Adelaide Holiday - Day 2

Day 2 

Woke up to a beautiful morning! We packed our lunch, had our breakfast, got the girls ready and drove to Victor Harbour.

 

Nice n easy drive

 

When we got down from the car upon arrival at Victor Harbour, we were surpised that it was sooo cold, especially when the wind blew. Brrrrrrr!!! We were only in short sleeve t-shirt with a simple jacket each. Luckily I grabbed an extra sweater for Erin just before we left the apartment. Found a dress for Elyssa in my bag, but the vainpot didn't want to wear it over her t-shirt.  ;-)

 

 

First important stop of the day :- stock up on wine!

We've never seen a drive-tru alchohol shop before. We were very amazed. hehe.

 

So easy to buy alcohol, esp when buying in cartons. No need to worry about parking and can load straight to car boot.

Girls spotted a sandy playground and requested for playground time. 

Sure! Since this is a free n easy family holiday. Plus I like the girls to stock up on "happy hormones" early in the morning.

 (ok, ok, I have an ulterior motive too. Cos if we look at stuff we prefer later, I can tell them they had "their" fun time already.)

Beautiful Victor Harbour

Plenty of Seagulls

 

Walking accross the causeway to Granite Island

 

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

The causeway is only 630 meters. 2 options available - just walk across (free) or take a horse drawn tram (AUD 19 one way for family tics of 2A,2C).  We had to wait another half an hour or so for the next  tram, so we just walked.

Spotted the tram halfway

Arrived at Granite Island

Causeway pic, taken from Granite Island

Took a walk on the "Kaiki Walk", which is a trail around the perimeter of Granite Island.

 

 

So windy!

Just look at how clear the water is

 

After finishing the walk, we ate our packed lunch then walked back to Victor Harbour.

Such a beautiful place, so we spent a bit more time here

 

 

Next stop - Port Elliot.  Wanted to go to the Horseshoe Bay but both girls were fast asleep in their carseats so we just took some photos and proceeded to our next destination - Goolwa.

Chanced upon this lovely morning market

Just look at this huge Pelican!

Stopped by at a small cafe for afternoon tea.
Mocha for hubby, Chai latte for me, Ice-cream for the girls :-)

Spotted the Cockle Train from cafe window

Headed back after tea.

Just had to take photo of this mini standalone building!

 

Went back to Normanville Beach for the activity we promised the girls - sandcastle building time!

 

Happy Girls with their Sandcastles

I love you too, Elyssa!

Love, love, love this beach

 

Headed back to our apartment just before sunset. 

Spotted kangaroos when we entered the carpark area

When we got back, the girls had a nice warm bubble bath for in the giant bathtub (so they don't bug us!) while we prepared dinner.

Ta daaaa........ dinner is served!

After dinner, we started washing plates then realised we should use the dishwasher (duh!)  Wheee.....such a nice thing to have! Then we decided to use the washing machine and dryer too. hehe.

 

While the girls watched some tv, we enjoyed our wine and strawberries on the outdoor patio.  :-)

 

Then time to Zzzzzzz.

 

--End of Day 2-- 

 

Adelaide Holiday - Day 1

Just got back from our week-long holiday in Adelaide. Whooo hoooo!!!  Our second time in Australia. When we went to Perth about 2 years back, it was without Erin (our one and only holiday without Erin). A holiday is definitely more complete with all 4 of us  :-) 

Day 0 / 1

I didn't want Elyssa to miss school, so we took the night flight on MAS - departed 10.30pm on Friday night and arrived next morning in Adelaide around 8.30am. (2.5 hour time difference)

Note to self : Don't ever take a night flight unless there's really no choice! The flight was 7 hours+, with supper served shortly after take-off and light breakfast served shortly before descent. Couple that with taking the girls to the toilet, getting them comfortable, trying to get ourselves comfotable bla bla bla, we hardly got any sleep. Hubby was ok (he can get by without enough sleep for a few days, just like a camel with water. heh) but I'm the type that needs 7 hours of sleep a day, so I was very much zombified.  Aiks. 

We collected our pre-booked rented car from Hertz, and we were off for our holiday!!  (tho I was half asleep with a heavy head..) 

Our first meal in Adelaide 

First meal is always the toughest. Cos we can't help but convert so everything seems so horribly expensive. Elyssa was also really grumpy during the meal. Sigh. Can't blame her cos she was really tired like me. 

Bought some groceries at Coles then started the scenic drive to the apartment we booked for the week. 

Made a quick stop at Christie's beach 

Route was pretty scenic but I dozed off now and then.  So no photos. 

First time we drove ON the beach 

The beach was wide and the sand was really compact! 

Our apartment was at Links Lady Bay Resort, in a small town called Normanville, about an hour away from Adelaide town. I perked up immediately when we checked in. 

Living Room

Kitchen 

Jacuzzi bathtub in the bathroom. Whoo hoo!! 

There was a washing machine and dryer in the bathroom too 

Fully equipped kitchen

Kitchen came complete with pots, plates, cups,wine glasses, detergent and even a dishwasher. 

Super loved the apartment! We booked it under our Marriott Vacation club program. Used the Interval point exchange system so our 7-night stay was almost equivalent to a typical 2 night stay under the program.

