I Intend to Dine

The Marriott offered a very popular Christmas Day buffet for $200/head not inclusive of alcohol. It was so popular that they put tables in the lobby, right by the pool so that as you were leaving the pool you had to walk through these very lovely tables and people dressed in their finest to reach the elevators. We did not partake in the buffet but we did junk up the joint by having to pass through on our way from the pool to the elevator. After enjoying the $200/head Christmas buffet some families wanted to have a drink in the bar. Well, you can only down that dirty martini if your “intent is to dine” we watched a very nice family complete with Grandma get turned down for service b/c they had no intention of dining in the bar, probably since they were quite satisfied from the $200/head meal they just had. I asked our waitress about it and this is a quote, “Well Australia being a Christian country and all and it is Christmas and all so you can not just go out and get wasted and all, it is a liquor licensce issue and all.” I asked her about the 4 blokes that had been at the bar for hours and had 4 beers in front of each mate at all times and she said, “oh we have been making them order a meal every 2 hours.” At the cost of about $25/meal plus 15% surcharge. Nice. I have at times wanted to enjoy a casual drink with friends and conversation and at other times I have wanted to get wasted and really let my hair down. I have to say the Marriott Hotel bar is not my party hardy first choice but what do I know? and all.

This is 15% better!

I enjoyed my Christmas Day meal and cocktail 15% more than I did the day before.

Due to the public holiday we paid a surcharge of 15% on all items consumed at the Marriott on Christmas Day. Good news: the next three days are considered holidays!

Santa found us!

Christmas Day at the pool

The boys at preschool orientation

 Afternoon Tea

Joy of all joys for our animal lover! The school has bunnies!  He stayed with the bunnies for 20 minutes.

THOMAS!!!

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way


Thanks Willie! I really love that song

Christmas for our family usually means taking a week or so of pure R&R and heading to sunny Florida to be with family. We all really look forward to this time. We eat, drink, play in the pool, walk the beach, and basically unwind from the rigors of the year. This year with Mike having 4 days of vacation a trip to the States was not in the cards. So in attempt to make the best of a not ideal situation we planned a Griswold style vacation. We loaded up the family truckster(we did not spring for a new station wagon with fancy wood panels, the CX-9 would have to do) and we headed out to see this wild and wacky country of OZ.

 We left right after the baby prom and made our merry way to Port Macquarie. All of Mike’s work mates said it was wonderful. It was. But we had to discover that as it was not apparent on first glance. The drive into town was awful. It looks like you are on your way to a great family vacation in Palatka. And then suddenly there it is the most beautiful beaches. It was so incredibly beautiful pristine and so incredibly unpopulated. We spent two nights in PM. Highlights were a trip to the Big W to buy raincoats-we will expand on rain rain rain later. At the Big W I could have been at any smalltown USA Wal Mart, it felt exactly the same, complete with the local flavor of colorful characters, local fashion statements and local locals. Real highlights were The Koala Sanctuary, where we excelled at roo feeding, some of us excelled some of us dumped food on the roo or in front of the roo. Kangaroos are so soft, they have some of the softest fur I have ever petted or as they say “patted.” I took a coastal walk enjoyed alone while the boys were napping, the family went to a delicious dinner at the Stunned Mullett per the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2011, despite being muy gourmet they had high chairs and $18 hand breaded chicken tenders! After dinner we had a wonderful night walking around the rockwall and off to bed. 

MORE PICS TO COME. 

We busted out of P.M at 8:00 am. We were able to achieve this amazing departure time thanks to Colin and his incredible internal clock that has set itself to 6:10 am. If you hated me because my kids slept from 7:30-7:30 you can stop, cuz that ship has sailed. From PM we drove the Pacific Highway to Bellingen. Bellingen is a small town that has many of its buildings on the World Heritage list, it also could be any Colorado mountain town, not Vail or Aspen more Telluride Crested Butte or a tiny tiny Boulder. Long haired freaky people please apply read the sign. It was a cute town and not too far off the beaten path so I would say it was worth it. We got a great cappucinno and snacks at Vintage Espresso, an almost too cool espresso and antiques shop. I say almost because it wasn’t too cool, it was actually cool. There were a group of the greasiest haired counter culture ish people enjoying a Christmas Eve day cap together, which makes me wonder what is so counter culture about not washing your hair or conversely is it all that conformist to have a clean head? Am I a slave to the man and machine because I love a good loofah? I LOVE TO SHOWER. I could do it multiple times a day! Sometimes it is my relaxation “activity” during the boys nap. If “fighting the power” means I can’t shower then count me out of the revolution, man. 

