The Election

Everyone knows that I love skating. Most people also know that I love synchronized skating too. Well last year my friends and I were a part of the Aussie Skate Tiny Teddies mini-synchro team. That was until we graduated.

This year we have created a new team, a team of kids under 15 to skate in the Novice section. What is so different about this? Well, it means that we can compete in the state championships and maybe even in the nationals one day too.

Now that we are a really real team, there are also a few other important decisions that need to be made. Things like electing a team captain and choosing a team name and uniform, pretty full on stuff. It was all very formal, nominations for captain and vice captain had to be submitted, in writing with parents approval before the election.  Hailey nominated me as captain and I nominated her as vice captain.

Election Day was today. First up we had to vote for captain. The list of people nominated was on the whiteboard. Everyone was given a piece of paper and pencil to write down the name of the person they wanted to vote for. (Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I voted for me - I really want to be captain and I think I will do a pretty good job of it.) We waited anxiously as the votes were counted. Guess what... I won, I was elected to be captain :-)  I was presented with my captain's badge and did a little happy dance!

Next up we had to vote for vice captain. There were 4 people nominated and 2 people ended up with the same number of votes so we had to vote again. This time we had a result, my friend Hailey was elected as vice captain. 

We were both pretty excited. 

Together we will lead a strong team. Now all we have to do as a team is come up with a name, oh and a uniform too. I think I am going to be pretty busy!

Love Princess (Captain) George

Save my tooth!

Even though I know a little secret about the Tooth Fairy, I still leave my tooth on the bench in a glass of water, hoping that a gold coin will be added to the water for me. Now I know that Tooth Fairy protocol is for the tooth to be exchanged for a coin bit I love my teeth so much that I don't actually want to give them to the Tooth Fairy, or anyone else. Instead I write a letter to request that I keep my tooth.

A note for the Tooth Fairy

I hope it works again this time,

Love Princess George 

Discoveries in the kitchen

Normally when there is a discovery in the kitchen it is something gross and disgusting. Perhaps a potato that has fallen to the back of the cupboard and has gone rotten or more commonly a lunchbox is discovered weeks after it is packed and ends up looking something like this...

This once was a vegemite roll!

Sure the mouldy lunch happens a little too often but we have only been in this place for 4 months so we haven't discovered any other mouldy or rotten food hiding in the back if the cupboard or fridge. This discovery was way cooler than rotten food, and heaps more practical. Today I discovered a new drawer, right there under the oven.

Surprise, another place to hide things!

I wonder if this tiny little place will have any more hidden surprises for us?

Love AJ Pickle

Celebrating not having to go to school

This time of night on a Sunday and I should be sound asleep in bed. Instead I have stayed up late doing very little. Eventually mum sent me to bed and less tha a minute later she changed her mind and said I could get up again because of this...

Love my view!

... Fireworks at the end of the street. This is pretty much what I was looking at from my room too!

I have to say that living here is like celebrating a holiday every day. 

I am looking forward to not having to get up early in the morning, instead I can relax and enjoy the holiday. 

Love AJ Pickle

School photo day

So it had been a few days since the Color Run and still my hair is far from its natural colour. I'm not complaining, it means that I will be the most colourful kid for school photos today.

Check out the funky do I rocked for my photos!

I wonder if I will get away with having hair this cool and colourful forever?

Love Princess George

Blood spatter on the ceiling?

All kinds of crazy can happen when dad helps out in the kitchen. Take this afternoon for example, we were having DIY salad rolls for lunch so dad was chopping up some salad for the rolls. A simple task really but one that ended up with blood all over the place; from the kitchen bench, over the shopping, on the table, the microwave and of course the floor too. 

Further inspection also saw blood splatter on the pantry and the stove, even the ceiling. 

