What have we been doing?

We have been busy the past year. I really intended to create posts of what we were doing for memory purposes but often times I was already too tired to organise our photos, let alone write posts about them. I know I had not been very good with time management on this front as I'd rather sleep a little longer or play with the little man. But this year is different, because Kimi is in childcare centre almost full time now for Kindy, which is only 2 houses away. I will save a bit of time for myself after work or before bed. Yehey!

Here are some of the highlights of our 2011:

Beat the heat!

We watched the Australian Open and Che had the opportunity to have his Aus Open hat signed by Novak Djokovic after winning against Almagro. Lucky that he also won the grand slam and became World # 1! More photos here.

Sleeping kiddo

Dancing the night away



In June, we attended the wedding of my husband's cousin in Sydney. Kimi slept during the ceremonies but had lots of energy for dancing during the party. It was a fun-filled wedding. More photos here.

Kimi and I also experienced our first snow. Oh, Kimi loved it so much that he wanted to learn to ski next time. We were joined by friends, whose family is helping them with taking care of the new mom and the newborn baby. More photos here.

With the Lord Mayor of the City of Greater Geelong

In August, I took my oath as a new citizen of Australia. We celebrated it not just once but 3 times! We had dinner at home with friends, watched a Geelong Cats game at the President's luncheon (what better way to see an AFL game live for the first time?), and indulged ourselves to the 6 course tasting menu of Baveras at the Cunningham Pier (excellent food and service). I still have to try the infamous vegemite, though, to fully embrace Australian life. May be I will do that before I apply for an Australian passport. More photos here.

We drove to Sydney for the first time by ourselves. Yes, just the three of us this time. We visited family and 2 new babies. On the way back, we visited Kimi's god mother and her newborn twin sons in Canberra. We also met with friends from Geelong to see the Floriade, the Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial, and Cockington Green Gardens. Although we only had limited time, we still had so much fun. Note: This trip only proved to us that Kimi is an excellent travel companion. He didn't have any new electronic gadgets to entertain him apart from a good old digital camera from 6 years ago. He slept, sang, read, asked questions about the things he saw, shared stories, and laughed during the 12 hour travel. More photos here.

In December, we went on a "driving holiday" for 6 days on the way to Sydney for Christmas. But, I will reserve it for another post. The details are still fresh my memory.

I also started studying a diploma course in Management offered at work. Although I can opt for a recognition of prior learning to finish it sooner, I decided not to do it because my intention is to learn more about the organization and immerse myself with the local education system (this is distance learning with only a few workshops though). I still have 1 more essay assignment to do for the current module and 5 more subjects before I can finish the course. That is still a lot of juggling in the next 1.5 years. Time flies fast though so I'm sure I will finish it without even realising it.

Cheers to 2012! I look forward to an even more exciting one.

Walktober Challenge

I was walking to and from work for more than a year until hubby got his licence a month ago. For a month now, I have the luxury of staying a bit more cuddling and playing with Kimi in the morning. I must say it is very difficult getting up when your little one is hugging you dearly for you to stay in bed. That’s the problem with co-sleeping with your bub. But, on a brighter side, that is also the benefit since you get extra bonding moments - a big plus for a full-time working mom like me who only gets to spend a few hours with the little one each day.

This week is different though since I had to get up earlier again to walk to work. Yes, you read it right – walk to work. I signed up for the Walktober Workplace Challenge. The Walktober Workplace Challenge, which run from 26 to 30 October 2009, encourages participants to substitute car or public transport journeys with their feet. The participant may walk all or part of the journey to and from work or meetings during the day. Points are given for each trip made depending on the time spent walking regardless of the length. A 10 to 20 minute-walking trip earns 1 point and any walking trip over 20 minutes earns 2 points. The key is to reduce the number of car trips made to, from and in the workplace.

It was a struggle. It could have been easier if I were still religiously walking to work and I were not suffering from hay fever. However, despite the regular errands and commitments too, which is now easier with the car, I managed to make 8 points for our team and win myself a basic pedometer for use in my plans to regularly walk again. I wish I could do that soon.

Spending Weekend

Our house is only a 7 minute-walk from the Geelong waterfront. The walking and biking trail from the Western beach to the Eastern beach spans about 4 kilometres. Actually, it is very convenient to enjoy a walk and the scenery when we do not feel lazy. Last weekend was one of those days. With Kimi around we will definitely have more!


The sun was up and it was not so cold. Yes, a good sign that spring is coming. The grass is green with yellow wild flowers in bloom -- a delight to see along the edge of the walk path. It was very tempting to pick the flowers. In fact, little girls walking past were usually carrying a bunch, happy and contented with what they got.


The walk including pushing Kimi on his pram was not tiring. We only had a leisure walk, nothing heart pumping unlike others who went there to exercise and sweat. Upon reaching downtown, we went straight to Westfield for lunch at a Japanese fastfood and snagged a Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies collection. I am not a big fan but for $37 for 6 movies, I made hubby smile and reminisced those days I watched action movies with my Tatay and brothers.

