A special trip

We were in the city today to grab a special treat for Daddy ( more on that in a moment) and dropped by the GPO to look around for a bit!

It’s really hard to imagine that this grand old building used to be a working post office! Especially when it now houses high fashion!

The beloved ABC store happened to be one of the shops in the GPO. Needless to say, we just could not pass up the chance to drop in for a visit! Bugs took an instant liking to the Star Wars merchandise on display – a young Jedi in the making, I think!

After browsing through more toys and games, we finally headed back home….

Where we surprised Daddy with a special lunch treat of delicious Nasi Lemak that he had been craving after for quite a while!

It was really the perfect way to kickstart The Dude’s birthday celebrations and the Father’s Day weekend! The empty plate and smiles on The Dude’s face sure made that trip worth the effort!

Till tomorrow everyone!

A taste of summer

It was freezing cold today in Melbourne but that didn’t stop us from having a sneak peek of what the warmer weather would be like, food wise that is!

The Dude headed to the market early this morning and brought back this….

A mango! Oh how we have missed this tropical fruit! Especially Bugs! Surely this must be a sign that summer is on its way?

While Bugs feasted on her ripe, juicy mango, The Dude and I got busy chopping up some hazelnuts….

To add into some homemade chocolate ice cream!

Eating cold ice cream on a cold Winter’s day sounds a bit strange but it was weirdly refreshing!

Let’s hope that this is a sign that the weather will get warmer as the weekend approaches! Especially since Father’s Day is just round the corner!

Have a great day folks!

Japan story

A long time ago (I exaggerate, in reality it was three years ago), The Dude and I spent a few days in a ryokan (Japanese guest house) to escape from the stresses of daily life.

Only thing was that this ryokan was located right in country Victoria – very unusual but it meant we could save on airfares and still get a little taste of Japan.

I was recently reminded about the lovely green tea shortbreads that were served to us upon arrival at the ryokan and decided to make some similar green tea cookies for snacks! Except that these cookies were sweetened with maple syrup and rice syrup! Yeap it’s healthy cookie time again!

Making cookies always thrills me, especially the bit about deciding which cookie cutter to use. A little bunny head cutter was what I finally decided on this time round!

Add a couple of holes on each head for the eyes….

Twenty minutes in the oven and our batch of green tea bunnies were done!

Best served with tea, green or otherwise!

P.S : Here’s the link to the recipe for those green tea shortbreads we tried years ago! Thanks Shizuka – they were deliciously great!

Fun in the sun

What a sunny day it was today! We were back at the NGV today for a brief visit and decided to head outdoors to the sculpture garden to revel in the good weather!

Isn’t that an interesting looking chair? It was quite comfortable to sit on too, great photo opportunity aside!

The other cool thing that caught our attention was the giant ball made out of metal and rope – kind of like a set of cylindrical monkey bars, very cool indeed!

Since Bugs was a huge fan of water fountains (she gets extremely excited at the sight of one), we spotted one massive one across the road from the Gallery and headed there for a look see. Can you spot the rainbow in the corner of the picture?

The famous floral clock was not too far away so we stopped by as well to admire what must have taken many hours of intensive gardening and dedication to create.

It’s always fun in the sun! Oh I can’t wait till summer arrives! There’ll be lots more to do then!

Hope your day is going great too!

In a day’s work

“How was playgroup today?” The Dude asked me this evening over dinner.

“It was great!” I replied, “Bugs did lots of stuff, I think she had fun!”

“Like what kind of stuff?”

“Well, she played with some wooden puzzles….”

“That huge IKEA bead toy that we borrowed from the toy library sometime back….”

“Spent a considerable amount of time exploring the potted plants in the outdoor area…”

“Washed some plastic vegetables in the toy sink….”

“Tried her hand at cooking with some sand….”

“Played in the plastic outdoor castle for a bit…”

“And finally,” I concluded, “Took a slow drive around the sand pit in the toy car!”

“Wow!” The Dude remarked, “Someone has been a very busy little girl!”

“A very busy and tired little girl,” I added as we brought Bugs in to bed for the night.

A big day indeed for the little one, hope your day is a great one too!

Of books and cars

Oh how I love the city! There’s always something interesting going on, something to explore, poke and hear!

We were in Federation Square today and chanced upon the Melbourne Writers Festival!

The place was packed with eager readers keen to grab their hands on the latest literature and/or grab a signature from their favourite author in the book signing booths! That’s Tom Keneally in the picture below signing his latest book!

The second hand book market was also going on around the same time which added to the festivities.

We headed outside away from the crowds and found, situated not too far away from the book festival, a Mini car club exhibition!

