Entry 1:
Hi Everyone
Q: Da-ad, V just scratched my legs! You need to cut her snails!
Q is heavily into insect saving at the moment. This is no drama.
However, what I didn’t know is that she’s been saving dead flies and
putting them in her dolls’ house as a makeshift hospital. When asked
what she is doing, with all the dead flies, she said, “I am making
these poor, poor flies better by looking after them.” I threw them out,
but as far as Q is concerned, they had a miraculous recovery and
flew home to their mums.
Q was in the bath with V and decided to hang the washer on
the side of the bath and pretend to paint pictures. V has this
low throated growl when she’s up to mischief and she edges forward and
rips the washer away with a giggle. “That’s not for you, V,”
sighs Q before replacing the washer. V looks at me sideways
and edges forward again with her little growl and rips the washer off
the side of the bath. This time Q howls, “Mum, Mum! She’s taking
my painting!” By this time, V is giggling like a mad! I think
we’re going to have to watch number two somewhat.
V is on the move! Not necessarily forward, but around. You can
tell when she’s near something she shouldn’t be, because you can hear
the growl.
Anyhow, hope you’re all well.
Love
Carrie
Entry 2:
Hi all!
I hope that you are all well, and that March has been kind to you. I
have heard that despite it being Autumn that the weather has been very
hot and humid. I suppose I should be surprised by this, but the last
few years it’s been the same really – global warming I guess.
March has been quite a big month for us here. We visited San
Francisco with some friends of Mark’s from work. We only managed to
check out the Golden Gate Bridge, drive through the old Presidio (see
Mark Harmon and Sean Connery movie from the 80s, bit of a thrill for
me) and see the Fishermans’ Wharf.
Leading up to the visit was a bit of a trial, as Q decided that
San Francisco was where Santa Claus lived and nagged us for most of
the day about visiting him. We told her he didn’t live there, but in
the North Pole and she gave us that look she gives us when she thinks
she being fibbed to.
The bridge truly is spectacular. The view from the bridge across to
Alcatraz is breathtaking, but what blew me away were the surfers in
their wetsuits (bleeding cold in that water!) surfing beneath the
pillars of the bridge?!!
We drove through the old Presidio, which is an exclusive residential
estate now, probably due to the fact that it’s right next to the bay.
I had this urge to watch the movie again, but it begs the question,
how much is too much of Sean Connery (especially in the
80s….mhmmm!).
Fisherman’s Wharf was interesting, and very busy. The most bizarre
thing, was that there are these sidewalk vendors who cook crabs in
this massive pot and people order them and eat them on the side of the
road, a little like hotdog vendors, very different from home.
Anyhow, Mark’s friend Hugh took some great photos on put them on this site (see
below). I can’t remember if I sent them to you all, but click on the
link and go have a look, the pictures are great! Hugh is a very
enthusiastic photographer and his photos reflect this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugh_nelson/sets/72157594585879337/
What did really stand out, was how busy and big San Francisco is! I
really like that we’re in San Jose, I don’t even like Sydney that much
and compared to San Francisco, it is just a baby!
The following weekend we all went to our first kid’s party in the USA.
The father, Paul, is an Australian who has been here for 15 years
and works for IBM and we met the family through Q’s preschool. It
was a lovely afternoon, and we met a few new families who live in our
area.
Paul had made the pinata and had been a little
enthusiastic with the paper mache, and the kids just couldn’t break
the beastie. So, Paul whipped out the cricket bat and all the parents
had a go, to no avail, until Mark had a turn.
Mark hit the thing so hard the it knocked the whole bottom half off
and went flying across the yard into the fence! Everyone ducked
(obviously) and stood gobsmacked, until the kids all twigged that the
bottom half was where the lollies were, and ran off like a shot!
Everyone thought it was hilarious, and Paul seemed grateful that the
thing finally broke. Mark was highly embarrassed, claiming that he
only meant to put a hole in the side, not put it into orbit!
The most culturally different thing was that the Americans don’t do
the “Hip, Hip, Hooray!” after singing Happy Birthday. Everyone
finished singing the song, and Mark roared, “Hip, Hip!” and I yelled,
“Hooray!” and the rest of the party just looked at us like we were
deranged, except for Paul who thought it was very funny. Boy, did we
feel like a couple of geese!
Other than that, it was a really nice afternoon.
Last weekend we went to “Happy Hollow”. Happy Hollow is a small
animal zoo, petting zoo, puppet show and a fun park all rolled into
one. The best thing was that you don’t have to pay for rides once you
get in, and it was only $6 each! We had a ball, and Q really
enjoyed it. We got a year long membership for the family for $60, and
it is only 10 minutes up the road. I think we’ll be going a lot,
especially as the local park is so busy on the weekends now that the
weather is warmer.
Perhaps what sticks out in my mind is when Q tried to step on the
stepping stones across a small pond and fell in! Instead of hopping
back onto the stones to complete the crossing, she just kept walking
across the pond to the edge. She was soaked! I had spare pants for
her, because I am a bit of a pessimist when it comes to Q’s
ability to go to the toilet when she’s happily occupied (not that she
knows!), but I didn’t bring spare shoes, so we had to go.
V is very mobile now, and is getting faster every day. V
doesn’t so much crawl as sort of move like a mini walrus on land, it’s
pretty funny. She also is getting teeth and now has three.
Unfortunately, she’s cross cutting so the poor darling is in a bit of
pain. She’s also now almost completely weaned, because, let’s just
say I know where every tooth is, without having to see them!
Q is great and really seems to relish the big sister role. She
runs after V, either letting me know when V’s up to mischief
(pretty frequently) and putting a pillow behind her when she sits so
that she won’t hurt herself. She also reads to V, and they
really seem to enjoy their time together. I really hope that this
closeness lasts.
Mark and I are fine, tired but fine. Vdecided that she’d go to
bed after midnight last night and would party at 2.30 am, with a
tantrum from 4 to 5 am. All those people who swore that this time I
would get a sleeper after my insomniac first were wrong…but I’m not
bitter, well just a little maybe….
I am hoping to send some photos, but I’ll do it separately, as the
email is pretty big already.
Stay happy,
Love
Ca