MWNews 108

I know everyone has been waiting for the results of the new hot sauce taste test but I have to take a little side trip away from the important stuff and talk about the kids.  This is, of course, supposed to be about the kids but as you know, I tend to wander at times.  Makes for good reading, or is it good writing.  Maybe both.  Probably neither, but that's just the way I wander.  I say that in reference to Maeghan's old favorite character who says that's just the way I roll, but as that character no longer exists, I suppose it is just a waste of time for me to refer to it.

Maeghan and William went to a church function yesterday.  A kind of carnival, fete, play day type thing.  Just a jumping castle and a bunch of games they could play and things to draw and paint on.  Maeghan got her face painted but as I hate that type of thing, (I know, criticize me to no end) I did not take a picture and we will never see what it looked like.  Juanita probably took a picture but if she did, it would be on her computer and I have not transferred anything from there in a long time so it might be a while before I have that available.  Hopefully, I will forget by then.

When I say it was yesterday when they went, I actually mean two days ago.  I tend to forget things and it seems we did something else yesterday.  Or sort of did something else.  We went to the shopping mall and then to McDonald's so it was kind of an adventure.  Not really different than any other day but anytime I get out of the house is an adventure.

I did find something we are going to do next week.  Go into town.  Gosh, that seems like fun.  Actually, it is.  It is Sydney and it is a two hour train ride to get there, so just doing that is an adventure in itself.  But once we are there, there are lots of things we can do and see.  The kids do not get to go that often, neither do Juanita and I, but we do it a couple of times a year I suppose and I think we will go next week and see the IMax theater.

We have never been to it, it is in Darling Harbour if that means anything to anyone.  Probably not.  It is one of those really big screen theaters but you probably already knew that.  I am not sure what we will see but they have a two movies for the price of one thing going on and I thought me might have a go at it.  Being in Darling Harbour, there are lots of other things to do but one of the big ones is they have just completed the new play park behind the theater.  It is huge.  It was huge before and we have been a couple of times but apparently, they have improved it and put restaurants and other things in it so the adults can sit and drink coffee while the kids play.  There are a lot of things to do there, for the kids, but it does not really compare to the parks I have described in earlier posts.  If you want to find out about them, go back and read the posts from a few days? week? months? ago.  Not sure when I described them but it was not that long ago.

I really need to put labels on these entries so it is easier to find things I have talked about in them.  Mostly so I don't repeat myself as I so often do but then again, I will never go back and look at the labels to find out what I have said before, so why should I provide that luxury to you.  Guess it will happen when it happens.

Anyway, this refurbished park they have will let the kids play and do things while I have coffee, which, really, is the whole point to life.  I can sit and do nothing while still entertaining the kids.  Plus I get stimulants, so it is a win/win situation for everyone.

Other things to see and do in Darling Harbour are the rows and rows of restaurants.  There must be 20 or 30 of them all around a concreted area around the harbour.  It is kind of hard to describe.  One side has a shopping mall and the other is all restaurants.  You can walk all the way around in about 20 minutes, if you don't stop anywhere.  There is also a little train you can take around it but as it does not stop except at the pickup and drop off point, you just end up back where you started and have to walk around anyway.

The Sydney monorail also goes around the harbour.  There are a couple of pickup points.  You can take it into the heart of downtown, into the city proper, and then ride it back.  It is not very scenic and there are not a lot of things to see and do, plus if you are not familiar with where everything is, you never really know what stops to get off of to see anything.  But, it is a pleasant, if expensive, way to get around.  They need to make it go down to Sydney Harbour but that will never happen.  The closest point you get is about a 30 minute walk down to Central Quay.  Central Quay is where all the ferries dock that take you across the harbour and to different places.

