Unbelievably, I have already finished the lecture portion of one of my classes. The lectures were condensed into three weekends - Friday nights and all day Saturdays - and in between those days we were expected to be doing a library's worth of reading. Now there is a small matter of the 8000 word essay...Nevermind, I'll just get it started once I've finished blogging and reading about McCain's running mate, and Mike Weir leading the Detusche Bank, and...ahh the newfound, or rather, re-discovered joys of academic procrastination!
On Saturday, after one rather unsatisfying HR class, we four trammed our way down to Chinatown in the heart of the CBD for a fantastic Teppanyaki dinner. Remarkably, we thought, this was only the second time we had gone out for dinner since arriving in Melbourne. We also wondered what the boys were taking in as we passed the drunks, the adults only stores, and the tattoo parlours on the way to the restaurant. Toto this certainly isn't Kansas anymore for these two!
Anyway, dinner was perfect and as is always the case interactive: we were required to catch the flying fried egg, we watched as a fellow diner was pelted with same, and then we were all bombarded with bowls and rice. Everyone did very well in catching their dinner. The kids had a blast and mom and dad had sake and 2 Sapporo respectively! Yum!
We got home just in time to see allstar and local favourite Buddy Franklin kick his 100th goal for the Hawthorn Hawks. It had not been done in the AFL for 10 years so we felt fortunate to watch a little Aussie history in the making. Incredibly, 5000 fans ran onto the field and mobbed the guy but no one was hurt and they were back playing in 8 minutes.
On Sunday, after a little sleep in, we headed down to Flinders Station and embarked on our first official train ride in Melbourne. The trains/subways run out to the surrounding burbs and on this particular morning we were taking the Werribee train to the Spotswood station in order to see Science Works, Melbourne's version of Toronto's own Science Centre. Despite the fact it seems to be located in an industrial docklands (think the worst part of Eastern Avenue) the venue itself was quite good. In fact, it was very good for kids and fun to watch the boys run around poking, prodding, and playing with all of the gadgets. Mom and dad even managed to try one or two.
The highlight was a 40 minute Planetarium experience narrated by none other than Han Solo himself - Harrison Ford. Fantastic computer animation and storytelling captivated us all. You could practically hear the synapses firing in Alex's head as we were taught about how the world was formed 4 billion years ago. This show lead to all kinds of great discussion on the way home and continues to be the kind of seed we hope this adventure plants firmly in our boys' heads.
Labour Day is in March in Australia so there is no holiday today - kids are at school and I'm at the library. Interestingly, Father's Day is also different - next week in fact - and I am eagerly awaiting my second sleep in and breakfast-in-bed of the year!
On Saturday, after one rather unsatisfying HR class, we four trammed our way down to Chinatown in the heart of the CBD for a fantastic Teppanyaki dinner. Remarkably, we thought, this was only the second time we had gone out for dinner since arriving in Melbourne. We also wondered what the boys were taking in as we passed the drunks, the adults only stores, and the tattoo parlours on the way to the restaurant. Toto this certainly isn't Kansas anymore for these two!
Anyway, dinner was perfect and as is always the case interactive: we were required to catch the flying fried egg, we watched as a fellow diner was pelted with same, and then we were all bombarded with bowls and rice. Everyone did very well in catching their dinner. The kids had a blast and mom and dad had sake and 2 Sapporo respectively! Yum!
We got home just in time to see allstar and local favourite Buddy Franklin kick his 100th goal for the Hawthorn Hawks. It had not been done in the AFL for 10 years so we felt fortunate to watch a little Aussie history in the making. Incredibly, 5000 fans ran onto the field and mobbed the guy but no one was hurt and they were back playing in 8 minutes.
On Sunday, after a little sleep in, we headed down to Flinders Station and embarked on our first official train ride in Melbourne. The trains/subways run out to the surrounding burbs and on this particular morning we were taking the Werribee train to the Spotswood station in order to see Science Works, Melbourne's version of Toronto's own Science Centre. Despite the fact it seems to be located in an industrial docklands (think the worst part of Eastern Avenue) the venue itself was quite good. In fact, it was very good for kids and fun to watch the boys run around poking, prodding, and playing with all of the gadgets. Mom and dad even managed to try one or two.
The highlight was a 40 minute Planetarium experience narrated by none other than Han Solo himself - Harrison Ford. Fantastic computer animation and storytelling captivated us all. You could practically hear the synapses firing in Alex's head as we were taught about how the world was formed 4 billion years ago. This show lead to all kinds of great discussion on the way home and continues to be the kind of seed we hope this adventure plants firmly in our boys' heads.
Labour Day is in March in Australia so there is no holiday today - kids are at school and I'm at the library. Interestingly, Father's Day is also different - next week in fact - and I am eagerly awaiting my second sleep in and breakfast-in-bed of the year!
No comments:
Post a Comment