Our Perth Holiday - PrePlanning & Day 1

I am suffering from post-holiday blues!  Hopefully, as I write about the holiday, I get to re-live the holiday experience again.

Pre-Planning
Just like our previous holidays, this was a "free and easy" holiday. Quite a contradictory term since "free and easy" meant a lot of research and planning beforehand! I needed to book the accommodation and car rental, so I needed to know where to go, what are the attractions at a place, estimated time spent at a particular place, logistics etc etc.

Amidst the packed schedule (dealing with house renovation & move, a work trip to Singapore, super busy time at work), I managed to book 5 separate hotels, booked a car rental (looked at 6 companies before deciding!), finalised holiday plans, applied for Visa and then yayyyyyyy.........excitedly looked forward to the holiday!!!


Day 1
Touched down at Perth International Airport around 12.30pm. By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was already close to 3pm.  We were famished so we just walked in to a McDonalds near the hotel. Yikes, even McD was expensive after the RM 3.33 = AUD 1 conversion!!

Elyssa's first photo in Australia

Errr......mummy was so excited to be finally in Australia until cannot even take a proper photo.  Ha ha

After our late lunch, we walked to Kings Park.  I loved not sweating despite walking so much.

At Kings Park

 Hubby on the grass
Love the scenery!

 Elyssa and I with the Perth skyline behind us

Lavender

I was thrilled when I saw this!  But not quite spring yet so can't really see the flowers. 

  

Posing with flowers & mummy's shawl

  

On our way back, we saw this huge stretched limo

The wedding party

There was a Hummer Limo too!

Almost 10 limos in total.  What a grand reception

 

 

 

By the time we got back to the city centre, it was already dark and most of the shops were closed already.  Aiyak....  what to eat?  Pasta in the hotel - AUD 25+ for one person.  Ouch!  Chinese shop - AUD 13+ for one plate of fried rice.  Ouch!  In the end, we found an IGA supermarket and happily bought Korean instant noodles, milk, yoghurt and strawberries for dinner. (which turned out much cheaper)  That was the start of our love affair of grocery shopping in Australia! 

 

Had our dinner in the small hotel room.  We stayed at Criterion Hotel for 3 nights. (AUD 115 per night, booked via Agoda).

 

Went to bed early that night as we were up since 5+am for our morning flight.

 

 

-- End of Day 1 ---

We are having a Blast

in Aussieland....!

Almost the end of our 10 day vacation and it has been GREAAAT so far!!  I don't want the holiday to end, but at the same time, I miss baby Erin terribly. Mummy's coming home soon ok?

Here's a pic of Elyssa feeding a kangaroo

Will update more when I'm back. Gonna have super duper long winded day-by-day holiday posts ahead  :-) 

Father's 70th Birthday

Papa turned 70 last weekend!
Earlier on, we asked him whether he wanted a big celebration (few tables at a Chinese sit-down dinner) so that he could invite his friends as well. But he opted for a cosy family dinner instead.

To make it more special, we decided to splurge on an 8 course chinese dinner.  As a birthday gift, we gave him a Samsung Galaxy Tab, since he finally installed Unifi at home last week.  Talk about an IT savvy grandpa eh?


Food was pretty decent.  The usual suspects (photos only of 4 courses) -

4 Seasons Platter

 Roast Pig and Chicken Combo

Sweet Sour Fish

My all time favourite - Braised Mushroom with Broccoli

After dinner, it was time for the birthday song and cake cutting ritual. And as usual, a photo session with the grandkids is a must! 

Getting ready for the photo session takes a little longer each year.  Let's see why :

Ok, Grandkid #1 (Elyssa) and #2 (Erin) ready. 

Wait....#3 (Su Ern) coming

And #4 (Justin) now on Ah Kong's lap

#5 (Jensen) deposited on Ah Mah's lap

 

#6 (Jo Ern) now here

Roll Call - #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6.  Yup, all here!  Everybody SMILE !!!!  :)

That's the best group photo I have. Not easy to get a decent photo of everyone.  Love the happy smiles on Ah Kong and Ah Mah tho!

