superRelish

With Dad and Dave

2011-12-26T17:51:00.000+11:00

I went for a lovely relaxing 'walk' with Dad and Dave this morning as we hit some golf balls around the golf course. I wasn't hoping to have a hit or 2 as we walked around but there weren't many other people playing so I got to play most holes. It was a pretty great way to spend the morning.

We really didn't do too much walking, Dad and Dave hired a golf cart to get us around the course.
Shhh, don't tell mum but I also got to drive the cart too!
Love AJ Pickle

The Cub Princess

2011-11-22T19:47:00.000+11:00

Today was the day, the day that I have been practicing so hard for, it was the day that I was invested into my Cub Scout group.

I joined as a new chum a while back with my friends and we were all going to be invested together but then I went away on holidays. My friends were invested when I was away and I had to be invested all on my own.

I was so nervous. Can you tell?

Now that I am a real cub I am not so nervous. I am looking forward to earning millions of badges to cover my entire uniform!

Love Princess George the Grey Six Cub

Another Mini Adventure

2011-11-19T20:00:00.000+11:00

I was starting to worry that being back home in Melbourne that we wouldn't have time to go on adventures any more.

Luckily we found time to go on a geocaching adventure today, on our way to a barbecue. OK, it may not have been a successful geocaching adventure, we didn't actually find the cache, but we did have a great time exploring this cool park.

Can you believe that this park is actually in suburbia? It was so quiet and relaxing to explore that it was easy enough to imagine that we were far away from suburbia and relaxing in the middle of the bush.

I hope that some day we get to come back here and find the cache!
Love AJ Pickle

Time for Jack-o-lanterns

2011-10-30T20:09:00.000+11:00

Now that the wedding is over and we are all recovered from the fun and excitement, we have another big project to get organised - Halloween. Now as Aussies, we really don't know how to celebrate Halloween, sure we try really hard by making creepy Jack-o-lanterns, baking witchy fingers and dressing up in costumes but that is it. You can imagine how super excited we are about celebrating Halloween properly.

Finally it was time to make the Jack-o-lanterns. I have to say that American pumpkins are ginormous and I am pretty sure that they weigh more than I do!

We started off by drawing our faces on the pumpkins, well not 'our' faces, the faces that we thought would look best on a pumpkin! Once the faces were drawn it was time to get into action and make the Jack-o-lanterns.

Tony was the pumpkin carving expert and cut them out for us. We helped with the finer details but let him do the hard work. We did the messy work and scooped the guts out of the pumpkin.

Victoria must know us well already and figured that we would be hungry before we finished so she decided to sort through all the pumpkin goop and collect the seeds to roast for us to nibble on as we worked.

There was soooo much goop in the pumpkins that it took forever to sort through it all to get the seeds to roast.

Eventually the pumpkins were carved and ready to carry out to the front of the house to join all of the Halloween decorations that were there.

Only one more sleep until Halloween, hurrah! I can't wait...

Love a super excited Princess George

Life in Westlake

2011-10-28T21:00:00.000+11:00

I think that I could get used to living in Westlake, there are heaps of places to play. There is plenty of space in the yard to kick or throw a footy and just up the road there is a lake and some woods to do some serious exploring.

It didn't have time to do heaps of exploring, I had to get back to the McNamara's to get ready for the cook up - I was in charge of cooking the hot dogs over the fire pit.

I was also the head marshmallow toaster. I briefly handed over the title of head marshmallow toaster to Tony so that he could make some s'mores for me. Don't tell Tony, but I have to admit that I tasted the s'mores - marshmallows and chocolate smooshed between some crackers but wasn't a huge fan so I gave mine to mum to munch on. I was pretty glad that most people at the party wanted real food I and went back to toasting and eating every marshmallow in sight.

I like hanging out around here. I hope I get more time to explore properly before we take off to another part of the country.
Love AJ Pickle

The Day before the Big Day

2011-10-28T15:00:00.000+11:00

In one more sleep Marah and Edrick get married (again) and we get to have a gigantic party. That means that today we have to make sure everything is ready for the big day. I had the job of being the official helper-outer-er and photographer. There were flowers to be arranged... food to be prepared... words of wisdom to be written... and hair to be cut. Busy, busy, busy!

I can't wait until tomorrow. I think that I am almost as excited as Marah and Edrick!
Love Princess George

Waking Up in Cleveland

2011-10-28T07:00:00.000+11:00

Last night I went to sleep in Chicago and this morning I woke up in Cleveland!

We caught the Amtrak overnight and I am happy to say that sleeping on the train is way more comfortable than sleeping on a plane! Did I mention that I seem to only fall asleep on a plane when the pilot announces that the plane is ready to descend. I really must work on that before we have to fly home.

I wonder what adventures I will find in Cleveland?
Love AJ Pickle

Following Ferris

2011-10-27T22:05:00.000+11:00

Have you seen the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off? It isn't really a kids movie but mum and dad let me watch it a while ago and I think it is pretty cool. Anyway, just in case you haven't seen it, Ferris is about a boy, his girl-friend and his best friend and all of the crazy things that they do when the wag school. Now since I am already wagging school, I thought I should do some of the things Ferris did on his day off.

Since I am still a little kid, I couldn't sneak in to a restaurant and pretend I was someone famous. I would have sung a strange song in a parade but there wasn't a parade to be found. Even if I knew someone in Chicago with a fancy car, I'm not big enough to see over the dash if I took it for a joy ride.

Really, the only other Ferris thing I could do was visit the John Hancock Observatory and look down on all the little people. (Of course I couldn't look down and see my parents, they were with me!) I could have stood on the railing just liked they did in Ferris, but I had been walking around Chicago all day so I needed the seat.

I might not be as cool as Ferris, but I had a great time looking out over Chicago, during the day AND at night.

Since I am not actually from Chicago, I listened to the audio tour to find out a bit more about Chicago. I found it so interesting that I did it twice, first as a kid, then I listened to the adult version. To be honest, I learnt heaps more from the kid version.

Did you know that even though it is pretty windy in Chicago, it is more likely that it is called the Windy City because of all the wind caused by the politicians. (I wonder if they mean wind from farts or from the hot air of talking rubbish?)

Also, the very first ever ferris wheel was invented and built in Chicago by Mr George Ferris!

So many interesting facts from the kids version of the tour that mum and dad didn't know about!

I did get to do something that Ferris didn't get to do - I washed the windows of the Hancock Observatory.

(Don't worry Nan, we aren't really outside the building, 100 floors above the ground!)

I have had heaps of fun in Chicago, it is a shame that tonight we are leaving!
Oh well, plenty more adventures to be had.
Love AJ Pickle

Old Friends in New Places

2011-10-27T21:50:00.000+11:00

Can you believe that even though we are in another country we get to catch up with one of our best friends who is an old neighbour?

Paula showed us so many different and amazing places all in one fun filled day.

First there was Millennium Park and the giant jelly bean as well as other really cool sculptures in a great park.

We could have spent all day just playing in Millennium Park and looking at all the crazy and beautiful reflections in the jelly bean (look, can you see all of us in the reflection?)
We knew that there were other amazing things to see and do so we kept on exploring.

Eventually we got hungry so wandered down to Navy Pier for some lunch and to see if there were any more adventures to be found.

There were rides that we could go on but we didn't go on them, we wimped out because it was cold and really windy. There were ice creams to eat and we made sure that we ate some of them. There were even some shops to wander through for some fun.

We found some great gardens to relax in but our favourite place was at the very end of Navy Pier where you could just look out over the seemingly endless water of Lake Michigan.

Navy Pier was great but we really think we need to come back in summer to really experience it all properly and go a little crazy.

We had an amazing day but what made the day with Paula even more special is that she doesn't even live in Chicago any more. When she knew we were in town, she flew in just to see us, how awesome is that!

See, clearly Paula is crazy enough to be a part of our family!

We love you Paula, come to Melbourne and visit us really soon!
Love the superRelish crew

Dreaming of Dolls

2011-10-26T22:00:00.000+11:00

We had grand plans that after visiting Lincoln Park Zoo that we would wander downtown and do some exploring. We wanted to go to the observatory at the top of the John Hancock Building but it started to get foggy and they said that the visibility was down to only 4 miles. I don't really know how far that is but since you can normally see for 80 miles I figured that is wasn't very far.

