Hot New Year's Eve

It's officially a heat wave in Adelaide. Today was the 3rd consecutive day of over 40ºC temperatures. The mercury topped around 42º just an hour ago. Last night was also the hottest night Adelaide night in 60 years with the temperature not going down 29ºC overnight. Looks like a sweltering New Year's Eve for us here in South Australia.

At any rate, Happy New Year's to all and try to keep cool ( or warm ) wherever you are.

Enchanted on a Summer Day

Today was another typical Adelaide summer scorcher. Temperatures topped around 40 degrees celsius so we planned a whole day at the mall to watch the Disney movie Enchanted and do a little post-christmas shopping. We've been waiting for the movie to open ever since the kids and us watched the first trailers on the net and seen some of the video clips. Sure enough, we all liked the movie and walked out of the cinema still humming some of the tunes.

It was a great film, it was sort of a Disney movie that wasn't a Disney film. It still had its happpy ending but had a different way of getting to it. Anyway, I've noticed that the girl actually sat through almost 90% of the movie which is something. The boy still had his restless moments though. One good thing we did was to have them go to the toilets before the movie. That ensured no toilet related interruptions at all and we parents actually got to see all of the movie. Which is probably why we doubly enjoyed it too.

After the movie, we had lunch and got haircuts for the kids. We did a spot of shopping as well because there weren't that many people doing actual buying. They probably spent all their money in the last few days so there weren't any actual lines at the checkouts. This wasn't what we expected considering the post Christmas sales but it was a pleasant suprise.

We knew it was still hot outside so we actually just wandered around the mall until the late afternoon/ We figured that the heat wouldn't be too bad by that time and we started for home around 4PM. The next few days would see even hotter temperatures here in Adelaide but considering what we spent today, I don't think we can afford to cool down at the malls anymore... :)

Adelaide 1 - Sydney 3

Sydney FC won the game. Adelaide lead early in the first half but a senseless red card left Adelaide with a man down soon after. After a great shot from outside the box by Sydney player Santalab, the visitors went into gear and the home team struggled to keep up after that. Anyway, it was the first soccer game at the Adelaide oval normally reserved for cricket. It was a good start too as over 25,000 people attended the match.

Teams Take The Pitch

Adelaide Oval

Waiting for kickoff Adelaide United vs Sydney FC.

Kid Funnies Part 23

Multiplayer, originally uploaded by chazzvid.

We just bought the new Simpsons game which has dual player cooperative mode. Unfortunately for the little boy, no one wanted to play at the time so he took matters into his own hands ( or feet! ). He played one controller with his toes and he was actually good at it.

Christmas 2007, The Day After

It was a busy and fun day yesterday. After going to mass on Christmas eve, we had a little dinner at home. Not the usual noche buena of course but it was ok nonetheless, just garlic prawns and pasta and I had a hand at baking a Christmas ham with a pineapple glaze.

Anyway, before going off to bed, the kids left some cookies and milk out for Santa. The wife and I stayed up a bit to try and wait up for him( as parents usually do on Christmas eve! ). We didn't stay up too late because we knew that the kids would be bright and early in the morning to check out what the big guy left them under the tree.

Sure enough, the girl woke up first and was so happy to see that she got what she wanted from Santa that she woke us up too. The boy was still asleep when we got up. Looks like he still hasn't gotten the hang of waking up early on Christmas morning. Eventually he did get up and both kids had so much fun opening the gifts from us and from relatives and friends. Of course, they didn't have to do any unwrapping for the gifts Santa left them. They were eager to get on and ride the bikes right away!



Unfortunately for them, we couldn't go out and test drive the bikes because we still had to prepare for the Christmas lunch we were hosting at our house. We invited a few friends and their families to a Christmas lunch at home. We prepared a sort of Mexican style meal with chili con carne and corn bread, prawns, make your own fajitas with all the trimmings and a non-Mexican meal of hotdogs on sticks in case the kids weren't into the Mexican thing.

Lunch went well, we all had a good time just eating and talking. The kids just played a video games indoors. The PS2 EyeToy game is a great party starter that's for sure. We were worrying all week about whether we prepared enough food but we ended up with so much food. So much for the diet of course but, hey, it's Christmas!



