How to buy a new house (and turn your world upside down) the superRelish way

Now this story starts a couple of weeks ago when mum and dad decided that they would go for a wander around Docklands instead of sitting and watching us skate all day long and ended up with us exploring display suites and pretending we were going to move to Docklands.  Well today, mum decided that she needed to convince herself that she didn't want live at The Quays and that meant that she wanted to go and have another look at the display suite to prove to herself that it was too small, that the kitchen wasn't practical and that she really didn't want to down-size.

Boring… been there and done that!  Instead of joining her, Milla and I went home with dad and mum and Ellen went off to explore the display suites.  Well this is the shorter story of what happened next.

First off, instead of deciding that she couldn't possibly down-size and live in a small apartment, mum decided that she really really really wanted to live there.  The only problem was that someone else already had the apartment on reserve and were thinking of buying it.  She called dad (using Ellen's phone because hers had a flat battery… again) to let him know that she loved the place but was disappointed that someone else was going to buy it.  Mum decided that if it was meant to be, it would happen and wandered off down the promenade to explore some more before walking home.

Now naturally the sales person checked in with the people who wanted to buy the apartment and found out that they weren't ready to commit to the sale, that meant it was available and ours if we wanted it.  She couldn't call mum so she called dad.  Dad tried to call Ellen to work out what to do but her phone had gone flat too.  He wasn't sure what he should do but took a punt and headed in to the bank to even see if we could afford the apartment.  Apparently most people talk to the bank way before they fall in love with a new place!

So it turns out that we could afford the apartment so dad transferred the holding deposit and had whatever paperwork needed to get a new home loan started.  He got home from the bank just after mum walked in and said that we had plans for the morning - WE HAD TO GO AND SIGN A NEW HOUSE CONTRACT!

Check out the photo gallery of the place we will soon call home :-)

I guess we had better start thinking of packing soon!

Love AJ and Milla

Old (and perhaps a little crazy?)

SHHHH, don't tell anyone, but today is mum's birthday.  

If you ask her how old she is, she is likely to stop and think for a long time before she comes up with an answer.  For ages mum told us, and everyone else, that she was 27.   I think that she was 27 for about 10 years, even before she was 27.  Once we worked out that she couldn't be 27 forever, she started to use her real age for a while.  Apparently remember what her real age was was far too difficult so now she has decided that she will be 42 for a few years.

Don't believe her though, she really is only 38, but don't tell her that we told you!

Happy Birthday Mum

We hope you had a great birthday mum and will enjoy your relaxing weekend away

Love AJ and Milla, the best kids in the world 

A Lesson for Mum

Dear Mum,


I know that you are a grown up and that you know heaps of stuff but you don't know everything.

One thing that you clearly didn't know is that light on the dash that comes on when the car is starting to run low on petrol is there for a reason.  I am pretty sure that reason is to let you know that you need to put petrol in the car OR prepare to walk home.  Sure when the warning light really starts to flash it is a suggestion that there is probably enough fuel in the tank to drive 50km but that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to drive a further 50km before filling up with fuel.  That suggestion to re-fuel is probably a good one to follow, even if we only have a 13.4km round trip to get home!

I do appreciate that you didn't stop for fuel on the way to pick me up from hockey because you didn't want to be late, I also appreciate that you didn't want to stop for fuel on the way home because I was super tired.  What I didn't really appreciate the walk home, in the dark when I was super tired, after the car chugged to a stop about a kilometre from home.

Luckily Dad and Wayne came to the rescue, getting some petrol and collecting the car.


Love an even more tired than expected,
Pickle Monster


PS - I think we should keep this handy, just in case you forget to take note of further suggestions!

Burning up

Everyone thought that mum was getting better and we were all excited, that was until this weekend when she started to get all fever-y again. We sent her to bed this afternoon with a dose of panadol, to to see if it would make her feel any better. It didn't work. Instead of the fever going down it went up and by the time it hit 40c it was time for her to go to into the hospital (again).

When she gave me a kiss goodbye she almost burnt a hole in my cheek she was so hot!

Luckily, after another 2 litres of fluids and some more medicine, her fever dropped back to something close to normal and she was allowed to go back he again.

Hopefully this is it for the sickness and m can be healthy again.
Love AJ Pickle

Winter Woes

Remember on the weekend we had no new photos to share of our week because we stayed inside most of the weekend because I was feeling pretty ordinary and had a really bad cold?  Well I felt OK on Monday and I went to school but by the end of the day I was feeling pretty ordinary again so we all decided that since mum didn't have to go in to work on Tuesday that I should spend the day in bed resting so that I could recover.