Initially I was disappointed that we didn't get to go to the observatory but I soon cheered up when I stumbled across this place - American Girl Place! It was a ginormous shop full of dolls and doll stuff. I spent ages wandering around trying to pick out my favourite doll. There were dolls from all different times in America's history. My favourites were Kit and Julie, mainly because they looked a little bit like me.

This one is Julie, she is from the 1970s. I really like her, her hair was just like mine before I had it cut and her bedroom is decorated the way I want to decorate mine. If only she had blue eyes like me we could be sisters!

As much as I loved Julie, I ended up buying (with my own money!) a miniature Kit doll because she look most like I do now. She is from the Great Depression in the 1930s when there wasn't much money for special things like gorgeous dolls or huge holidays.

There were other girls there with dolls that looked like them, but they weren't the dolls from history, they were dolls made to look like them, they even had matching outfits. It was kind of creepy, a little bit crazy but at the same time very very cool. Some of the girls were wearing heaps of makeup and were having their photos taken in a special studio and their photos published on a magazine cover. I don't think I would go that far but even if I do think it is crazy, I would really love my very own American Girl doll!

I wonder if Santa can get presents from America?
Love Princess George

PS - Santa, if you are reading this, I really have been a good girl :-)

We're Going to the Zoo

2011-10-26T21:00:00.000+11:00

Everyone knows that we LOVE going to the zoo so when we found out that the Lincoln Park Zoo is just up the road from where we were staying, we simply had to go there. Now being Friends of the Zoo at Melbourne Zoo (one of the most awesome zoos in the entire world) for ALL of our lives, we have spent plenty of time at the zoo. The fact that we knew all the zoo animals before we even knew what farm animals were was a little disappointing to our country cousins but super impressive non the less.

To say that we have been known to be zoo snobs is fairly true, we are often not that impressed by zoos that aren't completely awesome. Well we are here to tell you that Lincoln Park Zoo is totally AWESOME!

There was an African Experience that had heaps of interactive displays as well as super cute meerkats.

As an added bonus, most of the exhibit was indoors so we didn't freeze as we looked at everything. I guess it is pretty good for the animals too, I am sure they would get pretty cold if they were outside in the cold, especially since the African animals are more accustomed to warmer climates! I can only imagine just how cold it must get in Chicago, I mean it is only Fall (that is American for Autumn) and it is super cold. It snows around here so if there wasn't anywhere inside to go and see the animals, I am sure they would be forgotten by everyone, except the people who work at the zoo for the entire cold winter.

Do you know they even had inside exhibits that didn't' have any windows to keep the animals inside? In the bird house the birds loved their homes so much that they just stayed there. It was a little more concerning when the giant orb weaving spiders weren't behind glass but the signs explained that the spiders were fed in their little corner so they didn't wander away. Of course we didn't get too close, just in case but made mum get in close for a photo!

The primates had an inside / outside house too, a house that they could play outside in when it was warm and an equally awesome inside home for when the weather was cold.

The best part about the primate area was the computers. Did you know that the primates there know how to use touch screen computers? I didn't know just how clever they were. The gorillas were amazing, they touched the different symbols on the screen in order, following the same pattern, just like playing a game of memory. The primate keepers, were their teachers, and they were just like parents, they bribed the gorillas with fruit every time they got it right! Even without the bribes, the gorillas were really cool.

As well as the normal zoo area, with zoo animals, there was a farm section too where you could see cows, goats, chickens and rabbits. We hid out in the barn area for a while playing games and trying to warm up. Did you know that as a family, we weigh almost as much as a horse? Surely that little fact will impress the country cousins! It is amazing what you can learn when you visit the farm, even if it is at the zoo in Chicago!

So all round, Lincoln Park Zoo was pretty darn cool. All of this and more and it is FREE. Can you believe that, a super-duper awesome zoo that is for free! I hope we get to visit this zoo again some day.
Love AJ and Milla

Gnomeo

2011-10-26T18:50:00.000+11:00

Gnomeo, Gnomeo! Wherefore art thou Gnomeo?

We couldn't find Gnomeo OR Juliette but we did find the statue of the dude in Gnomeo and Juliette!

Love AJ Pickle

Skeletons take over Chicago

2011-10-25T19:14:00.000+11:00

If you look closely at all the pictures you will see that they are full of skeletons, vampires and other ghouls who have taken over Chicago.

Perhaps it would be safer if we stayed in Shaumburg instead of going in to Chicago?

Oh well, too late, here comes our taxi. Look out Chicago, we are on our way.
Love AJ Pickle

Loving Lego Land

2011-10-25T16:37:00.000+11:00

To all our Lego loving friends out there, you MUST go to Lego Land - it is AWESOME.

Now anyone that knows our family knows that

WE LOVE LEGO

so a visit to Legoland was top of our to-do list when we were planning a holiday.

We are so glad that we did.

As well as meeting so many famous folk who were immortalised in Lego and exploring the Lego Jungle, there was heaps of other super cool things to do, including rides!

Lego Movie Madness

One of the first things we did was watch a couple of movies in 4D - yep you heard us right 4D. Not only did the characters jump off the screen, we could feel what the characters were feeling too. If it rained on the characters, it rained on us, it even snowed on the characters and us too! It was uber cool (and because we were first in line to the Lego Land cinema, we got to choose the first movie we watched.

Then we joined in on a master class (or 2) of Lego building.

Learning from a Lego Expert

Visited the factory to see how Lego is made. We found out that there are 76 different colour Lego bricks and teleported some of the bricks we made to the moon!

With the Crazy Professor in the Lego Factory

There was even a play area, like in an indoor play centre with nets, slides and crazy things to climb on but we were much more interested in playing with some of the 4 million Lego!

You know, we haven't really seen much of the Chicago area, but we are pretty sure that if Lego Land Discovery Centre is anything to go by we could live here!
Love AJ and Milla

2011-10-25T09:33:00.000+11:00

Apparently jet lag is when you are in living in one part of the world but your body thinks it lives in another and so it doesn't know if it should be awake or asleep. I felt jet lagged for the first time ever this morning. Of course I was super tired yesterday after all the travel we did so I was able to fall asleep at proper bed time, around 8 or so the problem was waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. I ended up watching some really trashy TV until mum woke up at 4.30 and declared that Jerry Springer really isn't a kids show and sent me back to bed!

AJ was a bed hog so I didn't want to get back into our bed, so I curled up on the couch for another hour or so of sleep but that was it. AJ was still asleep and mum was starting to get grumpy, I think she was getting jet lagged too. I was too wide awake to stay in bed so I went for breakfast with dad. (Note to self: Just because all the American folk I know love waffles, it doesn't mean they are nice!)

Mum and AJ were still sleeping when we went back to our room so Dad and I went for a walk to let them get some more sleep, I really didn't like the thought of spending the day with grumpy folks! We also figured we could explore a bit and pick up some fruit to snack on as we were out, as well as trying to find a pre-paid data sim for the iPad so we can go geocaching. We had no luck with the data sim - apparently you need to have a US credit card AND mailing address to get one but we did find some fruit. We stocked up on bananas to munch on cos they were only 60c a pound! (Sure I don't really know what a pound is, but they sounded pretty darn cheap and were delicious.)

I am pretty sure that if we didn't wake mum and AJ when we made it back to the hotel, they would have slept the day away. Instead we rushed them downstairs for breakfast so that we could go out and explore for the day.

I just hope that after waking up so early today that I will have the energy to keep going all day long. Next stop, a swim before walking to Legoland.

Love Princess George

When I Grow Up...

2011-10-24T13:48:00.000+11:00

When I was a little kid, I used to tell everyone that I wanted to be a pilot, well actually I wanted to be a fighter pilot, just like Maverick in Top Gun. For some reason I changed my mind and thought I might do something else instead, I just can't remember what.

Anyway, I am thinking that maybe I will be a pilot. You see on the way from LAX to Chicago today, Jim and Jim, the pilots on the plane I was flying on, invited me into the cockpit to see where they worked.

AJ the Pilot

How cool is all this stuff! I think that I could get used to jetting about the world!
Love AJ Pickle

Waiting and Waiting Some More

2011-10-24T13:40:00.000+11:00

I woke up super early this morning, I was too tired to sleep, I had things to do and places to see and I wasn't going to school! Once I was ready I had to sit around and wait for the taxi to take us to the airport.

Filling in time

We were early and managed to beat the rush and it didn't take long for us to be through customs and at the gate waiting for our plane. Of course there was a slight delay so the wait was even longer.
Luckily I am easily entertained!