Seriously, there was so much blood that you would think that there had been a murder in the kitchen. Luckily it was just a tiny cut on the tip of dad's finger!
Love AJ and Milla

Learning the transport network the hard way

So today was my only "free" day, with no hockey, no training, no obligations so what did we do? No we didn't declare it a pj day and sit around watching movies all day long. Instead mum insist that i do a practice public transport run to get ready for school with me leading the way. 

We were in no hurry so we didn't check timetables, just headed out. The journey started off well, not having to wait long to catch the bus or the tram. In fact we made it all the way to my school with no dramas at all. In fact it was so drama free that we decided to stop for lunch on the way back. 

After lunch was when decisions needed to be made - Milla had a dentist appointment to get to. Should we catch all catch the tram to the dentist or should we return home and then just mum and Milla gontonthe dentist?  

Going home first was the choice that won. Of course heading toward home, the transport connection wasn't as smooth. By the time we got to the bus stop, we had missed the bus by only a few minutes. We now had a new dilemma, wait for the next bus and be a few minutes late for the dentist or head back to try and catch the tram. Seeing that mum hates being late, we headed for the tram as mum called ahead to say they were running late. Naturally the tram had just left but another tram was in sight so it seemed we wouldn't be too late. Of course that team sat for ages without moving. Finally when it did move it was so slowly we could have walked faster. What did we do next?  Not sit and enjoy the slow leisurely ride. Instead we got off and walked back to try and catch a bus. To continue with the excitement, there wasn't a bus in sight and we didn't even know where the bus stop we needed was. We tried to hail a taxi but the only taxi that stopped only stopped to tell us he wasn't taking passengers. We even tried calling for a taxi but they didn't answer the phone. Clearly getting to the dentist was going to be hard work. 

Mum called the dentist to say that we were still stuck in Footscray. Luckily for Milla they had a cancellation so she could still go there whenever they could. So here I am, almost an hour after missing the first bus, back at the same bus stop, waiting for a bus that of course we missed by a few minutes. At least this means I get to go home instead of being bored waiting at the dentist!

So, what did I learn today?

1. Always get to where you are going before stopping for lunch. 

2. Leave earlier than you think you need to, public transport can take forever and it always takes longer than you imagined. If it doesn't take ages you get to where you need to be you will be early and that is good too. 

3. Make a decision, stick to it and see it through, heaps of time is wasted each time you change your mind. 

4. Mum's brain must still be broken, she has forgotten how to make a decision!

5. Running late is better on a full stomach however, running through the suburbs with a full stomach is less fun!

Most importantly it isn't what I have learnt, it is more important that I have convinced mum that I can read timetables, make contingency plans and I will have no hassles getting to school on my own next week!

Tricking Santa

You know that big guy in the red suit that visits all the good kids on Christmas Eve, well I really want to meet him but it seems he is pretty tricky to catch.  One year he delivered a set of bunk beds to AJ and I for Christmas and he managed to build them in our bedroom without waking us.

Last year I wanted to wake up when he snuck in to deliver presents so I tied my Santa sack to my ankle.  He managed to untie my santa bag and fill it with really cool stuff without waking me.  This year I was determined to catch "Santa" in action.  My first plan was spotted by mum and dad before I fell asleep and they were complete spoil sports, they insist that I untie the bag from my body if I wanted "Santa" to deliver any christmas presents!


I untied the bag from around my neck and waist before I went back to bed, but that wasn't going to stop me, I still wanted to trick "Santa".


It seems that my ankle tying trick of last year didn't work, this year I would upgrade my tying techniques and tie my foot into my Santa bag.


Clearly the tie worked so well that Santa couldn't deliver my presents.  When I woke up the only thing in my Santa bag was my foot, and I thought that "Santa" was pretty annoyed at me and decided that he wasn't going to give me any presents.

Luckily "Santa" is a pretty good bloke and he had been to visit, he just decided to leave my presents on the bedroom floor instead!

