Street Beach, Southbank

Man made beach... Kids love to play in the sand.

Playing in the sand, during one nice sunny day

Krystina's Cake recipe

Krystina is practicing making her birthday cake

Below are the ingredients and step by step preparations:

Sponge Cake and................ Icing sugar and...................... Ice cream cones

Hundred and thousands

Icing of the cake and adding the decorations

*The camera's battery just died before before the finished product*

No Mother

The kids and their Dad had their photo taken professionally from PixiPhoto.

Strike a pose!

Daddy and Krystina were competing for best model pose... :-)

Kiss and make up after the tight competition. They still consider themselves bestfriends:-)

Party in the park

Kynan's (their cousin) 4th birthday party was celebrated yesterday in the Greenway park and were enjoyed by both kids and adults.

The main fun for Ethan was the long and big slide. One has to climb up the stairs of about 25 steps to reach the top and Ethan slide alone shrieking in delight.

When the party ended at about 3pm, the left over rolls were given to the ducks. But the ducks were too full or not interested in the bits of bread thrown at them.

Sunnybank Childcare Centre

Playing outdoor with some of the kids one sunny morning.

The truth about why I have to change Krystina and Ethan's childcare centre from Sunnybank CC (childcare centre) to Kuraby Early Learning CC was because Ethan got hurt 5 times from January to May attendance.
On Ethan's first day, he came home with a fresh bite in the left arm.
After 3 weeks, a scratch in the right side of the face near the eye.
After 1 month, a scratch in the left side of the face near the eye again and a bite in the right side of the face near the eye (again).

scratch near eye , left side bite on the right side

Another month passed and he was bitten again - this time its his back -
left side, which I found out while they're having a bath.

The last incident that made me decide that it's best time to transfer them to a different childcare centre was the picture below, big bite on the back again but on the other right side.

(freshly bitten back of Ethan)

After the 3rd incident, I spoke to the director about the biting. The director wasn't very cooperative and said that it's how the kids express themselves through biting. I told her that maybe if you have enough staff or your staffs are really doing their jobs then this shouldn't happen. I filed a complaint, and was only told that they will do something about it and will have a meeting with the staff and will try to control the situation.

Although the teacher's group leader was very fair and understanding, I suspect the assistant teacher and the size of the group was too many that is why they can't watch all the kids and assist everyone. The centre is not very organised and most of the staff leave early in the afternoon. I also observed that the staffs doesn't look very satisfied and happy. Another teacher even told me that the room where Ethan belongs to is the least favourable one for being the teachers are slackers.
For now, Krystina and Ethan enjoys being in the new school and all the teachers knows them and like them very much. Most of the comment they give for Ethan is that he is a very nice, friendly, sweet and good boy. While Krystina is a cheeky, intelligent and independent girl.

Dora and the Kids

After a 10 minutes of queing to have photos taken with Dora, Krystina and Ethan looked tired and no smiles on their faces.

Dora was one of the guests of the newly opened Underwood Market (this is not a wet market, it's a mall) last month. There were heaps of prizes given away and loads of balloons and lollies. Cafe's and fast food chains were on 10 - 30% discounts and all retail shops have sales of up to 50% off.

Every 30 minutes they have tickets given away for free and drawn on the spot.With all our tickets only Krystina have won a jewelry gift voucher worth $25.

Our discovery trip

We want to discover and go to different places in Queensland. Last saturday, our plan was going to Moreton Bay.

We searched the internet what are the attractions both for kids and adults, where to eat, how far from Runcorn (our suburb). At least we know what to expect and do.

I packed some bread, chips, biscuits, water and picnic blanket. I was thinking of sitting in the grass and feed the ducks and fishes later on... but we got lost :-(

And we ended up in Sanctuary Cove, one of the most expensive property in Gold Coast. It is acclaimed as world class residential resort. This integrated residential resort has 90 specialty store, restaurants, marina, fitness club.

You can also hire a house boat for an hour, half day, 1 day even weeks and months. Prices varied of course. We looked at 3 bedroom house boat and for Monday to Friday it costs only $820 excluding fuel. Not bad if you can share the cost with another family. Or you just want a different type of holiday adventure with your family.

Anyway, the photos are taken while waiting for our orders at GB's at the Cove. The manager is really attentive and the restaurant is very family friendly. He made sure that Krystina is sitting comfortably and will not get bored by giving some coloured pens and colouring paper. Also, Krystina asked him to post her finished colouring page on the board for display.