A day out at the beach

It has been quite a while since we have visited beaches around here. Weekends were fully booked with some activities which we cannot avoid and the never ending work in the house. Although, it was overcast with on and off light showers that day, it didn't stop our plan to visit the beach. It took a good drive to reach our destination, the Garie Beach which is located in the Royal National Park on the southern border of Sydney. Royal National Park is Australia's first National Park and after Yellowstone in the U.S.A. was the second National Park to be established in the world.Our first time here. Since it was late in the afternoon when we arrived, there were only a few people around. The weather was becoming cooler, windy and clouds started to build up again. I had to shout to the kids because the wind made normal voices inaudible. Despite the weather condition, the kids were having fun playing the rock pools trying to catch small fishes that were stranded in it but they had no luck at all. They made sand castles too and ran around chasing the sea gulls. We found many crabs' holes on the sand and tried our luck to dig for crabs. But seemed the holes were so deep that we cannot reached it no matter how much effort we exerted. We finally got to the point to surrender and flitted around the beach enjoying the moment. During our drive back home, a storm was very close and we were glad that we were already inside the car when the first drops of rain pelted to the ground. The afternoon was becoming gloomy and dreary.We were lucky enough that there was no traffic along the way even though it was on weekend. We arrived home just on time safely.

Getting ready for X'mas

We had promised to ourselves that our Christmas tree will be back in its normal place before December, we thought we really did a good job by finishing it right on time. Everyone deserved a good pat on the shoulder for doing a good job. Well done to Dorothy and David!! With the help of those little hands, it didn’t take us long to make it look like a Christmas tree. They did an enormous job and were so happy and excited doing it in no time than expected. It was only the Christmas lights that required my help and I thought I did a good job on it as well. But while doing it so, I eventually discovered that some of the lights were not functioning anymore when I turned it on. I think I have to get a new lights for next Christmas season and have to throw the old one away.

Our Christmas tree is the first Christmas tree we have since we got married, merely simple and an old one, nearly 10 yrs old about the same age as Dorothy. I remember I bought it few days right after Dorothy was born. I never give a thought of buying a new one for it is still in good condition and looking good over the past Christmas seasons. Most of the decorations too were bought the same time as the Christmas tree. We never get bored of its appearance every Christmas time. I have already bought Dorothy and David’s Christmas presents last October and just kept it out from their sight for the time being that we didn't have the Christmas tree yet. Now that we have the Christmas tree, I grabbed a chance to wrap it so I can display it together with the Christmas tree. The kids were so surprised to see it with speculations and implored what are the presents about. With seemingly endless questions that I couldn't evade, yet all I can say to them is just wait and see on Christmas. That eventually settled down further interrogations from them.

I still have shopping to do for Christmas presents for the kids in both hubby and my side as well as for our Noche Buena. I am planning to do it sometime this week and to be done with it before Christmas. Our family Christmas party for this year will be held in one of hubby’s children. That is something that we are looking forward to as almost everyone in the family will be there. A good chance to see and catching each other once again on time of the holiday season.

WE WISH ALL OF YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR..

My snack

Here is my snack today, sab-a bananas with "guinamos" ( Visayan fermented small white fish and salt pounded to a paste and has a little sauce). I could not swap this to anything you offer for snack. I just simply love bananas with"guinamos" as dipping especially with a bit of chili and calamansi on it. But it's unfortunate this time that is not a calamansi season here yet, so I could not have any for my "guinamos" dipping but as long as it has chili, still fine for me. I could eat as far as I could stomach with this type of snack. lolz. Kids find the "guinamos" atrocious so I have to eat it alone on the table and that's the good thing too with this snack, nothing to worry for competitors at all in the household...lolz. I got the sab-a bananas from the Filipino shop, frozen and just microwaved it. I have a good snack that appeased my loooong craving for a while.

Boiled sab a bananas with guinamos is a typical snack in Cebu. The sight of this brings back great childhood memories which are deeply embedded in my heart. Back in my hometown one of our neighbors had bananas in their backyard and during harvest time, they didnt miss to share some around the neighborhood which we enjoyed for afternoon snack with guinamos to punch with it. Spending time swimming in the beach with friends on weekends would not be complete without bananas either with guinamos or "buwad" (salted dried fish) or even "kinilaw" (raw chopped fish pieces cooked in vinegar with spices). I still can recall too that every visit to our Lola, bananas were right on the table for our snack and a sack half full of bananas ready for us to take home. Oh..how I miss those times!!!