I don't think that I will try and trick Santa next year.
Love Princess George

Escaping to catch the Escapee

So mum missed the big move today because she was stuck in hospital.  Luckily she did get to escape for a few hours because apparently in the madness of the moving, Rebel disappeared.  It wasn't surprising really, she is a strange fraidy-cat who hates loud noises and I would imagine that having a house full of stompy people moving furniture she was bound to go into hiding.  Dad was really worried about her but since he is loud and stompy too, there was no way she was going to come out of hiding for him and he had no idea where she was.

Luckily it didn't take mum too long to find Rebel - she was hiding under the hot tub. 

Of course she was terrified and she didn't want to come out, so mum had to crawl in under the hot tub to try and convince her to come out.

Eventually, after lots of bribes, Rebel came out from under the hot tub and mum loaded her into the car ready to start her journey off to the new home. 

I hope she likes life in an apartment.
Love Princess George

Missing out on moving :-(

Dear Monkeys,

Today is moving day and I really wish that I was able to spend the day between our homes moving  everything and making sure that the apartment is all set up but instead I am back in hospital and not feeling too well at all.

Last night, I had planned to finish packing and then sneak in and get photos of you both sleeping soundly for the last time in our Kensington house.  Unfortunately that isn't what happened.  I wasn't feeling so well and I had a bit of a fever so instead I went to bed.  By the time dad finished doing whatever he was doing, my fever was pretty high so I decided that if I went in to the hospital, they could run some tests and give me some IV fluids so I would have the energy to move today. 

Unfortunately that isn't what happened.  Once I got in to hospital, my fever had increased, my heart rate was really high (118 instead of about 60) and my blood pressure was dropping.  I was given IV fluids, had heaps of blood tests and also xrays but I wasn't allowed to go home.

Hopefully I will be out of hospital by the time you get home from school and we can all go to the new place together. 


Love you both,
Mama

Relaxing in the pool

After a busy couple of hours dragging boxes to the car, driving in to the new place and unloading everything, it was time to collect mum and Milla from Icehouse and head home.  Mum must have been just as excited about moving as we were because instead of heading home, she convinced us that we needed to head back to the new place to go for a swim!

You know, I think I could get used to this!

Love AJ Pickle

Checking out the facilities

I am just about to head down to Icehouse from our new apartment.  I decided that I really should do a warmup before I hit the ice, but instead of doing my warmup at the rink, I headed down to the gym in our building with the rest of the family.  As they were checking out the equipment, I headed in to the off-ice room (other people call this the yoga room!) to do my stretches.

I can't wait to move in, then I will be able to practice my on and off-ice stretches all the time!

Love Princess George.

Checking out the new place! - A sneak peak

When you come to visit us at our new place, there are heaps of different entrances that you can use.  This is the one we are most likely to use.

Next you have to catch the lift up to our floor, this is what the lift foyer on our floor looks like.  

Now I could show you photos of the empty rooms, but realistically they look like any other empty room, instead check out the balcony!  Down there you can see the tennis court as well as the garden and barbecue area.  In the background you can even see Etihad Stadium.

Milla has a pretty good view from her room, overlooking the garden and tennis court too.  If she looks out the side window, past the balcony, she can see the Bolte Bridge too.

The view in my room is a little different, you can see all the way from Port Phillip Bay in one direction, right around to Kensington in the other!  I didn't think to get a photo from my room but that's OK, this is just a sneak peek of our new place, soon we will have eleventy billion photos to show you.  

Right now mum and Milla are heading to Icehouse and I am heading back to Kensington with Dad to load up some stuff in the car and begin moving in.

Hooray for moving day!
Love AJ Pickle

Heading Home!

Instead of heading home after school today, mum and dad picked us up and we headed home!  I know that sounds kind of crazy but what I mean is that we didn't head to our Kensington home, instead we are headed into Docklands to collect the keys to our new apartment.

Look, there is our new building complex.  In a few short minutes we will have the keys and we will be headed home.  We can't wait!

Love AJ and Milla

Billy and the Wool!

