Parenting Tips for Programmers

Not Enough Blogging From Here

2010-10-23T16:42:00.004+10:30

So you should just check out my daughter's blog.

Our little girl has decided to do her own blogging now. She says it's mostly for her friends but I guess that's why one starts blogging.

I guess I'm sort of her "editor" so I've just created a blog under my user account but she's going to take care of all the content.

Her new blog is here: http://bbsblogblop.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Everything's Big in Texas

2010-07-15T17:13:00.001+09:30

Our time in Texas was a whirlwind of shopping and eating as you'd expect from a Vidal family vacation.

We got to explore San Antonio for a bit, remembering the Alamo ( and the San Marcos outlet shops! ) and all that. But, we spent our days in Mcallen bonding with the huge extended family we have over there. It just felt like our own version of Canday-ong Road just got transplanted in the heart of South Texas!

We discovered the joys of Taco Palenque, Klondike Bars and Church's Chicken; the retail madness that is Sam's Club, Walmart and Best Buy; and the endless choices in HEB. We spent a weekend getting sunburnt at Schlitterbahn and enjoying the quintessential American road trip to Corpus Christi and back.

What we thoroughly enjoyed the most though was the company of family. The connections and relationships that you miss in the intervening years.

Can't wait to see you guys again hpefully next year!

US Trip 2010

2010-06-30T20:49:00.004+09:30

We had the best time in the US. It was the first time for the kids to visit and our first as a family and we were just so excited to go.

We left a cold Adelaide first and arrived in Sydney airport. We only had a little over an hour get through Sydney airport domestic terminal, ride a bus to the international terminal, then through immigration and to the boarding gate. This was the connection I was anxious about and in the end we had probably 15 minutes to spare before they opened up the gate for boarding.

We got to ride on Qantas' Airbus A380, the largest plane in the world as they say. It was impressive on the outside and inside they did have new amenities we have not tried before like touch screen and widescreen consoles. All four of us got to sit together in the center aisle so no window seet but at least we sat together.

The A380 was nice and new, however, in terms of space, even though it may have looked large on the outside, the seat configuration still felt like every other international flight we've been on and no real improvement in terms of room. Bear in mind, we were only in economy and Qantas had a whole new section called premium economy which boasts a few more centimeters of space per seat I think.

The on-board entertainment was nice, with all content on-demand like games, TV shows and movies. There was even a view of the outside through a camera mounted on the plane's tail and you can view the outside as if you were riding on top of the plane!

Good as the system was, we also had a few issues with it. One of our consoles froze 3 hours into the flight as it was trying to load a game. Repeated attempts by the airline attendants to get the console reset came to no avail and we resigned ourselves to just having to share the 3 other consoles for the remainder of the 15 hour flight. We figured we would be sleeping most of the time anyway so hope not to be missing much. The staff were apologetic and they did try to make it up with a $100 gift voucher for duty free.

When it came to the meals it wasn't too bad in economy. What we didn't get though were child meals for the kids. We're not sure if it was our travel agent forgetting to book child meals or Qantas not getting our booking but it would have been nice to have the child meals set up. We've never had a problem on Singapore airlines and we sometimes the child meals are better than the adult meals!

Anyway after the meals and a sleep the Qantas crew were able to reset the consoles. They had to do a group reset across a few rows in order to fix the problem and they only got this done probably with 5 hours left on the flight. Still, that was good anyway so were all able to experience the entertainment on board anyway.

We arrived in LAX morning local time and as expected the line through immigration and security checks was a monster! We got through fine anyway and collected our bags in no time at all. Now, we had 5 hours until our next connecting flight to San Antonio, Texas and we thought we had time to kill at LAX. I tried looking for our next flight and this was where we had a little "fun".

Our booking had Terminal 8 as our next connecting flight but turns out LAX appeared to only go up to Terminal 7. I tried to work out which airline we were supposed to go and figured out that what we thought was the connecting airline operated out of Terminal 1. After walking around a bit trying to figure out which shuttle to take, we finally made it to Terminal 1 only to be told that the actual airline that were connecting to did actually operate out of Terminal 7! It turns out that Terminal 8 was accessed through Terminal 7 so we had to ride another shuttle all the way back.

This makes me come out with my favourite quip: "We're not lost kids, I know where we're going, I just don't know how to get there!"

At any rate, we finally made it to the counter and after checking in and passing through another security check we made it to the gate with a couple of hours to spare. So it looked like that 5 hour layover was useful after all.

We waited for a bit, had a meal and finally got on the 3 hour plane ride to San Antonio. We arrived in San Antonio past 7PM in the evening with the whole Vidal clan waiting. Good thing they figured out where to wait because I totally forgot to give them our itinerary! All's well that ends well though as it was great for us to see all their smiling faces as we stepped into the arrivals area of the airport.

Despite San Antonio being a good 4 to 5 hour drive from where home is in Texas, they all drove up to meet us! My sister even caught a plane because she had stuff to finish up just so we can be together in San Antonio for the rest of that weekend! I am quite thankful for that.

So, finally after a few years, we were one complete family again!

Restart

2010-06-25T20:35:00.003+09:30

I know I have been neglecting this blog of ours for a long time now and I'm hoping this change of layout would be sort of a fresh start. Will see..

Anyway, speaking of restart, after 3 weeks of holiday time in America, we've just got back and slowly getting used to real life all over again. Right now I'm battling jet-lag going into the weekend but looking forward to getting back on track.

It was a great great time over there and we've missed the family so much. It was so good to have the siblings and parents around us again and hoping we get to see each other real soon.

In the meantime, I've still importing all the pictures into iPhoto and will be posting them real soon.

Playground Review: Lightsview Park

2010-01-24T17:15:00.003+10:30

This is our daughter's attempt at a review of our local playgrounds. Enjoy!

Bianca' s Playground Review

Where: Lightsview ,the one with the purple slide
Stability (1 to ten) = 3
Fun-o-Meter (1 to ten) = 7
Height = High
View = great
Age 6+

This playground has 2 spider webs. The first one has good shape and has a double slide. The second web is a great place to hang out with. The web seats is the best place to hang out with your friends, just remember that the webs are not recommended for people who don't have sneakers.

My Year With the Wii Fit

2009-11-27T22:41:00.007+10:30

We bought the Wii and the Wii Fit game last year. I wasn't exactly expecting much, nor was I really thinking about drastic weight loss but I did actually thought I could see some improvement in my ongoing weight challenges. I guess I'm just one of those people who get easily sucked into new technology and what it could do. I was also attracted to the Wii's visual style and seeing stats up on the big screen.

Starting out, the first few months on the wii fit didn't really live to expectations. I tried my best to give at least 30 minutes a day on the machine but I could still see my weight just go up and down and fluctuate. It didn't help that it was leading into the Christmas season and we all know what a help to the diet that is.

Anyway, I soon realised that just having 30 minutes or more on the Wii fit a day wasn't cutting it. Of course, the Wii Fit software did have helpful reminders about overeating and snacking and the effect it could do to attempts at weight loss but those words on the screen didn't really drive in the concept so much as the numbers did. The first 3 months on the Wii Fit saw me actually gain a kilo or two despite the time I was spending on it. I could actually see it on the graphs on-screen.

This was then I decided to add a bit more to my routine. I dusted off the excercise bike and started biking again. First for 5 minutes, then gradually built it up to 10, then 15 then 20 minutes a day. I also kept up my time on the Wii Fit, doing at least 30 minutes on the cardio workouts.

This was when I started on fixing my meals and portion control. I've come to realise that excercise and diet had to work together. Who knew!

So, I started having more oatmeal for breakfast and salads for lunch and eating the right amount of food. It took me a while to get used to the concept that one doesn't have to be really full for every meal.

I got into walking during my lunch breaks at work, at least 20 minutes a day in the beginning and slowly building it up to 30 to 40 minutes a day. I still kept up with using the Wii Fit and checking my weight daily.

It was fine for me to see how the changes I made translate into the graphs. I could see how a big meal would show a weight gain and how much work I had to do to get it down again. It was almost a simple equation: eat less, move more.

Before I knew it, I lost a kilo here and there. In two months, I lost 10 kilos just by building up my routine.

I started seeing the fat turn into flab so I started doing sit ups and push ups hoping to tone up the skin around my waist and arms.

The next few months showed my weight loss rate decrease as my body adjusted to the changes. I kept at my routine for the most part although I have to admit I soon was using the Wii Fit as just a way to keep track of my weight through the charts and graphs. I stopped doing the 30 minutes a day on the Wii Fit and concentrated instead on the biking and walking.

I now have lost 20 kilos since I started. I lost over 10 inches from my waist line as well.

The funny thing is I don't feel especially healthier but I guess the gradual changes haven't made me notice. I still can't run for more than two minutes without gasping for breath so I'm starting to work on my fitness in that way.

I have controlled my blood sugar and cholesterol as my last tests shown I'm in the normal range for the first time in a long time.

We recently came across old videos of me from almost 7 years ago and the kids could hardly belive their eyes, me neither! I also had this picture of me and the girl from last year and how I look today. I can see the difference now and I hope I am able to maintain this for as long as I can. I don't want to be one of those cautionary tales of drastic weight loss and gain!

Last year...

Today...

Blogging Hiatus

2009-11-01T19:17:00.003+10:30

I have totally been neglecting our blog in favour of Facebook status updates. I don't know whether to be sad about it. Oh well, I guess it was inevitable but I still do want to maintain this blog of ours to keep writing in the long form.

At any rate, I do know I have to revisit this blog sometime soon. I just need to to inspire my writing side.

Photo Shoot

2009-08-09T16:26:00.004+09:30

We went clothes shopping some time back and the kids got new outfits. We did an impromptu fashion shoot one day when we were about to go out. The kids were game enough to pose even if just for a short while.

A Trip to the City

2009-07-17T21:40:00.002+09:30

A Trip to the City
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

It's the school holidays, has been for a couple of weeks and the wife and I decided it was a good idea to have one of our girls and boys days. The idea was that I take the boy out while the wife took the little girl and explore the city.