The ferry rides is another thing we like to do and it is about the best and cheapest way to see the harbour and go all around to the different places.  For something like $10 or $12, you get all the ferry rides you want and they take you everywhere.  Whenever we have people visit who have the time, we take them down there and just ride the ferries.  You go by the Opera House and under the bridge, and around to a lot of different places to stop and see things.  One of the best trips is the trip across the harbour to Manly.  It takes you past the heads, the entrance to Sydney Harbour, and then into Manly.  There is lots of shopping in Manly and it leads down to a really nice beach.  Probably the second best beach in Sydney, next to the famous Bondi Beach, which is on the other side of Sydney from there.  There is not a ferry that goes there but it is another place people like to visit, probably just because it is famous.  We have never really gone there to go to the beach but have driven around that area a few times.  Manly beach is a dangerous beach with a rip tide that can take you hundreds of yards down the beach and out to see if you are not careful but it is huge and there are lots of things to see and do as you walk along it.  We have only ever just put our feet in the water but a lot of people are there most of the time swimming and surfing.

I forget what it was I was talking about and seemed to have gone off in a tangent.  I am sure I have spoken about the ferry rides and the other places to go in Sydney in the past.  Again, look it up and as soon as I get those labels in place, you can search for the right entries that mention it.

So, we have something to do one day next week, while I am on vacation and the kids are out of school.  It should be lots of fun and hopefully, the weather will be okay that day.  If not, we can spend the day riding the train back and forth to different places.  That is fun also and it is indoors.  Of course, there is lots of shopping in Sydney, and most of it is underground, so we could do that also.

I guess I have varied off topic long enough and will get back to the important stuff, food.  Maybe I should just rename this thing to some kind of food blog and be done with it.  But as I am having trouble typing at the moment, it means the food part of this will be short.

As you know, or as you do not know and if you do not know then you must have just started reading this blog and have not gone back and re-read previous entries.  I will wait for you to do so now.

Ok, up to speed?  Lets talk about the new sauce I received yesterday.  It is a BBQ sauce based on what passes for the worlds hottest chili these days.  The Trinidad Scorpion or something like that.  The sauce is not an extract but at the price I paid for it, I will treat it as one.  Only a little at a time, added to other things to add flavour and not a sauce to put on something by itself.

I was making ribs yesterday, had been planning on it for a while so it was a good thing I got the sauce when I did.  And I will not go into what they call ribs over here.  Been down that road many times and it would just annoy me more to write it again.

I was making my own BBQ sauce, as I normally do, and I added just a teaspoon of this new stuff to the recipe.  And no, I do not have the recipe I use, I always just make it up from the ingredients I have at the time.  I made about a pint of sauce, with the afore mentioned one teaspoon of hot sauce added.  Now, let me say, first of all, the sauce smells wonderful.  Full of that habanero smell that I love so much.  For those that don't know, habaneros do not smell or taste like jalapenos or serrano or capsicum chili's.  They are two different species of chili.  I forget what the two names are, but habanero smell and taste fruity and the jalapeno/capsicum smell is, well, jalapeno/capsicum smell.  I don't know how to describe it either.  You will just have to test it for yourself.

I did not, and still have not, tasted the sauce by itself.  I don't know why but maybe I will just go get some now and do it.  Then again, maybe not.  Getting tired of typing and if I do not finish, not sure when I will get back to it.  And, if for some reason the sauce incapacitates me, I might not be able to crawl back over to the computer and type in a 'help-me' message.

Now wouldn't that be weird, typing on the computer to ask for help for a situation that is immediate.  Kind of like texting someone or updating your facebook status to call for help when you are being attacked or something.  Who would do that?  Why would you just not make the call yourself, but I digress.

Anyway, the new BBQ sauce I made, with only one teaspoon in a pint of sauce is, how shall I say it, too hot to eat.  Now I have made some sauces that were too hot to eat in the past and I have always strived to make them again.  I have been unable to do so here in Australia as I just cannot get the ingredients to do it.  But this sauce, with just a little use of it, has created something I am truly proud of.  A sauce that cannot be consumed by humans.  Maybe I am just out of practice and have not really stretched my limits of hot sauce consumption in a long time, but this is something that is wonderful to behold.

