31 May - New book

We bought Grace a new book tonight, which has felt pages, and came with a bunch of felt flowers, insects and bugs.

Of course she absolutely loved it.

30 May - Slide

While I was at work today, Leah rearranged Graces playroom.
Grace now has a soft mat at the bottom of the slide, with a picture of a ladybug on it (among many other things), and she decided she must slide down and aim for the bug to land on.

I think she did it continuously for about 10 minutes, but only if I would confirm for her every time that she was going to land on the bug.

29 May - Graces Music

We have actually had this for a week or two now, but until I sat and properly played with it all with Grace tonight, it never really occurred to me just HOW good this set is.

The Turtle is an electric drum that lights up and plays tunes also. The giraffe is a guitar that plays songs, and the crocodile is a keyboard. Plus the little turtles shell clicks.

When you pull them apart you get a mini turtle from drum turtles head, plus a kazoo from his tail.

Crocodile turns into a mini croc from his head, a washboard thing from his tail (along with a stick from his belly to play it), and his left legs come of to be a shaker that rattles.

And the giraffe comes apart as a whistle when you blow into the horns on his head, plus a shaker from his neck with little cymbals, and each foot comes off too, one is a rattle, the other clicks together like canastas.

Very cool indeed. I would have loved to be a one man band with something like this when I was a kid.

28 May - Bravo, Belkin

Todays blog is a thank you to Belkin, who within 10 days of my first contact to complain about a faulty phone/GPS car holder, have managed to supply me with a brand new replacement unit already.

Pretty impressive service.
Maybe Oricom, Nikon and any number of other companies could take a lead from them.

27 May - 3.5 years

Its taken us almost exactly 3 years and 6 months since moving to Canberra to finally make it to Ikea in Sydney. But today was the day, with a 7 am departure, to meet Cass, Nathan and Maddie at Goulburn for breakfast.

I would say Ikea was worth the wait, except I wish we had been sooner.
The store was awesome...great products, and so cheap.
We managed to be good and only buy a couple of bar stools, and some assorted very cool smaller stuff. But I think we could have filled the Ute a few times over quite easily.

The food was also brilliant, and also cheap. I loved the little food tray trolleys, so I got to be the old food lady at lunch....

Overall, an awesome day out, and a bit of an eye opener seeing the rather unique shopping experience at Ikea.

Topped off with a play for the girls at a park right next to the International airport runway, so we could see the planes, then a quiet drive home via Mittagong for tea, and some SMS eye-spy games with Cass and Nathan on the way.

26 May - Zoo

We were sitting at home this afternoon when Leah mentioned the word zoo. Grace obviously heard, as she started listing all the animals there, and then wanted to put shoes on and go in the car.
So we went.

Was a bit cold, but since we got there a little  before 4 pm, there was virtually nobody else there.

And Grace got to see her beloved turtles and fish. Plus the snakes were actually moving today, and the Lions were moody too, growling and roaring at each other.

25 May - Bath time hats

Tonight when Grace had her bath, she decided the plastic cups would make good hats..for both herself, and her inflatable ducky.

24 May - Dreary day

Today was one of those days where it was wet and quite dark by 4 pm, and you felt like you should just stay in bed.

Unfortunately that's not what I did, as I went to work, so at 4 pm I was driving home in the dreary wet darkness.

And then I got home to find Leah and Grace having that dream day of laying in bed....

But even that didn't last as we were going to the regular Thursday snittys at the Leagues club. Which was delicious by the way.

But before that, Grace had to practice walking while standing on my feet. Which is starting to hurt now she's getting bigger and wearing shoes while I am barefoot.

23 May - Cost Co, Oh no

So today we finally succumbed and bought a membership to Cost Co.
Of course this meant we had to go and check it out.
So, after being advised at the membership counter of the 4000 rules of entry, and the further 2000 rules of check out, plus the final security check at the door ON THE WAY OUT, we were in! I won't even mention the 'quality' photo membership cards they print.