You would think that having 2 kids of her own that mum would know that when there is a little kid in the house and the house is quiet, their is a fair chance that trouble is brewing.

Look what Billy did when he was playing quietly on his own!

I hope that mum has fun untangling all of the wool :-)

Love Princess George

The Day Someone Mooned a Stranger... Or not!

I wonder what would happen if one night someone was walking home with another person, who may (or may not) be a parent, and accidentally do a fart that was so stinky that the other person didn't want to walk with them any more?

Perhaps that other person would run away and hide. Then what would happen?  I guess the stinky person could continue to walk home alone or they could try to come up with a plan to be able to walk home together. Hmmm, let's see, what will make the stink go away?

I know. You could quickly pull down your pants, scoop the fart smell out and then keep on walking. You could do that.  It would be quick and easy to do.  It might even work.  It would be worth a try, right?

Well if you were to choose this path of action,  you may want to check that there isn't a stranger walking behind you who is going to get to see your bum, especially if said stranger has their phone out and could take a photo of aforementioned bare bum. That could possibly happen, right?

I wonder what one would have to search to see if a photo of their bum was in fact taken?

So many things a person has to contemplate these days. I wonder what would happen if such a scenario were true?

Love an inquisitive child. 

Going bush for Father's Day

In amongst all the crazy, we kinda almost nearly forgot about Father's Day.  Well we knew that it was Father's Day but we just didn't have time to plan anything special for the day.  When we found out that Ellen and Sarah were going for a hike at Werribee Gorge, we decided to join them after soccer, after all, the sun was shining and it is spring!

OK, all we really wanted to do was to get out and have some fun and we figured that we could show dad and the others the really cool beach that you get too by rock climbing above the river!

Of course we knew that there were going to be other great places to explore too, so first we set off up the hill.  It was steep and rocky but lots of fun.  There were some great lookouts to stop at for a rest.

Eventually we made it to the beach and stopped to have a picnic lunch.  We could have stayed there all day long but we were kind of excited o show everyone just how much fun it is climbing around the rocks high above the river.  

The grown ups were much more afraid than we were - we were able to climb the entire way without even needing the help of the guide rope!

Oh and in amongst all of the adventuring, we forgot to actually stop and get the obligatory Father's Day photo!  I guess this will have to do, to prove that we did actually have fun hanging out with Dad today. 

Thanks for being a great Dad and having fun adventures with us.  I hope we get to go on more adventures again soon.

Love the best kids in the world,

AJ and Milla xo

Tattoo ME

Everyone knows that you should love and respect yourself but every now and then it is easy to forget. With all of the crazy busy that has been happening around here lately, I thought I might need a little reminder so I wrote "I (heart) ME" on my hand. Of course I didn't have a shower before I went to bed and this happened...

Love Princess George

Pissed Off - a tutorial

How to get the whole family pissed off in just a few easy steps.

1. Get Milla and I to do things just to annoy each other.  
2. Make sure Milla is really annoyed.
3. Milla will run to mum and tell her what happened.
4. I get in trouble for annoying Milla. 
5. Milla gets in trouble for dobbing.  
6. We are half way there... we are both pissed off!
7. Continue to annoy each other because we are pissed off.
8. That makes mum get pissed off.  
9. When mum gets pissed off, it pisses off dad.  
10. Then dad keeps getting pissed off because mum is pissed off at him for no reason.

And there you have it - how to piss off the entire family in 10 easy steps!

Does anyone know how to get the whole family un-pissed-off really quickly?

Love AJ Pickle

PS - luckily this doesn't happen all the time, just every now and then :-)

Moving on up

We had an unexpected adventure for Mother's Day - we HAD to go in to Docklands and sign house contracts.  Yep, that's right, we have bought a new home, an apartment in at Docklands.

This is what the apartment complex is eventually going to look like.  It is being built now and it should be finished by the end of the year.  We can't wait.

How many days there are until the end of the year?

Love AJ and Milla, the soon to be Docklands residents :-)