It is not hot at first but then slowly builds up to a searing pain that is just full of wonderful surprises.  There is a line from a BBQ book I used to have that describes what I am talking about.  I think it goes something like this, but I am probably mangling the quote.

It starts off with a slow subtle sweetness that is both pleasant and surprising and settles down into a brief sense of pleasure felt all through the mouth, then slowly spreads down the throat (almost sound pornographic doesn't it) until a warm pleasant feeling is both expected and craved.  It then follows with a round house kick to the throat that is somewhere between a root canal or a free tonsillectomy that leaves you both gasping for breath and wondering when it was you last updated your will.  A sensation of pain so intense and so profound that the only real remedy is to take another bite and attempt to end it all right then and there.  If you can get over the pain and manage to gasp your way through all the burning and ripping sensations, you find the taste is actually pleasant and sort of comforting, knowing that the sauce is not really there to kill you but is only there to remind you that some things in life are worth the pain and suffering you have to go through to experience the really pleasant after effects of knowing you have come through a trial and survived and you are a better person for it.

Ok, I did not really use the quote as I remembered it, I made most of that up, but I think you get the idea.  This stuff is lethal while still managing to taste good.  A truly pleasant experience all around, if I do say so myself.  I look forward to my next bite, probably sometime next week when I recover.

Actually, I plan on making more ribs tonight and using up the rest of the sauce I made.  So don't expect any more posts for a while as I do have a heart condition and this one might be the big one.

Speaking of which, I am not sure I have ever told the heart attack story in this blog.  I am sure it is not up to my father's standards, but I need to start my own tradition so I can enhance the story many times over as I get older.  That will have to wait for another time, though.  Right now, all this talk of food has made me hungry and I need to get something to eat.

I think I balanced the food and kid stories pretty good this time.  Maybe not, but it has only been a day since my last post and the kids have not done anything of note in that time.  They did manage to fight and argue to the point that they got sent to bed early, or early for it being a holiday, but that is normal behaviour for them, so nothing special about that.  Next time, I am sure I will have more.  Maybe go back to some old stories I have yet to tell.

So, until next time

Talk to you later

MWNews 107

Trying this iPhone app for posting. I can already tell I don't like it. It doesn't rotate to make the keyboard bigger so it is hard to type. Plus, I have to swap keyboards to use punctuation. Not a friendly experience. Probably just use it for quick posts. Like I ever make quick posts. Tired of one finger typing now.

So, until next time

Talk to you later

MWNews 106

Ok, the picture is not clear and the spray is not the best, but I am in the process of re-organizing all my photos and I cannot find anything anymore.  Once I am done, I will create Picasa Web albums and just post and select them from there.  Until then, live with it.

The kids are on holidays, spring break.  I am taking next week off so I can spend some time with them.  Not sure what we are going to do.  Juanita wants to go camping but although I am on vacation, I still have to work on the both weekends, so we could not go far no matter what we did.

I don't really want to go camping.  It is supposed to be cold and raining and I do not want to put up a tent in the rain and then spend the time sitting around on wet things.  If we are only going an hour away, then I don't see why we just don't stay in the warmth of the house, with running water and everything we already have.  But I may not have a choice.

The kids, of course, want to go.  They don't have to do anything.  Kind of hard to say no to them and since it is me saying no, I am the bad guy.  Again, we will see.

In the meantime, I have to think of other things we are going to do.  Going to parks in the area is on the top of the list, but the cold and raining thing comes into play with that also.  Maybe we will take a drive somewhere but that is not a lot of fun for the kids.  DVD players and handheld games don't seem to keep their attention for very long anymore.  Plus, we have the baby, who usually sleeps in the car but not always.

Yes, Juanita still has the baby.  She might be getting a permanent foster child soon and the one she has might be going back to the mother sometime soon.  We have no specifics of when or even if this will happen, but it is headed that way from what she has been told.  Not going to spend a lot of time on that but it is something she wants to do and has been doing for about six months now so we are getting used to it.