We spent just over an hour (though about 10 mins of that was the above rules of entry speech), and felt like we hadn't really seen anything properly since it is so poorly laid out.I also didn't think the prices were all that great.

Then at the checkout they made us transfer everything from one trolley to another as we paid, for security purposes. (amazingly this was not mentioned in our 6001 rule induction speech) followed by that final  inspection of our purchases in trolley number two at the door.

All in all not an experience I want to repeat in a hurry. If this is how Americans have to shop, then it is no wonder they go around shooting each other!

22 May - Dorothy dress ups

Tonight after work when I got home Grace was wearing her Dorothy fairy wings along with her Sesame Street pyjamas, which I thought was pretty cute.

She also made Leah put on her Dorothy hat and glasses from the circus, before finally getting me to put on the flashing red clown nose.

Then she was content and went for another slide!

21 May - Corn

Grace has had a cold for the past couple of days, and hasn't been eating much.
So for tea tonight we had veggies and sausages, knowing she was likely to eat some veggies.
Especially the corn on the cob.
Turns out we were right.

20 May - posing for a photo

This afternoon Grace wanted to have a bounce on the trampoline, and the weather was really nice so we headed outside with my phone in hand, knowing what nice photos I can often get of her on there.

What I didn't expect was Grace to lay with me, look at the phone and say cheese waiting for me to take our photo.

It was nice to get a kiss and cuddle, even if Dorothy the dinosaur joined us!!

19 May - Funny photo

OK, so today I genuinely do not have a single photo to use.

So I'm going with this one that I saved from Facebook that a friend of mine from long long ago posted...

Normally I find these captioned animal photos really irritating, but for some reason this one just seems hilarious to me. I actually did genuinely LOL at this,I didn't just think it!

I showed it to Leah and barely got a giggle, so I figure it's just that I'm tired tonight and that's why it seems funny.

18 May - Sunny days and more bugs

This morning I met Leah and Grace at Questacon, but were then told that the miniQ area which is for kids Graces age, was closed for renovation.
So instead we had a drink and cake at the cafe and then Grace had a bit of a play outside.
Weather was brilliant, so it was nice to be out for a while.

Then tonight when I got home from work, Grace had a present from her Nan Rose and Opa Martin that we had to open.
Lucky girl got some bugs, and boy was she happy with them!

Thanks Nan and Opa!

17 May - Graces glasses

Grace has had some littlest pet shop animals for a while now, and last week she decided that the miniature glasses and goggles must fit her.

Now every time we play with the animals, she has to wear them. EVERY TIME!!!

16 May - Cars

Today Leah bought a new car mat for Grace.
After tea tonight we had a play and Grace knew exactly what it was for, heading into her playroom to get some cars.

15 May - Monkey Mania

Today Leah took Grace to Monkey Mania for a play with Claire and Hugh, so I finished work early to join them.

Grace always loves it there and today was no different. She did insist that Dorothy join us for the whole time, but most of the time that meant I had to hold Dorothy for her.

14 May - Cass and Nathans

After work tonight we went to Cass and Nathans to help them get their new router and internet working properly.

Grace was pretty happy there, with Maddies toys and books. She got VERY comfortable while we were eating tea, and managed to convince Cass to join her on their bed to play games on the iPad.

I think Cass has won her over now!

13 - May - Strainer Head

Tonight while we were cooking tea, Grace decided the strainer would make both a very good hat, and also a good mask.

I'm not sure we should let her watch horror movies like Friday the 13th anymore though.  ;-)

12 May - Angry Spider

This afternoon while Grace had a nap, Leah and I tidied the backyard a bit, mowing and whipper snippering, as well as moving the trampoline.

