Rellies in Sydney

Graham's brother Bruce and his family are in Sydney for a few days to visit us as well as Graham's and Bruce's grandmothers. We had dinner with them on Monday night at Gourmet Pizza Kitchen at Chatswood. This is a very child-friendly restaurant: they bring colour pencils, activity books and raw dough to the table for kids to play with. And fortunately, the pizzas are pretty good too.


On Tuesday evening we met them where they were walking across the Harbour Bridge, then walked through a short shower down to King Street Wharf to have dinner at Bungalow 8. However, the rain had made the outdoor tables wet, so we looked around till we found Velvet Slide. The meal there was pleasant and reasonably priced, and we sat outdoors under cover where the open air made it less muggy than indoors.

The major excitement of the evening was when I handed Louka to Graham after he'd finished his dinner. He leaned back, just slightly, and there was a loud CRACK and he collapsed backwards. The back of his chair had snapped off. He wasn't hurt, and didn't drop Louka, luckily. The staff looked concerned, and offered ice, but they didn't give us a discount on the bill.

Then on Thursday night we all met at their hotel room for a mixed bag of takeaways from the food hall and the Chatswood market stalls. Clara and Anthony came round after dinner and brought a cake. It was nice and relaxed not being at a restaurant, but Louka got very jealous and screamed whenever Graham played with or picked up her cousins.

Pool again

Another stinking hot day; another visit to Lane Cove pool. This time Graham came too, which helped in juggling bags and Louka.

She enjoyed it just as much as last time.

Eggs

We needed a few eggs today, so the local greengrocer gave us the leftovers from packing cartons of twelve. A couple are slightly broken, but the difference in size is the most noticeable thing.

Louka's lovely dress

Louka received a beautiful dress for Christmas (from Aunty Michaela). It really suits her, but it was almost impossible to get it on and off over her head. So I finally got round to putting a slit down the back, with buttons. Not a great job, but now she can use it!

Swimming at the pool

Louka's been to the beach a few times, but never to a pool. I thought it would be worth trying today, so we went to the Lane Cove Aquatic Centre to try it out.

Apart from a 50m outdoor pool, they have a 25m pool and an extensive toddler fun pool inside. The toddler pool is fairly warm, and has little fountains and waterfalls. That's where I took Louka. And she loved it! She even fell over a couple of times trying to walk, got completely under water, and didn't mind at all. We met Maggie and her parents from next door, and they let Louka play with some of Maggie's toys.

Some of our mothers group are taking the babes to swimming lessons there, and I think I'll take Louka as well.

Beach brekkie

This morning was grey and cloudy, so it seemed a good idea to go to the beach. Why? Low UV, less chance of sunburn. We went back to Harbord (Curl Curl) where it's easier to park than at Manly, and there's a wading pool for Louka.

She looked very feminine in her pink frilly bikini.

I'd forgotten my swimming togs so Graham had to take her for a paddle. It wasn't as cold as Manly last weekend (apparently there'd been a cold snap in the sea temperature) but nor was it as warm as it had been at Harbord the previous time.


We had brekkie at the café then took Louka for a tricycle ride round to the Harbord Diggers. By the time we got there she was sleepy and put her head on the handlebars to go to sleep. However, when we tried to cushion her head with a towel, she woke up and wanted to be carried, so Graham carried her back to the car.


We thought since we had the car out we'd drive to Chatswood and do a bit of heavy shopping. We waited for half an hour to turn the corner into Albert St, only to find the street was closed! There was no sign on the highway to warn us or the other thousand drivers trying to go that way. We were not impressed.

Lunch with Dad

Today we had nothing much to do, so we decided to go into town and have lunch with dad. Since it was a hot sunny day, I thought I try to get Louka to wear her sunglasses that we bought her in Perth. They didn't stay on long, but they gave her something to play with.


Of course, it being Friday, most lunch spots were pretty busy. We went to Wagamama but it looked very crowded, so we went on to Bungalow 8 where we managed to get a good table.

Visit to Aunty Michaela and cousins

As it's school holidays, Michaela took the week off work to stay at home with the kids. I had to go for a pap test at Ashfield (since the Chatswood FPA has closed) so we thought we'd drop in.

Mick drove me to the clinic while Elin, Lindsay and Max looked after Louka, then came and picked me up with Louka asleep in the car. I took the car seat inside but she woke up after a short while. Her cousins had been amusing her with soft toys (mostly dogs) but then Mick got a couple of big tubs full of water for Louka to play in in the backyard. That was fun, and nice and cooling on this hot day. Then she went and played on the trampoline. She couldn't bounce much on her own, so first Micky and I bounced for her, then Elin and Lindsay demonstrated what they could do, then they bounced for Louka again.

Green pigs

Today we went to Macro for lunch, where Louka tried the buckwheat pancakes with mixed berries. She likes the green pig money-boxes they use for table numbers.


Tonight she tried on Graham's Triple-J beanie. She looks great in it!










She tends to sleep in various spread-out postures.

Sydney Aquarium

Since Louka had enjoyed the aquarium so much back in Perth, we decided to take her to the Sydney one this morning.






However, she missed her morning nap and slept for a part of the way.


But she woke up for the touch pool, the sharks and some of the fish.


On Wednesday we'd tried to eat at Wagamama at King Street Wharf, but a fire in the restaurant downstairs had caused them to close. But they gave us a bunch of discount vouchers to tempt us back later. So we decided to have lunch there after the aquarium. It wasn't too busy, and Louka was happy in the high chair that clamped onto the edge of the table. The food was quite good too.