Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bag of onions

We were in a fruit and vegetable shop last week...

Ben: look mum, a big bag of onions
Me: yeah, that's nice
Ben: yeah! Grandma says we might get a bag of onions for Christmas.
Me: oh, really? That sounds good, I like onions
Ben: yeah, I like onions too
Me: would you like a bag of onions for Christmas
Ben: yep!


Ha ha ha ha!!
I bet his grandma didn't expect that reaction when she joked about giving him onions for Christmas. (For not behaving. Similar to getting coal etc)

I'm not sure when she said it, but it must have been ages ago, and he just have remembered!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Blogging absence ....

Sorry about my recent blogging absence. We've settled back into life after our big trip. We still have a lot of photos to sort through. I have culled down the Orlando to just over 100, but need to cull down further, and it's a job I keep procrastinating.... I'll try and do it soon, promise!

Life is good for us. The boys are happy, but have a bit of a cold at the moment. We had to miss playgroup and preschool this week, but they seem to be picking up over the weekend. Ethan still has a rattly cough, especially in the morning and evening. He's playing happily today, which is an improvement on spending the day laying down on Friday with a high temp. Hopefully they are on the mend.

We have been making some dietary changes since our trip to America. We ate so much more processed foods (out of need and convenience) than we usually do at home, and we noticed the difference. Over processed foods, especially those high in sugar, artificial colours, flavours, preservatives and other some additives really seem to effect the boys behaviour. Prior to America, we ate healthily, but I didn't worry too much about these additives. The boys had their moments, but we just assumed they were typical 3yr olds.

Going to America and eating as we did made it so much more obvious that the food affected them, as I guess the quantities were higher, so behaviour was worse. I think I mentioned before, Ben reacted to something (We assume macaroni and cheese was a big issue) and broke out in a rash and was extremely hyperactive and had difficulty sleeping.

Anyway, now we are home we are making more of an effort to check all labels, and choose brands that are free of the nasty additives. I think it's working! They have been sick, and that always means behaviour is harder to judge.... But i do think it's working :)

I have been making an effort to eat foods that are healthier too. Trying to choose foods that aren't nutritionally void and empty calories. I haven't lost any weight, but i do feel better for these new choices. I've also made some no added sugar muffins and a seed/nut slice. Ive been doing the simple things like drinking more water and been eating more fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. It's all basic stuff that too often gets forgotten in these modern over processed times.
We are still eating some processed foods (tomato sauce (ketchup) and BBQ sauce are the next on the list to get some healthier alternatives.)

I think we might plant some new vegetables today the garden is empty since our trip!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

USA Trip–Philadelphia

We were extremely happy (and relieved) when we made it to Tracie’s brother’s house in Philadelphia. We rented a car for the week and drove from Newark Airport to his house, near the centre of Philadelphia (2hour drive, boys slept most of it!).

Tracie’s brother, Graham and his partner David live in a HUGE house, and we were lucky enough to be able to stay with them. Tracie’s mum (Grandma) arrived about 3 days before us, and we all had a wonderful week together.

Ethan was sick for half the week, and spent many hours resting on the couch and watching Disney Junior on demand. He discovered a new show, Doc MuStuffins, and revisited many of his favourites from home too. We were lucky to have planned a quiet week, which allowed him time to rest and recover.

tn_IMG_8695

The day after we arrived it was Uncle Graham’s Birthday. We celebrated with dinner.

tn_IMG_8666tn_IMG_8665

Ben and Ethan gave Uncle Graham a green butterfly and a blue dragon fly to put in his garden. Graham and David moved into this house 4 months before we arrived (in the winter) and now that it was spring, they were busy improving the garden. We thought this would be a nice keepsake present for him.Happy Birthday Uncle Graham

We spent one afternoon in the garden. The boys enjoyed helping Uncle David plant some sunflowers, and various other plants. Even Ethan got up the strength to come outside and join us.

tn_IMG_8692tn_IMG_8690tn_IMG_8682tn_IMG_8681tn_IMG_8679tn_IMG_8676tn_IMG_8672_edited-1tn_IMG_8669_edited-1

One of the days that Ethan wasn’t well, David and Sal took Ben to the park. Ben had such fun having some one-on-one time with his Uncle David.

tn_IMG_8739tn_IMG_8729

Ben’s favourite game, the grumpy old troll on the bridge is pretending to get him as he runs past (again and again and again!!)tn_IMG_8708

The troll got him!!tn_IMG_8712tn_IMG_8698tn_IMG_8697

 

We were happy when Ethan started to feel better.tn_IMG_8794

Grandma and Ethantn_IMG_8752Ben and David and Parker (dog)tn_IMG_8746

 

On one of our last days, we made the 2 hour drive to Hershey’s Chocolate World. The boys LOVED it!

tn_IMG_8758tn_IMG_8756

We went on the chocolate ride, THREE times!

We saw how they made chocolate from picking and roasting beans to make solid cocoa.

tn_IMG_8771

Added milk (from the cows of course!)

tn_IMG_8772

Mixed…tn_IMG_8779tn_IMG_8775

Dried it in the dryer.

tn_IMG_8777

Rolled it smoothtn_IMG_8780

Then moulding and packaging.tn_IMG_8783tn_IMG_8784tn_IMG_8790tn_IMG_8791tn_IMG_8792

We learnt a lot about chocolate production. Ben and Ethan even got to pretend to be factory workers and package their own chocolate, which we later took home to eat!

tn_IMG_8767

 

To finish off our week, we got a couple of great family photos!tn_IMG_8803_edited-1tn_IMG_8824

USA Trip–On our way!

Our trip to America started on April 24th 2012.

Sydney Airport

We took a 6pm (10hour) flight from Sydney to Honolulu Hawaii. It was the first time the boys had been in a plane. They did great at the airport, and even better on the plane.

tn_IMG_8651tn_IMG_8654

 

We were given a dinner, then they went to sleep. The boys slept about 4-5hours, had some breakfast at we landed in Hawaii. Tracie organised us a limo to our hotel.

tn_IMG_8656_edited-1tn_IMG_8659_edited-1

We spent 36 hours in Waikiki. We  got some sleep, took a few walks, went to the beach for a swim and left the following evening.

tn_IMG_8655tn_P1000983tn_P1000984tn_P1000986

IMG_4144

It was a nice stopover, however…. during the night, our poor Ethan got sick Sad smile

Ethan vomited about 6 times in the middle of the night. He was ok the next day, and even ate normally all day….. but then started vomiting again before we got on the plane. He vomited on and off, plus had some diarrhoea for the next 5 days. He got quite dehydrated on the plane, and we think he may have fainted. It was not a pleasant flight as we flew from Hawaii to New Jersey (via Seattle). The trip took about 12 hours, and Tracie and Sal felt sick, had stomach cramps, temperatures and nausea. Luckily that’s all we got, but we both felt like we were about to start vomiting any minute. It’s an experience I hope we never have to repeat. Ben was unaffected.