William got his trophy for soccer last weekend.  They had a big get together for all the teams and played some games.  It was raining and cold at the time but as they had already put off the awards day for a month, they went ahead with this one in the rain.

William had fun and he actually tried to play in the games.  I guess our always telling him to try harder instead of just running back and forth seemed to have helped.  He actually got to kick the ball towards the goal.  Missed by about ten feet, but he tried and actually got a shot off.  He also made everyone talk about him for a minute when he was kicking the ball in from the sidelines.  They don't throw it in, they kick it in and he put the ball down and then backed up about 50 yards to get a good run on the ball.  Several of the parents on the sidelines said watch out, here comes a big kick.  Of course, William being William, he ran up to the ball then stopped and kicked it in so the running up all that way did nothing for the kick, but for a while, everyone was looking at him.

After the games, he got a trophy and a cap and a sausage sandwich.  Not sure which one he liked the most.  His trophy is on the fridge, not sure why, but we will move it to his room soon.  Maeghan wanted a sausage also but they were only for the players.  I walked her up there and told them she was a player also and they gave her one.  She also got a cap from Juanita because Juanita got one for being one of the managers.

We went for a walk around the Entrance the other day.  We are trying to get Maeghan walking more as that is what the doctors are telling us.  To get her moving more and not relying on the chair so much.  She got tired and we had a long rest at the midway point but she did really well.  She has been on several long walks lately so I think she is doing good.  The doctors want to go to a dietitian so they can regulate her food.  She is big and they say since she is so small, she cannot be overweight also as it will cause her back to get worse.  I think she goes this week to the dietitian but I am not sure.

We have all been walking more lately, when it is not raining.  It rained for four days last weekend and it is about to start raining again.  At one point it rained really hard, with thunder and lighting, for about 12 hours straight.  The back yard, which holds water anyway, was pretty much a river the whole time.  We did not go out of the house that day.

I was going to mention that after the soccer party, we went to Mingara to let the kids play in the playground.  They had gone there the previous day but they went to the swimming pool and not the playground.  They had fun at the pool but they really wanted to go inside and play so we took them the next day.

While we were there, I was playing KENO.  Juanita likes to play the slot machines but I always think it is just a way to waste a lot of money very quickly.  It is ok when you win, but that doesn't happen a lot.  Just enough to keep you playing which is what they want.

We had just had lunch, they do very nice lunches there although this brings up another topic that I have not addressed, or maybe I did and just forgot about it.  Why is it no restaurants over here have a soup and salad option.  They have soup, and they have salad, but they do not have an option to order a soup and salad.  Most restaurants in America have that option and I have seen it once or twice over here, mostly in American owned chains like Outback Steakhouse, but I never see it anywhere else.  When I mention this to anyone, they say that is a weird combination, one hot thing and one cold thing.  I am not sure I understand the logic behind that but it just seems strange.  And, of course, they charge full price when you do order a soup and a salad and when they bring it, they usually give one to Juanita and one to me.  I have to tell them they are both for me and then I get that strange look again.  It just seems to be something that would be a natural combination to me and most Americans but is a foreign concept to this culture, maybe most cultures, but these are the only two I am that familiar with.

Anyway, I was talking about playing KENO.  After we had lunch, and before Juanita went off to play slots, I picked my usual numbers for five games.  As Juanita was leaving, I saw that I had two of my numbers with four left to pick.  I said if I get another number, I win $2 and I got the third number.  The next number was not mine but then I got my forth number on the next to last pick and I told her I had four numbers and then the fifth number came up.  I checked it and checked it and then told Juanita I had won.  She said how much and I said I was not sure.  I looked it up in the book.  I nearly fell off my chair.  She kept asking how much, how much.  I told her it would be displayed on the big board because when a big winner comes up, it shows up there.

