Karate kid

Ben and Ethan went to their friend's (Matthew) karate party yesterday.
They had a great time.
Ethan got this headband that he loves!



Today I told him to get dressed. This is what I got!



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Ben's Allergies

Today we took Ben to a Doctor who specializes in allergies.
Over the past few months we have noticed Ben has developed hives after eating salmon. He has had salmon many times in his life, but only the last 3 times he has had a reaction, each exposure the hives have gotten worse.

The doctor took a history then the nurse did some skin prick testing.

Each allergen goes in a box, they scratch the skin and see the size of the reaction.
Box #1 is the positive control (which was 4mm)
Boxes 2-3 are dust mites and as they have big reactions he is allergic to dust mites
Box 10 is salmon. Also a big reaction, so he is defiantly allergic to salmon.

The doctor said that as he had a decent sized reaction, combined with his history of worsening symptoms on each exposure he must now have an epipen (adrenaline injection for anaphylactic reaction).

The doctor says that he doubts he will ever need the epipen, but best to be safe than sorry.

Ben swimming

Ben is getting much better at his "big arms" swimming :)

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Sydney Harbour and Taronga Zoo

This week we FINALLY got our upstairs floorboards sanded and polished. We've been planning to get it done for over 2years!
We had to move out for 2 nights to avoid the dust and smell. We took the opportunity to have a couple of nights in sydney and a day out with the boys. We decided that this day would be their birthday present, as they don't need any more toys, a day out is best!

We took the train from the hotel to circular quay, then a ferry across the harbour to the zoo. It was a beautiful day.
We spent about about 4-5 hours at the zoo and had a great time! We let the boys buy a souvenir as part of their present. Ben chose a stuffed toy monkey. Ethan chose a plastic tiger that's mouth opens. They each like their new toys.

For dinner we went to Pancakes on the Rocks (pancake restaurant). The boys were amazed we let them eat pancakes for dinner. It was a great treat.

After dinner they were hyped on sugar so we went for a walk down by the water to run off some energy. We saw the large cruise ship leaving, and they loved watching them untie all the ropes and the tug boat pull the big ship out of the dock. They don't get out much after dark, and loved all the city lights at night!

It was a fantastic day!!

Fiji - part 4

Finishing up our Fijian photos, we spent the afternoon at the local wildlife park. Ben and Ethan had been there 3 days earlier with kids club and were keen to show us all the animals they saw. They enthusiastically showed us around the park and had a wonderful time.