Father and Son

Last Saturday was kinda a father and son day out. Hubby and David watched Thomas and friends: "The Great Discovery" movie which is showing on weekends from November 8 in selected Hoyts cinemas in NSW, WA, SA and QLD. They are both devoted Thomas and friends fans. Of course, me and Dorothy were invited to join with them. Although, I was loath to decline the offer but I really wanted time of my own and I thought that was a perfect opportunity without David with me. Dorothy found the movie quite drab to her as it didnt fit to her liking and had no choice but to go with me...lolz.We went together to the mall but we separated ways when we arrived there as I had also some other plans to do. I actually wanted to have time of my own doing window shopping and hunting for the best sales I could get for some items especially that Christmas is fast approaching. At least it was only Dorothy with me for she always enjoys it too but with David it is hard as he always easily gets bored for my interest doesn't fit to his penchant and wants to wander around. Since it was a weekend, my speculation confirmed that the mall was full of people and quite a long queue to get to the counter to pay for the things I bought. It seems everyone is getting busier in preparation for the coming Christmas Season now.At lunch time, we agreed to meet to a certain spot and glad it didn't take us long to find a vacant spot where to have lunch in the food court. And as usual, the kids had their MacDonald burger and chips, I had two pieces of McDonald wrap as well as hubby with a cup of coffee. And for the last plan of the day, we went to the Newsagent to check hubby's retirement, I meant his lotto entries but still no luck yet. He has to wait for another week for Lady Luck's visit hopefully.We went home right from the Newsagent with David's constant clattering about the movie, an obvious evident of his enjoyment .

Too late...

Being presumptive at times, I felt guilty over dragging out David's intention and excitement to be in the level 2 swimming lesson for this long summer holiday (sometime on January 2009). I've been thinking about it ever since and planned to book him before November came. I thought it was still too early to make the booking sometime in the middle of the year so I waited until the last week of October. But when I rang Swimsafe to make a booking, I was disappointed when I was informed that the level two in our area has been fully booked, unfortunately, and the man who tended my call advised to book David for level 3 instead which was absurd to me. (Hmmmppp). Even though, David gained his swimming skills and confidence in the water from Swimsafe too but enrolling him for level 3 is far beyond his skills at the moment. I want him to do it step by step. Thereby, I believe he will gain more swimming techniques without rushing him and no pressure whatsoever.
The year when he did his first swimming lesson, i booked him the same time precisely and was surprised why as early as that time I rang, it had been fully booked for the summer swimming lesson. Each class size will vary from pools but generally will not exceed 6 kids so obviously, they cannot squeeze David in because of the limit. I think there are now many kids inspiring to be swimming champions in the future compared the past years..lolz..The picture above was taken during David's first swimming lesson at Mt Druitt Swimming pool. He was 3 yrs old at that time.

Well, I have to contrive something to replace what was taken out as planned for him. Maybe I would be able to come up with something new and interesting for him for this coming long school holiday.

My traditional Chinese food

These are my first Jiaozi Chinese Dumplings. My first ever attempt to make it myself and quite a challenge to me. They don't look like what I was aiming for and look quite funny with those ugly wrappers. Not that kind of dumplings you can find in the Chinese Restaurant. The wrapping process was quite frustrating. I was really having trouble with it shaping into a desired form. So, me and Dorothy ended up like just little kids playing with a play dough and Dorothy was having fun with it. Moreover, I didn't realize the dough wrapper was a bit thicker until it was cooked which made my face more crumpled over the result. But mind you, the taste was quite good. I got it all right. Even the kids loved it for dinner. Well, they were famished anyway after our dinner was delayed for over an hour because of the dumplings.

For recipe please grab it here: Jiaozi-Chinese Dumplings

Flowers for me?

Thank you Claire-My rendezvous and ibjsprinting for this beautiful flower award.

This tag is all about “FRIENDSHIP OFFERING” with someone whom you know, to someone whom you already knew or will know in the future, globally.


::: Start copying here:::

Here are the rules for this tag:

1.) Copy the badge and put it on your blog,
2.) Link back who pass you this tag,
3.) Spread this tag to at least 7 or more bloggers who you think you are friend with.

”And lovely are the blossoms
That are tended with great care,
By those who work unselfishly
To make the place more fair.
And, like the garden blossoms,
Friendship’s flower grows more sweet
When watched and tended carefully
By those we know and meet.
And, if the seed of friendship
Is planted deep and true
And watched with understanding,
Friendship’s flower will bloom for you. “

And now, I want to give this friendship flower to the ff: Sanny Ismat , Ann's World , Rose and Vic and
wena's thoughts .

Keep the flower of friendship blooming guys :)

My New Monitor

It had been for days that I had noticed strange occasional sound like cracking a seed and quick blinking in my monitor somehow that fretted me . I had not encountered such problems before and wasn't exactly sure what were those about.There were times that I reached to the point to give up and had to turn off my computer when the noise became louder. The thought that it would explode right in front of me scared me the most..lolzzz..I told hubby about it but he had to see the problems himself before concluding to anything and do something about it. And eventually, he then discovered that the problem was in my monitor. However, despite the problem I mentioned I still can used it but had to turn it off when the sound became louder especially when it was in between close intervals for I can't stand it and got a feeling that it might explode. .. lolz . The good thing was it never given up its service to me , I meant never gone off by itself . Still surviving yet struggling.. lolzz but I had to be careful and confined my usage. I was apprehensive that it would die eventually.And not until the day when hubby told me to get a new monitor that I felt a relief all over me. Hubby replaced it with LG LCD flat screen and now, I can go back to business as normal..lolzz..Thanks to hubby for his quick response of the unexpected problems that occured in my computer.

