Play time

Another case of writing this a few days after the fact. Details may be sketchy, as my memory isn't what it used to be. I don't think it used to be that great either, but my memory of that may also be failing.

We caught up with some friends for yum cha on Sunday, over at Rhodes. The kids were all well behaved, and managed to consume a reasonable amount of food, not that this was their first attempt at yum cha by a long shot. Elissa told us she was going to have a custard tart before we got there, although now that I think about it, I don't think she actually did. Apparently it's the same chain of restaurants as the one we have near us at Castle Hill. Cathy and Craig have two kids, Ella and Jack, who are of very similar ages to Elissa and Isaac. The boys are too young to interact very much, but the girls get a long very well.

Just for the hell of it, here's a video of Elissa and Ella from June 2006. I've uploaded this one to YouTube, all the ones I've done previously have been hosted on Google Video. I haven't been particularly impressed with the quality of Google Video, so this is a bit of an experiment. I think YouTube is doing a better job of the rendering. With Google now owning YouTube, you'd think they'd consolidate the engines. Anyway....


(Click on the triangle in the centre to play the video)

After lunch, went downstairs to a playground inside the shopping centre. Craig and I hung about with the kids while Susanne and Cathy went in to Ikea. Actually, Isaac was asleep in the pram with Susanne, but you get the idea. The play area was quite small, and rather crowded, but the girls had a pretty good time anyway. For the photos (taken on my phone, so the quality is sub par) Ella was quite co-operative. It's getting harder and harder however, to get photos of Elissa with anything other than the silly grimace shown at the top of the post.

After that, we went to Katrina and Doug's for a couple of hours. Elissa got to see Bob (pictured) but wanted to check that he was friendly first. She's careful to determine whether animals fall into the friendly/naughty category before contact these days, after a minor run in with Possum, my parents' somewhat cantankerous feline, a little while back. Bob soaks up the abuse/attention quite amicably though, and just wanders off when he's had enough.

Later that afternoon it was off to Susanne's parents' place for dinner. With all the attention they'd received in a day, it's no wonder the kids think they can get away with anything. Unfortunately, for the most part they can. I suppose that's just part of the aunties / uncles / grandparents package deal. At least Elissa is aware of it. She actually says "I'm spoilt from Nan and Nanny and Santa and the Easter bunny, aren't I!" Well, at least two out of four will continue the tradition for the foreseeable future.