After Bellingen it was off to our next stop Byron Bay. A great town, I would love to go back one day, this is like a little Boulder set on a beautiful Bay, of course. BB is complete with wealth and health and patchouli all in one fabulous place. We tried to eat lunch at another Sydney Morning Hearld Good Food Guide rec but it was closed for lunch so we lucked into some delicious dim sum or yum cha right next store at a teahouse. After Byron it was back on the Pacific Highway, Gold Coast or bust! The drive took most of the day. We had two things going on, one an intense rarely ceasing rainstorm that followed us all day and 2. The Pacific Highway itself. I think this highway would be like US 1 before I-95 kinda in the sense of all the little towns and Mom and Pop joints on the wayside. It is sometimes a freeway, then suddenly that is totally lame so it changes it up and it becomes a two lane road, and then that is so over and it becomes a little road with roundabouts, stop lights and all of the fun things you do not want to see on a long car trip! The cool thing about the drive is we are really getting to see what life is like outside of Sydney and outside of the bigger cities. On the drive the diversity of the topography was astounding. All I have to compare it to are places in the States, and everyone who reads this blog is American so...one minute it looks like N. Florida S Georgia and not in a good way, think notel motels, then in another instant it looks like the drive in the mountains in Colorado in summer, then the next minute you have California craggy rocky mountains, then wide rivers reminiscent of Missippi delta complete with sugar cane factories, then the next few kilomaters could be Hawaii with banana plantations set on the hillside, then we have N. Fl and S Ga in a good way, think lush vegetations and roadside fruit and veggie stands. It must be something in my blood because I can barely pass one of those without the overwhelming desire to load up on a ten pound bag a taters. Now what would I do with it, who knows and what would I do with it at the Marriott the next five days really who knows but I feel such a pull to stop and get that farm fresh goodness. One thing is universal small towns want you to stop and really pull out the marketing geniuses to stops to to try and lure you off your GPS. 

A few favs: 

1. “Don’t you want to see what the Scottish town of MacClean’s is hiding under it’s kilt?” Huge roadside sign complete with giant scary Scottish man tempting you with what is under his windblown kilt. Um no, um hell no, that signs makes me want to do anything but turn towards the Scottish town of MacClean, it actually makes me want to hit triple zero(911) on my phone and have my finger on the call button ready to notify the authorities in seconds.
2. The Macadamia Castle

Good Coffee

Pancakes 

HOT NUTS

Written on the sign exactly as shown above. A few reasons this made me laugh, the coffee is good, they have pancakes, no assurances or claims on taste and they have HOT NUTS! We both laughed out loud when we passed the sign. Yes it is actually a castle, it is guarded by a giant knight, and if it is not a tropical depression I will stop on the way home. The marketing geniuses win this one.

3. Sudden Comfort Inn- Sudden Comfort, is sudden anything good? It all sounds too jarring for me. Oh my gosh I am now so suddenly comfortable. It was shocking. I was so uncomfortable prior to my entering this one story exterior corridor 6 room motel, thank goodness I am now suddenly comfortable, lead Zepplin could have had a follow up to Comfortably Numb. "I have become suddenly comfortable. 

4. Honey Tastings- I love rich sweet food more than the next guy but I don’t know if I could stomach a honey tasting. 

5.The Old Butter Factory- Great Shopping No Butter. Am I the only one dissapointed and disillusioned to hear the old butter factory has NO BUTTER? I was going to hit up the butter tasting right after the honey tasting and maybe throw a 5 pounder of fresh churned in the suitcase!

Port Macquarie Coastal Walk

PMCW

 PMCW

Three Stunned Mullets

The house that time forgot, beachfront, perfectly manicured lawn, looks like nothing has changed since it was lovingly built circa 1950/60? This type of thing always intrigues me.