Would you like some?

This is what consumed my early hours of the morning after taking the kids off to school. I felt like to eat this particular dish, bam-i, a popular Visayan dish. It was been quite a while since I had this type of noodles which I can only have on some occasions here and I missed it terribly..lolzz.. Hubby gave a questioning stare when he noticed me so busy in the kitchen during the early hours of the morning and asked what's the occasion for why I was cooking the bam-i that early ...lolzz.. He was surprised too that it seemed I was cooking for several people when he took a glimpse in my wok ...hehehe.. Yup, I have still heaps here even though my kids and hubby don't love this as much as I do but I want to share it to some my friends who are also bam-i lovers like me..

For the recipe please grab it at filipino-food

Our new hallway runner

I stifled a smile to my myself when hubby said to me if I wanted to shop for the runner I needed for our hallway the following day in HomeBase Blacktown. It's been quite awhile since I told hubby that I really need a runner for our hallway for the reason that few of the tiles are starting to get cracks which I believe are caused by the length of their service to us and need to be replaced.We really want to replace the whole floor even though most of it are still quite good to a polished timber floor but since we don't have yet the resources at the moment that's why we settled to something quite affordable. I think this is the best option by installing a runner as protection so there is no farther damage for the time being.
The moment I told hubby about it, he didn't say anything nor made any promise. So, I just set it aside and was lulled about it since then. I never dare to ask hubby again. Saying to him once was enough. I knew he thought it over and over again especially that my purpose for it was kinda important for our house. We did a good shopping of the prices and ended up to Carpet One, Minchinbury . Although, it is not actually the particular color I was looking at but since we got a good deal of the price that was too good to refuse, we grabbed it without a second thought. It was a good bargain for the price was about one half difference compared to all the shops we've been through.

We need friends!

I know it's been to late to post this but as the saying goes, better late than never...hehehe.. anyways, thank you so much ibjsprinting for tagging me. I feel so honored and proud again..hehehe

I'm confused about tagging, been looking for my name, wahhh it's in the last portion Your next, that's why I post it so late.

As well share this meme to others. I'm tagging all my BLOG FRIENDS - keep the friendship alive.

We need Friends for many reasons, all throughout the season.
We need Friends to comfort us when we are sad, and to have fun with us when we are glad.
We need Friends to give us good advice.
We need someone we can count on,and treat us nice.
We need Friends to remember usone we have passed sharing memoriesthat will always last.
Spread the Poem of Friendship. 1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng’s Simple Thoughts . . . 4. good thoughts, good trades 5. Ours and Our Kids 6. Jengspeaks 7. Jacque 8. Snippets of My Mind 9.Melisse’s Domain 10.Seize The Day 11. Living A’ La Mode 12. Simple Delights 13. Motherhood in a Nutshell 14. Ness 15.World of Technology 16. MyDailyWebJournal 17. A Simple Life 18. Momma Wannabe 19. Everything Has A Reason 20. Republic of A 21. BeautifuL Language 22. Live Love Laugh 23. Irresistible Fascinations 24. Complex Life 25. My Oweini Life 26. Sweet Heaven 27. Moments To Remember 28. YOU

A Bronze Whaler Shark

I was in the edge of nearly forgetting this which I really intended to share it with you. Glad that I happened to check out all the images in my mobile phone and was surprised to see what I have missed. I am in the habit of taking pictures through my mobile phone but don't bother to check it out unless I am running out of storage. Yet, I reckon this is not long overdue to post this as the school holidays only just finished 3 weeks ago.

Every school holiday here, most places are jam packed with fun, entertainments and attractions in any kind just to amuse the kids. They ensure that kids are kept well entertain through the entire school holiday and the whole family as well. Kids are always busy and excited for the holiday as there are many interesting things to see and do. Well, it was just the first time that one of the popular fish shop around Sydney entertained the kids that I would say in a very unique way. It was a bit of luck that we have this fish shop (Costi's @ Westpoint) here in one of the biggest mall in our area, Westpoint Blacktown . In fact, not only the kids were entertained but as well as the big ones. I myself was one of them. For the whole 2 weeks school holiday, they had a good size 340 kgs Bronze Whaler Shark displayed in front of their shop. It was real, frozen with ice to retain its freshness and to look so naturally alive. If you don't take a chance to touch and feel it, well, you would not think it was frozen for it appeared alive to us. People were getting crazy taking glimpses of it and even touched it. Many were taking photos and of course, I didn't miss my chance too. Dorothy was so eager to stand right beside it but to David it looked as something to be scared of . He didn't even venture to touch it but he was so curious that he kept on asking endless questions about it.
It was such a good entertainment to those who were lucky enough to visit the Mall during those time and encountered up close and personal with a Bronze Whaler Shark . Although, it was lifeless but the fact that you can touch and feel it is something of a kind. I wonder what will be their entertainment the next long school holiday which is just around the corner now and the kids are looking forward to it.