The flight from Melbourne to LA was long, really long but at least I managed to sleep a few hours this time round! I am pretty sure AJ only fell asleep as the plane was getting ready to descend into LA.

Ready for Take-Off

At LAX, we had to clear customs and recheck our luggage and wait some more. I rested for a little bit but I was still too excited to sleep. Instead I rested, thinking about how we could possibly be in LA, in a completely different country and it was really a few hours before we had even left Melbourne!

Waiting some more...

Finally we boarded the American Airlines flight for O'Hare.

Having flown 15 hours already and then waiting at LAX for another 4 hours, the 3 1/2 hour flight to Chicago was so quick, it was like it was over in the blink of an eye, or just one movie!

Of course, being in Chicago, we had one more wait, this time for a taxi to take us to hour hotel.

The Last Wait for the Day

Finally after what feels like a billion hours, the waiting is over and we are on holidays. We have had a swim and some dinner and now it is time to get some real sleep before we go exploring tomorrow.

Let the adventure begin,

Love Princess George

A New Place to Play

2011-10-17T20:19:00.000+11:00

Some things may never change. Mum is still dragging us along to work with her whenever she gets the chance.

At least now when we get dragged to Flemington there there is a new super cool playground for us to explore at Debneys Park!

There are so many cool things to play on, a climbing net, giant sider web, dizzy sticks, a ginormous flying fox and places to ride bikes, skateboards and scooters. I haven't had a chance to go on the flying fox yet, there are always about 4 billion other kids waiting to have a go on it. Maybe next time I am there I will get a turn on it too.
Love AJ Pickle

Weekend Work

2011-10-10T19:30:00.000+11:00

It is the weekend so that should mean that we get to spend the day relaxing and having fun right? I wish! Sure I went to ice skating this morning and had heaps of fun but when I got home I had to work, work, work. Mum had decided that my room was a mess and it needed to be cleaned. Why? I really don't know. It is my room and it is way cleaner than her room but I had to spend my day inside cleaning and it took forever.

With all of the things I got rid of - 3 garbage bags full of stuff to be donated to Vinnies and another 4 big bags of rubbish you would think that my room would be empty right? Wrong. It is still full of stuff. The best thing is, now I can actually find where my stuff is, just don't tell mum other wise she will say 'I told you so!'

Love Princess George

(Almost) Record Breaking

2011-09-24T22:13:00.001+10:00

What did you do today? I tried to get my name listed in the Guiness World Records. We all decided to head in to Icehouse to join in a conga line on ice. Everyone that registered had to join in the conga line and skate around the ice for 15 minutes without letting go of the person in front of you and not fall over. Now I know that I can skate for ages and ages without falling over but I wasn't too sure about mum and dad!

We had plenty of time to warm up before the record attempt began. Instead of using this time to warm up with us, mum and dad used the time to rest and to get photos!

Finally it was time for the conga line to start. We were in the middle section of the line - dad was first, then AJ, me and then mum. It was actually pretty hard to skate so slowly and in a squishy line but I managed to stay up the entire time, and make sure that I held on tight to AJ. It was easier said than done, I don't think mum actually skated at all, she let me tow her around!

Whether we broke the World Record or not, it was a pretty cool way to spend the start of the holidays,

Love Princess George

**edited to add - there were only 202 people in the conga line, not enough for a world record, we will have to go back next time they try to break the Actual World Record.

Crazy Busy Days

2011-09-18T21:43:00.001+10:00

Saturday morning is normally the day that I hide from mum as she nags me to clean my room... put my stuff away... find all my dirty washing... when all I want to do is snuggle on the couch and watch tv. Normally my Saturday morning is really boring. This morning was different. Sure mum still nagged me to clean up and put stuff away but that was so that I could find my iTouch and a few bits and pieces to throw into a bag before we set off on an adventure or two.

I knew it was skating day for Milla and that we were going to visit some of mum’s friends at the beach in the afternoon but I didn’t know what we were doing for the morning. First stop was a complete surprise, we went into Southbank to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform with dancers from the Australian Ballet. At first I thought it might just be full of little kids and boring but I was wrong, it was great. The first solo of the day was the clarinet - the instrument that I play. He was much better than I am, I could almost hear mum (nagging) saying “One day you could play as well as that but first you have to practice!” She might be right and I might start to practice more, might (but probably not)!

All of the performances were really good but the best part was when Patrick the dancer snuck out in his tap shoes to make music. He would tap a rhythm and then the guy on the drum would copy him. They started off pretty slow, doing tap steps and making rhythms that I knew but got faster and faster and more complicated. Then the drummer made rhythms and Patrick copied them, it was awesome and he ended up dancing the rhythm of a drum roll!

My favourite musician had to be the guy on the Double Bass, he really had fun when he played, he was almost dancing in his seat as he played. He was really cool and fun to watch.

To be honest, I had heaps of fun at the performance and was lucky enough to have my photo taken with a few of the musicians and the dancers too.

Not a bad start to a crazy busy unexpected Saturday morning!

Next stop of the Crazy Saturday was to fill in time at Icehouse when Milli had her lessons and before we headed to the beach. Normally I don’t like hanging around when Milli has her lessons because only the people having lessons can go onto the ice but today because her lesson was at lunch time I got to go skating too. Not only did I get to go skating but I got to play with the giant snowball on the ice. Certainly much more fun than having to clean my room.

The adventure continued after skating. We grabbed some lunch from Costco and headed to the beach. All I knew is that we would spend the afternoon with some of mum’s friends, I didn’t know them but I knew that there would be boys to hang out with instead of just girls so I figured it would be fun.

Let’s just say that fun would be an understatement, I had an awesome time.

There were 4 other boys to hang out with, as well as 4 girls but the best part was that where we were staying was great, we were in the town but there was so much space around that we could be up the front building cubby houses and digging booby traps and the parents couldn’t even see us!

I think mum must have been having fun too because before she realised it, it was really late and we were ready for bed. Instead of getting back into the car and driving home, we grabbed out our ‘just in case we need them’ sleeping bags out of the car and went to bed. Can you believe that there was enough room for all of us to sleep in the one bedroom! Of course sharing a bedroom with 8 other kids meant that we stayed up really late and woke up really early to make sure we had plenty of time to hang out together.

We spent hours mucking about but even digging booby traps didn’t stop mum from making us get back in the car and heading back to Melbourne for another day of madness. I really wished that we could have stayed down by the beach to hang out with my new friends. Hopefully we can go back there again some time soon.

Love AJ Pickle

Musical Magic

2011-09-17T19:40:00.007+10:00

So it was Saturday morning, the day I normally get (woken) up bright and early to head in to Docklands to go skating. I knew that my lesson wasn’t until later in the day so I really didn’t know what the rush was all about, but mum made us get dressed and jump into the car. I thought maybe she had forgotten the lesson times but she said she had a surprise for us before we went skating. Who was I to argue, so I got ready and off we went.

It wasn’t until we were on our way that mum let us know that we were going to see a performance of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at Iwaki Auditorium at Southbank. I was already pretty excited and then mum said that there would be ballet dancers from the Australian Ballet there too I could barely sit still.

We managed to get into the theatre at just the right time, the family that were sitting in the centre front decided to sit in the seats instead of on the floor so we go to sit right at the very front where I knew that I would be able to see everything. The conductor came out and soon the performance began.

There were 4 beautiful dancers; Patrick, Alex, Polly and Hannah. They were all amazing dancers, the way they moved they looked like the music. Polly was my favourite, not only was she a great dancer, she had a really pretty smile and looked so happy when she danced.

All of the music was fun but I had a few favourites. One was the music that the conductor said had a Spanish style, I didn’t think it sounded Spanish, it reminded me of Indian music with snakes dancing out of baskets! The hoedown was great too, the dancers made me laugh and when Patrick and Alex danced together they reminded my of Twiddledum and Twiddledee! I think my favourite piece of all was called Light Speed and it was fast and fun, it made me want to get up and dance.

Somehow mum had organised for us to meet some of the orchestra and the dancers and even had our photos taken with them!

With some of the MSO and the dancers from the Australian Ballet, and with Heidi from Stuff With Thing!

I had such a great time listening to the orchestra and watching the dancers, I really hope that we are around during the holidays to go and see another performance of the MSO - they are playing Peter and the Wolf at ACMI and I already know that music but I don’t know much about the the story.