That's when she realized it was a big number.  Not the really big numbers you sometimes see, but big enough for a five dollar bet that it made our week.  $640.  It came up on the board that they had a winner right here.  It is always saying they have a winner somewhere else but they put big stars around it and flash it on the screen in big letters when it is local.  Juanita saw that and said, was that you.  I told her it was so we sat there for a while before I was going to get up and claim it.  I was guarding the ticket the whole time.  I had to wait because I still had two more games on my ticket and I could not claim it until all the games were finished.  It turned out that I had four numbers on the next game, which is only $14 but all up, I had won over $650.  A big win in any one's book.

Juanita went off the play the pokies, I gave her what had been my last five dollars to go play.  I then went up to make my claim and then had to wait about half an hour for them to call the manager and verify the win.  They told me to have a seat and they would bring it out to me.  Sure enough, they came out thirty minutes later and gave me $650.  It was so cool.  Felt like one of those big spenders at the casinos or something.

Anyway, turned out to be a good day.  Naturally, by the end of the day, after we had left the club, I only had about $200 left but I got some things I had been putting off buying.

One of the things I decided to get was some hot sauce.  I had to order that online when I got home.  I seems that someone in Australia, near where I live by the way, has invented or grown the new hottest chili in the world.  It used to be the Jolokia pepper from India, I think, but he has been working on creating the new hottest chili here in Australia.  They are all based on the Habanero chili from Jamaica or something but they keep breeding them hotter and hotter and come up with a new variety to make them the hottest.  Not that you can tell the difference once it gets that hot but by measurement, scoville units, the surpass the previous records.

Anyway, I bring up this ordering of the new sauce because they have just delivered it to my door.  It is a BBQ sauce based on the chili, which I think is called the Trinidad Scorpion Chili.  It is not an extract, which is what I want but cannot get over here.  I used to get Dave's Insanity sauce in America and I smuggled two bottles in the last time I went home but they are long gone now.  I can get a Habanero paste that is pretty good but I seem to have become immune to its effects and there is another past based on the Jolokia chili that is supposed to be hotter but I did not like the taste of it.  I am hoping that this new sauce is hotter and since it is a BBQ sauce it is tastier.  We will see.  You have to order it online as they have not made enough to stock it in stores, but hopefully, it will be there soon as the shipping is $15 no matter how much you order.

I ordered two bottles and should have done it when I first heard about the sauce.  It was $15 for a five ounce bottle a couple of weeks ago, but when I ordered this on Monday, it was $18 a bottle.  So all up, for two five ounce bottles was over $50.  Not sure it was worth the price and since the factory or farm or whatever it is that produces it is within an hour of where I live, shipping seems to be excessive.  I might just take a drive over there to see if they sell direct to the public in their offices.  Don't know exactly where it is, but it is in the Hunter valley, which is just across the freeway from where I am.  If you want to look up the company and read more about it, and I don't know why everyone is not fascinated by this topic, the company name is The Chili Factory.  Just google that and see the website.  I'd put a link in here, but that would be way too fancy.  Then again, lets give it a try.
The Chilli Factory

Hope that worked.  Now that I have spent most of this entry talking about food again and not about the kids, I am going to try my new sauce.  So I will be signing off now.

I have considered making these entries shorter and doing more of them but you know how I am.  Lots of nothing and then a few entries, then lots more of nothing, so I am never sure when I will get around to it.  There is an app on my iPhone that I have considered using but will have to test that out when I am thinking about it.  Maybe in a few minutes, just to test it, but for now, I am ending this entry.

So, until next time

Talk to you later

MWNews 105

It has been a whole day since my last entry.  Wonder where the time went.

I seem to recall that I had a lot to say when I left last time but I don't seem to remember what it was.  I thought I would just start typing and hope it comes back to me.

So far, not so much.

But we press forward.