It is another quiet weekend full of chuckles and cuddles.



NB: We managed to see the 6 movies in less than 24 hours. :D

Massa, get well soon!

I was not really an avid follower of Formula 1. But, my husband is hooked so I also end up up to date and sometimes watch the races even if it's shown during the wee hours. Ferrari's Felipe Massa underwent an emergency surgery after a high-speed crash during the qualifying race in Hungary GP on Saturday. He sustained concussion and a fractured skull when he was struck on the helmet by a damper spring.

On a positive note, the CT scan were good. If it were not for the accident, he could have shared the podium win with his team mate Kimi Raikkonen (2007 Formula 1 Champ).

What's the Fuss about?

Kimi was only 3 months when he left Geelong for Sydney and was only back to Geelong a couple of weeks ago. He has taken the CityRail numerous times on his Sydney escapades but it was only last Sunday that he took the V/Line train to join in the Melbourne Open House. The train's set-up was different with seats fixed and facing with another row of seats. There was not much space to move around compared to the city rail with an area reserved for passengers with prams.

During the first 5 minutes of the train ride, Kimi was silent than usual. It was like he was still assessing the new environment. His eyes were wide open, observing everyone around him and the scenery outside. Two friends who joined us for this trip, sitting next to the window, facing each other, took turns of putting Kimi on their lap to tell him things on the road, from the birds, the dogs, the grass, the people, the hills of the You Yangs, the buildings, to the ferris wheel. The explorer in him was not satisfied with what he saw outside. In between, he was clutching my hand to walk towards the middle of the carriage which joins two cars together. Eventhough I needed to hold on the railings to make sure we would not fall over, Kimi was not even scared a bit. In fact, he seemed to be excited standing on the adjoining portion for a few minutes before heading back to our seat.

Upon arrival in Southern Cross Station, we transferred to the suburban train to get to Flinders Station, which is nearest to Federation Square where we can get a map of the MOH. We arrived early than the official opening time of the participating buildings so we decided to take photos of the facade of St. Paul Cathedral, an Anglican Church and have breakfast at Hungry Jacks (Aussie's version of Burger King). We had burger and Kimi had hash brown. Not healthy, I know, but he doesn't fancy the banana I brought for him.

Capitol Theatre in Swanston St was our first stop. We walked past a long queue of teenagers, waiting for a concert at a nearby building, everyone having a chit-chat. I felt like we were lost in their midst. It was good though that there were a lot of tourist information volunteers roaming around the area, always ready to assist and smile at you. The accommodating lady directed us to a second shorter queue for those going to Capitol Theatre. It was still a long wait that Kimi already started to be fussy even after a bottle of milk. I knew he was already sleepy but we couldn't put him to sleep with all the distractions around him. He wanted to ran around and go up the stairs in the foyer leading to the insides of the theatre. I was always running after him to make sure he would not bump his head. Since it's dark inside the theatre, I held him in my arms and he screamed in a loud high pitch disturbing everyone listening to the guide. I quickly brought him out to the foyer and waited for hubby and our friends. Thus, I was not able to carefully observe the design and architecture of the theatre. But, hubby, eventhough agitated with Kimi's screaming, was still able to take a few photos that I can look at.
We went to our next stop, the Melbourne Town Hall, since it is only across the street. I managed to put Kimi back on to his pram. I pushed him to the Council Chamber at the second level. Kimi behaved for a few minutes so I was able to look around in awe of the grand and intricate designs of the Chamber. It's small but it looks like a miniature council hall of kings and queens in movies, with all the wood sculpture and the chandeliers. To my mind, it has a distinct feel of the Gold Rush period. Other rooms were also open for viewing but I was not able to enjoy them as much since Kimi started to be fussy again. One security lady guard even talked to him to appease him. To my surprise, he held his hand up to the lady guard and the lady guard carried him in her arms for a couple of minutes. There were many other visitors so we stayed in one area to wait for hubby and friends, wandering around and taking photos. Since Kimi is already restless and sleepy and the wind was blowing chills to our spine, we decided to go to the Direct Factory Outlet in Spencer St instead of continuing with the MOH visits. Kimi was not be able to sleep much but at least, we could take a seat while taking turns in looking after Kimi and at the same time doing a bit of window shopping. We took the tram to DFO and stopped at Rialto Hotel Intercontinental. The hotel is also one of the buildings open for viewing so we went in to have look. I am not big on architecture and art, but, I thought it was not as grand as I imagined it would be. There was no intricate designs and chandeliers of old times. But, it shows a contrast of past and modern designs with the steel and glass railings against the brick archs and walls.
At the end of day, when Kimi and I are exhausted and tired, hubby and I made a realisation. It is no longer an easy day to be out and about tugging our little one with us. A lost sleep and a disrupted routine for our toddler can mess up his day and ours. To prevent future frustrations, we will now consider Kimi's rest time in our trips.