Don’t tell mum and dad, but I had so much fun that I think I want to do dancing again and perhaps learn an instrument again, maybe the flute!

Love Princess George.

Loving Lego

2011-08-13T22:00:00.003+10:00

Now it is no surprise to anyone that in our crazy family we ALL love lego. You can imagine I was pretty excited today when dad and I decided to catch the train in to the city to meet Milli and mum after ice skating to do something special together. Milli didn't know it, but dad had bought us tickets to go and see Art of the Brick at Fed Square. I didn't know what to expect other than it was all about lego and that had to be a great thing.

First stop when we got to the exhibition was the shop but do you think that we were allowed to buy anything? Of course not! Instead of complaining, we went upstairs to see the lego. I guess thought it would be just normal things built with lego, you know, like buildings and stuff. I really didn't expect it to be sculptures of people but it was and it was pretty cool.

I loved the sculpture of the guy who ripped his chest open so is insides could pour out!

Naturally Milla preferred the peace sign!

We both loved the skulls!

The best part was going upstairs and building our own lego. We had a great time at the Art of the Brick that I want to do more lego building. I wonder if I can be a lego artist when I grow up?

Love AJ Pickle

2010-01-16T21:50:00.001+11:00

At the Lake, Again

We are still in Yarrawonga so that means we are still spending as much time as we can here, splashing about in the water,

Or just supervising those who are in the water!

I hope these holidays never end,

Love Princess George

2010-01-10T20:13:00.001+11:00

Fishing Fun

Can you believe that I have been living just up the road from the lake all year and it has taken me until now to actually go fishing!

Building my Fishing Rod

Learning from the expert!

Filling in time, waiting for the fish to bite!

It was worth the wait just to go fishing with Poppy, even if I didn't catch any fish.

Thanks for taking me fishing Poppy.

Love AJ Pickle

2010-01-09T20:53:00.000+11:00

Prune Fingers

Just another fun day in Yarrawonga.

2 kids + hours and hours of fun in the water = prune fingers!

Love AJ and Milla

2010-01-09T19:25:00.001+11:00

Crazy Cousins

Do you know what one of the best things is about having holidays in Yarrawonga? We get to hang out with new friends and our cousins!

I love hanging out with my cousins, especially with Zoe. It is great to have another girl to hang out with, even if everyone thinks we are a little strange! Come to think of it, perhaps we are strange, we made potions with things we found in the garden.

Not so sure that mixing dirt into the potions was such a great idea.

Flower petals floating in water was a little tastier.

I think the potions made us a little crazy, but we had a great time.

Love Princess George

2010-01-01T20:27:00.000+11:00

What did you do to start the new year? I headed to the zoo with my family and some great friends; Ellen, Tomoko and Tomoko's mum Toshiko. Since Tomoko and Toshiko were visiting from Japan we had to go to see all of the Australian animals first. The kangaroos weren't very co-operative and kept hopping away whenever we tried to get a photo with them in the background. The wombat was a little more co-operative, he let us pat him but he wouldn't turn around so all we have is a photo of his bum!

Once we saw the Aussie animals, I took everyone on a tour of my new favourite part of the zoo, to see the seals. The new seal enclosure is pretty amazing, I stopped for a rest on the way in to the exhibit so that I would have the energy to explore the space properly.

I remembered it was such a big enclosure that I had to stop and have another rest!

Now that I had seen all of my favourite animals, I didn't really mind where we went next, but I was in charge of planning our zoo adventure. Instead of touring the zoo to see all the animals, I took everyone on a tour of all the fun places I like to have my photo taken!

Being at the zoo with Japanese tourists meant that they were more than happy to take photos of me wherever I wanted to stop and pose! My photo tour also showed everyone the gorillas, monkeys, tigers, elephants, butterflies, orangutans and siamangs so I think everyone else was happy with the tour too. We even stopped at the Japanese gardens, just in case Tomoko and Toshiko were feeling homesick!

I had a great time at the zoo with my friends.

I had a great time when we went back to our place too - Tomoko and Toshiko gave me gifts so I spent the rest of the afternoon making an eraser, piece by tiny piece. Japanese toys are so cool!

Thanks for coming to visit me Tomoko and Toshiko, I hope you come back to play again really soon.

Love Princess George

2010-01-01T10:53:00.000+11:00

Good Bye Old Year

It was time to head home to Melbourne to get ready for the old year to finish and for a new year to begin. AJ decided that he didn't want to go home so he stayed with Nan and Pop and we drove home without him.

We decided to pack a picnic and wander over the road and spend the evening relaxing in the park with anyone who wanted to join us. I was happy that my friend Poss could come and play in the park with us.

Once it got dark we cracked the glow-sticks and made glow in the dark jewellery so everyone could see us as we danced around.

The rain decided to hit just as it got really dark so we had to run in to Poss's house to keep dry. We played for a little while on the Wii before watching the fireworks in at Docklands through the window. For some reason mum and dad decided that it was home time BEFORE the new year even began, they tried to trick me into believing the fireworks meant that it was time to go to bed! Don't tell them that I was kind of happy to go home to bed, I didn't want to spend the start of the new year tired and grumpy!

Happy 2010

Love Princess George

2009-12-30T22:35:00.000+11:00

Question Time

Why is it that whenever we want to play with our (second) cousins, who live about half an hour away from where we live, we have to drive all the way to Yarrawonga?

I really wish we had more time to play with our cousins more often.

Love Princess George

2009-12-30T20:40:00.000+11:00

Splash

Our friends have continued on their holiday. I was a little worried that there would be no-one to play with but then I found out that our cousins were staying just up the road. I really wanted to hang out with my cousins but what made it even more exciting was that there was a swimming pool where they were staying!

I splashed about for ages and practiced my diving and swimming. I am getting pretty good at belly-wackers too!

I stayed in the water splashing about and practicing until my lips were starting to turn blue.

Once I warmed up, I jumped back into the pool again.

Thanks for letting us play in your pool, it was ace!

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-29T21:40:00.002+11:00

mmm, Seafood!

Did you know that I am the only person in my family adventurous enough to eat seafood? Well it is true. In fact I am such an adventurous eater that I am prepared to catch my own food and eat it straight from the lake.

We found some muscles and I thought I would give it a go.

Should I try some more?

Kind of tasty!

eeew, that's disgusting!

I wonder what tasty treats I can find to eat next, something from the island, or some left over treats from Christmas?

Love Princess George

2009-12-28T22:17:00.001+11:00

Mikey Row Your Boat

Our neighbours decided to join us on our holiday so that they could take their boat for a sail on the lake. I think it took longer to set up the boat than they had actually sailing, but it looked like they were having fun.

Even Poppy helped get the boat ready for sailing.

Eventually the sail was up and the dad's took it out for an escape from all of us!

I didn't mind, I was happy just having other friends to splash about with in the water.

Holidays with friends are fun!

Love Princess George

2009-12-27T22:06:00.003+11:00

On Holidays

I am on holidays, can you guess where I am?

No, I am not in the North Pole, I am in Yarrawonga and some of our friends have come along to enjoy the fun.

I think that this will be a fun few days.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-26T22:30:00.000+11:00

Rock Star

When I grow up I think I might be a Rock Star!

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-26T21:57:00.002+11:00

Christmas Continues

Seeing that we are kind of popular and there are so many people who want to celebrate special days with us, we have to have lots of different Christmases. Today we had the McConville Christmas and we all went out to Uncle G's and Aunty Mel's to catch up.

After we opened about a bajillion more presents, we all went outside to enjoy the sunshine. You can imagine the madness with Milla and I and three other little boys (and a couple of big boys too) running around around the place. We even found a couple of water pistols and of course you can guess what happened next.

We were all soaking wet but we had a great last Christmas celebration.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-25T19:59:00.000+11:00

An Aussie Christmas

We decided to have an Aussie Christmas this year and it was heaps of fun.

The morning started bright and early with us digging through the enormous Santa bags on the end of the bed. They were full of great things but can you believe that Santa made a mistake and put the bags onto the wrong bed. Luckily we could swap them before we dragged them upstairs to show mum and dad what Santa had left for us.

After we compared the treasures we headed downstairs. Guess what? There were MORE presents waiting for us downstairs. It must have been the really real Santa that we met at Harbour Town because he left exactly what we asked for - a giant craft set and a surprise for Milla (a bird of paradise plant) and a WWE Wrestling Ring with wrestlers for AJ. We must have been extra good this year because as well as those amazing presents, Santa also left us with a new Razor scooters. Santa even left a scooter for Tong too!