I was quite amazed at how small these cars were in real life – how ever do people fit into one of these things? It was quite eye opening to see so many Minis gathered in one spot!

An interesting way to spend a Sunday I say! Hope your day is as fun as mine!

The house of fun

We’ve been heavily utilising our toy library membership, with a visit there to pick up new toys every other week. It’s a really great place to get a large variety of toys for Bugs to explore and play with!

We visited the toy library today and carted home what I can safely say, was the biggest toy we’ve ever borrowed in our lives – this toy house structure thing!

The toy was so huge, it couldn’t fit into the boot and only just into the front seat after a couple of tries!

But all that effort sure paid off for Bugs was absolutely enraptured with it the moment she laid eyes on it! She spent lots of time exploring the various parts of the toy from the little flower pot at the door…

To the big sun wheel right at the top of the house !

It seemed as if she could not get enough of the toy for whenever I went into the room to check on her, more often than not, she was busy fiddling with some part of it!

Good thing we get to keep it for a few weeks! I’ll have to think hard about what to do to distract Bugs when we finally need to return it!

Hope your weekend is going great!

Exciting times

“Buzzzz buzzz….” I was in the room packing away the clothes when this strange sound suddenly popped up. It seemed to be coming from the living room. I decided to investigate and this was what I found.

“Bugs!” I exclaimed, “How very clever! You’ve figured out how to turn on the radio!” Bugs has been really busy practising her standing and toddling skills very recently – something that The Dude and I are extremely pleased about!

“Now before you start attacking the tv remote, shall we go for a walk?”

I scooped Bugs up into the baby carrier and off we went on our exploration, this time to the far end of the street, where we rarely visited.

There were quite a few opp shops located in that area so I couldn’t resist stepping into them for a quick look see. This gorgeous retro vanity table in almost mint condition was on sale for a hundred dollars – a real bargain considering how unique it looks!

We also spotted this unique sculpture made out of teapots! Sure makes you want to have a cup of tea after looking at it!

But probably the most exciting thing we saw on our walk today was this sign…

Hooray! And just in time for the warmer weather! I’m pretty sure we’ll be visiting the area again soon!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Medal tally

Ok I’m going to try something new here and cover something we’ve been working on over the past two days. That should count as two posts, yes? A little naughty I know, but hey this is a blog, no need to get all serious and stuff!

With Father’s Day on the horizon, Bugs and I made a special trip to the craft store and got a bunch of materials to make something special for Dad – an oversized medal made out of a paper plate, paper, crepe!

The idea for this craft came from something similar that I’d seen recently online (I’ve been busy researching Father’s Day crafts you see) and our experience at the NGV making that Bastille Day badge sometime back.

With everything laid out on our special craft splotch mat, the first step was to get Bugs’s handprint onto the paper plate. This sounded easy but it was really tricky getting Bugs to stretch her palm out and then prevent her from smearing paint over her face! It was a bit of a struggle but we got there in the end!

We then glued crepe paper to the rim of the paper plate to make the border of the medal…..

and decorated the face of the medal with some pompoms and foam stickers.

The final touch was to cut out some paper ribbons and stick to the base of the medal face with some sticky tape. Here’s what we made for Dad after twenty minutes of crafting!

But the crafting didn’t stop there! We brought our craft supplies down to playgroup today for the kids to make medals for their dads too!

I was a bit nervous when explaining to the kids what they would be making and it probably sounded confusing as well. Thank goodness the moms were there to help guide their kids through every step of the way! Here’s what the kids made by the end of playgroup today!

I think The Dude is going to be pleased with his medal! Hope the other dads love theirs too!

Simple times

Blogging everyday can be quite challenging. For one, coming up with something interesting to write about daily is sometimes difficult, especially if your day is filled with mundane chores and errands, nothing exciting to shout about.

Finding a few quiet moments in the day to pen your thoughts is also an issue when the little one requires heaps of attention and looking after. Which is why the blogging normally takes place after the household is asleep and just before my bedtime.

I had a look through the pictures I’d snapped today (I frequently take photos to remind myself of what happened in the day) for inspiration for today’s happy moment and came across this gem.

It was a shot of Bugs giving her best pal Eeyore a kiss while playing on our bed. The bed is her newest play area now. She adores the fluffy blankets or “marshmallows” as we call them and loves lying on them. We’ve even seen her practice standing on the bed and then falling over with a chuckle! But as usual, the biggest hugs, squeals and kisses are reserved for Eeyore whenever he is in the house!

It’s such a delight to see the little one as happy as she can be!

Have a happy Tuesday folks!