Things didn't go exactly to plan as we had to leave late in the day. Didn't matter though because it was always a treat to have the kids in the city.

We started with lunch at a sushi train restaurant. Before this time, the boy didn't really like sushi but he's actually developed a liking to California rolls. The girl, however, is quite adventurous and will try almost anything.

I remember one time I had her try a little bit of wasabi and to her credit she actually tasted it. She thought it was avocado and was about to take a huge helping of it at one point before I stopped her!

After lunch we had dessert at this fancy cupcake place which wasn't too bad but I felt charged too much for the food, fancy as the cupcakes may seem.

After the cakes and coffee we went our separate ways as the girls went to the hairdresser's while the boy and I went and got our own haircuts. We then explored Rundle Mall for while before we met up with the girls again at the museum. We spent some time there before we did a bit of shopping and rode the free bus to the Adelaide Central Markets for some more late food shopping.

We ended the day by having dinner at our favourite Chinese restaurant on Gouger Street. A sort of belated/advanced birthday thing for the parents.

A good day, especially when we were able to get home in time to watch our current favourite TV show, Master Chef!

Celebration Dance!

2009-06-14T16:39:00.001+09:30

The kids had to prepare a presentation for their "graduation" ceremonies in last summer's McDonald's Kiddie Crew. This is something they came up with themselves.

Paella For Lunch

2009-06-14T10:06:00.001+09:30

Paella For Lunch
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

Last weekend was a long weekend here in Oz. So, I had time to prepare my wife's favourite: paella.

It's not quite the complicated dish it ends up to be. As long as all the ingredients are ready in the beginning then it really just comes together in a big wonderful mess.

I usually make a ( sort of ) traditional paella, with pork, chicken. This time around I decided to make it a more seafood one, with fish and mussels.

Again, there are tons of paella recipes but this one I sort of just winged it and it turned out great.

Photos from Philippines Holidays

2009-06-07T00:46:00.003+09:30

I know it's been a while but I've finally been able to upload some of the photos taken during our last holiday from the Philippines. I don't know why it's taken me a while but I guess I was just too lazy to blog and post these past few weeks. Sigh... I guess I just need to get back into that writing groove.

At any rate, there are more photos at our Flickr site.

And We Are Back...

2009-05-04T21:06:00.005+09:30

After a quick 3 week vacation in the Philippines. We didn't really plan on going back home but because it was my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, it didn't take much to convince us to plan a trip back.

Good thing that it was also the kids' Easter holiday break and we were able to make the schedules work, although the kids had to skip a week of school. We did our usual route via Singapore and stayed overnight before the last leg into Manila. In Singapore we were able to catch a bit of sightseeing at the Jurong Bird Park before our next plane ride.

We arrived in Manila on Saturday and the next day being Easter Sunday we went straight into an Easter Egg hunt and the little celebration for my in-laws's anniversary.

The next few weeks was a blur, sort of. It was all about the kids really. In between mall hopping, shopping and eating, the kids had art lessons, ice skating lessons and were also enrolled in the McDonald's Kiddie Crew summer program. We had time to at least get to Tagaytay, UP Diliman and visit my wife's family roots in Bulacan. Oh, and of course, lots of swimming for the kids.

I'll try to sort out the photos next post, promise. :)

Sports Day 2009

2009-03-29T18:29:00.006+10:30

The kids' school had their annual Sports Day last week and as usual it was a good deal of fun. It was the boy's second Sports Day and the girl's third. It used to be that they played the same events during but this time the girl moved on up to the senior primary events such as tug-o-war and the high and long jumps. The wife and I had to divide our times between the two kids now that they had separate games to play.

It was a good thing that the weather cleared up and it turned out to be a great afternoon for the Sports Day.

Here's the boy in action!

And the girl!

Belated Birthday Celebration

2009-03-22T18:49:00.003+10:30

The boy's birthday was last week but we had already decided to celebrate this weekend. Our good friends, who just moved into their new house, kindly offered their home to have the little get-together. Birthday celebrations for us tend to be small affairs unlike the huge parties we would have when we were growing up in Dumaguete. It's far different these days but no less enjoyable.

I made palabok and pork barbecue for dinner and the wife baked a cake and made leche flan for dessert which is already a full party in our books. We had a couple of families over, our closest friends here in Adelaide and we had a fun time catching up over dinner and the kids played on the Wii until almost midnight.

I already made the barbecue a couple of times before. As for the pansit palabok, I just used the palabok mixes that you get in the Asian/Pinoy store. The sauce itself is easy to make what really makes the palabokis the toppings. Just add prawns, fried tofu, crushed pork crackling ( chicharon ), sliced spring onions and some squid balls and you get yourselff a little taste of home.

Don't ask me how the cake and leche flan are made, it's my wife who does the sweets in our family! :)

6 Years Old Today

2009-03-16T20:57:00.003+10:30

You'd think he would be excited to wake up this morning. But, we still ended waking him up and bribing him with his birthday presents so he could get out of bed!

The kids still had school so instead of celebrating today, we will have to do it on the weekend. He brought some lollies to give out to his class today and we just had home made spaghetti for dinner. He just loves the noodles!

Where Are The Blog Posts?

2009-03-13T20:52:00.008+10:30

I have been totally remiss in my blogging duties lately. What with work and other real life duties conspiring to sap me of my writing strength. I have been "posting" mostly on Facebook for the better part of the last month and have yet to find time to actually sit down and write longer posts on this blog.

At any rate, just a quick summary of what's going on so far:

I've been on a health kick. I know, I know. I've said that before but this time I'm actually seeing some results. I shouldn't say anything lest I jinx it so suffice to say that diet and exercise actually works.

The past week had the wife and I finish painting the interior walls to our kitchen and dining room. It was a quick weekend job and it being the long weekend last week, it was as good a time as any to finally finish it. After moving the fridge and other furniture around it didn't take too long to clean and paint the walls and now we've got a nice beach type feel going on with the browns and blues coming together.

Of course, you have to imagine the above scenes without the mess.

As for the kids, the boy just got an award today during their weekly school assembly for "Showing friendliness to others, supporting his peers and giving his best work in class". He's been enjoying his new class immensely and seems to be thriving very well there with quite a few praises for his reading and mathematics skills.

The girl has also been getting top marks in her weekly tests. She's doing weekly tests this term because there will be, as part of the Aussie curriculum, standardised tests given to all South Australian pupils at her year level to mark their progress and she's been really working hard on it.

With that, I don't think I have much more to report on but I hope I don't wait for one more month before I post again.

Sunday Night Dinner: Beef Salpicao

2009-02-18T07:56:00.003+10:30

I've been wanting to try this dish for a long time and finally found a recipe from MarketManila.

I cubed about 500g of porterhouse steaks and marinated it for a few minutes in Worcestershire sauce and Maggi seasoning.

Next I chopped up a whole head of garlic. I then melted about 2 tbsps. of butter in about the same amount of extra virgin olive oil. When the oil and butter were hot, I dropped the garlic in and fried it for about a minute or two.

Next I put the beef and had it fry for a few minutes, in which time I seasoned with some salt and pepper, paprika and more of the Worcestershire and Maggi Seasoning.

I tried not to keep the meat at medium to medium rare as having it well done would toughen it too much.

The result: absolutely yummy!

( Next time I'd try to slice the beef into smaller pieces tough as I still had to cut it up even more for the kids. )

Australia's Worst Bushfires Ever

2009-02-09T23:19:00.005+10:30

Ever since coming to Australia, I've since become very familiar with the term "bushfire". For us in the near suburbs of the big cities, bushfires are what happens to country towns.

But now, as the extent if Australia's largest and worse ever bushfires is being known, with over 130 people already deceased, bushfires is no longer what happens to other towns, it is what happens to all Australians.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone whose lost homes or loved ones to this horrific disaster.

Satellite Image of Australian Bushfires from NASA

Kid Funnies Part 29

2009-02-03T23:33:00.003+10:30

Gee, I haven't been doing these in a while.

Anyway, we went to the beach a couple of weeks ago and I just had to share these photos. The kids were piling rocks and they struck some funny yoga poses. They were hilarious!

Of course, we had to do the obligatory jump shot.

First Heat Wave for the Year

2009-01-27T22:49:00.003+10:30

I seem to be reporting this every year now but looks like it's the start of another bad heat wave here in good old Adelaide. We had the Australia Day holiday just passed, Chinese New year and the kids first day back at school. It's also the first day of what is shaping up to be a week of 40ºC days. That is HOT.

Although it's good we'd be at work and the kids will try to stay cool at schol, still, just stepping outside is almost enough to melt your skin right off. I exaggerate of course but still...

This week also started with Australia Day. We just spent it indoors and, after the long drive we did to Rapid Bay, we decided it was a good idea. Today was also the start of the new school year. The kids were so excited to get back to school. The boy was starting first grade or Year One as they call it while the girl was pretty proud to be in Year Three.

They had a good day today, something we knew they would have but we later heard from the boy that the girl got a bit upset and had a little cry. Apparently, she thought that we were picking them up straight after school but because of work, they had to go to after-school care. She calmed down soon afterwards but I guess she just forgot that we weren't picking them up today. Looks like the heat is also getting to her.

Victor Harbor Mini-Break

2009-01-20T23:03:00.004+10:30

It was a busy time we had the last week. We just came back from a few days holiday at Victor Harbor, which is a town just a couple of hours drive away from Adelaide.

Before the holiday though, we actually had some visitors drop in from Sydney. It was quite unexpected but we were happy to see them despite it being a short visit before we had to head off on our own vacation.

Victor Harbor is a picturesque town by the sea in the region of South Australia called the Fleurieu Peninsula. It's a great small town which is a real holiday destination for many in Adelaide. We drove down and stayed a couple of nights there. We stayed at a small serviced apartment and spent the days enjoying the usual sights of Victor Harbor, from riding the Cockle Train to going to the Whale museum to riding the horse drawn tram to Granite Island to see the little penguins.