And why was baby Su Ern crying?? Err..... I only noticed that my little Erin was at fault when I looked at my camera pictures -

"I'm bored....this is taking too long. Let me poke Baby Su Ern's eye"

"Still bored. While waiting, let me claw her face"

Oops!!  Baby samseng caught in action!  ;-)

Oh, an added advantage of having a private room (well, except for the "free" karaoke entertainment from the room next to us) was the kids had place to run and dance about :

Dancing session after dinner

Happy 70th Birthday to my beloved Papa !  :-)

Erin is Walking

Erin is Walking!  She started around the 13 month mark and is getting steadier day by day.

Managed to take a short clip about a week ago.  I just love the proud and happy smile on her face  :)





Oh dear.... if she has celebrated her First birthday and she's walking already, does that mean she's technically a "toddler" instead of a "baby"??  We still refer to her as "baby" or "baby Erin"!  Gonna be tough to change. (well, we don't really want to!)

I did IT !!!

I achieved my own stretched target of breastfeeding Erin for one year !  Yay!

When I started work, my initial routine was to:

 1. Wake up at 6.30am to pump (or nurse Erin on one side if she wakes up) 

 2. Pump in office at 11.00am

 3. Pump in office at 3.00pm

 4. Pump at home just after 7.00pm

 5. Nurse her to sleep around 9ish pm

 6. Nurse her direct when she wakes up at night.

I still remember my first day at work in the new company - there were introduction sessions, then an internal meeting with my new boss, then a team welcome lunch for me and then an external meeting and when I finally managed to find time to pump, it was already 4pm and I felt my boobs were going to explode! And just 5 minutes into pumping, there was a knock on my door!  Adoi...what a day!

Anyway after about 2 months or so, I pushed back the first pump to about 7.00am and then to a more comfortable 7.20am. (a BIG deal to me since I am not an early riser).

Few months later, I stopped the 7.00pm pump. It was pretty easy to sustain after that. I started to view my 11am and 3pm pump as a break from work. I blog-hopped a lot during those sessions  :-)  By then, most people in the office knew what I was doing already. (he he....one of my colleagues confided that she intially thought I was being obnoxious for closing my room door, maybe as a sign that they were talking too loudly outside)

About 2 months ago, the entire company moved to a different location. With the new office layout, I did not get a room to myself anymore  :(    It was a pretty huge transition to pump in the small storeroom!  But definitely better than my sis who has to pump in the office toilet!  

Eventually (after Erin's first birthday) I reduced to one pump in the office and about 2 weeks ago, I stopped pumping in the office completely. Combination of factors, I suppose - milk supply very low, Erin already turned one, pumping in the storeroom not so condusive, busy with the house move, busy at work with the auditors etc.

So that pretty much sums up my milk pumping journey! (but still nursing direct at night). Towards the last few months, I could only get a few ounces a day, but my aim was to just continue for as long as I could. Kept telling myself that each ounce I get is an ounce of liquid gold for my baby princess. 

Happy that I DID IT !  :-)

When There's A Will, There's a Way

Step 1 - Find a Box

Step 2 - PUSSSSH box to desired location

Step 3 - Climb on Box

YAY!!!  Mission Accomplished!  

That's my greedy little monkey in action  :-)

And that's not just a KitchenAid Mixer Box. My KitchenAid Mixer is really inside!  It's rather heavy so I was surprised she could still push it.

We have Moved!

We survived the house move! 

2 nights before the move

Moving Day

On the Moving Day itself plus the days before, I made sure I kept myself busy. Cos everytime I sat down and let my mind wonder, I could feel the tears coming.

After all, this was the house where we moved in as newly weds. This was the house where we painted the walls together. This was the house where we brought baby Elyssa and baby Erin home when they were just a few days old. This was the house where .......well, plenty of things happened!  Some not so good, but definitely many, many more good stuff.  Plenty of great memories.  *sigh*.

I'm gonna miss you House Number XX!!!

As for you, House Number YY, I look forward to creating beautiful memories ahead.

But before that, I need to deal with all the unpacked boxes......

Boxes, Boxes everywhere.

Curtains not done yet. Garden still looks like construction site. Master bathroom still not ready. Floors forever dirty cos workmen still coming in...

But slowly, this house is turning into a home  :)