I am thinking of going to a new place today.  Some kind of park where they have mazes and stuff.  I am not sure it is worth the price so I am still deciding.  $45 for the four of us.  Kind of steep if all they have is a couple of hedge mazes to walk through.  Plus, they charge you extra for a picnic lunch.  I think you can bring your own but it does not really say.  The other thing, it is really close, about 5 minutes away.  So how good could it be since we have never heard of it.  It is new, but you would have thought we would have heard something if it was that great.  Might just be better to go to the new park, which is an hour away.

I have mentioned the new parks before.  There is one about an hour south of here.  It is big, has a lot of different things to do and is close to shops and the ocean.  It gets crowded so the kids have to wait in line to do anything and there really is not that much to do.  I long flying fox that the kids like.  I climbing spider, rope thing that is really tall.  Lots of things to climb on and run under.  They have a merri-go-round type thing but it is people powered and every time we go, it seems it is broken and very hard to push.  Takes an adult to do it and it has no momentum when you let go.  Just kind of stops turning when you stop pushing, so it wears you out very quickly pushing the kids around.

There is a tire swing that sort of hangs from a few chains and you sit on while it spins around.  It always has kids on it so waiting for your turn is a problem as the kids do not tend to get off.  And, even when you get on it, it does not seem like a lot of fun.

It is a good park and might have been the best around if the new one that opened about an hour north of here had not recently opened.

This park is amazing and it is still being built.  They have about half of it done now and what they have is great.  When they finish, it will be about twice the size with kiosks and trails and picnic areas all around.  It is on Lake Macquarie, although not that close to the water.  You can see the lake from there but with the park and all there is to do, we have never walked down to the see what might be at the waterside.

This park is not close to anything.  Have to get in the car if you need to see some shops or get anything.  It is next to a lot of athletic fields and a big public swimming pool.  I think I remember seeing them building it but we do not go that way very often, maybe once every couple of months, so I am not sure if we saw it being built of not.  It is not near the main road so you have to look for it when you drive past.

This park starts with a small kids area.  Lots of things to climb on and a couple of swings and there are some other stuff on the right that I have never been to so I am not sure what is over there.  As they are still building things, there seems to be something new every time we go there.

The next thing you come to is a big wooden pirate ship type thing that has walking paths and different things to do on it.  It is surrounded by little things to climb on and sit on and spin around on.  Next to is a water area where they have fountains and water canons and some kind of well that the kids pump water into.  We do not let the kids go in that area, it has been too cold, but it looks like it will be fun when the weather warms up.

These things you go past when you enter but the park is dominated by a really tall tower that will eventually be in the center of a huge soft, squishy, play area.  I say soft and squishy because you know about the soft flooring stuff they put on the ground in kids parks these days.  This park not only has that but seems to have some soft bouncy under pinning beneath the surface that makes it really bouncy.  I am sure after use it will get less bouncy but now, it is kind of hard to walk on it.

The tower is huge, for a kids park.  It is about 10 to 15 meters high.  It is a big enclosed area all the way up, about 3 meters by three meters on one side and a little bit more on the other.  The bigger side has climbing ropes and rope ladders in it that the kids can enter by going through a rope bridge.  The whole thing is enclosed in rope mesh, so no one can fall out.  Not sure who checks the integrity of the mesh but it would seem someone would have to do that periodically.  So far, it looks good.

The other side is metal and has metal ladders going around and around in it.  Not really around and around but there are several three or four rung ladders on each side that you climb up to get to the top.  You climb up one, then go to the other side and climb up the next one.  You do all this climbing to get to a little waiting area at the top.  You can get to the waiting area from the rope ladder side as well.

The reason you climb all this way is to get to the slide.  At the top, say ten meters high, I am not sure how high it really is, could only be about 5 or six meters but it looks really high, there is the entrance to a long spiraling, completely enclosed slide.  It spirals down in about 4 loops and has to be the most popular free ride in Australia.  It is not that the lines are that long, maybe a ten to fifteen minute wait each time but it is constantly in use, as you can imagine.  Kids, adults, animals, everything you can imagine is constantly going down this slide.  Kids of all ages.  I think I have seen two year olds coming out the end of that thing.  I have no idea how they climb all the way to the top and then slide down, but there they are, sliding out of the opening laughing and giggling the whole time.  I don't think I have seen any crying kids at anytime we have been there.