During the times we spent in the apartment, we actually had a movie marathon, taking advantage of the provided DVD player.
Ever since we bought the kids the PS2 game, "Lego Indiana Jones", I've been wanting to show them the first 3 Indiana Jones movies so they can appreciate at least where the game was based on. This was the first chance we had to sit down and watch it with them and they had loads of fun. We did have to close their eyes during the scary bits though!

Unfortunately, halfway through the vacation the little girl actually caught a little fever, perhaps because of the sometimes cold sea breezes. Good thing she bounced back right away and we were still able to enjoy the rest of our stay in Victor.

The last time we were in Victor Harbor was three years ago. We also came on a mini-holiday but we didn't stay overnight. This time we find that staying a few nights gave us a bit of time to take in most of the sights and the kids ( and us! ) didn't get too tired out.

Guess Who's Eight?

2009-01-02T23:28:00.001+10:30

Guess Who's Eight?
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

The Barossa Valley

2009-01-01T20:18:00.007+10:30

Last weekend we took a daytrip to South Australia's wine country, the Barossa valley. The first and only time we were there was when the girl was less than 2 years old, the first time we visited Adelaide. It tooks us almost 6 years to visit again.

At any rate, last Saturday morning we all piled into our good friends' car and drove up to see some of the most scenic country views and have a little tour of this picturesque area. The Barossa is world famous for many of the wines produced in the region and many tourists come to visit the area. There are many wine tasting and mini tours that come through the valley to see the wineries and the sites.

We started by going up to the highest point of the Barossa valley. From the top of Mengler's Hill we could almost see the entire valley with it's grape plantations and many wineries. We spent time playing around in the statue garden at the hill and we took a lot of wacky pictures too.

We then picked up a few supplies on our way to have a picnic lunch. Our friends were all prepared with their own cooker and we had an impromptu barbecue at one of the many parks around the area.

After lunch we went to Maggie Beer's farmhouse which was a foodie's delight. Maggie Beer is a well known cook and author who's made her home in the Barossa valley. We catch her show, "The Cook and The Chef" all the time and we were genuinely excited to see where they actually shoot the series. We also got to see a cooking demonstration using one of Maggie's favourite ingredients, verjuice. They were passing around some samples of verjuice to show that it was not only for cooking but you can actually drink it straight up. In fact, the boy quickly developed a taste for it and had 4 shot glasses worth of the stuff. Of course, we couldn't help ourselves but got a couple of bottles to experiment with at home. The farmhouse also had for sale a lot of the Maggie Beer range of olive oils, patés, terrine's and other stuff. I'm sure will make it a stop on our next trip back.

After the farmhouse we had a quick stop at Angastown to buy some dried fruit and candies before our last stop, the Whispering Wall. The wall is actually the dam that forms the water reservoir for the Barossa valley. It's buit in such a way that sound echoes from one end of the dam to the other. It's build to exacting measurements that if you stand on one side of the wall, you can hear exactly what someone else is whispering on the other side hence the moniker.

After the wall we headed for home. We all had such a great time and I'm sure we won't let 6 years go by before visiting the Barossa again.

More pictures at our Flickr page here.

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-29T18:34:00.005+10:30

Christmas day came and went like a flash. The wife and I didn't stay up too late the night before simply because we knew that the kids would be up and early just begging to open the presents. We even got to see the remnants of the milk and cookies they left out from Santa. Turns out that Santa is a messy eater, just like our little girl! :)

The kids wasted no time in unwrapping the gifts and I got to say, nothing really beats the smiles of kids on Christmas morning. The kids must have been good throughout the year cause they did get what they asked for from Santa, and much more besides because they also got presents from both sets of grandaparents!

The boy and girl spent the morning playing with their new toys while the wife and I spent the morning getting ready for Christmas lunch. As what's fast becoming our family tradition, we hosted Christmas lunch at our home again this year. This time it was just us and our close family friends. It was a simple lunch of prawns, a roast strip loin of beef and roast pork and potatoes and a salad with a cheescake and ice cream for dessert.

It was good to be with friends on Christmas day, and as it turned out, the lunch soon stretched into dinner with lots of laughing and singing(!) and eating along the way. We watched a DVD and ended up playing Singstar until evening. A full Christmas day if you ask me.

Merry Christmas 2008!

2008-12-24T23:00:00.003+10:30

Thought that the above photo was too formal. Here's what we're really like!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2008-12-24T22:11:00.002+10:30

It's Christmas Eve again!

I had the day off today while my wife had to to go to work at least for a half day to attend Christmas function. The kids and I still had to wake up early as there was still some last minute Christmas food shopping to do. We went out early this morning to the fish market to grab some prawns for Christmas. Being in Australia, prawns during Christmas lunch has always been traditional and because we had friends coming over tomorrow, the lunch just wouldn't be complete without the prawns.

The fishmarket was quite packed with people trying to buy their seafood. I had to drag the kids into the crowds, making sure they didn't get trampled on. Good thing that they really did what I told them and stayed in a corner just looking at the live fish in the market's tanks. Good thing too that we came in early as we were in and out in under 20 minutes.

Next we went over to they city where the wife was having another Christmas picnic at one of the city parks. The kids and I stayed at a nearby playground until they convinced me to rent a rowboat and go around the nearby lake! We actually did end up rowing and I can honestly say it was harder than it looked! At any rate, we went around the lake a couple of times before we finished and picked their mom up from her picnic around lunch time.

On the way back we stopped at bakery to have some delicious meat pies for lunch. The kids ended up getting milk shakes as well so they had a full on meal. In the afternoon we got the kids to go down for a nap because we planned on going to church in the evening. We got to the 6:30PM mass early and we were glad we did. The church got real crowded real fast which was a good sight to see. We finished around 7:30 and we still had time to come home, cook a simple barbecue dinner and got the kids washed up and in bed by 10PM.

Not before having them put something out for Santa and his reindeer though, a couple of cookies, a glass of milk and a carrot!

Anyway, the kids have been really good this year and I can safely say that Santa doesn't need the added incentive to get them what they want for Christmas. ;) So, to coin a phrase, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

24-hour ban on electronic games

2008-12-23T19:17:00.003+10:30

Now that the kids are on school holidays, I could not help but notice that they seem to spending most of the time at home doing one form of video game or another. Its either an internet game, a computer game, a game from the video console (playstation or wii). And when daddy comes home from work, they rush to greet him at the door, only to grab his IPhone for more games! We hear it on the news all the time, kids becoming obese due to these video games keeping them on the couch. Although the kids are far from that, even considered underweight, I did not want them to become couch potatoes.

So I had an idea last night, I dared them not to play any of these electronic games (or what the kids call 'screen games') for the next 24 hours. It started at 7pm, just before bedtime. We started just talking in the living room, singing christmas carols. Then, at bedtime, we proceeded to make up stories until about 9pm.

The next day, they were staying home with me. In the morning, I got them involved in baking, by mashing up the biscuits for the cheesecake crust. That was a very loud, yet fun activity for them. After that, i put on a DVD of a movie they wanted to watch while I baked the cheesecake. After that, we had lunch and they started making christmas crafts. The boy even made a gift for all of us, behind closed doors as he wanted it to be a surprise! The girl also spent some time getting all our pillows on her bed, and just read a couple of comic books.

In the afternoon, they brought out the LEGO and we all started to work together to build up this vehicle. We took turns, 10 minutes each, to complete the task. I even gave them a deadline to work with, like by the time daddy gets home. After about 30 mins, we noticed that some of the pieces we missing. Too bad, we could not make the car as specified on the manual. But they did come up with another design using their imagination. We also had time to play outside while I took out the laundry. that was really great!

It was about 5pm when daddy did come home, they took a bath while i prepared dinner. By the time we finished dinner, it was nearly 7pm and they could not wait any longer. We got them to clean up the living room a bit more, and then we did our countdown .... 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 ..... its video game time! its 730pm now and all my 3 kids (including hubby) are in front of the TV again, playing video games as usual.

It was fun family experiment, glad to know the kids can survive without electronic games if needed. I'm happy to know they are not as addicted to electronic games as I expected. The only downside to it was that more mess was made by baking and crafts, meaning more cleaning up to do. Still, for me, a good outcome. Maybe I should try this 24-hr ban on electronic games again, say on a monthly basis?

'Twas The Weekend Before Christmas

2008-12-21T19:29:00.001+10:30

And we all got sick. Not really, just myself and my wife. Good thing we recovered right away because Christmas is just around the corner. Can't believe it's been a year already and we're celebrating Christmas all over again.

The kids are now on school holidays and are enjoying the break. Next year they will move up a grade level. The girl will be Year 3 already and the boy is raring to go to step up to Year 1. They go their end of year school reports the other week and they got really good remarks from their teachers. We're so proud of them of course ( and I have to write that because the girl is sitting next to me reading every word I type!)

Seriously though, we are so very proud of them and quite happy to know that they are still enjoying school. Although right now, they seem quite content to be on School Holiday mode.

Because we got sick we didn't do much this weekend, trying to recover and store up energy for the Christmas week. We are inviting our friends over for Christmas lunch and it is now becoming an almost tradition with us. We're still fretting over our menu this close to Christmas. But, not only do we have to plan Christmas, the girl is also being makulit and we have to plan for her birthday as well!!

( Not True! :) - B )
-->( Yes True! :) -N )

Although we didn't do much, we did do some things. We actually bought a Wii a while back. Now, all of us are enjoying this early Christmas present. We even bought a Wii Fit, which is actually being put to good use. Not that we're seeing any results yet but having a video game that gets you up and about and sweating is a huge step up for all of us.

Hasselback Potatoes

2008-12-08T20:37:00.002+10:30

Hasselback Potatoes
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

I've seen this recipe for Hasselback Potatoes done on TV a few times before and I decided to try out for Sunday dinner. The wife bought a cut of beef for roasting and we served it with these potatoes and some veggies. We found a recipe for roast beef served with garlic mayonnaise.