This morning, we went to the park so the kids can practice more of their riding. Because the bikes had training wheels on, the kids soon got the hang of riding. They learned how to do their braking and slowing down and speeding up. It was nice to see them so independent ( sort of ). We did a round around the park and despite a minor tumble or two, the kids had fun. Because it was getting a bit hot we didn't stay long and soon they peddled for home. I'm pretty sure we'll have to make this a routine for all of us now ( I hope ).

Merry Christmas 2007!

Lechon Kawali and Adobong Kangkong

I had a nice piece of pork belly defrosted in the fridge so I decided to make lechon kawali ( or a Filipino style roast pork ) for dinner. I also bought some kangkong, or what passes for kangkong over here to make adobong kangkong which makes a great side dish with the lechon. Instead of traditionally deep frying the pork, I just placed the pork in a rack in the oven and the results were the same, even a little bit "healthier" as I didn't have to to so much oil for deep frying. The pictures came out great too... :)

'Twas The Weekend Before Christmas

And it's been a hectic couple of weeks. Over this time we've attended a couple of Christmas picnics which was part of both our office's Christmas festivities. The thing was, both were held at the same day. We first went to my wife's Christmas picnic at Rymil park. It was brunch thing so we had a great eggs, snags and bacon picnic and the kids had a fun time at the park area. We didn't stay long as we had to go to my office's Christmas function at a different vanue. So, straight from brunch we went to lunch. Aside from the catered lunch, there was a huge fun slide, jumping castles, pony and camel rides as well as a visit from Santa too!

Of course, the kids had the most fun. Not only did they get their fill of the jumping castle ( which actually deflated while they were on! ) they also did the huge fun slides ( with me of course! ) but they got presents too!

At any rate, it's also the start of school holidsay so the wife is taking time off work to stay and keep the kids occupied for some of the school holidays. She already has her hands full not only with making sure the kids don't get bored but also to plan out our own family's Christmas activities.

As for me, I still have to be at the office but hopefully it wont be too busy though.

At home we're sort of busy too as we're preparing to host a few friends over for Christmas day lunch. Nothing much really but I guess it's what Christmas is all about, just getting together with friends. It's so different here because we don't have family nearby, it's really the friends that make Christmas around here for us.

At any rate, speaking of friends and family, if you read this you probably are one of ours and from our family to yours, we hope you have a safe and happy Christmas and a joyous New Years!

Kindy Christmas Concert

The other day our son's kindergarten held their traditional Christmas concert. He played the part of Santa in one of the songs and pretending to be stuck in the chimney! He he had lots of fun and he did the actions for the song perfectly. He looked so cute in his Santa outfit too.

As the concert was about to start, the teacher took him and his friend aside and whispered something to them. Turned out he was given the job to welcome everyone to the concert in a loud voice as the concert began. Then they started to sing their Christmas carols and the kids were enthusiastic about singing Jingle Bells! After a few more songs they ended the concert again with the boy and friend saying goodbye to everyone and inviting them to stay for a quick party after the concert. We remember that his big sister actually had this job last time she was at kindy. They are not so different after all.

But after the concert, there was surprise visit from Santa! He gave out some gifts to all the kids and everyone was quite happy to get something from the big man.

The Boy's Kindy Report Card

So time flies. It's our boy's last week at Kindergarten and they took home their report cards. The wife and were pretty proud of him and of what his teachers wrote about his time in kindy.

Nicolas is a bright, conscientious child who has been a very special member of our Pre-school. His gentle, caring nature and friendly smile have endeared him to all staff and students. He will be sorely missed as he begins his new school adventure.

Nicolas has advanced numeracy and literacy skills. He is capable of reading most children's books independently, with the ability to utilise effective word attack skills for any unfamiliar words. His writing skills are also advanced, competently writing many words legibly in proper sentence formation.

Nicolas is a relatively quiet member of group discussions. WIth encouragement he happily engages in conversation and contributes in an articulate and valuable manner. It was such a pleasure to see his confident and most informative 'My trip to the Philippines' presentation in front of the whole group.

Nicolas enjoys outdoor activities. His sense of fun and adventure, combined with a sense of safety and appropriate behaviour, have enabled him to be a positive role model for his peers. Nicolas is looking forward to school. He is well prepared for the challenges that await him and we wish him all the best for the future. Good luck, Nicolas!