We were far too excited to eat breakfast so we headed over to the park for a scoot. It was as if Santa decided that all the Kensington Kids needed new scooters because lots of our friends joined us in the park for a scoot!

We scooted ourselves hungry and headed home for a fantastic giant breakfast with all our favourites - fruit, croissants and bacon. Delicious! The only problem was that when we got back home we realised that we still had presents to open so it distracted us from being hungry!

Eventually we ate our breakfast and then mum and dad remembered that in all the excitement of the morning, they had forgotten to give us a Christmas present. It was in a giant basket and hidden under the stairs so we dragged it out and look what we found...

Can you believe it, I can't believe that we are allowed to get our very own kitten. How exciting.

Now that the present opening was really finished we made calls to family and friends who were elsewhere celebrating Christmas before packing a picnic and heading off to the beach to celebrate Australian style.

It was great playing at the beach all afternoon, enjoying the sunshine, splashing about in the water and playing on the rocks.

We hope that everyone else had a Christmas that was as fun and exciting as ours.

Love AJ and Milla

2009-12-25T19:54:00.000+11:00

Christmas Eve

It is the night before Christmas and we would love to sit around and chat, but we have some sleeping to do before Santa arrives.

Merry Christmas

Love AJ and Milla

2009-12-22T19:21:00.000+11:00

Beach Hopping

Mum went to work today so for a special treat we spent the day hanging out with dad. Instead of sitting around the house we went out on an adventure. We sent photos along the way to mum to show her what we were up to (and to make her a little bit jealous of us out enjoying the sun and the splashing).

Four different beaches in one afternoon and we had a great time. Hopefully mum will come beach-hopping with us next time.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-21T19:04:00.001+11:00

Cleaning Teeth

Sometimes I am sure that AJ doesn't clean his teeth even when he says that he has. Today when AJ said that he had cleaned his teeth, mum got him to chew on a tiny little pink tablet to show if there was any plaque on his teeth. I cleaned my teeth and chewed on a little tablet too. Have a look at the photos and see who you think REALLY brushed their teeth.

Once AJ saw how much plaque was on his teeth he quickly went back inside to brush them. I don't think he can try and trick people about having brushed his teeth any more. Hopefully he will remember to brush them properly every morning AND night!

Love Princess George

2009-12-19T18:53:00.000+11:00

The Really Real One!

I know AJ thinks that we met a real Santa at Tia and Tio's Christmas party but he was wrong, I met the really real Santa today at Harbour Town.

Do you know how I can tell he is the real Santa? It is because when he sat down next to me to chat he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. When I told him that I wanted a craft set, he looked at me and said, "Oh I remember now, you already told me that." He was right, I had already told him that and only the really real Santa would remember what all the kids told him!

Thanks for remembering me Santa,

Love Princess George

2009-12-18T21:43:00.000+11:00

Sing-Along

What did you do to celebrate the end of the school year? Do you know what I had to do? I had to stand around in the dark and sing Christmas Carols in Rabbit Park!

Even if there was singing I guess it was pretty good, before it got dark I ate yummy picnic food and played soccer with my friends!

Happy holidays,

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-18T18:04:00.000+11:00

School's Out for Summer!

Can you believe that I have finished my first year at school? It seems like only yesterday that this was me at the start of the school year, all ready to begin my first day as a prep kid.

Look how young I look!

All of a sudden the year is over and I have finished prep! The sad thing about that is that my buddy finished grade 6 and now she is off to secondary school.

The best buddy in the world!

Thanks for being a great buddy, I will miss you. I hope you will come back to see me and everyone else at KPS soon!

And now let the fun begin - hooray it is holidays!

Love Princess George

2009-12-17T21:17:00.000+11:00

Dancing Away

We had another day off school today. I would love to say it was a just a crazy fun day but really it was just like work and it was a really really really long day. First up we had to be dressed and ready to head into the city bright and early for a 7.30am to sign in and get our security passes before heading backstage for a dance rehearsal at the Palms at Crown. We were there all morning getting ready for the show tonight.

After rehearsals we came home for some quiet time to prepare for the show. What that really meant was that we had to have a snack, pack a snack bag, make sure we hadn't forgotten anything and do our hair and make-up before heading back into the city ready for the real thing. Luckily our hair and make-up requirements weren't as crazy as other years!

We all went in together, Milla and I, Will and Chloe as the dancers and mum and Juice as the audience members. Traffic was crazy busy so we ended up getting out and walking through the city to make sure we wouldn't be too late. Luckily we made it in time.

This is Milla as we were about to head backstage.

And me just after the show (thanks for the lollipop mum!)

Mum kept raving on about how awesome the show was to watch, but I didn't see to much of it, I was to busy hanging out backstage with friends from class! What I do know is that it was heaps of fun and I think I will keep dancing again next year.

It was kinda late when we were ready to go home so we caught a taxi together instead of catching the train. I am glad we did, I didn't have the energy to walk home from the station after such a long day.

Even if it was a crazy busy, long and tiring day, it WAS fun!

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-13T20:06:00.000+11:00

An Early Christmas

We know that it is only the middle of December and that there is almost 2 weeks until it is Christmas for real but we want to be able to celebrate with everyone so we are starting early. Aunty Sharn, Dave and Billy are about to head off to England to introduce Billy to the rest of the world so we had our Christmas at Adam and Melati's house today and it was awesome.

There was heaps of yummy food, lots of sweet treats, my favourite uncle and of course presents.

I think AJ likes his present, what do you think?

Merry early Christmas,

Love Princess George

2009-12-12T16:45:00.001+11:00

Long Grass

Excuse me Mr Lawn Mower Man, I DO love long grass but think the park needs a mow.

Love Princess George

2009-12-11T21:17:00.001+11:00

Party Time

Don't tell anyone, but we snuck out of school early today to go to a party! It wasn't just any old party, it was Tia and Tio's Christmas party with all the other kids who go to day care there, or kids like us who used to go to day care there.

It was awesome. Not only was there a magician there, Santa came along too. I think it was a real Santa this year, not the guy who came along last year - the other magician who used to go inside and put a Santa suit on over his clothes.

The other reason I think it was a real Santa is because he gave us really cool presents and not little kid stuff. He gave Milla some Polly Pockets and I got a WWE wrestling character.

I wonder if we will be allowed to sneak out of school for any other parties this year?

Love AJ Pickle

2009-12-09T20:48:00.001+11:00

Greenery

Did you know that our friends Jodi and Wayne are moving to Hong Kong for a really long time? Well they are and that means that they have to store all of their stuff or ship it over to their new place when they find one. We offered to help them out by looking after some of their stuff if they needed us to. Look what Jodi dropped over to our house today for us to look after...

Yep you guessed it, another Christmas tree. Not only is this another Christmas tree, it is the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen and beautiful, even before we put the decorations on it! We had to take all the decorations off the other tree and take it upstairs. It is now in our library with all the pretty lights on it twinkling away.

The big tree has pride of place in the lounge. We put all the decorations we could find on it and it only covered the front part of the tree! If you don't look at the back of the tree, it is spectacular. Did I mention that it was huge? So huge that I had to sit on mum's shoulders to try and put the star on top!

Thanks for the most awesomely awesome Christmas tree Jodi, I promise we will take good care of it.

Love Princess George

2009-12-05T20:13:00.001+11:00

Christmas Shopping

It is the first weekend in December and do you know what that means? It means it is time for us to set up our Christmas tree. Of course we, well mum really, decided that our tree wasn't big enough for us any more. Even though our tree wasn't big enough we hadn't had a chance to get another one, luckily Wayne gave us his old tree and it is bigger than ours so it was time to build and decorate.

It took forever to cover it from top to bottom with decorations, including a train track running around the base but when it was done it looked pretty good, especially when we put some presents under the tree.

When our tree was all finished we decided that it was time to go Christmas shopping. We weren't shopping for presents for ourselves though we wanted to buy presents for other kids who might not get any Christmas presents. We have been saving some of our pocket money each week to donate to a charity and what better charity is there than other kids? We opened our piggy bank and started counting.

We had saved heaps of money so we went shopping. Once we had bought the presents we took them in to dad's work to put them under the Christmas tree there, ready to be given to kids in need.

