Monday, March 02, 2009

The tooth fairy cometh

A major event in the Stephenson household!!! After many weeks of "waggling", Karina finally lost her first baby tooth! It was a source of much rejoycement this morning over breakfast, mostly becasue she knows the tooth faiy will be paying a visit this evening! A pancake provided the final force to wrestle it from its former home :)

We will add a pic of her little front tooth a little later...

posted by Shaun S @ 4:20 PM 0 comments

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Sicko

Blergh... lots of sickness here at the moment. I was really ill last week with a sore throat and ended up taking Friday off work after 2 nights of no sleep and crippling throat pain. On Friday I literally couldn't talk or swallow and called the doctor. Next thing I know, at 7:30 AM I am taken to the ER department, given IV fluids, antibiotics, pain killers stronger than morphine and a cocktail of other drugs. As well as several blood tests. Seeminlgy not only was I severely dehydrated but also had nasty tonsillitus and strep throat too. Oh, and a highly elevated heart rate and a nasty fever. And if you know me, you will know that just the process of any of the above mentioned needles was worse than removing a limb. Not a nice day at all... but the next day you could hardly tell I was ever sick! Miraculous... totally awesome care, I'll stop complaining about the health care here for a while I think :)

posted by Shaun S @ 3:36 PM 0 comments

Fun Day Out

Its been so long since Daddy and the kids actually went anywhere so despite the weather we decided to have a bit of time out and where better to go with 2 little ones than - Chuck E Cheese!

Boy did they have a blast... and after 2 hours Daddy was ready to leave... and thats putting it mildly! Its like a zoo in there it really is... really badly behaved kids running riot all over the place, spoilt rotten by parents with seemingly bottomless pockets (strange really, as none of them really looked like they... well, lets say they don't work for George Lucas, and we'll leave it there!).










Way back in the 80s, Chuck E Cheese was a restaurant and video games arcade (in the "classic age" of gaming. Now its more "redemption" type games... a definate change from the 80s. Its really a rip off, but the kids love it. We had pizza and a drink first, then you buy tokens to play the machines and can win "tickets" which you redeem for a prize at the end. To put it in perspective, I paid about 10 or 12 dollars for tokens (50 I think) and we won 117 tickets. That gave us the amazing prize of 2 sweeties (chews) or, if I paid $1 more, a small bag of Candy Floss. Big wows. By comparison, some of the above mentioned parents had literally arm fulls of rolls and rolls of tickets - I'd guess a few thousand.


Hows that work then? The Great Californian Mystery continues........

By the time we left there was a queue down the entry corridor and out the door, and that was just after lunch time. Madnesss.


posted by Shaun S @ 3:23 PM 0 comments

Kyles first school portrait

And this was the only time we managed to get him to smile in the photo shoot!!!

posted by Shaun S @ 3:22 PM 0 comments

Rainy days

We're in monsoon season it would seem. At last. The last few months we've become fed up with hearing the doom-merchants chanting on about water shortages, droughts, mandatory water rationing etc etc etc. Anyway for the last few weeks its rained non stop pretty much. Fortunately, "Grandad's Santa" was very kind and sent us some awesome raincoats for Chritsmas. A cherry coat for Karina and a lovely Froggy coat for Kyle, complete with pop up eyes on the top, which everyone immediately comments on when they see that "cute little guy". Well done Grandad's Santa - they are a hit. In fact, Kyle wants to wear his even when its NOT raining!


posted by Shaun S @ 3:17 PM 0 comments

ITS EASTER!

Well, almost! The Cadburys Creme Eggs appeared (BTW they are WAY smaller than in the UK :( ) so we needed to indulge. The kids seemed to enjoy them... as you can see!
YUMMY!




posted by Shaun S @ 3:14 PM 0 comments

Sleepy :)

How cute is she? :)


posted by Shaun S @ 3:13 PM 0 comments

Discovery Museum

A few weeks back, Natalie and the kids met up with a couple of the girls and their kids (from Karinas old Day Care at the office) and went to the Discovery Museum, a kind of kids semi-science center down near the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito. It seemed to be a great place - lots of hands on stuff to play with and experiments to get involved with, with various themed areas (consevation, music, construction etc). They had a blast, a nice view of the bridge, and it was free too... doesnt get much better :)



posted by Shaun S @ 3:07 PM 0 comments