). The aunts and uncles took turns taking Alex and Sebastien for wanders around and managed to see some kangaroos and different birds - and an inquisitive (or perhaps knowledgeable) wattle bird came to check out our table, eventually settling on the sugar container on the next table.In a repeat performance, Sebastien managed to charm half of Aunty Clare's milkshake away from her - sucker!

It was sad saying goodbye to Grandie and Alex kept asking why Grandie had to leave, why she lived in Armidale and why she couldn't come to China - oh and she also renewed her questions about why Poppie had to work in Armidale, after all, he was a Poppie and they don't work (it reminded me of the time in America when we told her he was a doctor and she laughed and said "Noooo, Poppie isn't a doctor - he's a Poppie!" She'd know!) She did get that he had students that were relying on him to work there - so beware of sudden questions about the names of your students Poppie!

We then headed to Yerabi/Gungahlin Park to meet the other half of our extended family. It was a kind of combined birthday celebration for Uncle Craig and cousin Tristan and the park had some fabulous play areas. Sebastien really likes water - as was very evident from him trying to throw himself in with the water birds! Those swans really enjoyed the bread we were offering!
We all gathered around a special birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" before blowing out some candles. Sebastien and Alex really enjoyed the sausage sandwiches - with plenty of tomato sauce/ketchup! Uncle Tim was disappointed that he wasn't so recognisable to Alex and Sebastien - who had pretty readily recognised the other uncles - so we took a more updated photo for them to see. Then it was time to say goodbye to everyone and head for home. It was going to be a very early rising day the next day - we were driving to Sydney to see the Disney Princesses on Ice show with Aunty Annie, Chelsea and Kalan!

The rest of a fun filled week

We were very aware of Grandie's limited time in Canberra - and so arranged some more activities with her. Aunty Chelle and Grandie joined Mummy at the Vanity Fair Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia which has a brand new "house" - which Mummy loves! We also managed to persuade Aunty Clare to come out for a drink after work at a marvelous place called the Parlour Wine Room - which morphed into dinner and decadent dessert at a chocolate cafe called Koko Black. Unfortunately Aunty Lyndall had a practice to attend or we could have made it truly a Nevin night!

The following day Aunty Lyndall (after her morning rehearsal - boy she does a lot) joined Grandie, Mummy, Alex and Sebastien visiting Aunty Maur who had recently had her 85th birthday! We had a lovely time visiting with her and Mummy wishes that she lived closer to visit her more often. We had a lovely lunch together and then rejoined Aunty Lyndall and Uncle Pip at their place that afternoon. Grandie babysat again that night so Daddy and Mummy could have another night out - luxury! We didn't want to be out too late though because we had another busy weekend ahead - even though we were on holidays, everyone else was still working so weekends were the best bet for most get-togethers.

Hospital visit #3

Grandie stayed with us in Watson and Alex was happy to let her have her bed. Instead, Alex and Sebastien moved into the study which meant that Alex was "on the other side of the wall" from Mummy - ahh, how close is that!! Grandie was kept busy feeding the cherries she bought to the little birds.One of Alex's friends had sent her the recipe of a much loved (and devoured) chocolate coated popcorn that Daddy and her then proceeded to make. It seems that Sebastien is now aware that something exciting is taking place up high.
We also enjoyed watching Chelsea at her swimming lesson - she can actually do a recognisable stroke - and Alex spent some time in the pool with her afterwards. This brought Mummy's attention to the fact that Alex hasn't had swimming lessons for a year now - time to check out what China has to offer on that score...

Poor Sebastien was very upset that he wasn't allowed to join them - no swimming for him for several months!

Mummy had a terrific lunch with Aunty Shell and her godson (and now nephew) Tristan. She learnt all about the books that he likes to read and even borrowed a few to see how their plots worked. Unfortunately she couldn't finish them so will have to read the rest of the series when she's next in town.

Alex was very keen to visit Aunty Lyndall and Uncle Pip again - perhaps wanting another crafternoon - so we visited them with Grandie. We took a closer look at the efforts Uncle Pip has made in the garden (the 80 sign is a gate) - which had a flow-on effect to the cubby house. Alex is always happy to pose.A variation on the old garden gnome...
True to form, Sebastien located a "steering wheel" which kept him amused driving around the house for a while.

But soon the Mahjong set came out and the afternoon children's programmes turned on. Notice who has her very special friends close by.The following day we were scheduled for the afternoon list of day surgery to remove Sebastien's catheter. We'd had more problems with the nappies with the slit modifications than with the circular holes - the urine seemed to end up on the dressing all the time. Add to this the fact that the strapping/dressing was pulling away from Sebastiens groin (where the hips are) and he was red and starting to look a little raw in all the wrong places. He'd double over and cry out in pain whenever he peed, in spite of the medications. We tried using vaseline as a barrier with only limited success. This time admission was 11am so he only had to fast from 7am which meant...breakfast!

This time we had Grandie to help us pass our time in the hospital. While we were waiting we dropped by the Captain Starlight playroom to show her their fantastic set up - Daddy and Sebastien played the drums whilst Alex watched some Wiggles. We had a different anaesthetist this time - and Sebastien had a different regimen. He was given panadol (acetaminophen) in the day surgery waiting room and ended up having his drip in his hand/wrist. It was only a 20 minute surgery this time so in around 12.20pm and then back in recovery at 12.50pm. The only hiccough was that he had started to wake up even before they got him into recovery. Hence he was well and truly crying by the time Mummy got back there - he had a very agitated recovery. He didn't enjoy nursing so much, stopping to cry a lot. We went down to the day surgery recovery area to wait for the surgeon to drop by and discharge us - which happened by 2pm. Apparently it all looked good. We were pleased to leave the hospital and were happy to hear that the surgeon didn't want us to come back for the 3 month post-op unless he was very unhappy with the photos we'd send him of the operation site. We will cross our fingers! After we put the kids to bed, Grandie was on duty so Mummy and Daddy could go meet friends at All Bar Nun. A very pleasant evening for us indeed.