Let’s see: what happened this week?
(My mum has reminded me that I forgot to mention the parental visits in my last post: we’ve had two two separate instances of “nannie/nanna” visiting, and Jules insists that he went to the moon with grandma, so perhaps you can understand how I forgot. It was lovely having visitors, of course. We did the usual “touristy” things when we could — ate more take-aways (and drank more wine!) than we should, using our host-status as an excuse — and the time went by much too fast. If you’re reading now — and this pretty much applies to anybody who IS reading, including my “friends” at ASIO/the DSD — you’re very welcome to come and stay. I can’t promise the IKEA bed will be comfortable, but I just about can guarantee we’ll have Mexican one night…)
This weekend we’re celebrating (early) Dee’s birthday. Yesterday we headed into the city with a plan to check out the Myer/David Jones Christmas windows, have a relaxing High Tea in Westfield, and meander down to Martin Place to check out the large Christmas tree. Plans, eh?
][1]It was sort of cursed from the start: we walked to the train station to find there were replacement buses running (why??), which naturally Jules loved (but he couldn’t decide on a seat and so kept swapping from one side to the other). Once “in town”, we realised we’d significantly underestimated the crowds, and indeed couldn’t get into the Tea Salon without a booking at all. So … Reuben rather than ribbon sandwiches, and in the food court, then a hasty taxi home. Jules and I popped out for candles and cake¹, giving Mummy some quiet-time, and we treated ourselves to pizza that evening.
For my part, I’m making up for a mostly-“dry” November with an extremely booze (so far) December it seems — this weekend I’ve had two good tasting sessions, discovering different hops (pale ale, IPA, double/Imperial IPA) and malts (dunkel, doppelbock and a genre-defying collaboration ale) from various (mostly-Australian) craft breweries. If I can’t put a sentence together, it’s because I’m at the tail end of the second session.
][2]On Thursday night I enjoyed a few in-office brews, because I wouldn’t be hanging around for regular work drinks on Friday as it was Jules’ graduation ceremony — more below. I did manage a cheeky beer at lunch time on Friday, however, as a work colleague is leaving IndustrieIT for the potential of greener pastures and finer algorithms.
Our boy has graduated from preschool! On Friday night, there was a ceremony, complete with teachers getting teary (bless) and a beautiful little show by the kids (for the record, Jules can’t really sing in tune yet — but he can throw shapes with the best hardcore raver out there). He got a balloon, a book, a certificate and a gingerbread star, then immediately wanted to leave.
Today we popped into Broadway (shopping centre) and came away with a paddling pool which was absolutely freezing when we first got in!!! Be that as it may, it was a battle to get J. out when we finally decided it was probably enough — he even took a short break, then re-dressed himself in his wet swimmers to get back in. We’ve left it full, since the weather doesn’t look like it will cool down anytime soon, and will be sure to lock the door to comply with pool fencing legislation…
We have one more week of work until we’re off on holiday, and I can’t wait. Next Saturday we’ll head off, heading down the south-east coast and taking a few days to get to (family in) Bendigo. Once there, we have an AirBNB for ourselves, and have been planning various trips away (Kryal Castle is a must, as is Melbourne Zoo) inbetween the family time. Lucy will be happy to come with us, and Dee’s made sure to keep each driving leg short to avoid the otherwise inevitable “dog in the car smell” that we’ve suffered through previously.
Footnotes
1. Candles and cake … and yoghurt. For some reason, our 5yo son has decided that he needs three different types of yoghurt — the little “drinking” pouches, a regular large “bowl” container … and twelve little tubs featuring Nemo, Dory and friends (and yes, I was too beaten by that point to deny him). I had a whole shopping bag just for yoghurt!