On Tuesday morning, AJ headed off to school and mum and I snuggled on the couch watching Glee.  Now normally when we have a sick day, we have to spend the morning in bed either sleeping or reading.  I really expected mum to remember that sick days mean sleep and not endless hours watching tv shows but mum was sound asleep on the couch!

Other than when the guy came to fix the tv antenna, Mum spent the entire day sleeping, either on the couch or in AJ's room.  I figured that she must really be sick when she didn't even answer her phone when it rang!  I didn't want to bother her so I made my own lunch and even told AJ not to annoy mum when he got home from school.

When dad finally got home from work, he decided that mum was too sick to stay at home and before we knew it, we were heading over to our neighbours house for some dinner and dad was taking mum in to the hospital for some tests.  It turns out that they thought mum might have had malaria but luckily it was only dehydration from the flu.  They gave her some IV fluids, some drugs and then let her go home for some more sleep.

So today I am back at school feeling almost normal again and mum is at home, still in bed sleeping and hopefully feeling a little better.
Love Princess George

Sundays in my City #10 - Trek Training

This time in 2 weeks mum will be in Isurava, a village along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.  It will be the first day of an 8 day trek.  With the adventure so close, this weekend was mum's last opportunity to do some 'real' training with the rest of the group.  What that means it that we didn't get a chance to really see her all weekend!

Yesterday she walked almost 20km up, down and around Mt Macedon, followed by a shorter training session today of only 8km or so at the You Yangs.  Now we have been to both of these places and they really are beautiful but as mum explained, when you are trudging along with a backpack of stuff that weighs 15kg or more, it is really easy to just carefully put one foot ahead of the other instead of taking the time to look around and enjoy the beauty of the walk.  So that is what mum said, what we really think she meant to say is that she was too tired and exhausted to take many pictures!


Saturday at Mt Macedon

Sunlight and Smoke

Sunday at the You Yangs

On Top of the World

Next weekend, we might get to do something together and take photos, who knows?
Love AJ and Milla

PS - We figured that these photos would only be colourful if we were there exploring too!

If you want to join in the fun of Sundays in my City too, click on over to Unknown Mami.

Sunday in my City #2 - Working Hard?

We are joining in with Unknown Mami and Sunday in our City again but instead of showing what we did  today, because we didn't do anything cool, we will show you where mum was today.  She forgot to take photos today but she was there on Friday and took a few photos  to rub in how much fun she was having show us where she was 'working'.

Not only did she get to spend the day at the beach...

She got to ride a horse, through the bush and along the beach!

Now surely this can't reconsidered work!

I guess since she was at work on a day that was really still part of her holidays, and again today on the weekend, it is only fair that she get to do something fun.  So there you have it, Sunday in our City, well kinda near our city.  Hopefully mum will take us horse riding along the beach some time too!

If you want to join in the fun of Sundays in my City, it doesn't have to be a Sunday or even in a city, click on over to Unknown Mami.

Mother's Day...Again

We love our mum so much, that we decided to have Mother's Day twice! (read all about our first Mother's Day here)

The last Mother's Day was fun, but today was even better. Nanny, Poppy, Aunty Sharn, Uncle Ad and Ellen all came for a visit. We all went out for lunch together and than had a play in the park.

It was a beautiful, relaxing day. I think that it is the first time that mum has had a day with all of her family together (well almost all - Aunty Melati was sick today) in ages. I think that made today even more special.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums,
Love Princess George

Mothers Day (part 1)

After circus last weekend, Dad and I snuck away to so some secret shopping. Mum thought that we were playing football at a new park somewhere near circus school.

When we got home, we were all sitting in the study talking. The conversation went something like this...

Mum: AJ, what did you do after circus? (meaning What park did you go to, to play football?)
AJ: We went to IKEA.

Mum: Oh? That's not fair I wanted to get a few things from IKEA.
Dad: Where did we go AJ?
AJ: Oh...That's right...we played football.

Mum: (looking confused) You played football at IKEA?
AJ: (also looking confused) What did we do again Dad?

Dad: It's OK AJ, I'm no good at keeping a secret either. Anyway, I don't know where we are going to hide these things until tomorrow!

Mum: (looking even more confused) What's on tomorrow?
Dad: Well it is Mother's Day isn't it?

Mum: (still confused) I don't think so, I think that it is next week.
Dad: (looking sheepish) Well there is no way that we could keep a present hidden for a whole week!

Keeping secrets was hard work and I was happy to go back out to the car to get the presents that I had found for mum for Mother's Day!

We continued to make it a Mother's Day weekend, and went out for lunch on the Not-Mother's Day, instead of staying at home and making a mess.

Having Mother's Day every weekend is a great idea, I love going out for lunch!

Love AJ Pickles