The rockwall Port Macquarie

Beautiful

Brotherly Love

One of the Gingerbread Houses at the Marriot

I could eat them up in their Big W "kino" raincoats. Kino aka Lightening McQueen

Same details different day

All of this fun and frivolity brings us to our next stop the Surfers Paradise Marriott. A beautiful Marriott. One of the prettiest I have ever seen, and as the offspring of a lifetime platinum member whose number starts with 0000, the number on his card more than likely indicates he was the 234th member, I have seen alot of JWs creations! I checked in proudly as Pete Montaigne. Clearly, I look like a Pete b.c no one asked for id or blinked when Allison Medor's Am Ex paid for Pete's little holiday. Scary huh? I got my upgraded room and my comp’d chardonnay and cheese plate, you know I chose it just to keep up the fascade that I am Pete. I wonder what will happen when I check back in as Allison Medor for my reward stay on Tuesday? The hotel has gorgeous grounds, an awesome resort pool complete with a stocked lagoon and artificial reef that you can snorkel in, its own marina with many toys. It is big open and airy. The bar is beautiful.  It is a very nice American chain hotel. If you have done any international traveling you will know that Americans do hotels well. There are generally no crazy surprises in your room like, oh, I am so sorry Madam we have no a/c and when you open your windows you can not get out of the bed the room is so small, ala Venice or oh your taller than 4’11” then you must lean out of the shower from the waist ala my in laws in France or the ac will only run with your key in the door and we will only give you one key so when you come back to your room your stuff may or may not be melted due to the over 100’F temps. or the dreaded twin beds pushed together as a king that seem to abound internationally. So, I am loving this place! Aussies seem to disdain what I love! Including Surfers Paradise! Surfers Paradise is Ft. Lauderdale ish with high rises abounding, beautiful beaches and legendary weather. EXCEPT when its a tropical cyclone which is happening right now, on our vacation. Tropical Cyclone Tasha and apparently she is bringing one of her mates right behind her.It has rained and rained and rained some more. I actually can not believe there is still rain in the sky. We have eaten most meals at the hotel because of the weather and are actually excited to go to the Bennihana on the third floor!

Some people may say that a vacation with kids is no vacation at all. You know from reading this blog I am crazy about those monkeys so although I crave and lust after a vaca without my kids I will say that a vaca with little ones is the way or pace that a vacation should be. It forces you to slow down. If you come home from your trips feeling like you need a vacation from your vacation(I always did) try it toddler style. You wake up early, but not work early just early enough to get a good start on the day, eat a proper breakfast, no coffee and croissant on the run here, we need real food, fruit, waffles, pancakes, sausage or in Colin’s case 2 chocolate croissants(yes call CPS I am horrible Mom) You play. You eat a proper lunch, digest a bit and then down for a nap. You wake. Have a snack to get the blood sugar back up. Explore the town, maybe another playtime. Have an early dinner, because it is frowned upon to bring little ones to the 9:00 pm seating, walk around digest a bit and then off to bed. You will feel like a million bucks, “99 and three quarters percent guaranteed!” Despite the Cyclone trying to ruin our trip I still feel so relaxed and I owe it all to following the toddler vacation plan.

MORE PICS TO COME FOR THIS POST

WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?

The boys went to the their first prom. No corsages or fancy light blue tuxes required! Baby Proms are held quarterly at the Sydney Opera house for 2-5 y.o. set. They are absolutely wonderful! We took the boys to see the Three Kings. There was a singer/narrator and an 8 piece orchestra and a conductor. She told the story of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. She also wove in some of the popular Christmas carols. It was all interactive and all very fun. The boys did really well at the show, they sat on the mat for a few songs and then wanted to sit with Mom and Dad. They seemed a little shy but Colin has been singing the songs since then. Jingle Bells Jingle Bells HEY and Parumpapumpum are his favs! I was thrilled just to be seeing something at the Sydney Opera House! We are now counting down the days til the grown ups go to Madam Butterfly in February!

 ICE HOPPER!

Pre game snack!

Lovey, LK, Dada, Daddy, Mr.(say missa) Daddy, and to Carson Mike or Michael

 

Whacchu talkin bout Willis?

I'm pretty "big stuff" around here

Could someone please come to visit so we can get a decent family pic?

"one of these kids is doin his own thing"

Shoving a size 12 rump into a size 8 dress

That is how I would describe our moving day. We brought less than half of our "stuff" and it still was almost too too much! The "removalist"aka movers tried to skip out without unpacking one box. I put a quick stop to that but still he "unpack service" would be disgraceful Stateside. All is well that ends well, we are on the road to having our house "put together and livable." And we love our place and we LOVE where we live. Ocean view pics to come!

Tomato Sauce aka ketchup is theee BEST, it also makes a great accessory to any outfit! First night in "new house" meal, fish and chips from Bottom of The Harbor YUM!

He is laughing because he does not have to find room for his toys!

Yes, I did throw up in my mouth when I saw the scene!