We all took a long afternoon nap shortly after check in :-)  Woke up all refreshed and energized. Wheeee!!!

Went to the nearby Normanville beach -

@ Normanville beach 

Really love this beach!  Quiet but not deserted. Juuuust nice.  

 Trying to jump for the camera.  Failed. hehe.

Isn't it absolutely lovely???

Hubby on the beach 

Walking back to the car. Even this part is so beautiful

Went to buy grab more groceries at the nearby Foodlands supermarket.  Cooked a simple meal with ham and sausages, relaxed with tv and then Zzzzzzz.....

- End of Day 1- 

"Kai Kai" time

Nowadays, we don't go "kai-kai" as much as we used to.  Old already..... prefer to laze at home
;-)

Love these photos of a recent "kai-kai" session-

Girls trying out hats

Using colourful cushions as props

Blanket also can

My favourite.... "Here comes the bride"!!!!

 

 

I just love it when the girls enjoy each other's company!

Christmas Party - 2014

Already coming to end of March.  Good time to write about uhm.... last year's Christmas party  ;-)
Talk about slow updates! haha. Well, this was about 95% done in my draft post, so might as well finish it up and post.

____________


We had a fab Christmas party on December 27th!  Hosted by one of our neighbours who's a fantastic party planner.

Names for Christmas Stalls

Before Stall Opening

See...... not open yet.  Come back at 8.15pm

But before the games begin, let's EAT first.  It was a potluck party and there was sooo much good food.  Chicken pies, kompia, lamb stew, mutton curry, spaghetti, sambal petai etc etc.  Yumz!!!

I made these 2 desserts for the party- Christmas log

Christmas Cupcakes

After eating and eating, it was time for the games.
Each kid was given $50 (printed on pretty Santa "notes") to spend at the stalls.

Stall Time

Most popular stall was the manicure stall.  Most of the girls made a beeline to that one!

I manned the tattoo stall.

Seen here with one of my "customers" sitting on my lap.  Aiyo....this customer no good one.  When I asked her for money, she just gave me a smile and said "mummy".  Must do tatto for her, then pay for her give free lap service somemore! 

"Santa Claus" made an appearance later that night

Erin with Santa Claus

Elyssa with Santa Claus

 

A memorable Christmas party indeed.

Photoshoot

We bought a groupon photoshoot for the girls recently.

Managed to snap 3 photos before I was told no camera allowed ;-)

Elyssa in her Elsa dress

Erin in her Anna dress

Erin in a "Belle" costume

 

 

Looking forward to see the final photos!

Already received a message from the photo studio that photos are now ready. Let's see.... the photoshoot was about a month ago. Judging from our snail pace, it will take us one month to collect the photos (so far 2 weeks already!) and another one month before I post up the pictures.  :-)   

 

Goggles

Erin took quite a while to wash her hands after lunch one day.  I went to peep into the bathroom and saw this-

Me : Erin, why are you wearing your goggles??
Erin : So the soap don't go into my eyes!!!

Ah well...... she has a point!  Hehehe!

 

 

Shoes

Elyssa is pretty much settled in her primary school now.  But around end of January, we had a mini "drama". Just as we were about to reach her school in the morning -

Elyssa (panicked voice)  :  Mummy, I wore the wrong shoes!
Me                : huh?
Elyssa           : I wore my Frozen shoes!!!!

I turned around and sure enough - she was all dressed up for school in her school pinafore, hair tied up neatly, white socks and PINK frozen themed CROCS styled shoes.  Aaaarghhh!

My initial reaction was to make a u-turn home.  But it was about 15 minutes before start of school, I had my nephew in my car too (won't be fair to make him late) and for some strange reason, the road was extremely congested that morning.  I knew I had no choice but to drive on to school.

Elyssa (almost in tears) :  but Mummy, how????  
Me    :   *sigh*.   It's too late to turn back now.  Be careful next time ok?

I dropped off both kids at the school gates. Elyssa was initially a little reluctant to get down, but she did in the end. I couldn't get the image out of my head - my little girl with her head held high, pulling her school bag behind her amongst the sea of other kids going through the school gates, but in her PINK shoes.  Gosh!  All I could think of was Wow, she has guts! 
I caught a glance of the 2 little prefects at the school gates. They both immediately looked at Elyssa's shoes, looked at each other but before they had time to react, Elyssa walked through already  ;-)

I contemplated driving off to work as usual.  But I felt really uneasy.  Afterall, Elyssa is in a government chinese school. Where there are stories of caning and punishments galore. And it was just the first month.

So I went home to get her shoes.  And got stuck in a horrible traffic jam.  Took me exactly 1 hour to reach her school gates again. (Grrr!)   She was delighted to see me when I went to her classroom. Quickly kicked off her pink shoes and wore her white school shoes. Surprisingly, she didn't get any reprimand for the pink shoes (yet). She said she sneaked into her classroom through the backdoor  ;-)

Phew..... what a day!!  I was of course super, super late to work that morning. Grrr!  When I told the story to one of my colleagues, his reaction  was  : "Oi, why you so silly one... next time, just put a plaster on her foot"!!!!!!   Wuahahahahahah!  It did cross my mind at the school gates that morning actually, but I thought I should't be sending her to wrong message.  hehe.