The beef turned out quite well although a bit on the dry side. The garlic mayonnaise really went well with it. For a test run, it wasn't too bad. We wanted to try it out the recipes first because we wanted to serve this during our Christmas lunch with friends. Maybe next time we'll get a better cut of beef too.

Christmas Picnic

2008-12-07T16:35:00.006+10:30

We spent the morning at my wife's office Family Christmas Picnic. It was good to be out and about on such a nice day. The kids were quite happy to play around the park and we caught up with some of my wife's friend and officemates for a typical Aussie barbie.

The kids had fun playing frisbee and badminton and got acquainted with a few kids of my wife's officemates. They even got to play Twister outdoors!

At any rate, it was a good time. We actually stayed to the very end and were one of the last people to have left. After all that activity the kids would be semi-tired and resting by now. No such luck, they're still up and about and being as kulit as usual!

Anyway, here's a couple of shots when we visited the Magic Cave a couple of weeks ago. We actually went to the Magic Cave three years ago and I took a couple of photos. We can't believe how much they've grown!

In fact, I was digitizing a lot of old videos recently and we could see a few videos from when the kids were still small. It's amazing to us how we can still remember them so tiny in the videos and we can't imagine how they could have grown up so fast.

The Newest Vidal

2008-12-04T19:10:00.004+10:30

Welcoming my nephew, the newest Vidal. ~~No name yet, hope my brother names him soon. I don't want to call him baby boy Vidal all the time... :)~~

Welcome Paolo Nero C. Vidal!!

Goofing Around

2008-12-01T21:39:00.001+10:30

Goofing Around
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

Just a random shot of the kids goofing around. They're eating a chocolate sundae from Mcdonald's and were showing their chocolate covered smiles. :)

Garage Sale!

2008-11-22T18:59:00.001+10:30

Garage Sale
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

We've been accumulating so much stuff over the last few years. Most of it is clothes and toys that the kids have outgrown. About a few weeks ago we decided to go ahead and have a garage sale to at least try and get rid of some of it.

I advertised in the local paper and the wife and I spent over a couple of weekends to sort and lay out stuff we were going to sell. On the day, we had our friends help out with putting up some signs around the neighborhood as well help man the sale.

There were quite a few early birds who dropped by to have a browse even while we were still setting up but there weren't so many throughout the day. Even though we advertised it we didn't really end up getting rid of a lot of stuff. We think it's probably because our house isn't exactly on a main road and it takes a while to find the street we live in.

We did sell a few things at the end of the day but not enough to really clear out our ever messy garage. We ended donating some and packing up a couple of larger boxes to send back to the Philippines for our relatives.

It was fun though and maybe we'll have another crack at it. Maybe after a few more years of accumulating stuff. :)

Start Trek Trailer Online!

2008-11-18T07:49:00.002+10:30

Here you go, the Star Trek trailer is now online. May is such a long wait...

Official Start To Christmas

2008-11-16T08:45:00.003+10:30

It's been a while (again) and I know we haven't been updating our blog. I guess real life just catches up.

Anyway, it's officially Christmas season down here in Adelaide. We went and watched the annual Adelaide Christmas Pageant last week. The Pageant sort of kicks off Christmas down here. It's a big parade that winds across town with floats, marching bands, and lots and lots of clowns.

We don't usually go and see the pageant every time and we usually skip a year or two. This year we promised the kids we would go see it and see it we did. We left home early as the pageant was slated to start at 9:30. The kids also wanted to get there early because they wanted to take part in a record breaking Mexican wave which aimed to get everyone to do the wave from one end of the parade route and back. Unfortunately, I heard that the Mexican wave wasn't successful because there was a break in the wave somewhere.

At any rate, because we were relatively early, we were able to get a good spot but unfortunately the weather wasn't the best for parade watching as the wind and some rain picked up a little bit. Nevertheless the kids were excited anyway and stood enjoying the floats and the bands. The kids loved the bands but they were really just waiting for one person: Santa!

Santa was on the last float so as soon as he arrived and waved to the kids, we made our way out of the parade. We decided to stay for lunch in the city and did a bit of food shopping.

When we got home from the pageant, we put up the Christmas tree which is our usual Christmas tradition after the pageant. We've had the tree for a few years now and I can really see how small it's gotten when the kids stand next to it. I guess it's time to get a new one because by next year these kids might just be taller than the tree now!

Pictures From The Dentist's

2008-10-26T20:41:00.003+10:30

This is me being a lazy blogger... :) Last week's pictures from the dentist.

A Trip To The Dentist

2008-10-17T20:13:00.004+10:30

I've availed myself of a blogging break there for a little while. It's been sort of a hectic couple of weeks, both at work and at home and I find myself not being motivated enough to sit in front of the computer and type.

At any rate, today we took the kids to the dentist again. It was the girl's second time but the boy's first. The dentist we went to came highly recommended by our good friends and I have to say that I was impressed by their setup. From their SMS reminders to their high tech dentist tools to the little kids corner with toys, books and DVD's.

The kids did very well and behaved wonderfully. A trip to the dentist is no more the traumatic experience it used to be now that that they have DVD movies, a choice of flouride treatment flavours and even a free toothbrush and toothpaste after the visit! The kids passed their checkup with flying colours ( sort of as the girl apparently has a cavity in one of her milkteeth ). As for the parents, well, that's a different story.

Chinese Fried Chicken

2008-09-28T21:51:00.002+09:30

Fried Chicken
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

There is a Chinese restaurant here in Adelaide that makes the best fried chicken. It's served in this broth which, as far as I can tell, is made up of Chinese rice wine and soy sauce as the main ingredients. The fried chicken is cut up and the broth is poured over it. I've never tried to make it myself until now.

I was only going to make fried chicken for dinner. What I usually do is boil the chicken for a bit in a mixture of water, garlic and soy sauce then dry the chicken and quickly fry it to crisp it up ( Thanks to Thess for this tip! ). This time, instead of pouring the resulting broth away, I took a taste and noticed it was almost close to the broth that the restaurant serves it's chicken with. I experimented with the broth a bit and came up with something similar.

I ended up frying some garlic, adding Chinese cooking wine and the broth together and boiled for a bit. I think it worked too because the wife took a taste and declared it exactly like what we would have had in the restaurant ( even better! ). At any rate, it was my first attempt and I think I can improve it with a few more ingredients.

Unfortunately, the kids had a taste of the broth and both didn't seem to care for it. So, they just had the fried chicken sans broth which they both finished anyway.

An Indian Night Out

2008-09-27T19:48:00.004+09:30

Ever since the wife and I went to an Indian restaurant, we've talked about bringing the kids to one. They are quite adventurous when it comes to food, especially the little girl. We've tried lots of different cuisines before like Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Japanese but this was the first time we took them to an Indian restaurant. We like exposing the kids to different kinds of food. We sort of discourage them from refusing food the first time without even tasting it just so they can appreciate new things.

We were already out and about the other afternoon because of a birthday party the boy was invited to so we decided to make an evening of it as well. After the party, we found Charminar, the closest Indian restaurant. It was lucky we came early and found a table because soon the restaurant began filling up. The restaurant itself was small but well presented. The girl noticed that there were candles used all around and she remarked that it most energy saving restaurant she's been too.

We started with some appetizers of a selection of tandoori meats and samosas. Then we had the mains of butter chicken, beef malabar with jasmine rice and naan bread. The girl like the mild curry of the butter chicken. Unfortunately, the boy thought it was too spicy and he ended up eating only the naan bread and rice. It was a good meal and I especially liked the beef curry with the tender pieces of wagyu beef which just melts in the mouth. With it's mixture of spices, I don't think it's something I can replicate at home at all.

The kids were well behaved and we kept reminding them that it was a "posh" restaurant so they were at their absolute best. As the night wore on, they understandably got a bit restless but good thing we had some activity books that they got into while waiting in between dishes.

All in all, a good evening, despite the girl having a little too much spice too soon. She sort of complained about her tummy when we were finishing up the meal but we needn't have worried. In the end she still said she really liked the food!

Kitchen Renovation

2008-09-20T18:01:00.010+09:30

It all started when our oven broke. It gave up the ghost midway through winter when we really needed it most. Then again, the oven, the cooktop and the whole kitchen was probably more than 10 years old so we shouldn't have been suprised. After a lot of thinking and looking at options, the wife and I decided to take the plunge and get a new kitchen along with a new oven, cooktop and rangehood. We've always had issues with the lack of space we had, so we though that getting a new kitchen would give us a fresh start.

It took us a while to get started, but once we chose our kitchen supplier, we were off and running. We first chose a colour scheme and benchtops at the Showroom. Then the designer visited our place to plan the new kitchen layout. After he did an initial design, we went back in to look it over and decide any special drawers or cabinets. After that was done, it all came down to the price which wasn't too bad but luckily we still had some financing options available to us.

After that it was just finalising the plans and going over the exact measurements of the kitchen and ordering the components. Delivery of the kitchen didn't take 2 weeks and it was good that the kitchen supplier took care of organising all the tradespersons ( plumber, electrician, installer etc. ) as everything was scheduled to be done and dusted within 3 days. All we needed to to was clear out the old kitchen and move the fridge, which took us about day to do. It was surprising how much stuff we had in the old kitchen and we had to scrounge some space in the dining and our own garage to store it all. In the end we got the old kitchen cleared our ready for the builders to dismantle. The kids even had a last play inside the old kitchen cabinets.

On the day the kitchen components were to arrive, the tradies were at our door. They worked quickly, the old kitchen was dismantled and taken out in the morning and all the pluming and electrical pre-work was done in the afternoon. We thought everything was going swimmingly but we got a call that the tiler couldn't make it. We hurriedly had the kitchen supplier schedule another tiler to come in but that meant our kitchen couldn't be completed within the 3 day time frame. That was the first disappointment.