6 White Boomers goes dark

Today we started our move. I took two carloads of stuff from the Funky Cold with boys in tow, tried to get them to nap at "new beach house,"as they call it, took a quick shower and hit up preschool orientation just to keep the day rockin'. When we got home at 6:00pm, I felt like I completed the Ironman! Maybe I would hit my goal weight if I could get a gig as a mover, that is some serious stuff. I feel like banging my chest and screaming ME STRONG LIKE BULL! Mike took two carloads sans boys after work and I think we just maybe ready to say goodbye forever to the Funky Cold Medina. We can not get internet service for another week so 6 Whites will be Dark until sometime next week! I guess you'll just have to pour over old posts, or catch up on everything you've TIVO'd or read a book or something. :)

O M F G or "good thing they did not have a didjeridoo!"

My Mom used to tell me if you can only express yourself with profanity then it makes you seem unintelligent and low class dear!  She is right but somedays profanity is the only thing to properly sum things up. I went upstairs for 5 minutes on Wednesday to put on my swimmy for swim lessons, I heard the boys banging their Melissa and Doug wooden maraca on the Thomas rug on the table. I peaked my head around the banister and told them to stop, they did for a minute. Then...I hear more banging, this time it sounds different, I think it is banging on glass, and it is accompanied by screaming. I come flying down screaming a scream that I could hear outside of my body, with my bathing suit top around my waist CARSON COLIN CARSON COLIN CARSON NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STOOOOOOOOOOP! It was too late Carson did not stop until the 3’X6’ window shattered, this made Colin stop banging Carson's head with his rhythm instrument. I was screaming and yelling and cussing who knows what else all in half a bathing suit. YES COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY LOW CLASS. 

I am so grateful no one was hurt. I prayed to God many times that day to thank him for keeping them safe, I also said a few extra prayers that he keep them that way after I got ahold of them. Luckily, we are at the Funky Cold and they had a maid come in “straight away” to vacuum the glass, a maintenance man to take out the stabbing 5' shards of glass and a new window by the time we got back from swimming. Everyone reacts so differently to stress, I put both boys in time out in their crib, Carson shut down completely, he laid down very quietly and stayed that way, Colin screamed and cried and carried on for EVER! Their reactions could not have been more different. 

If you think the day was as dramatic as it could get, it almost was, until Colin decided he did not want to jump on a floaty mat at swimming and reared his head up and busted my lip. At the time I thought, Hmmm...that really hurt, I must be getting wimpy b/c there is not even any blood. Later that night when I remembered it happened I took a peak to find a very swollen and bruised lip, that is still sore and swollen today. So somehow I ended up the most hurt in a day where my kids busted down a glass window? As one of my good friends Nate said, "good thing they did not have a didjeridoo you would have lost a wall!" Good thing indeed! I have promptly returned my first DIDJ to Toys R Us. I also am done with fancy good for the earth wooden toys, a cheap plastic maraca could have never achieved such destruction! 

Our night in shining armor.
Did I mention they broke the window in a driving rain storm?

The scene right before I got my "clock cleaned."
Surprisingly, Carson had his best lesson yet!

He used to be terrified of this slide. On Weds. he did it like 20X. He must have felt invincible.

We are "SO" in AGAIN!

We had a great time at playgroup today. I picked a great day to go as great snacks and treats were EVERYWHERE! Car took a liking to some very good looking homemade pigs in a blanket, made by an American(from Virginia and has two y.o twins) of course! Col ate three Gingerbread men, well not all of three, he would eat the same pattern everytime and then give me a wet 3/4 eaten cookie and say “take it, TAKE IT.” I tucked into a little fudgy delight. The Moms were all so nice, some Aussies, some American, some “other” like Belgium and other European cities that I could not place the accent. The room was very big and had an extensive Thomas set, which is mostly where we stayed, that and the car area. They both played well alongside other children and occasionally with other children. They read a Christmas story and at the end sung songs and played. Colin who could not be swayed to join the group activities opted to "march to the beat of his own drummer" during sing along. Car loved it, I could not get the greatest pic of him under the parachute but the smile was priceless. WE all enjoyed ourselves. The good news is we are in for next year and this is a very good thing because this is the first time in three years they have opened the group. I am learning it is tough and competitive being a Mommy in this town, you have got to be on your game and ready to jump when things open up! You can’t sit idly by and just hope you get in to the right playgroup and preschool and swim lessons and etc...you have to be a TIGER MOMMY! ROAR!!! Hopefully, the good news is once you are in you are IN and you can leave your tiger suit behind.  Now, I can not remember if I filled the paperwork out all the way?

These events happened simultaneously...

