Little miss Ivy

It’s official, there are now three strong females in the Tucker household. Ivy has joined the ranks, yes at an entry level, but have no doubts that she will progress to become as headstrong and resolute as her sister and mother… Her determination is already clear, and she’s just fantastic because of it… Currently, she is absolutely committed to standing up on her own, and totally focused on beating her current instability. There’s nothing she won’t leverage to get on her feet, and she takes advantage of whoever and whatever is nearby at the time before letting go for the few seconds her inner ear and chubby legs will keep will keep her upright… I expect she’ll be walking soon, which means she’ll be just eight months old, a whole 2 months or so ahead of Scarlett, who was by no means slow to get mobile. So, as I commented in a previous post, I think we have another live one on our hands…   

Got to love Sydney Weather

Loving the daily show the Sun puts on in Sydney, maybe we should applaud the sun’s spectacular performance each sunset like they do in Ibiza, although there’s a good chance they do that for other reasons… It’s true that there are is a fair amount of complaining goes on here about how cold it is, but I think that’s for two reasons… One, it’s kinda nice in Summer, so Winter feels like a bit of a low blow, and two, few houses in Sydney have appropriate heating, so chances are you are freezing when you wake up in the morning if it’s a chilly 9.6c outside.

 

But right now, I’m loving it, my morning ferry ride sets me up nicely for the day, a chance to sit outside with my sunnies on soaking up the Sun’s warming rays while lightening my mood through a wee spot of photosynthesis…

A few more holiday pictures… Hamilton Island

 

 

 

 

Holiday pics…

Tides out.

First child enters the blue, paranoid parents prevail

 

Pool fun, in winter!

Hamilton Island

White sands on a semi-tropical island, less than 3 hours from Sydney, and in the same timezone too… Hamilton Island is a great family-holiday proposition but isn’t quite what we expected. The entire Island acts like a co-operative and is a little more M.O.R. as a  result, pretty pleasant but all too predictable. Food’s good, hotels are fine (Except Qualia, but we didn’t go there!), and the staff are nice enough. Nothing’s exceptional (except maybe the scenery) and the lack of competition between the restaurants on the island (supply = demand-1) means that the 5 or 6 we went to were good or better but none were fab – I guess if it wasn’t for the luxury of having six whole days with Diana, Scarlett and Ivy the holiday would have been mediocre, but then, that was the holiday, innit! The thing is, with the kids in tow the average pools, semi-tropical weather, accommodation and restaurants were just perfect, they couldn’t be beat. And only 3 hours from home too!

Been on vacation

We have spent the past 6 days on Hamilton Island, just got back… Expect some pics to follow…

Home sweet home

Back home with ma girls. Quick trip to the park this afternoon was a nice way of reconnecting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Airbus is ok I guess ;-)

So flying on the A380 was all it was cracked up to be, although I think that’s mostly due to Singapore Airlines’ excellent fit-out. Given just how massive this aircraft is, and how wide the body is on the upper deck, to have only four business class seats across is pretty luxurious; many/most airlines would have at least crammed in a fifth, if not a sixth. The seat forms a large, perfectly flat and level bed quite easily, and the environment is SO quiet I slept like I was in my own bed for almost six hours out of the six and a half hour flight, which is nice. Actually, given the kids weren’t there, I probably slept better!

On my way home…

My journey home from Singapore is made notable by the fact that I am flying on the new Airbus A380 super jumbo (the hyperbole is theirs not mine!)… They say this is the most significant aircraft since the jumbo was launched in the early 70’s, but I’m not so sure, it’s all but incremental really… So it is bigger and heavier, but that’s not all that impressive, JAL will run it domestically in full Economy configuration, meaning more than 800 passengers will be on board, but again, so what, the bubble headed 747 takes some 500 in that format, what’s another 300 sardines? No, I’m not ready to be impressed, silly big fat bird will be my bed for the night, and it’d better not be impressive enough to keep me awake, or there will be trouble! Oh, actually, it does have these on board…. they are, eh, interesting.

More travellin’ pics….