The next day, the installer came by bright and early and started assembling the kitchen right away. There were a few hitches in that a component for the range-hood was missing. This was the second disappointment. We were never informed that this part was required when we bought the new kitchen appliances from the store. I was stressing because every store I rang didn't seem to have the part and would have to order it in with a 2 week delivery estimate. That would have really delayed the installation and would have cost us much more. Luckily, one store had the part in stock and despite it being almost an hours drive away we just had to go and get it. In the end, the part cost less than $25!

On the third day, when the kitchen was expected to be completed, we found that we were missing a couple of door handles. This was the third disappointment. Turned out that they weren't delivered so we had to wait for those to come in too. That was a relatively minor thing but the kitchen was mostly completed by then.

Despite having no tiles and a couple of door handles missing, we started moving stuff back into the new kitchen. At first we thought we couldn't fit everything back in! But then we realised that we actually took things that were out of the old kitchen and got to fit it all into the new one. We officially have more space!

A few days later, we got the tiles and the door handles put in and the kitchen looked pretty much complete. We just needed someone to look at patching the floors because when we put in the new layout, we left a patch of floor that didn't have any of the floating floorboards we had put in last year.

At any rate, the kitchen is done and despite the little hitches we're completely satisfied with it. We got the extra storage space, a larger work area and most of all, we got an oven again!

Here are before pictures:

And after:

More pictures here.

School Disco!

2008-09-14T20:07:00.004+09:30

Last Friday the kids got to attend their first school disco! It was actually a junior disco sponsored as a fund raising activity by the parent's association. The Junior Primary kids had an early disco starting from 5:45 to 7:15 with the Senior Primary kids having theirs after that. It's a parents-free zone at the disco so the kids get a huge kick out of it.

Our own kids were very excited and were one of the first to arrive for the event. They were actually practicing their own dance moves at home, behind closed doors at that! We parents dropped them off and we were able to have one of our rare dinner dates.

Dropping them off was easy, picking them up was a challenge. It was so crowded to pick up the kids but eventually we got them back in the car. They thoroughly enjoyed their night as they chatted about the music, the lights and even the Macaréna as we drove home.

Better Homes and Gardens

2008-08-30T18:42:00.004+09:30

We watch Better Homes and Gardens every week. It's one of the few shows we all watch together as a family and is actually one of our favourite TV shows. So, when we learned that they were shooting an episode in Adelaide, we wanted to catch the team in action. They were actually shooting at a Bunnings Warehouse store, sort of like a huge hardware chain store, close by and we were lucky enough to come in just in time for them to shoot some of the opening sequences.

The kids were even able to get a picture taken with one of the presenters, Tara Dennis. Unfortunately, the little boy was a bit shy and missed his chance to have his picture taken with Rob Palmer, the builder in the show. The boy always likes Rob's segments on TV when he starts building stuff. He always says he wants to be a builder someday and Rob is like an idol to him.

At any rate, we stayed around a bit to watch some of Fast Ed's cooking segment but too many people started crowding around so we decided to head home. We got Olympians yesterday and today we had TV celebrities. It's been an exciting weekend so far.

Maybe we might end up on the TV show one of these days, hehehe.

Olympians At School

2008-08-29T18:07:00.002+09:30

Olympians At School
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

This morning, Claire Woods and her fiancé Jared Tallent, both Australian Olympic athletes visited the kids school.

It was awesome to see them both as Jared brought his Silver and Bronze medals along. Claire is actually an old scholar ( alumnus ) of the kids school so it was terrific to see them come and talk to the kids.

To think they are actually going to get married tomorrow and still took time out to come meet with the children says a lot.

The kids were clearly excited to see them as it was all a bit of a surprise. We were there because it was our boy's assembly day and he had a part to play being one of the commentators. We had no idea that they were having such distinguished guests this morning so it was also quite exciting for both the wife and I to see Claire and Jarrod in their Australian tracksuits. We saw these athletes on the TV from Beijing a couple of weeks ago and to see them at our kids school was quite a thrill, even for us parents.

Lumpiang Shanghai

2008-08-25T19:39:00.001+09:30

Lumpiang Shanghai
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

I was still recovering from the flu even over the weekend so we decided to stay at home for the most part. It was still cold and real soup weather but because we had prepared and frozen some Lumpiang shanghai from last week, we decided to have that for Sunday lunch instead.

Lumpiang shangahi or meat spring rolls is one of our easy cook meals we usually prepare and store in the freezer ahead of time. All we would do is just defrost the spring rolls and just shallow fry them a few minutes and there's a meal already.

Preparing it is easy as especially when we use prepared lumpiang shanghai mix. We just combine pork mince with some oyster sauce, soy sauce, chopped carrots, chopped onions or spring onions or coriander. We'd then top it off with Mama Sita's Lumpiang Shanghai mix. Then just roll the meat mixture store bought spring roll wrappers and freeze for another day.

Flu Season...

2008-08-20T19:36:00.003+09:30

And I got it. Actually, it was our little girl who had it first. When we picked her up from school last Friday, her teacher told us that she actually was so tired that she had a nap in the middle of the afternoon. It turned out that she caught some virus and she ended up getting a high temperature that night. She got better over the weekend but sure enough, it soon passed on to me and I got waylaid by chills and aching joints early this week. Although, I thought I got over it but I'm still not feeling 100% so might have to take some more rest.

It's not easy getting the flu, maybe next time I should take the free flu vaccines they've been giving out in the office...

Olympic Weekend

2008-08-11T19:42:00.003+09:30

We did nothing this weekend but watch the Olympics on TV. It started with the spectacular opening ceremonies on Friday, the kids and I even tried our best to watch all of it but we all fell asleep halfway through the athletes parade. On the Saturday, we watched as the first of the Aussies battled it out for the early medals in the cycling. It was quite exciting as we all got carried away cheering on the Green and Gold. On Sunday we got to see Stephanie Rice's gold winning 400 Individual Medley in the swimming. It was quite something and we ended up cheering her on in front of TV.

It was fun to see the kids getting into the spirit as they cheered the Australian Olympic team on with chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi" from our living room.

A Night Out

2008-08-09T20:03:00.003+09:30

The wife had an office function last night. It was a dinner out with the grown-ups and we decided to go. For the first time, we actually left the kids over at our friends' place and the wife and I had a nice proper dinner out, albeit with several other people! We were at first anxious about leaving the kids but because we've known our friends for a long time now we weren't really worried.

We actually arrived early at the Indian restaurant so we killed some time walking around Rundle Street, one of Adelaide's night out spots. It was still really cold, not really walking around weather but it wasn't long when we were all seated in the warm restaurant with my wife's co-workers.

Dinner was nice and quite a change for us without the kids. We had a good time and the night just went past so quickly we found ourselves driving back to pick up the kids soon enough.

We were glad to know our kids behaved themselves. So much so that we could find ourselves making this into a habit! :)

The Last Frap...

2008-07-31T21:34:00.006+09:30

Starbucks will be closing almost two thirds of its stores here in Australia. Unfortunately, this includes the ones here in Adelaide.

I was genuinely excited when Starbucks opened a place in the city sometime ago. Although Australia certainly has lots of other good coffee places, only Starbucks had the frappucinos we like. Nothing beats a good frap on a hot summer day. Even though it is the middle of winter, and seeing that it was the Adelaide store's last day today, we just had to go and get that last caramel java frappucino. Needless to say, we savored the cups till the last drop.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2008-07-27T19:49:00.002+09:30

Spaghetti and Meatballs
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

We had some left over uncooked meatloaf from last week so I decided to make it into the classic spaghetti and meatballs. Pasta is one of the easiest meals we can make.

In this case, I cooked the meatballs first by frying them. Then I took the meatballs of the pan, made a quick pasta sauce with garlic, onions and a can of crushed tomatoes in olive oil while the noodles was boiling away. When the sauce and noodles was ready I just mixed the meatballs, pasta and sauce together. Garnish with some parsley and parmesan it's a quick and easy dinner.

Exercise Bike

2008-07-26T20:24:00.001+09:30

Exercise Bike
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

And speaking of exercise bikes...

It's the height of winter now and so we can still keep active we decided to get an exercise bike. Think of it as a birthday present I suppose. It's great to get the heart pumping especially when it's too cold to get out in the morning.

Hope we can keep it up! ;)

Scenes From A Dinner

2008-07-25T19:15:00.002+09:30

Yesterday's dinner was great. As my wife posted, the kids behaved perfectly and the food was just as good. Here are just a few pictures.

The food was good as usual. The kids had a simple spaghetti napoletana and a wood fired hawaiian pizza. Myself I had a small rack of lamb and the wife had a ham, salami and mushroom pizza. Washed down with wine and gelati for the kids while the wife and I shared a tiramisu. Yummy. Now to hit the exercise bike!

Hubby's Birthday Today

2008-07-24T19:30:00.003+09:30

Today we decided to have dinner at this Italian restaurant we've been going to for the past couple of years. Each time we go there, we don't seem to be able to finish the meal as the kids get bored, or tired , or sleepy or all of the above. There was even a time we had to get our half eaten pizza to go as the kids were getting cranky in the middle of the meal. Good thing the wood fired pizza was so good, it was still good enough to eat cold when we got home.

But tonight, it was perfect! The place was not that full to begin with, and the kids were in a good mood. We managed to keep them occupied with conversation about school until the main meals arrived. And when the meals arrived, they ate it all, and even had room for dessert of gelati.

It was certainly a great way to celebrate hubby's 34th birthday, we the adults even had a glass of wine with our meal, and shared a great tasting tiramisu for dessert! Overall, a lovely meal to share with my lovely husband and kids.

Writing Stories

2008-07-20T11:24:00.004+09:30

Just recently we've found out that the girl started to write her own stories. Her mom found a piece of paper the other day with the beginnings of a short story that the girl was working on. It was something to do with a child who needed to know his true identity. It was a good beginning and although I offered to write the first paragraph down in the blog she didn't really want to because she said it wasn't finished yet.