Why would someone want to actually play with other kids at playgroup when you can have the whole lawn to yourself! 

We are SO in!

We found out today that the boys got into a “preschool” program, it is technically a long daycare, but is for ages 2-5.5 and has a curriculum. This is soooo incredibly huge. Moms at the playgroup today were encouraging me to sign up on multiple waiting lists, all which charge a fee to be on the list, I was feeling cheap for not doing so. And you may remember we are already signed up on a list for a real preschool for a start date of January 2013. 

You say POTATO I say HOT CHEAP EASYBAKE MESS!

Rarely have I been accused of being overly frugal, actually I never have been accused of anything close to frugality. I do not think I am like a Real Housewife of New Jersey, but no one is going to come to me to get money saving tips! During our move it hit me that I was just a gross over consumer. We had so much wonderful beautiful expensive stuff and most was rarely used and we had WAY too much of it. So now I am really making an effort to be cognisant and mindful in my spending and I am working to not “overconsume.” I ask myself if I really need the fanciest mixer, I am no pastry chef, I rarely bake etc...So, trying to be a nifty thrifty got me all gummed up on this potato thing. I was so excited to be invited to the American Thanksgiving Extravaganza that I volunteered to bring ANYTHING. If I had to shoot my own turkey I would have done it, truly. Well, I usually make a great mashed potato I did not say as much but that is what I ended up making. Then it hit me, I do not have my serving utensils, bowls, my pots suck here at the Funky Cold, no mixing bowl, and oh yeah and most importantly no mixer. Other than that things were off to a really great start. I easily acquired the mixing bowl and a nice inexpensive serving bowl. Then I headed out to get a little hand mixer, still mindful of my big girl Kitchenaid back in the States that rarely saw the light of day. I went to Meyer, like a Dilliards equivalent. I picked up the least expensive handmixer, a Breville on sale for from $45 to $35, I am so thrifty I congratulate myself as I go to the counter, way to go resisting the fancy ones I cheer myself on! The lady wrung me up and said oh boy an extra $5 off, yeah! I hear everything is negotiable here in OZ and this has worked for me at this store before so I say “do you have any other discounts.” She says, “No, but these handmixers do not last long, you do not need a Breville, go to Target and pick one up for $10. I say great, “thanks!!!” Feeling so proud of my sensible shopping I head to Target, the same mixer is $45 there, but they do have one model for $16, so I pick it up. I do not bother to open the box and verify this is not part of the Easy Bake Playline of kitchen appliances. I then head to Woolies to get my potatoes. The POs look different here, they are either bright white, like they have been peeled, or orange clay brown. I ask the produce man which I should use for mashed, he says, “well, the brown are cheaper and if you are just mashing, it does not matter, I would get the brown.” So I go cheap again. I get home and start washing them and realize the clay color is not their color, it is actually clay and dirt on the damn potato. I wash, and I wash, and I wash and I wash. Finally, my HUGE bag of POs are clean. I peel them and still have to wash them again. I then cut and boil them in two pots and in two shifts. While they are boiling I bust out my new fancy mixer. OMG! Are you kidding me? This must have been placed in the wrong section, this is clearly a toy mixer, I would have been better off  mashing them Lucille Ball grape stomping style. But I am stuck, they boys are napping, Mike is at work and this is just going to have to work. I mixed and I mixed and I mixed and I mixed and still my potatoes were lumpy. I thought that little thing was going to catch on fire it was so hot by then end and the littIe motor was revving to max RPMs. I was devastated, I mean having good potatoes could have the potential to get me into all the right social circles, but now with lumpy potatoes forget it, just forget it I will NEVER have friends! I eventually decided that people may give me a second chance. Mike said they were yummy but I was not happy AT ALL! I tried to forget it and just be happy with lumpy POs. I couldn't, I woke up the next morning before the party and blended again but still lumpy. He said he overheard someone at the party saying they were good, and they were all gone, but I don’t know, it seems impossible that they were good. Bottomline, cheaper is not chic'er when it comes to mixers and potatoes, and of course shoes. Also after writing this blog one question is really bugging me why is the singular potato and the plural potatoes? Why the addition of the E? I know there are some really smart people who read this, so please  learn me somethin' on this one! And yes the mixer is going back to the store and I have picked out a lovely one that is not the highest end but it is certainly adult sized and functional and will not catch fire from an oversized batch of mashed potatoEs.   

   

Yes, this is my hand and yes those were the beaters and no apparently it was not a joke

Even Car thinks it is a toy, it looks just his size