I had forgotten about the ginormous spider that has been living in a Web spun from the trampoline to next door, until I was standing almost IN it's Web, and Leah walked over and gave me a horrified look. I think I landed somewhere on the other side of the yard when I realised what that look meant!! :-)

I also think this started the spiders anger, so by the time we moved the trampoline and broke his Web, he was seriously Pissed...

I'm sure as I went back near him with the mower he was throwing little spider arrows at me.
Then he disappeared...

So I'm assuming a future stealth attack, sometime, somewhere, when I least expect it.

11 May - Bubble time

After work tonight we had a quick play outside before it got dark.

Grace was pretty happy that Leah got new batteries for the bubble machine.

10 May - Playing with Grace

Had a day of playing with Grace today, starting with Kindergym, then after she had a nap, a bounce on the trampoline, with pretty impressive static hair!

Then we met Cass and Maddie at the park for a play, where the girls loved the various slides.

9 May - Toys at Target

After work tonight we went to the plaza and while Leah got some groceries at Coles, Grace and I checked out the toys at Target.

Grace always enjoys looking at them, but thankfully is usually happy to put them all back on the shelf when we leave!

8 May - A little late

Todays post is actually yesterdays post. Or should that be, I'm actually doing todays post tomorrow? I'm not sure.

Anyway, yesterday the 8th of May, when I should have done this, I forgot and didn't have a picture.

So what more fitting picture could I choose for a late post than the calendar on my office wall, that is 5 months late now. I've obviously never changed it since it went up in January. Oops.

7 May - Flying Home

Spent the day travelling today as we came home from Hobart via Melbourne, instead of the early direct flight.

Grace was pretty happy with watching the planes at the airport.
And then when we arrived home, the cross stitch that Graces Nan made for her was here. A nice welcome home gift...

6 May - Playing at the Pub

I went to visit Martin in hospital again today, and was really happy to see how much better he seemed to be compared to Friday.

We then went to the Brighton Pub for lunch, where Grace just wanted to play.

She decided the slide wasn't exciting enough though, and that she really must go down head first.

5 May - Thursdays accidental photo

I realised tonight that I haven't taken a photo for the blog.
But when I opened the gallery on my phone to see if I had anything,I discovered this photo.
I must have taken it completely by accident, and had no idea I took it!
Admittedly, its not actually from today, add I think I wore these shorts on Thursday.

4 May - Tired in Tassie

First day in Tasmania today. I went to see Martin in hospital while Leah and Grace stayed at home.
Grace just loves her cousin Abby  and wouldn't have a day nap today. I think she was having too much fun playing.

It did mean she got pretty tired tonight by the time she had her bottle. She hasn't fallen asleep while drinking it for a long time!!!

3 May - A whole new Galaxy...

Today I finally bit the bullet and bought a new Samsung Galaxy S2 4G phone.

So far after a few hours of using it, I absolutely love it, though some things are taking some getting used to since I am do used to using an iPhone.

While the fact it runs on Telstra's 4G network didn't impress me before I got the phone, I have to admit the download speeds in Canberra are pretty stunning!!

The photo is a screenshot of a speed test I did not far from home, in Fyshwick.

I was stunned - that download speed is nearly 5 times faster than our very fast home ADSL connection!

2 May - Bye Bye Foxtel

I had completely forgotten that I had called and cancelled our Foxtel subscription as we hadn't been watching it at all lately.
So imagine my surprise when I actually did turn it on tonight to find this message, and realize today was the cutoff day!!

1 May - My Microwave (or my wife) could Kill me anytime

I found out quite by accident today that our Convection Microwave Oven
Has been recalled due to the high risk of electrocution!!!!
I was horrified to read this had happened to someone, and then it dawned on me that the vicious kitchen appliance in question was eerily like our own!!

I did have a certain "non believer" So I had to take photographic evidence that ours was the same model.
At which point Leah mentioned I could have cleaned the fingerprints off it before I took a photo!!
Problem is, that requires touching the maiming microwave.

I think my wife may be trying to kill me......and blame Sanyo for it.