Of course, I shall respect her wishes as a writer and won't put it down here but I'm glad that she's actually showing a writing bent. At school they are actually thought to write stories about their weekends or what happened during school holidays but this is the first time I've actually seen her write something outside of school and just for herself.

I hope she can keep up her love of reading and writing as I'm eager to see how her story ends...

Watchmen Trailer Now Online

2008-07-18T22:58:00.002+09:30

Just saw the first trailer of the new Watchmen movie. It looked cool! Couldn't imagine that they could pull it off but Zack Snyder ( of "300" fame ) seems to have got it right judging by this early look. Go see it.

Boy's Sick Day

2008-07-18T17:41:00.002+09:30

The little boy is generally a morning person. He wakes up with a smile and just is quite a happy chappy in the morning. Today he wasn't like that. He woke up with a "rumbly tummy" and although he got up for breakfast, we had to bring him back to his bed because we really wasn't feeling OK. In fact, he threw up a little bit and went back to sleep. Of course, we were a bit worried but we knew he was going to be fine.

Both girls took care of him this morning and he soon bounced back in the early afternoon. Thanks to loads of Skyflakes and tinola that his mom cooked.

Anyway, I wonder if it's this winter bug that's going around. Good thing that he beat it off right away. I hope no one else catches it in the house.

Kitchen Experiments

2008-07-13T15:30:00.003+09:30

There's a show on TV called Backyard Science that the kids and us enjoy very much. It's an educational show thats presents all kinds of science experiments that kids can do. One recent episode showed how oil and water do not mix and an experiment that shows how.

Because it was another cold and rainy winter day, the kids and their mom decided do the their own version of the experiment. The experiment involved putting oil and water together in a jug and dropping food dye on it. The dye would go through the oil at the top and mix with the water below instead. The results looked gorgeous.

Sunday Lunch

2008-07-13T15:02:00.004+09:30

As an early birthday celebration for me and a belated one for my wife, we invited a few friends of ours out for lunch. We went to this Vietnamese restaurant we discovered while taking the kids to swimming lessons. They've always had good and cheap food although there's a little language barrier sometimes.

It was nice to get together with our friends again, and the food was quite nice. There was some crisp fried chicken, crispy noodles, stir fried vegetables and ginger fish among other things. Sorry I couldn't get more photos but all of us were hungry at the table, especially the kids!

Winter School Holidays

2008-07-11T18:46:00.003+09:30

This time of year, kids have a couple of weeks off from school called the school holidays. At lunch today in the city, it was nice to see a lot more kids than usual. This time around, most kids and parents we saw were happy spending some quality time with each other.

Lately, we even see activities in the city geared towards the kids in many shops. One summer, we saw some farm animals in a small enclosure for the kids to pet and feed. Another time, there were craft areas where kids can draw or paint to their hearts content. I think there was even a time a small ice rink was set up of ice skating. All these activities are free, and so are very popular among the people.

One such activity that I found quite unique and exciting was called the "Winter Wonderland Trail" . Its like a treasure hunt where kids are asked to visit about a dozen shops all around Rundle mall, pick up clues to solve a riddle and then pick up some free goodies along the way. A couple of years ago, I was among those that participated in this activity with both kids. The older child (about 5 yrs old) was eager to do all the tasks on the trail, while the younger one (about 2 yrs old) was getting bored towards the end since he spent most of it in the pram. It would have been a more pleasant experience for me if I did not have to carry so many things like the nappy bags, pram, etc. Also, it would have helped if I was a bit more familiar with the city. Since I was not working at that time, a lot of the places on the trail were shops that I did not even know existed. It was like the "amazing race" with kids! By the time we met up with hubby for lunch, I was so tired of running around.

But now that I work in the city and the kids are older, a lot more mobile, can carry their own backpacks, with no pram needed, I am tempted to go on this trail again. Hopefully this time it will be a more enjoyable experience for all of us. Wish me luck!

Chatterbox

2008-07-08T20:42:00.004+09:30

We've always known that the kids were especially chatty, downright talkative even but recently we've noticed how the boy seems to just talk non-stop all the time. When we do the morning school runs, I've noticed how he would just talk on and on from the moment we got into the car all the way to school. He would do running commentary about things he would see out the window, like the moon, or some birds in the trees and stuff like that. And he actually has a loud voice for someone his size. I blame it on the Vidal genes for loud talking. :)

One time, as he was chatting along in the back seat on the way to school, I didn't quite get what he was talking about and I had to ask him what he just said.

"I wasn't talking to you Daddy," he replied. "I was talking to myself!"

Serves me right for barging into his conversation, with himself!

Playing With Glasses

2008-07-05T21:24:00.001+09:30

Playing With Glasses
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

The kids found their mom's glasses and decided to start wearing them. They look adorable.

Kung Fu Panda

2008-06-30T19:12:00.003+09:30

This movie was awesome! We almost got blinded by its awesomeness! :)

Seriously though, this movie was excellent. I have to admit I was a bit concerned with the PG rating at first as we wouldn't normally watch this with the kids but we really had nothing to fear. From start to finish it was good fun for the kids and for us. I think the PG rating was for the violence or what passes for violence when cartoon animals are kung fu fighting but it's nothing the kids couldn't handle.

From the opening sequence where Po the Panda was dreaming about fighting along with the Furious Five all the way to the final scenes, it was a great ride. The kids seemed generally excited throughout the whole movie although there was some bits in the middle where the boy started to become restless but once the fighting started he was hooked. The fighting itself wasn't scary at all but more fun than anything else. The boy and girl couldn't stop laughing when Po and Tai Lung ( the bad guy ) had their fight scenes.

This movie borrowed from classic Kung Fu films that I used to and still enjoy. The training sequence was a real classic. Even the message of the film about believing in one's self reminded me so much of that other camp classic Kung Fu movie: "The Last Dragon".

At any rate, this is one movie we would love to watch again. Remember, "There is no secret ingredient."

Birthday Staycation

2008-06-29T20:44:00.004+09:30

The wife was celebrating a birthday this weekend and as a little treat, because we had some free hotel vouchers to use, I arranged for a stay at a local hotel for a couple of nights. Nothing too far or too fancy. Something like a little "staycation" for all of us. After picking the kids up from school on Friday, we went straight to the hotel and checked in in the afternoon. We had dinner then spent the time in the hotel. The kids took advantage of the bathtub and we spent Friday just watching TV.

On Saturday, after a buffet breakfast, the kids insisted on using the hotel pool despite it being a cold winter's day. Good thing that the hotel spa was running and we just stayed in the warm water. We even tried the sauna just so we got of the cold!

In the afternoon, as an added treat for my wife, I actually booked her for an appointment at a day spa. The kids and I dropped her off for her afternoon of relaxation while I took the kids to an indoor amusement park. We had a little fun playing mini-golf and some arcade games and the kids spent a lot of time at an indoor jumping castle. After a couple of hours we picked up their much relaxed and hopefully well pampered Mum from the spa.

That night we ordered room service and watched a movie in the room. A nice and relaxing evening just to get away from the winter chill even for a little bit. In the morning, we checked out then went to mass and had little lunch at Chinatown. In the afternoon, we got to see Kung Fu Panda, but that's another blog post!

All in all, a busy weekend with spots of relaxation in between...

School Reports 2008

2008-06-29T20:20:00.007+09:30

The kids got their school reports last week, here's what the teachers had to say about our little girl ....

She is an absolute delight to have in the classroom. She is a friendly, engaging student, with a ready smile and is always willing to do any task asked of her. She always take pride in any task she undertakes, presenting her work in the best possible manner. She often requires extension activities in maths and language. Her letters and numbers are consistent in shape and size. She contributes to large or small group activities with a positive attitude, prepared to acknowledge the contribution of others. She reads fluently, with solid comprehension of all she reads. She has a great attitude towards her learning, and we look forward to seeing her progress in the next semester.

The little boy also made quite a big impression on his teacher. She had this to say about him .....

He is a happy natured student who has settled in well to the school routine and made an excellent start to the school year. He approaches all aspects of school life in a positive and responsible manner. He has made good progress in all areas of his learning. He came to school being able to read and is continuing to develop as a confident reader. In class we are working on strategies to further develop his independent writing skills. Congratulations on doing a great job as a member of the Student Representative Council. Well done. Keep up the good work!

Needless to say, we as parents are very very proud of them!

Sunday at the Art Gallery

2008-06-26T20:31:00.003+09:30

Last Sunday we found ourselves at the Art Gallery of South Australia. As part of an ongoing exhibit of modern Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, the Art Gallery had something for the kids to do which was an afternoon of making their own Message Sticks. It was fun for the kids and got them something to do indoors on a wintry day. There was even some snacks provided and we were even treated to a short Aboriginal dance performance.

We usually try to find some things like this for the kids could do during the weekends and this time around we were able to find some free activities. There's usually something going on and we always have a look at the local newspapers or the free kids magazines that are usually available around. It's a good idea and gets us out of the house to explore more of Adelaide.

Good Deed for the Day

2008-06-22T14:53:00.003+09:30

We went to visit the city today and as we were finishing up lunch the little girl and I noticed that someone left their ATM card on one of the nearby teller machines. After picking the card up and making enquiries I went to drop it off at the information kiosk.

As I was standing in line to speak to the concierge, the persons in front of me were asking if someone dropped off an ATM card. I read the name out loud on the card, they turned and I could see the relief in their faces as I handed them their card.

It's nice to be able to do a good deed like that as it's good for one's karma. Makes one feel warm inside despite the distinct winter chill in the air.

Basketball Update

2008-06-15T10:56:00.001+09:30

I played basketball again for the first time in a couple of weeks. This time I was even able to score a basket! Unfortunately, it came at a cost. I twisted my ankle again. I'm putting it on ice now to relieve any swelling but I hope it doesn't get too bad like the last time. At least I can say it's a sports injury instead of some silly attempt at wakeboarding.