It was great to be able to help other people enjoy Christmas too.

Love AJ and Milla

2009-12-04T20:06:00.000+11:00

Thriller

I am just home from our school picnic and it was fantastic. What made this picnic better than every other picnic wasn't the food that we ate, nor was it the fact that we all sat on the basketball court together instead of in the dust. It wasn't even that we were with all of our friends. What made this the best picnic ever was that we had an impromptu disco in the hall!

We danced away for hours and every third song was Thriller!

Love Princess George

2009-12-02T19:43:00.001+11:00

Rudolf

Who let mum out of the house with a credit card today? Look what, or should I say who, she managed to fit in the car!

I think mum is kind of crazy, but Rudolf is awesome!

Love Princess George

2009-11-29T23:23:00.000+11:00

Party Time

It must be nearly Christmas, do you want to know how I know? It is because I went to a Christmas party today. It was mum's work Christmas party and we were all invited to a Christmas Spectacular.

There were so many things to see and do that we were kept really busy all day long. First there were the rides to go on. I didn't want to go on all the mechanical rides but Milla wanted to. Luckily she made a new friend and they went on all the rides together. I think her favourite ride must have been the Cha Cha because she went on it at least 6 times!

She wasn't tall enough to go on the hurricane so she convinced mum to ride with her. Dad rode with Milla's friend because she wasn't tall enough either. I was the smart one, I stayed on the ground and took photos. I think dad wishes that he stayed on the ground too!

Although I didn't go on the mechanical rides there was still heaps of cool things to do, like mini-golf, a space simulator, a fun factory, an animal farm and bungy trampolines.

After lunch we even had a visit from a guy in a red suit who gave all the good kids a present. Actually I think he even gave some not-so-good kids presents too!

By far the best part of the day was making friends with the reptiles, it was totally awesome. I might even see if I have enough pocket money saved to get my own snake!

If the Christmas Spectacular is anything to go by, this Christmas is going to be awesome!

Love AJ Pickle

2009-11-29T10:05:00.000+11:00

Such a Girl!

What do you do when you want to put on some makeup but don't want to go upstairs to get your makeup? Why you improvise of course.

I used some pollen from the flowers instead!

Do you want me to do your 'makeup' too?

Love Princess George

2009-11-28T17:40:00.000+11:00

Sad and Angry

Today was to be a fantastic day, it was the day that the blanket for the bridge was being officially opened. Unfortunately that didn't happen, some selfish rude people cut the entire Big Knit from the bridge. Instead of being a blanket over the bridge it was hanging in tatters from the bottom of the bridge, dragging in the water.

Luckily some smaller pieces weren't destroyed.

Even though the Big Knit wasn't what it should have been, there was still a celebration that we went to and I even dressed up in 'wool' decorations again.

It rained for most of it but it was heaps of fun, we even learnt an old fashioned dance, something called Flashdance! I had never heard of it but it was fun.

We tried to hide from the rain but we were all soaking wet.

Even if it was cold wet and miserable, even if the bridge blanket didn't look the way it was supposed to I still thought it was beautiful and I had fun!

Love Princess George

2009-11-25T17:35:00.000+11:00

Gone!

Well it certainly has been a busy day around here. To top off the crazy, my second tooth decided it was time to come out. I really thought that my other front tooth down the bottom would be the next to fall out but instead it was the side tooth right next to my new tooth. At least my new big tooth has more room to grow.

I wonder which tooth will be next?

Love Princess George

2009-11-25T17:13:00.003+11:00

Chickens Will Fix It

Mum came to school to visit Milla in her class and then she surprised me by coming to visit me in my class just before I had snack and went out to play and mum went back to work. Mum didn't even get a chance to get back to work before her phone rang. Can you guess who it was? It was school calling to say that I was injured, again.

Before you knew it I was at the doctors and then having an xray of my elbow. Now or course it was my dodgy elbow and of course it was injured. I now have a Subluxation of my Radial Head. Now what that really means is that one of the bones in my forearm (the same bone that dad broke in his arm) doesn't quite line up with the bone that I just had the screws taken out of. Essentially I have a minor dislocation and it really hurts.

To cheer me up mum gave in and let me have some KFC for lunch in between appointments. Then to fill in time before the end of the school day I went to visit Ellen in her class and to see Tiger. I was even feeling so much better that I was allowed to go out and chase the chickens!

Hopefully my arm won't take too long to heal, I am off to see my orthopedic surgeon next week and in the mean time it is back to life in a sling and resting.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-11-25T11:59:00.000+11:00

School Visitors

Mum and her friend came to visit my class at school today. It was awesome. They told us all about their job and how to stay safe but the best part of the day was when we got to dress up!

I think that one day I will go and work with mum!

Love Princess George

2009-11-24T23:15:00.001+11:00

Knitting Big

Look what we found when we went for a walk this afternoon, some giant knitting!

Even the pretend 'wool' was ginormous!

Giant 'wool'

There are a group of artists who are knitting a gigantic blanket for the bridge. We decided to see if we could help them. The knitting needles were too big for us to use so we tried to do some 'arm knitting' instead, like finger knitting but using our arm instead. We were even allowed to get some left overs to make some costumes to wear to the opening of the Big Knit.

Arm Knitting!

Making headbands

Tying myself up in 'wool'

I think I will wear this to the grand opening!

I can't wait to see what the bridge blanket looks like when it is all finished.

Love Princess George

2009-11-21T22:43:00.000+11:00

Hulkamania

Did you know that it IS possible for kids and dads to both like the same thing? Well it is!

When dad was little he liked to watch WWF - the old fashioned name for WWE on tv. Well guess what, I LOVE watching wrestling on tv.

Do you know what is even better than watching wrestling on tv?

Watching it in real life! Even the wrestlers from the olden days like Hulk Hogan are awesome!

Thanks for a great wrestling adventure.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-11-21T22:37:00.000+11:00

Class Picnic

Today was the perfect day for a picnic, and to make the day even better it was a class picnic. My entire class was invited, as well as their families. We all went to Pirate Park to play and it was like there were millions of people there. The best thing was spending time with my class mate and best friend.

I hope we will be friends forever.

Love Princess George

2009-11-15T21:23:00.000+11:00

Grandma Greatness

After our giant play by the lake in Ballarat we went to visit someone extra special - our Great Grandma.

Can you believe that our Great Grandma is almost 94 years old? She is amazing.

Love AJ and Milla

2009-11-15T20:38:00.000+11:00

Adventure Time

We went on a long drive today to have an adventure in Ballarat. We grabbed some lunch from a fish and chip shop and then went to Lake Wendouree to eat and then explore.

We were eager to go and explore but dad was taking too long to eat his pumpkin cake so we helped him!

Then it was time to go exploring. First stop - the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. They were very beautiful and there were heaps of places to run, jump and explore.

We went over the road to the lake and continued our running and more importantly, our jumping.

Then we did even more jumping as mum played with her camera - again!

Finally it was time to wander back under the trees to cool down.

The adventure was complete when we stopped for ice-cream.

I love adventures, I hope we can go on another adventure again soon.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-11-07T21:03:00.001+11:00

The Happiest Boy in the World!

After saving for ages and ages and ages, I finally had enough money to go shopping for my very own iTouch. When the man in the shop found out that I had saved up ALL my pocket money, he gave me a discount so I could buy a cover and a charger too.

I LOVE my iTouch!

Perhaps there is something good about saving pocket money after all.

Love AJ Pickle, the happiest boy in the world!

2009-11-07T14:40:00.000+11:00

Hayfever

My eyes are itchy, red and watery, I keep sneezing and I feel pretty terrible, I look pretty terrible too.

To cheer myself up I did some face painting.

Yep I feel much better now,

Love Princess George

2009-11-06T19:28:00.000+11:00

Snack Time

Aunty Sharn picked us up after school today and took us to a school fete to visit mum and her friends at work. It was really hot and I spent all of my pocket money buying plants for my balcony garden. Luckily Aunty Sharn is really nice and she gave me some extra money to buy myself a treat.

To say thank you, I fed Billy his bottle.

Thanks for a great afternoon Aunty Sharn and Billy,

Love Princess George

2009-11-02T20:00:00.000+11:00

Picnic Time

Do you know what is better than having a picnic in the park? Having a picnic in the park with lots of friends AND dressing up. You see today is the day of the Race that stops a nation - the Melbourne Cup.