William was the first one to try it.  He made the mistake of going up the rope part first, it takes about twice as long that way, but he never hesitated.  He was at the top in about five minutes and was sliding down as soon as he got there.  He absolutely loved it.  He came out and said that was the best thing ever.  The first time we were there, he must have rode it four or five times in the hour we were there.  I am sure he would have gone more but he had to sneak over to the water park and he got in trouble for that so had to spend some time next to us and not playing.

Maeghan has yet to try it.  We have had the grandkids with us the two times we have been to the park and they were all scared to go until they say William do it a couple of times.  Jarvis has been afraid to go on it also, so he has never been.  Both Maeghan and Jarvis have climbed almost to the top but have decided not to go each time.  Maeghan wants me to go with her, but I am afraid I would get stuck in the tunnel and I am claustrophobic, or that is the excuse I give.  Did I mention it is very tall.

Well, this thing dominates the park, but there is lots more.  Next to the tower are two flying foxes.  They are not as good as the one at the other park but they seem to have longer lines.  There is also a huge bike area a little further down from this.  Lots of kids on bikes, skateboards, and just running in this area.  Little roads and paths and things for them to ride around on.  There are also a few swings in this area and a huge tire swing thing like the one at the other park.  It is about twice the size and you climb on it and swing around with about eight or nine other kids.  Looks like fun but it does not seem to  get used that often.

The rest of the park, or scattered through the park, are picnic areas, paths, and even a couple of BBQs but I am not so sure about having hot BBQs with all those kids around.  It looks like they might be putting up fences to separate the two of them but they are not there yet.

In other parts of the park, you can see where they are going to build mazes, and more swing areas and it looks like something that will have water in it.  No idea when these will be finished but when it is, I would say the whole park will cover at least three of four acres.  You can see the plans for it on some signs but I think they have already deviated from those plans as they do not match what is actually there.

I have no idea how they are going to keep this area free to the public or how they are going to maintain it over the long run.  And the first time someone falls or is hurt on that big tower, I am sure they will have to make changes.  But for now, it would seem to be the best free kids park I have ever seen.  There are some good ones in Queensland but I think this one tops them all.

Well, I guess I have to get going now.  Did I say anything?  Not really sure other than the description of the park.  Should have included more about the kids and what they think of it but Maeghan wants me to fix breakfast for her, so I have to get going.  And this entry is fairly long so it should tide you over until I get around to doing another.

Guess I will be going now.  Until next time.

Talk to you later

MWNews 104

I am writing from work because I am bored.  And I do not have a lot of pictures on this machine, so I picked an old one.  No idea if I have ever used it before.

Yes it has been a long time.  But enough about that.

William saw a mole on my back the other day.  He asked what it was and we told him it was a mole.  He asked what a mole was.  Maeghan said it was something old people get.  I sent her to her room but since she can outrun me, I could not make it stick.

We have been busy and not so busy for a while.  Just got over a bout of stomach flu.  Maeghan and me mostly but William stills tells us he is sick.  He was sent home from school a few days ago.  We got a call to come get him and then about 2 hours later, we got a call to come pick up Maeghan.  It seems there were a lot of people sick in school that week.  I think we are all over it but I still feel a bit queasy when I eat.  Not that it keeps me from eating but it is a bit unpleasant so I can't enjoy the full belly.

The kids are on spring break in a couple of weeks.  We were planning on doing something as I took vacation for it but we seem to have a couple of other things to do later in the month that I need to take off for, so we will probably just stay home.