Back From a Wedding

2008-06-12T16:20:00.003+09:30

I'm back after a quick trip to the Philippines for my brother's wedding. It was actually the first time to travel back without the family and the first time I was actually away from them ever. We weren't too sure how we were going to be but we made sure that I got to talk to them everyday to at least talk to the kids for a little bit even if just to say goodnight. I'm glad to note that we all seemed to have survived being apart none the worse for wear.

At any rate, my trip was an "Amazing Race" of sorts as I travelled through different parts of the Philippines I've never been before. I travelled through Singapore and then Cebu, Philippines where I met up with my siblings and parents and we travelled together to Southern Leyte where the wedding was going to be. The wedding celebrations was quite fun as tons of people from Dumaguete arrived soon after to celebrate with my brother. There was so many of them that they had to charter an entire bus to take them to Cebu. It was great to see all those people as they arrived like a traveling tribe in the middle of the night. I got to spend time with all of my cousins, some of whom I've never actually met before. I was glad to be able to do that and connect even for a short time. Our kids would have loved being there to experience the huge family they actually have.

The wedding itself was a huge celebration and the reception took up the whole school gym. There was dancing and dinner with a whole roasted calf and even chocolate fountains for dessert! Unfortunately, I didn't travel with a camera this time around but I hope the others can share some of the pics they took throughout.

The day after the wedding was like a mass exodus as all of the guests started the journey back home. As the rest of the group travelled back to Cebu and Dumaguete, my brother and sister and I travelled 3 hours to Tacloban, Leyte, another leg in the "Amazing Race". We stayed overnight there to catch a plan to Manila the next day. We then travelled to Manila, stayed overnight and said our goodbyes the next day as I flew back to Singapore and then on to Adelaide.

It was quite a trip with lots of experiences but nothing like being home, with the kids being makulit, my wife trying to relax and myself about to prepare dinner.

With The Groom

2008-06-07T15:56:00.001+09:30

Room Names

2008-06-05T20:43:00.001+09:30

The place we are staying at has room names. Was nice to see this one.

With The Siblings

2008-06-04T11:55:00.001+09:30

F1 At The Airport

2008-06-03T09:38:00.001+09:30

In front of a Formula 1 race car.

Koi

2008-06-03T09:31:00.001+09:30

At Changi Airport.

About To Board

2008-06-02T10:51:00.001+09:30

At Boarding Gate

2008-06-02T10:02:00.001+09:30

Waiting for boarding

Latest Addition to the Family

2008-05-31T09:55:00.003+09:30

Let us all welcome the latest addition to our family ..... my new Macbook! It's a white 13-inch white Macbook, sometimes affectionally called my 'Polarbear'. Its hard to believe that after all my years in IT, this is the very first time I purchased a laptop for myself. And what a beauty it is! Certainly worth the wait. :-)

Its took me quite a while before deciding on to take this step, whether it was worth getting a Mac instead of a PC since all my work stuff runs on Windows . Hubby made a pretty good argument that since MS Office runs well on OS X, there should not be a problem to read email and open documents. As for my work stuff that only runs on Windows, we set up a Virtual Machine running on Windows XP. In the end with all bases covered, I guess he was right. Its great value for money too since its about 30% more than the equivalent Windows laptop, without the need for virus protection software.

Its only been a couple of weeks now, and I've managed to work from home a couple of times already. Having fun installing software (how geeky is that!) and building my ITunes library. Really loving the fact that I can take it anywhere at home, since its the perfect size for me.

Now my next dilemna is ... do I get a backpack or a shoulder bag for when I want to take it outside the house? Ah, choices, choices.

Musicals

2008-05-31T09:24:00.003+09:30

Normally, when the we and the kids settle down in front of the TV it's always been their selection of kids shows. Lately we've actually been introducing them to watching some of the old musicals that we have on DVD and they seem utterly delighted by them. We've already watched The Sound of Music, Singing in the Rain and My Fair Lady and it's certainly captivated their attentions.

The kids are fascinated by the old costumes and the style of these movies. Event without the fancy CGI effects and animation in today's movies, the kids still enjoyed each of them. They get to know the songs and even singing them out loud. What's also good about these old musicals is that they are typically harmless fair and almost always are rated G. So, we don't have to worry too much about the content. We can just put the DVD on and the kids are happily humming or singing along to the tunes in no time.

Not too many kids nowadays appreciate these old movies. With all the pop rock and teen songstresses around, we think it's important to give the kids the appreciation for all sorts of music, specially Old School musicals.

Kid Funnies Part 28

2008-05-25T11:56:00.001+09:30

And she's at it again! As we were driving to my weekly basketball game, the girl just exclaimed, "It's so easy to take daddy's picture when he's playing."

"Why?", we asked.

"Because," she said, "he doesn't run!"

She got me good again that time!

Kid Funnies Part 27

2008-05-24T14:43:00.003+09:30

So I'm packing up for the trip back for my brother's wedding. The girl wanted to help me pack up. And, as she was looking at the size of my shirts she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my god, how fat ARE you!"

We just had a great big laugh!

( And she was never heard from again... :D )

Ach Ach Boom Traach

2008-05-18T16:46:00.003+09:30

When our girl first heard of the ASSITEJ Performing Arts Festival coming to Adelaide, she insisted that we at least go watch one of the various performances that was going to be shown. ASSITEJ is a huge thing in the artist community and a great opportunity for us here in Adelaide to see some of these artists show their stuff, so to speak. The festival itself is actually geared for kids and young children and have different shows to suit. The family decided on watching Ach Ach Boom Traach, a little performance about playing brothers.

Two brothers are left alone, playing together. Their language is basic and they barely talk. They quarrel, grow close, then argue again.

At times one triumphs, and then the other – the balance of power swings back and forth.

Above them is a pretty box, the centre of their attention. They are unable to open it and each wants it only for himself. The rift between the brothers widens as they grow older, and the bone of contention is always the pretty box.

The brothers go to war. And the war ends up in a stalemate. After they cruelly insult, humiliate and hurt each other, they settle down to an uneasy truce.

Then the box opens up by itself...

It was actually quite enjoyable and it held our kids attention for the whole time. The stage or performance area itself was bare and uncluttered except for some colorful props of pieces of cloth, boxes and of course, the mysterious box.

There were genuine laugh out loud moments and the performance itself was very accessible to our kids. Although the actors performed in a different language,( not sure if it was actually a made-up one but I think it could have been in Jewish or Yiddish ), we could actually follow the story and enjoyed it.

In the end, the kids easily picked up the play's message and quite a few laughs. Unfortunately, I don't think we can catch any of the other performances but if Ach Ach Boom Traach is anything to go by I'm sure they're all entertaining and enjoyable.

Daing na Bangus

2008-05-17T21:02:00.004+09:30

This is typical Filipino breakfast fare. Bangus, or milkfish, is marinated in a mix of vinegar, garlic and spices and served fried as breakfast fare. The fish is actually store bought and I cooked and served it up as a part of a "balanced" breakfast of eggs, garlic fried rice and home-made atchara. It's a good thing we can get Pinoy food here in Adelaide as one sometimes misses these tastes of the old country.

Here Come The Rains

2008-05-16T19:28:00.003+09:30

It's been raining all day and we can really feel the cold now. It really feels like autumn weather at last. Just to feel warm and cozy, we've decided to all sleep in the living room. So we put the heater on and brought out the mattresses. Then we and the kids are settling in to watch TV together. We love getting together like this, feels good to just do things together as a family, even if it's just watching TV.

Kid Funnies Part 26

2008-05-13T20:47:00.003+09:30

The wife wasn't feeling too well these past week. To give her a break we had dinner at McDonald's. She ordered an apple pie for herself as a little treat but the kids both wanted a piece of it.

Jokingly my wife warned them. "You're going to catch my germs if you share this with me", she said.

Right away the girl answered back, "If we eat it first, then we won't get your germs!"

We had laugh and we ended up getting them an apple pie just for them. We know we can't pull a fast one on them anymore!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T19:26:00.003+09:30

We know it's a manufactured holiday to keep the greeting card companies in business but we can't help it. We fall for it every time. But in all seriousness, hope you mom's out there have a Happy Mother's Day. The kids and I got early and made breakfast in bed for their mom. She ended up sharing it with the kids anyway because it was bacon and eggs after all.

Free Comic Book Day 2008

2008-05-04T13:45:00.004+09:30

Last Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. We went to my local comic book shop and picked up my standing orders and the kids also got to pick up their own free comic book. We were there around lunch time and the place was already packed. There were a lot of regulars and new readers alike picking up the free comic books.

It's a good thing for the industry to attract new readers as comic book stories, both the superhero and non-superhero comic books alike are enjoying great popularity both in the movies and television. And, instead of enjoying the stories passively on the screen, why not have a whole new generation discover the books on the page.

Swimmer of the Month

2008-05-04T13:37:00.003+09:30

The swim center where our kids have lessons have a Swimmer of the Month award. For the month of May its our little girl! She was so excited to hear that she was getting the award and the Swimmer of the Month medallion to boot She's really been enjoying this new swimming level and has been proud to say to us that she's no longer afraid of the deep parts of the pool. We're so proud of her.

Iron Man

2008-05-02T18:48:00.005+09:30

... was a blast! Figuratively speaking of course. We got to see the movie and I have to say it's actually one of the better comic book movies I've seen in quite a while. The wife and I walked out of the movie impressed by how tight the film was.

Robert Downey Jr. totally owned that part, it was like he wasn't even acting. You can also tell that Jon Favreau ( the director ) really was an Iron Man fan and he really did respect the comic book source material to make this movie. I especially liked the in references which were scattered throughout the film. Just enough without it being too fan-boyish.

As for the special effects, they really outdid themselves with this one. They were indeed great but didn't overwhelm the action on the screen as it melded quite seamlessly.

We're not sure if the kids would be ready for some of the scenes in the film though. There's a bit of violence on screen but at least no gory bits. I think they'll get a real kick out of the Iron Man armor though so we're sure to get this on DVD when it comes out.