Normally we would have a picnic in the 'other park' but because it was likely to rain we wouldn't have anywhere to run to to get out of the rain. Instead we decided to have a picnic in our park. We set our TV up outside Chloe's house, set up a table of food to share and spread out the picnic blankets.

It was a great day and lots of people came to our picnic. I dressed up and wore a pretty dress and a fascinator in my hair, just like all the beautiful people who were walking through our park on the way to the real races.

Luckily wearing a pretty dress didn't stop me from having fun, I could still have fun and climb trees, I just took off my shoes like the girls at the real races did to walk home!

When the races were over on the TV we played races in the park. Dad wasn't very good at racing on the little twisty buggy so we helped him.

Everyone had a great day at our picnic and luckily it didn't start raining until the picnic was finished.

Love Princess George

2009-10-31T22:15:00.000+11:00

A Wicked Halloween

We had a Halloween party in the park this afternoon. I dressed up as my favourite witch in the entire world. Do you know who I am?

I am Elphaba of course.

I hope that you had a great Halloween too.

Love Princess George

2009-10-25T21:44:00.001+11:00

Playing Safely

Just for something completely different today we decided to go exploring in at Docklands. There was a Community Safety Day there and we got to see so many different emergency services in action. Not only did we see police, fire and ambulance services but we also saw Customs in action and played with the puppies as well as Neighbourhood Watch and State Emergency Services.

I wonder if I could keep a Customs puppy?

There was so much to see and do there; checking out all of the different vehicles, collecting heaps and heaps of showbags and giveaways and of course there is face painting.

I loved Marty's race bike best

Milla liked the police motorbike.

As with every festival and community event the lines to wait for the face painting was forever long. Instead of wasting all our time in line for pretty face paint we decided to go for some body paint instead.

What do you think of the artwork?

Luckily we play safe and try really hard not to get hurt.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-10-24T20:51:00.000+11:00

The Birthday Continues...

Do you know what the best thing is about having your birthday on a school day? It means that my big family don't get to celebrate with me. I know that sounds a bit horrible but actually it is really good - I get to talk all night long on the phone with people who love me and then when it is the weekend they all come and celebrate with me so it really means that I get to have 2 birthdays!

AND another birthday cake!

Love Princess George

2009-10-19T22:06:00.001+11:00

Party with Friends

In our house we have strange 'rules' about birthday parties. Now that we are at school, the rule is you can have 2 or 3 people over to do something special, maybe go to a movie or have a sleep over OR you can have 4 or 5 friends over after school for afternoon tea in the park. I have so many friends that I didn't know what to do. Eventually I decided to have afternoon tea in the park so I could invite 5 friends and then the friends who lived near me would just come over to the park anyway.

When I sat down to write my guest list and invitations I got stuck. How could I choose 5 class mates when there are only 7 other girls in my class. Eventually I convinced mum and dad that it wouldn't be fair to not invite only 2 people so ALL the girl in my class were invited to come over.

We all walked home from school together and when we got home we all put on some of my precious costumes and went to the park for afternoon tea. We all had a great time eating yummy treats, playing games, climbing trees oh and of course eating birthday cake. (I helped to make my cake - ice cream cake!)

Once all of my friends had gone home, it was time for me to go home too. Guess what was waiting for me at home? More cards and presents.

Look at the ace present from Sharn, Dave and Harry!

I love being six.

Love Princess George

2009-10-19T21:37:00.000+11:00

Celebrating at School

Mum came to visit me at school with a huge tray of treats for me and all my class mates to celebrate my birthday. It was great to have everyone sing Happy Birthday to me and share a snack together at the end of the school day.

Do you know what made it even more special? My Aunty Sharn came along too and Harry had his first visit to school - on my birthday!

Hooray for birthdays,

Love Princess George

2009-10-19T08:30:00.000+11:00

The Birthday Begins

When I woke up, not only was the table set for breakfast but there were presents waiting for me. I couldn't wait until everyone was awake so I could open my card and presents.

Thanks everyone, my presents are awesome. I especially love the new Pandora Charm.

Got to run now, it is time for school,

Love Princess George

2009-10-18T21:19:00.000+11:00

Almost Six

Goodnight to a beautiful 5 year old.

Look what will be waiting for you when you are 6.

Happy Birthday Boo,

Love Mum and Dad

2009-10-15T21:58:00.000+11:00

Over Share

By now everyone knows that dad is in hospital, well this is the reason why - OUCH!

Luckily dad didn't want us to miss out on what he was doing so he had lots of people take photos of him and his injury.

Waiting for the ambulance with a bag of dim sims and peas to ice the injury!

Being wheeled into emergency from the ambulance.

Waiting for xrays.

I don't know why no one took photos of dad's elbow being popped back in to place?

Thanks for sharing dad, I hope your arm gets better soon and you come back home.

Love Princess George

2009-10-15T09:36:00.000+11:00

Copy Cat

When I woke up this morning, dad wasn't home. Sometimes he goes in to work early but not today, today he was in hospital!

Last night, right about the time that I was drifting off to sleep dad was playing basketball. Just before the game finished, he jumped up into the air and got pushed. He landed awkwardly and crunch, copy cat - a dislocated elbow and broken arm!

Can you believe that dad had to find something so painful to do to copy me? Surely he could have found an easier way to be like me.

2009-10-13T21:28:00.000+11:00

Baby Sitting Billy

Tonight I was supposed to go to soccer with mum but I really didn't want to. Instead I asked Aunty Sharn if I could help her look after Billy.

Having cuddles with Billy is much better than playing soccer.

Love Princess George

2009-10-08T21:49:00.004+11:00

Another Big Day

Today was another big day - it was the day that I had the bandages and stitches removed from my arm. Luckily it was a pretty quick visit. The bandage was unwrapped, the padding was removed and the waterproof seal was peeled off. The ends of the stitches were peeled off and I was almost ready to go.

Now apparently there are still holes where the screws have been removed so I have to take it easy for a couple of weeks just to make sure that I don't break my arm again just yet. Other than that, my arm is as good as new it just has a beaut new scar and few extra lumps and bumps to freak people out with. I don't even need to go back to visit the orthopedic surgeon until next year!

Do you want to know what was best about my latest visit to the hospital? It was dad's turn to take me there and it is much easier to convince dad to get junk food than it is to convince mum!

mmm...KFC...

Love AJ Pickle

2009-10-07T20:09:00.000+11:00

Tooth Fairy Bounty

Look the Tooth Fairy has been to visit me.

She is so clever, she read my note and let me keep my tooth AND even gave me $2.

I don't know what I will do with the tooth but I am glad that I can keep it!

Love Princess George

2009-10-06T19:57:00.000+11:00

One of the Pack!

I have been going to Cubs for a little while now and tonight was my big night - I was invested.

This is the sign that met me at the door.

Making my promise.

Getting my woggle.

All badged and ready to go.

Hooray, now I am a real Cub,

Love AJ Pickle

2009-10-06T19:54:00.001+11:00

Say Cheese!

Look what happened today...

I hope the tooth fairy will visit me tonight.

Love Princess George

2009-10-06T19:43:00.000+11:00

Soggy Bandages

I had a big bath tonight and forgot that I am supposed to be resting AND keeping my bandages dry!

Luckily I am going back to the orthopedic surgeon this week to have my bandages and stitches removed, I don't think I will be able to remember to keep my arm dry much longer. Mum had to take my bandages off to dry them out so they could dry out ready for school in the morning

Oops,

Love AJ Pickle

2009-10-04T22:20:00.000+11:00

Old People are Funny

Did you know that when people get old they start to do crazy things. You see, it was our neighbour's birthday yesterday so to celebrate they (the grown ups and not the kids) all went out to a huge party in the city. They all dressed up as someone else and went out together.

Dad was dressed up as some guy who plays old people music. (Angus Young from ACDC)

Mum was dressed up as Paula (as Candi, All American Goddess)

Paula was dressed up as Cher

and the birthday boy started off as the Construction Guy from some olden days band but instead of staying in that costume he got changed twice,

first as a girl from ABBA (in a strange costume mum made)

and then as a flight attendant.

I have seen heaps of photos from the party and I really wish that I could have gone along, it looks like it was heaps of fun and I love wearing dress ups too!

Love Princess George

2009-10-02T22:12:00.000+10:00

In the Olden Days

In the olden days, ten whole years ago, mum and dad got married. Look how young the were back then!

