I am Macgyver + other stuff

My parents sent Amelia some pipe cleaners. I made a bear out of a few (green of course) after reading Corduroy. I think it came out ok until she said, "the bear has no face." Well, making a face out of pipe cleaners is not easy! I tried, but mostly failed.

Pipe cleaner Corduroy

Magical pipe cleaners

Since pipe cleaners are so malleable, I  thought of a million other things which could be done with them around the apartment. My favorite thus far is to turn our mildly useful dish rack, into something much, much more functional! Since we never use the dishwasher (it is both inefficient and really, really smelly!) I decided to take the silverware holder out and use it with the dish rack. After it had been Macgyvered... it was now perfect!

Sunset from our apartment.

Pretending to be on the phone with Lily + Lena.

"Talk to you later!"

This is a nice day in Sydney.

Arts & Crafts day

After the library, it was a day of arts & crafts. Sometimes we just don't make it outside so we have to find other things to do. Today, Amelia made cards for Lily & Lena and a bunch of other people too. I think she used most of the deserts.

Twirling and spinning and horses, oh my!

Monday. It's our day to go to visit Eric for lunch. I usually try and get to some playground beforehand but we ended up leaving really late. Why did we leave late?  We waited for Lily and Lena to call, the sweet mother's helpers from home. It did not happen this week. Amelia was very sad. But things like this happen. Life happens. They ended up calling about 10-15 minutes after we left. Of course.

Anyhow, we went to the mall to pick up lunch to bring with us. We did our typical walk to Eric's office and go to the playground (really just for a few minutes since we left so late). Amelia made us some mac and cheese from inside the little house on the playground. So sweet.

Ready to dance.

It was too chilly to eat outside so we went to Gloria Jeans (yes, the coffee shop. For some reason it is quite popular here) and had lunch inside. They have hardwood floors and music. Amelia because a ballerina during lunch and for the first time ever, spun around on one foot. All the way around without falling. It was a thing of beauty.

Twirling on one foot!

After the dance recital, we went to the giant trampoline. Amelia had asked many times to do it and today seemed like a good day to try it. They hooked her up and heled her bounce partially because she weighs so little and partially because she doesn't quite get the concept of jumping on a trampoline.

Our next adventure lead us to the Equestrian Center where we pet some horses and watched 5 little girls get on their horses and ride out to Centennial Park. Amelia and I walked with them for 10 min until we found a park with baby swings.

The dark horse

Trying to get on.

We likes this white one.

We followed them out to the park.

And our final adventure for the day was back through the park, but a different way because we were following the horses of course, and we found a different playground. This one had multiple baby swings and a guy practicing his juggling. We watched for a bit and then went to the swings.

Sundays are Family Fun Days!

Sundays are Family Fun Days. For $2.50 you can get an all day pass to travel anywhere on the train, bus or ferry. It's pretty awesome! I think you can even get out of the city as long as you travel on the Cityrail. We haven't done that yet, but I'm sure once the weather gets a little better, we'll head for the mountains.
In this case, it was rainy and cold outside. Perfect time to head indoors to the Sydney Aquarium.
Below you will find some photos--pretty typical photos from an aquarium, though I do love the lego sculptures throughout the venue. I only took pictures of a few, but there had to be at least 2-3 dozen. There was even a mosaic wall. Quite dazzling!

On the train. So excited!

Downpour downtown

Shark!

At the Dugong exhibit.

The menu for the Dugongs.

They love the see glass tunnels.

I love the glass tunnels!

I'm leaving but the shark is staying. Whew!

Moby Dick lego sculpture.

Fishies.

Here he comes.

Swimming

This doesn't even being to capture it.

Close up of the mosaic.

This is all f*cking legos!

Taking the ferry back to the Quay.

From the train.

Zoom!

Nice view from this platform.

Bondi Junction Faire

The day of our anniversary, on September 24th, the Bondi Junction Faire was happening, basically right outside of our apartment. Though we missed most of it due to late start and trying to get me a used yoga mat, we did manage to experience some of it.

Amelia rode on her first solo ferris wheel. Actually, it was her first ride besides the merry-go-round. Surprisingly she didn't cry or get upset, but had a smile from ear-to-ear and, of course, wanted to ride it again. But at $4 a pop, we thought one was enough.