It was a great film: from the acting, the direction, the special effects and for once, I don't think they need a sequel for this one. I feel the movie can stand on it's own just like that. Unfortunately, the economic powers that be would probably demand another one and I hope they can capture lightning in a bottle again and come up with another great movie.

School Concert with Andrew Chinn

2008-05-01T21:52:00.005+09:30

We just came back from a little concert by Andrew Chinn held at our kids' school. Andrew Chinn is a Christian music performer and his songs have been used a lot of times in our kid's school before and this was the first time we was able to perform there.

The concert itself started earlier in the evening so after picking the kids up from school, we had a quick dinner, got cleaned up and went back to school again. We were there early but it didn't take long for the hall to be filled up with parents and their excited kids. When the concert began all of the kids sat in the front and they actually had turns to sing with Andrew. The tunes were quite catchy and because the kids were practicing them all week long we were even able to sing along for some of them.

We had a lovely time and the kids were double excited because they actually got to perform the songs as well. At the end of the concert we got one of his CD's so it's going to get a lot of play time around here I'm sure.

Free Comic Book Day: 3 May 2008

2008-04-28T19:32:00.004+09:30

Just thought I'd let you all know that Saturday, 3 May is Free Comic Book Day! Go head down to your nearest participating comic book shop on Saturday and grab yourself a funny book. I know we will, my daughter is all ready to grab another free comic book herself.

Hail Storm

2008-04-27T21:50:00.002+09:30

We had a little hail this afternoon. We just got back from a day at the city and not a few minutes after getting back hail started pouring. It was only a short shower but this was the first time the kids got to see hail and they were fascinated by the little droplets of ice on the ground. It wasn't too long ago that we were in a middle of a heat wave and now we get frozen rain!

IKEA Play Room

2008-04-26T21:36:00.004+09:30

The wife, the kids and myself are quite the fans of IKEA. We were there when IKEA opened in Adelaide for the first time a couple of years ago and we've been regular visitors since.

One of the great things about IKEA is the kids playroom. The playroom is a great area where the kids can have fun while the parents can browse the store. It's more than just a room, really, as it It has a huge ball swim, a movie nook and activity tables for the kids to pass the time with. It's fully staffed and the kid's always have a great time, albeit only for an hour. It's always the highlight of our kid's visits to IKEA.

The first time we went, the little boy wasn't yet toilet trained so he couldn't go in. That didn't make for such a good experience for all of us. Since then, our kids visit to IKEA always means a visit to the playroom. Too bad though that it would be the girl's last year of using the playroom as she'll be over the age limit come next year. We know she's really going to miss it.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

2008-04-25T22:14:00.007+09:30

It was the ANZAC day holiday today and we invited our friends over for lunch. I prepared Hainanese Chicken Rice which was just great on a cool day like today. There are tons of Chicken Rice recipes on the web and I've used a couple to come up with my own version. Chicken rice is basically chicken boiled in a stock. This is then served with rice prepared and cooked in the same chicken stock. The chicken itself is mildly seasoned so it's served with some chilli sauce ( I used the bottled kind ), dark soy sauce and a ginger/garlic/sesame oil sauce. I complete the meal with some blanched bok choy with oyster sauce and store bought fried shallots. Chicken and rice, a complete meal.

Sports Sunday

2008-04-20T18:01:00.002+09:30

We had a very tiring day. It was our second basketball game and it was good that it wasn't that early at 9 o'clock. We arrived just as the game before us was finishing up. I actually had a longer playing time this time around but still no points. At the very least I got to put the ball on the floor and had a couple of attempts but still not yet on the score sheet. It's ok, like I say, it's all about the exercise anyway. Bonus is that we won again!

Oh, and for my bro, just so you know that I actually play, here's a pic. That's me in number 23! Yup, the team manager assigned me Michael Jordan's number. heheh.

After the game, we were still thinking of taking the kids out biking but our good friends clued us in to a free sausage sizzle ( or BBQ ) at a park. It turned out that the free food was sponsored by the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association. They had several volleyball courts laid out in the park's grass as well as a free magic show, balloon animals and a jumping castle for the kids. I even had another go at playing volleyball and joined in a game with some of the people. Like my basketball playing, this was again the first time in many many years that I actually got to play volleyball and I have to admit, it was fun as well.

I guess I'm taking this exercise thing to heart. For the Filipinos in the audience, I'm sure you'll recognize it when I say, "Hindi lang pang pamilya, pang isports pa!" Hehehe

Swimming Lessons 18 Months On

2008-04-19T22:12:00.003+09:30

It's been 18 months now since the kids started their first swimming lessons and they're making such good progress. The little boy has moved up 2 or 3 levels now and is learning the basic strokes. He can float unaided and is doing his best with his free style. We notice that although he kicks well enough he seems to lose his puff after only a meter or two of paddling. But, he has utterly no fear of the water. He constantly goes under water and would even do an underwater somersault for us. He would sometimes dive and kick his feet over the water and come up grinning at us just proud of what he just did.

The girl is halfway through the swimming levels now and practicing her backstroke and freestyle over the deep end of the pool. They're now doing laps over a 10 meter stretch and making sure they do the correct strokes. I'm quite impressed as I think she keeps good form and swims quite fast. She used to be a bit afraid of the deep end but just this morning she declared that she wasn't anymore. I sometimes joke with her that she's actually a better swimmer than I am. Come to think of it, I never really had a proper swimming lessson. All I had was childhood afternoons spent at the beach just down the road from our house.

At any rate, I think giving the kids swimming lessons is a good thing. Now, we don't really have to be too anxious about them being in the water, whether in the pool or at the beach. We know they can handle themselves well enough. Although it would be some time before we find ourselves at the beach again now that the cold weather is starting.

Adelaide Blogger's Meetup

2008-04-18T22:12:00.003+09:30

Thanks to Shai, I got to join my first blogger's meetup today. The April edition of the Adelaide Blogger's Meetup was great. It was interesting to meet so many people. My blogging has always been for a very specific audience ( I'm looking at you, family! ) but it was actually nice to share some of our blogging as well as the motivations for blogging with a few more people.

Unfortunately I didn't stay for too long and because there was quite a huge turnout didn't really get a chance to meet everyone. Hopefully I'd have more time next meetup to mingle some more but it was good fun nonetheless.

While Waiting For The Bus

2008-04-17T19:56:00.003+09:30

There was an accident on the road in front of me while I was waiting for the bus this morning. A car turning right on the crossroad got hit by another car trying to beat the red light. It was only a few meters from the bus stop that I wait on in the mornings. It was a pretty bad accident as I actually got to see the impact and the crunch of metal on metal is a bit horrific. It was a good thing that the drivers were still able to walk away from it.

I actually called triple 0 ( the Australian emergency number) to report the accident but put down the phone when I noticed a police car arrive. A couple of seconds later I got rung back by the emergency people and I had to explain that the police were already there. They told me that next time I had to stay on the line until someone answered otherwise they'd just waste time ringing people back. Anyway, I'll remember to do that next time. Hopefully I won't have to do that again for a long time.

First Basketball Game

2008-04-15T18:47:00.003+09:30

And I didn't embarrass myself. :) We started early last weekend but the gym was already full with the teams and supporters milling around. It wasn't too hard to spot my teammates, as we all had brand spanking new uniforms courtesy of our team sponsor. After a quick opening ceremony, we got started. Our team was actually first off the blocks and had the first game. I had a couple of minutes play myself which wasn't too bad for a start. Luckily, I didn't do too badly and we actually won the game by 2 points.

There are around 10 teams with a triple round robin so the games would probably be every week until September. We do have quite a few good players on our team so I probably won't see that much action. At least I get to have some sort of exercise during the week.

Kid Funnies Part 25

2008-04-09T20:08:00.002+09:30

The little boy was a bit sad when we picked them up from school. The girl explained to us that he got into a misunderstanding with another boy which resulted into a little shoving match. Although it was all sorted out by the time we got there, our little man was still feeling down. The rain had just let up as we were on our way home and as I was driving, the wife and I wanted to find out more about what happened.

With a small voice and on the verge of crying he started to to tell us the story. He looked up and suddenly with a big smile and wide eyes pointed out the window,

"Look! A rainbow!" he exclaimed.

And just like that, all was forgotten and we couldn't get him to talk about anything else but the especially brilliant rainbow all the way home.

I Love Parcels

2008-04-08T19:14:00.002+09:30

I Love Parcels
Originally uploaded by chazzvid

This was in a box waiting for us when we got home tonight. I just think it feels nice to receive parcels in the mail. Anyway, I got online and completed our Justice League and Futurama collection. I've also longed to get the US box set of The West Wing which has heaps more special features than the one released in Australia.

One thing I also got was a Missal book each for the kids. We think it's time for them to be more involved at church and we figured getting them something to read and follow during mass would help. Hope it works.

Raising Geeky Kids

2008-04-07T20:00:00.000+09:30

A comment from a good friend got me thinking about how geeky our kids are. Being an avowed geek myself, I'm not surprised that my kids upbringing is full of geekness.

They've learned to read early and they know their way around a computer. They watched and enjoy the Star Wars films. We like the animated Justice League. They play Scrabble, Monopoly and Lego and enjoy going to the library.

I guess the geeky things we tend to like when growing up, our own kids end up liking as well. So, what's geeky for us is just normal for them.

But, I do want them to do do more things to break out of the geekness, so to speak. There's actually a video on the net featuring Gever Tulley and 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do and I'm actually seriously considering doing some of them. It's quite interesting and the talk is more about safety than anything else. In today's world where everything is labeled unsafe for kids, there are things one can do to educate the kid.

1. Play with fire.
2. Own a pocket knife.
3. Throw a spear.
4. Deconstruct appliances.
5. Break the DMCA
6. Drive a Car.

The video presents really interesting ideas that allow kids to do explore more of their world in ways that seem to be labeled "unsafe" by most.