I hope that when we are old we can get married (to other people not each other) and live happily ever after too.

Love AJ and Milla

2009-10-01T22:03:00.000+10:00

More Boys

I have to say that I was a little worried that Milla would be right and that Billy would be a girl. Luckily I was right and Billy is a boy cousin who I know will grow up and be great friends with me. I am sure he will like playing with Milla, but not as much as he likes hanging out with me!

I wonder how long I have to wait before Billy can climb trees and play footy?

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-30T09:10:00.001+10:00

Finally!

Hours and hours and hours and hours after we were tucked up in bed baby Billy was born. Isn't he beautiful?

Congratulations to the New Parents, we can't wait to meet you Billy!

Love the Proud Cousins

2009-09-29T22:20:00.001+10:00

Waiting

Guess where we are - we are sitting in a hospital waiting room again.

This time it has been for an even longer wait than the last time we were sitting in a hospital waiting room but luckily it is for a much better reason, baby Billy is on the way.

Aunty Sharn has been there all day long waiting for Billy to get out. We went home with dad to try and get some sleep, Billy doesn't seem to be in a huge hurry.

Hopefully we get to meet Billy soon,

Love AJ and Milla

2009-09-29T21:27:00.001+10:00

Special Delivery

Look what was in the mail for me today...

Nan and pop sent me a get well soon card wishing me a speedy recovery from my elbow unscrewing surgery. I think I will recover pretty quickly now - I have money to spend!

Thanks nan and pop,

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-29T20:35:00.000+10:00

Birthday Wishes

Today I went to a birthday party, to celebrate the birthday of a great friend I have known all of my life. Look at what the birthday girl did to me...

Luckily it was fun and we got to eat party food!

Happy birthday Amelia,

Love Princess George

2009-09-28T12:04:00.001+10:00

Stinky

Look how mum had to spend the night last night.

Mum, and dad too, spent most of the night cleaning up both of us kids each time we vomited and that was quite a few times. It wasn't much fun for anyone. AJ had more throw-ups than I did - he said that he had a new record of 31 throw-ups. Now I know it wasn't 31 throw-ups but I am sure that it was at least 13!

I felt much better this morning but AJ is still sleeping and a bit feverish. I hope he is feeling better soon so that we can go on holiday adventures.

Love Princess George

2009-09-27T21:53:00.000+10:00

Poker Face

Look what dad found when he woke up this morning!

We had a great morning playing poker together. Even Milla helped out, she was the dealer!

I think we surprised dad at how good we were.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-26T20:41:00.000+10:00

Grand Final Day

Well according to dad, Grand Final Day is the happiest day of the year, personally I think birthdays and parties are much more fun. I have to say that Grand Final Day is a pretty good day, I mean there are lots of people who come over to play, there are kids everywhere, lots of yummy food and when the grownups aren't looking we can eat heaps of treats!

Now on a normal Grand Final Day, the footy fans sit outside and watch the game on the big Wii TV, the people who generally don't care about the footy sit and enjoy the sunshine and the kids play inside. Everyone has a great time and we all go over to circle park for a kick of the footy at half time. Well this year it was wet and really really cold, it even hailed for a while so not many people were crazy enough to sit outside to watch the game.

Luckily we had a spare TV that we could bring downstairs so that it didn't matter where you sat or stood you could watch the game.

There were also plenty of crazy people to keep us entertained when we weren't watching the game! It may not have been the happiest day of the year but it was still a pretty good day!

Love Princess George

2009-09-25T21:39:00.000+10:00

Hide and Seek

Mum and dad have been shopping on ebay again and today the courier arrived with 2 ginormous packages for us; a new coffee table and a place for me to hide - inside a new book case!

The new shelves are a great place to rest and to hide, I wonder how long it will be before there are too many things on the shelves so that I can't fit any more?

Love Princess George

2009-09-24T20:07:00.000+10:00

Unscrewed!

We all woke up extra early this morning so that I could have something to eat. I had to make sure that I had finished breakfast by 6.30am (before I would normally be out of bed!) so that my stomach would be empty when they operated on my elbow in the afternoon.

Poppy drove us home so that we could be at the Children's Hospital at noon, right at the time my stomach was really grumbling and making me want to eat. Milla was really kind and she didn't eat any food all morning either. Mum and dad said that they wouldn't eat all morning too, but I think they had Hungry Jacks for breakfast before we got home!

I had to prove that I was strong before the surgery!

I met with my orthopedic surgeon and he drew on my arm to make sure he operated on the right one - my left arm!

Finally it was time for surgery, I wasn't very excited about it.

The anesthetists, Fiona and Jonathan were great, they gave me the medicines to make me go to sleep so that I didn't feel the surgery. I didn't even feel when Fiona put the drip into my hand.

Finally, after an hour in surgery, the screws and washers were removed and my arm was sewn back together and bandaged up tight. Eventually mum was called in to the recovery area but I didn't want to wake up. I was getting annoyed that I was getting woken up especially when I was so tired.

By about 5 o'clock I was starting to get hungry so I ate icypoles, fruit salad, yoghurt and icecream, so not everything about being in hospital was horrible! Now all I have to do is try and rest and stay quiet - I don't think that is very likely, it is the holidays after all!

Hopefully this is the last time I will have surgery.

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-23T19:01:00.001+10:00

Time for Sleep

Well our holiday with nan and pop has been great fun. We have been out for dinner at the club, played wii and other games, been exploring the neighbourhood and making new friends. It has been a great holiday but not a very long one. We have to go to bed early tonight as we are heading back to Melbourne really early in the morning, not because we want to go but because it is time for me to get the screws taken from my elbow.

Good night,

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-20T14:53:00.000+10:00

Holiday!

Hooray it is really time for the holidays to begin. We are pretty lucky that nan and pop came to visit us for the weekend, we were able to convince them to let us go to their house for a holiday.

I packed my bag, grabbed Squidgy and Sophie and jumped in to car ready to go.

I don't know if I will have much time to blog while I am away, but I will try.

Happy holidays,

Love Princess George

2009-09-19T22:59:00.000+10:00

Showering Babies

In case you hadn't realised it; Sharn is going to have a baby really soon and I can't wait!

When mum said that we were going to have a baby shower for Billy I was really excited - I thought Billy was going to be born and we could give Billy a shower. What she really meant was that we were having a party to help Sharn get ready for Billy to arrive. It was great fun. We ate yummy food, drew pictures, played games and of course spoiled Sharn and Billy too.

It was fun having a baby shower for Billy, but I would much rather have a cuddle. Hurry up Billy, I want to meet you - I don't mind if you are born before my birthday, just come and play soon!

Love Princess George

2009-09-19T22:49:00.000+10:00

Scouting

Look at me, I am a cub!

Well I am almost a cub - I know the secret handshake so some time soon I will get to be a real cub. I would love to stay and tell you more about it but now I am heading out for my first cub expedition!

Love AJ Pickle

2009-09-16T22:15:00.000+10:00

Lighting the Night

Tonight was a very special night - it was a ginormous event for the Leukemia Foundation to raise money for research into Leukemia as well as to support people who have Leukemia or other blood cancers.

We are lucky enough to know heaps of fantastic people, but unfortunately some of these people have had leukemia or a blood cancer. We went to Light the Night to support these amazing people - Aunty Sam, Chanel and also for email friend Bianca.

When it got dark, everyone lit up the little lights that were inside their balloons, there were gold balloons in memory of people, white balloons for patients and survivors and blue balloons to show our support.

It was beautiful to see so many people walking along the banks of the Yarra showing their love and support.

Love Princess George

2009-09-07T21:50:00.000+10:00

The Proud Extended Family

Finally I got to meet Billy when he was 14 hours old. I am proud to say he is beautiful.

I can't wait until I get to babysit him.

Love Princess George

2009-09-06T21:47:00.000+10:00

Making Dad's Day

Today is Father's Day so we decided to do something special for dad. First we gave dad an awesome present - Tiger Woods Golf for the Wii. I think dad and I would have been happy to spend all day just playing golf on the Wii, but instead we went out for brunch.

It seems to be a tradition for us to go out for Father's Day with the Bryant family. This year we went to Rendezvous and then went exploring around the river. We all had a great time

finding starfish

playing hide and seek in the long grass and flowers

finding giant dragonflies

and even climbing under the rail bridge

Happy Father's Day dad, I hope you had a great day, I know I did!

Love AJ Pickle