Sunnybrae Farm 2006

Sunnybrae Farm is a historical museum showcasing the history of some parts of our council area. Every year they have an open house of sorts where various historical societies in and around Adelaide showcase some of their knowledge. People from these various societies dress up in period costume and interact with the visitors.

We went to the annual fair last weekend it was quite interesting what we found. There were knights in actual armour, Moorish dancers, American Civil war re-enactors as well as medieval archers. These people weren't just in costume, they also provided a quick history lesson or two to the visitors. There were vintage cars and trucks on display as well as music, cultural dancing and historical demonstrations ( and a few erstwhile knights fighting in the ring!) Highly entertaining and educational. The kids were impressed with the old toys and classic cars on display. We even took in an authentic Punch & Judy show which they found quite hilarious.

It was quite enjoyable and I wish I could have taken more photos. But between minding the kids and watching the entertainment there was hardly enough time to reach for the camera!

A Game of "Hide and Sleep"

The other day, Nico was bugging me to play hide and seek just when I was ironing a big pile of clothes. His version of this game involves him hiding under a pillow or blanket and shouting "Mommy, you find me!" repeatedly until I do come around to find him.

Since I was busy, I told him to go to the playroom first. A few minutes later, I noticed that there was no sound coming from the playroom. When I got there, he wasn't there. And then I noticed the blanket on the sofa, with something hiding underneath ... it was Nico fast asleep! He must have fallen asleep while waiting for me to find him, poor boy.



He even managed to get a pillow under his head .... how cute!

Too much computer too soon?

In this computer age, kids are adapting so quickly to computers as if it was just another kitchen appliance. This was pretty obvious this morning when I was asking the little boy to spell a few words to me as he was lookiing at a poster of a fire engine. I asked him to spell the words "fire engine". He proceeded to say "F-I-R-E-enter-E-N-G-I-N-E".

Needless to say, I had to correct him to say "space" instead of "enter" next time. Just now he asked me to spell "school bus"as it was written on the toy. Intentionally, I paused after spelling the first word to see what he would say. This time he said "pace" and proceeded to spell the rest of the words. Oh well, that's close enough. Just am glad to know that he's really listening and picking things up really quickly.

Blogging Downtime

I haven't been writing for a while now. At least, not too regularly. Nothing much, just been busy with other things. The past couple of weeks was school holidays so the wife has had her hands full trying to keep the kids occupied. There were play dates with friends scheduled but had to be cancelled because our little boy got sick last week. Nothing major, just cough and colds but the doctor prescribed antibiotics just in case.

Normally school holidays would have been the time some families take the kids out of the city or take them on some holiday activity. We did have friends over a couple of weekends ago and we took a pleasant drive down to Port Adelaide. (pictures up in Flickr) We took in the lighthouse and the Port Adelaide markets and took the opportunity to visit another Filipino bakery down that way. We had an impromptu mini-shopping spree and bought some Spanish bread and pan de sal which went well with canned sardines! Adelaide may not have a huge Filipino population but the Pinoy stores are always around to supply us with tastes from home.

And another thing that's contributed to my blogging downtime is the over-abundance of TV shows that have started their season! We're watching Heroes, Studio 60, Jericho, Battlestar Galactica and a few other Australian TV shows that figure in our nightly schedules now. Yup, we're couch potatoes alright...

Palabok Fiesta

My latest attempt at this pinoy dish turned out great (if I do say so myself). Just needed to be served out of styro containers and I could swear I was at Jollibee!

Swimming Lessons

Summer is nearly here and we thought it was as good a time as any for the kids to start swimming lessons. The girl already had some swimming lessons some time ago but we sort of stopped going because it wasn't easy to continue with the time slot with the little boy around.

At any rate, the boy seemed to be of the right age and when we found out about some really good value swimming lessons at our council recreational facilities we decided to sign them up for some. We first had them assessed to see what level of swimming instruction they needed and it was no suprise to us that both of them needed to start near the beginning.

The girl went straight to the second level ( Starfish level ) and the boy at the very start ( Turtles ). Both of them aren't scared of the water at all and they enjoy every minute of it. The facilities provided was good with a heated indoor pool and small class sizes such that there was more time for each kid to be tutured. The class that our boy was in there were only 2 of them so they got a lot of swimming time out of each lesson.

It looks like the boy seems to take to the water right away. On his second lesson he was already being let go and he could kick and paddle for about 2 meters (albeit with floaties). He could float a little bit by himself and was eager for the instructor to bring him into the water everytime. The girl still has to learn a bit more as she often forgets to kick but she likes going into the water as much as the boy does.

The kids have so much fun that we parents want to jump into the pool with them as well!