This wouldn't be the first time we saw a balloon fill with air and take off over the city at sunrise here. And yes, we get up at sunrise nearly every day. I don't especially like getting out of bed that early but I do enjoy feeling like I have the whole day ahead. If only I could get up at that time and little man would oblige us by sleeping in a little bit later. Ah, well I guess we cant have our cake and eat it too. Erik loves it on the mornings when we see the balloons or "boonas" as he calls them in his sweet toddler language. His vocab is expanding all the time and it is fun to here him experiment with his words. On sunday morning we were waiting for the elevator (lift) so that we could head to chuch and he was saying one of these new words. It tooks us a few tries and realized he was asking for chapstick "chatick" for his lips. So cute. And speaking of elevators it was such a weird thing to go from riding one every few months if I was lucky to mulitple times a day to get to our unit. The not so fun thing about it, we have had to fire alarms go off where we had to evacuate our building. Mind you they were not drills (the alarm system in the other tower of our complex has been having issues), and they were at very inconvenient times of course. But the hardest part is carrying a 30 pound child up and down all those flights of fire stairs. Lets just say I got a great workout!
Father's day was this last sunday here in oz, and we celebrated with the best of them this year. It was going to be a busy weekend and so I got everything ready earlier in the week. I had asked Erik what he wanted to get his daddy for a gift. He thoughtfully put his fingers to his lips, tilted his head to the side and took a moment before saying...."TimTams." Perfect I thought...a favorite family treat, a great price tag, and so thoughtful from his little heart. So on thursday we went to the shops and bought things we would need for the weekend as well as the timtams. We also headed to the craft shop so that Erik could pick out some things to make a cute card. He decided on a foam space ship and alien stickers. Awesome! So on the car ride home I was trying to explain to him that we needed to wait until sunday to eat the treats, that they were daddy's and that it was a secret. No telling daddy about what we got. Erik is a smart little cookie, he understood most of it and even knows what a secret is........his downfall............being too excited and telling his secret. So Lindsay gets home from work and some of the first words out of Erik's mouth......"Daddy timtams!" We couldn't help but laugh. The next morning we made the card. Afterward I put everything including the card away with the hope that by the end of the day he would forget about it and it could be a surprise. While I was fixing dinner that night, I looked over to Erik whispering in Lindsay's ear, I asked what he was telling him and lindsay asked if his card had anything to do with spaceships. To Erik's credit he was secretive in telling his Dad about his gifts. Not sure what the plan of attack will be for Christmas.
Saturday as part of the Brisbane festival, there was the annual River Fire. This is an event that happens in the evening along the Brisbane river. Fireworks are shots from three main locations downtown on the river whilst (while) also shooting from the skyrises, a laserlight show happening simultaneous along with the music and fireworks. We staked out a spot early on and throroughly enjoyed the experience. At first I thought.........this won't beat the fireworks in Bayview, ID where we always go at home where the land makes a natural canyon and they have the coolest unique fireworks. But with the lasers, music, and high rise it really was better. During the day there were various entertainers walking around and these two ladies were blowing massive bubbles. As you can see Erik was a bit timid at first, but soon he was running all around chasing them.
Out staked out spot among the masses, we got prime property at south bank. And the nice thing was there was absolutely no alcohol allowed on that day at the festivities, and there were people checking bags as you entered, and if you have water bottles that were unsealed you had to throw them out. It was nice knowing we wouldn't be dealing with drunk people at such a large public gathering. However some people obviously watched from other place downtown or partied afterward and there were a couple of deaths from people falling off their balconies. So sad...
The huge ferris wheel at south bank. Erik loves this even though he has only ridden it once. We can see the top half from our balcony at home and he knows there is the manmade beach and playground near the big wheel. He often asks to go "sowbank"
Yours truly anxiously waiting the show while trying to stay warm with erik's blanket. It was colder than we expected it would be.
And the little man looking seriously older than his age. He has such a mature look to him, people often assume he is much older than he is. He is only two! And I even agree he looks like he is years older in this picture. He has hit huge growth spurt since being here and is quickly growing out of lots of his clothes.
And for the special occassion lindsay walked across the bridge into the big shopping area of the city to get us KFC for lunch. It was so yummy and one of the only few american restaurants that tastes like the american version. Totally hit the spot. The other american part of our day, a couple hours before the show they had fly overs with their military helicpoters and then a F-18. It was great like most of those things are....but immediately after the F-18 flew over they play "Born in the USA." I about died laughing. It made it feel like we were home but weird because obviously we are in Australia and it was with an Australian jet. It was great....truly!
All in all our weekend was eventful, full of fun, and some exercise tucked its way in there. We ended up walking home from south bank (a few kilometers away) because the public transport options were packed to the max. It was a beautiful night though and other than the fact that I had to use the bathroom it was an enjoyable walk!
And now it is officially spring, yay we are headed into swimming season!