At the end of October, we have a wedding to go to in Queensland.  One of Juanita's friends daughters wedding.  I have met her but don't really know them well.  We have stayed at their house a few times and Juanita basically used to live with them, so we are going to the wedding on a short trip.  The wedding is on a Saturday.  I will drive up with one of the kids, Maeghan I think, and Juanita and William will fly up on Saturday morning, hopefully getting there before we have to be at the wedding.  I think we will be ok as they get in at 06:30 and the wedding is that afternoon but we still have to pick them up and drive to it.  I think I remember it is on some island, about an hour or two from the airport, so we should make it.

We will then stay until Monday, when Juanita and Maeghan fly back at 06:00 and William and I will drive back.  You might be asking why some are flying and some are driving.  Basically, Juanita is doing foster care and she has a little baby with her.  The baby has visitation on Fridays and Mondays.  Unless we just drove up there and then drove straight back, she could not make it for both visitations.  So we have them flying out after the Friday and then before the Monday and I will drive so we have a car available and we can spend a little time there.

We might go to Dreamworld, an amusement park, or something like that while we are there but I think we will just visit some of the old places we used to go to.  Like Sutton's Beach, I think I got that right.  It is where we got married and there is a big free water park and play area.  Maybe we will visit some people but we will probably not have time.

In December, we are going down to Tasmania for a couple of days.  We are going to Juanita's father's 70 birthday.  Not sure how we are doing that visit.  We might do the fly and drive thing again, so we do not have to rent a car while we are there.  It is actually cheaper to drive down to the boat and take the car than to fly and rent a car but again, the problem of visitation and the long travel time make it hard to work around.  If there are cheap fairs at any time, we will figure out something but we really want to go for this one as we missed both the 60th birthdays and her mother is not well, so it will be good to see them.

Plus, to rent a car big enough while we are there is fairly expensive.  Taking our car is a good option.  Just have to find the right price for it.

After 8 1/2 years, my job has finally come to a head.  I was told to look for something else.  Nothing official, or nothing really official, but my boss said to start looking in case it came about fairly quickly.

I have actually found another job and was supposed to have received the offer today but have not heard anything.  In the meantime, the job I am in now has been working to find a way to keep me.  They think they have done it, but again, nothing official just saying they have agreement in principle to keep me at least until next April.

So, I am faced with a problem.  Do I take the new job, which has not been offered yet, and do something I do not really want to do.  It is just a job and not really something I want but could lead to other things, including facing being fired in April.  Or, do I stay where I am and take the chance that the job lasts beyond April or no one changes their mind and lets me go earlier.

I like what I do now, although to move up anywhere, I would have to move back to America and take my bosses job.  A possibility for the job but not for real life.  (I can't move my family back to America.  They live here and I would not do that to them as I know how much I miss being home and I would not want to put them through that.)  And, going by myself is not something I think I could handle.  But that is a whole other story.

Anyway, it looks like nothing will happen today, or if it does, it has to happen in the next hour or so, so I will wait until Monday and next week to see what happens.  Hard to say which way I will go, but I think I am leaning on staying where I am.  Hopefully, in April, I will have the same luck finding a new job as I did this time.  Tough chance to take but I really do not want this other job at this time.  Maybe things change in six months.

I suppose I should be going and do some work.  I have a lot of work this weekend and I will be missing a party on Sunday that I was supposed to cook for.  Just a BBQ for someone's birthday.  I would say it is Michael, but that would confuse everyone because it is a different Michael.  Michael the son.  I have to work on Sunday, all day, so I won't be able to make it.

Means I have to find something fun to do with the kids tomorrow, Saturday, so we can spend some time together.  We have found a new park about an hour away that is really great.  It would be good to go there for a BBQ but since they are doing that Sunday, we will find something else to do.  It should be fun, or I hope it will be.  I have been sick so have not had a lot of time with the kids the last week.  And, almost every other weekend, we have had grand kids or other people over so we can never do anything just for ourselves.  I hope that has not changed while I have been here, but sometimes, things change and I do not find out about them until they actually occur, so we will see when I get home.

Still more stuff to talk about, it has been three months, but I will leave it until next time, whenever that is.  Until next time.

Talk to you soon.