They had face painting (the most talented face painters I have ever seen!), puppet shows, violin recital by kids, musical storytime, bunnies you could pet and much some arts and crafts. The main drawback is that it started to rain and Amelia was tired and hungry.

She pet a cute bunny, but one of the boys in the pen obviously had some sort of disability, like autism or something, and his mom wasn't in with him, so the kid did something to one of the bunnies. It started to freak the hell out and the handler, who probably had zero training, started to freak out too and kicked all of the kids out in a rather terrifying manner. The kid who caused all of the problems then started to freak out when he was told to leave. They don't have any guidelines for this sort of thing in Australia because after the bunny calmed down (it looked like it had a seizure or something), the young (and I emphasize young) woman put the rabbit in a cage and then let all of the kids back in. You would think there was a time limit for each rabbit, like 5-10 minutes of handling and then put it away for a little break. We didn't go back after that. I figured one less kid in the pen would be better.

That night, my new friend Milly, graciously said she would watch Amelia for us so we could go out to dinner for our anniversary. Amelia had seemed really comfortable with Milly and did not have a nap so we knew she would go to sleep earlier than her usual 9pm.

True to form, she crashed shortly after we left. Milly read her a few books and sang a goodnight song and then that was it. Eric and I went to dinner in Double Bay (somewhat like Montana Avenue in Santa Monica) at a place called Pink Salt. It was good. Not outstanding, but so far I have been regularly underwhelmed by the food and overwhelmed by the price.

Summer and winter in one day

On Friday, Eric had an extra day without filming (usually it's Monday) so we decided to go to there for lunch again. Twice in one week! It was really really warm out--somewhere around 27 degrees Celsius, or a little over 80 Fahrenheit. It doesn't sound that warm, but with the wind, and the strong sun, it felt  blazing hot!

On our way to the Entertainment Quarter, we stopped at the little park in the center of the big park Centennial of course. It was nice, with a little shade, and happened to be right next to the cafe (just in case one needed a coffee or a toilet.) It also has this really interesting hanging chime thing which the kids seem to like. Though it could get quite loud, it was kind of sweet to listen to the little kids play with it.

The chimes.

Baby swing at Centennial Park.

One last push before we leave.

Thanks Dad for sending me the clips!

The weather was still really hot on the way home, but it was a nice change from the colder weather we've had recently. Amelia (who was sleeping of course) and I stopped into the mall to go to the grocery store and by the time we got out about 20 minutes later, the wind had come in along with the clouds and colder weather. It dropped about 20 F degrees or more!

Turning day into night... at 3:30pm!

Very ominous.

I was really glad I had decided to buy stuff to make cookies. No bake cookies, but cookies none the less. I don't trust the oven we have here and it seemed like too much to buy all the bits and pieces for regular cookies. These peanut butter cookies were the easiest things to make and, at least I thought, quite delicious! I added some chocolate chips but should have opted for the more expensive "no melt" kind because as soon as I poured them in, they disappeared. Oh well. I bought some rainbow sprinkles for Amelia to put on top.

On Saturday it will be my 6th wedding anniversary and I thought I'd make something for Eric. He loves peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I don't think these resonated with him though. Maybe next year I'll make the real thing.

Rich and yummy peanut butter no-bake cookies.

On sprinkle patrol.

Silhouette

Our kitchen.

From above.

Marin? No, it's Cooper Park

Another day with little happening until late in the day. We headed out to Cooper Park to see if they had a baby swing and maybe something to climb on. It is down a very steep hill (on the way to Double Bay) and back quite a ways down a lovely tree-covered street. Besides the giant Centennial Park, I think this one is my favorite so far. It doesn't hurt that they have loads of tennis courts a beautiful cafe there too. Must try both of those sometime.

I pushed Amelia in the stroller down and back up that hill. A fellow told me there are pathways which make it quicker to get in and out of the park but not with the "pram," especially not one as big and bulky as mine. I hope to figure out a way to get there without the beast.

Now it's a green fence.

Path to the park.

Ferns along the walkway.

A little "bushwalk" up the hill.

Deserted park.

Of course... the baby swing!

Crazy shadows.

Cooper Park aka Hidden Valley!

The cafe--you can't see the wisteria hanging. So lovely!

One last push.