We had a little chuckle about his "sense of safety". We know he's a big stickler for rules and he almost always ends up admonishing playmates when they don't abide by them. Before we enter play areas, for example, he'd read the rules on the sign board first like "no shoes" or "no running" etc. and he'll make sure to follow them. Not only that, he tends to remind the other kids too!

At any rate, we're so happy that he had such a great experience at kindy. We hope he has the same fantastic time at big school.

School Christmas Concert

A few days ago, our daughter's school put up a Christmas concert. All the year levels presented a Christmas themed performance in front of a large audience of parents and relatives. Our daughter's class partnered with another class to act out a story about 10 little angels. Each child was asked to wear a costume based on their part. When the girl came home one day telling us she was the narrator of the story, we weren't sure what costume she should wear. Good thing the teacher said that she could wear anything and she ended up wearing a dress and with tinsel in her hair.

We practiced her part over the next couple of weeks and when the night came she was more than prepared. She did very well in reading out the lines in front of the large crowd. As she read out the words, the class did their part to act out the story on stage. Seeing her on the stage with the spotlight on her, we couldn't help but feel so proud for. I was amazed at how composed and confident she and her co-narrator were to speak in front of a large audience.

It didnt' take long for the concert to finish and as we collected her from her classroom, her teacher told us how great she did and what a treasure we have in her. It was nice to hear that coming from her. I guess we must be doing something right. :)

P.S. Video to be uploaded soon!

New Hot Water System

Our old hot water system died over the last weekend. I had to scramble to find a new one and have it installed. It's our fault really. The old system was way past it's 10 year lifespan and we should have replaced it when we had the chance.

I actually had the day off last Friday and I thought I could relax for a bit after I brought the kids to school and kindy. But when I got home and I heard a large leaking sound from outside the house, I knew that wouldn't be possible. The old system sprung a huge leak and I guess we were lucky I was home to catch it before we lost too much water.

Anyway, I had to find someone to quote us a new system and have it installed but it took a few days for them to come over and do it. In the meantime, we had to endure cold showers for a while there. After a few days, the tradies were able to replace the old tank system with a continuous hot water system. It's a bit expensive but hopefully it would save us water and money in the long run.

Sunday Afternoon in Glenelg

We did something different and visited the Glenelg beach today. It was very very warm yesterday so it was quite good that the sky was overcast and was a bit cooler today when we went out. First, We drove and parked in the city and went to church at the cathedral. Then took the new tramline from Victoria Square all the way down to the beach precint of Glenelg. The city of Adelaide just recently extended the trams to go all the way from one end of the city to another. It used to be that it only stopped in the middle and buses took people all the way to the end. At any rate, we rode the old tram once before, on the last day those trams were meant to be retired no less. This time around, we got to ride the new trams and it was a different experience. I have to say though that the old trams really had character and this time around, the new trams just felt like another mass transit system.

Anyway, we arrived in Glenelg just in time for lunch. Glenelg is one of Adelaide's beach side suburbs and quite a tourist spot. Aside from the beach there are lots of shops, restaurants and there's also a huge indoor amusement center called "The Beach House" where we took the kids once and they had a ball.

The wife had a hankering for fish and chips and that's what we had. I myself just had a fish and salad and the wife and kids got their fill of fish and chips. The specialty of the restaurant was fresh local South Australian oysters and we had some of that too. We liked the fish as the batter they used was quite light and tasty. We ordered half a dozen oysters Kilpatrick and even under the sauce and bacon bits, we could taste that the oysters were plump and juicy. Real good South Aussie oysters. Wish we could have had more but, unlike in the Philippines where we can have a sack full of oysters for next to nothing, over here it's not that cheap.

After lunch, the wife and I had a coffee and the kids had ice cream. We then took a walk to end of the jetty (pier) just to see the sights. The kids were really interested in the deep water off the edge as some teenagers were jumping off to and dived into it. I must admit, even though we know the kids can swim now, I was still a bit nervous about letting go of the kid's hands as we walked along the jetty as the railings weren't exactly kid proof.

After the walk, we stayed a little while on the beach as the kids played on the sand. We didn't stay long and after a quick walk along the shops, we headed for the city on the tram again. It was a good day and something tells me, we'll probably be back as summer holidays are fast approaching.