Christmas Day 2009

Not a baby anymore

Officially.

I was cleaning the laundry this morning. Deepti was cleaning upstairs. N was in between. Literally.

I heard a "maaa..." noise. As I walked around, and Deepti descended from upstairs we found out that N was not a baby. She's officially in (or officially approaching) the terrible 2's.

She had managed to get her head stuck between the bannisters. Not a baby anymore.

This followed the adventure at dinner last night and opening an "Up and Go" carton during the week using nothing more than a straw and determination, resulting in aforementioned Up and Go being down and splattered all over N's clothes and face.

Not a baby anymore.

Restaurants

Eating out for dinner is not an option anymore. We've decided to become a takeaway family for the next few years.

We thought we could tire N out by playing in the park for an hour and having her wander around safeway. But by the time we got to dinner at 6pm she was a) starving, b) cranky and c) up to no good.

She managed to hold it together whilst waiting for the food, but as soon as the food arrived, she went into full on out of her mind mode. I spent half the meal outside with N and then once Deepti finished her meal, tag teamed and swapped.

The result was as expected. N was calm enough outside, out of the high chair. By the time we got through our meal, the only thing keeping her calm was an empty can of coke. Yes, we're that bad parents.

The drive home was as calm as could be expected, but then N lost the plot and started eating the plastic from the loaf of bread and crying her lungs out when Deepti changed her nappy.

N's asleep now. It's been a traumatic afternoon for all involved.

Baby facts

So bored one night and unable to sleep I prepared this graph.


Sorry about the fuzzy and small resolution. Red is weight (with y values on the left side) yellow is height (on right y axis) and blue is head circumference (y values on right side). Days is on the x-axis.

I apologise to all the maths geeks (Bob, Andrew, Dan, I tip my hat to you) because I haven't naturalised the scales, especially for weight. When I did, my computer program only could do on base 10 which is instinctively incorrect to my untrained eye.

Anyways, it got me wondering about all previous and going forward things. Like how N always seemed heavy to me, until I picked up a lighter baby. This was despite the nurse telling me N was a "light" baby. I remember struggling to hold N for any long period a year ago when we came to Perth. Likewise now. Except she's about4 kg heavier now. I think the weight is part of the difference, but with N, there is now the squirm factor which makes it much more difficult to hold her for any long periods.

So what does graph above prove? I'm a stats geek. I'm a doting father. N's growing. All good. And she might just one day be a tall girl.

Pick up the phone, the phone!!

Stair climb

Ashmi's 2nd birthday

We went to a birthday - a proper birthday party. Deepti's Indian mother's group friend Ranja had her daughter Ashmi's second birthday party in Werribee. A hall was hired, Indian food was catered, there was balloons and cake and unlimited soft drink. All I needed was a cricket talking cousin and I was back in my teenage years.

I had a blast, so did N.

Where's the balloon? ("Bee! Bee!")

Mastered in minutes (see video)

Long dresses in fashion (it was Spring Carnival time)

Ranja, Ashmi, Anirban

Long dress, crocs and Bee! Bee!

Coasting around Woolworths

Cactus-zilla

The post that had to happen. Meet our succulent balcony neighbour. Perverted.
Mmm, succulent. Apparently he's been there longer than the previous owner. The photos don't do justice to the creepy size of the thing.

Much better. Even N doesn't know what to do with him. I'm afraid I'll come home to a Little Shop of Horrors scene where the giant flycatcher plant has swallowed one of the actors.

Good old safe airconditioning. Cactus-zilla doing best Terminator impression.

Since last time

The move to the new house has been an experience for reasons mentioned before. But overall, we're in and N's got new territory.

Our little cul-de-sac, Nepean Ave has a shiny new electricity substation at the end of the street which work always seems to be "in progress". Nepean Ave is a cozy place, there's two apartment blocks on one side of us - with three or four young Indian families. This is good - Naina plays with Australian kids (play is a strong word) and Indian kids (play once again a strong word).

We're in Hampton East. It's about 10 km from the Melbourne CBD, about 2 km from the bay, we've got a park within 400 metres (Wishart Oval, though they call it a park) and Moorabbin shops are about 600 metres away - all the glitz and glamour of Moorabbin. At least two, yes two, Asian restaurants. We were spoilt in Malvern East where we had a pub 200 metres from our front door and not less than 20 different restaurants. No fancy breakfasts in Moorabbin, thanks.

Onto some pictures, the photos are taken upstairs in the guest room, hallway, balcony out of our room and N's room:

This is how the window open's (and the key goes missing)

A lot of our photos of N have to be secretive these days -
she's become like a disgruntled celebrity and always wants the camera

Cutie on the balcony

Cactus-zilla

I've been getting a lot of requests (okay, two, thanks Andrew, Green) for evidence of cactus-zilla.
I refer you to these two photos. Cactus-zilla is ominously, sitting in the background, upstairs like Norman Bates' mother or a Dalek...

http://nainaindrawati.blogspot.com/2009/08/we-got-one.html

And in breaking news

Cactus-zilla lost an arm (flower) in the first big storm in the new house. I seriously thought the roof would fall in. We got about 3 cm of rain in 20 minutes - more ominously, I could see the storm approaching from our bedroom window and as it passed over head, I was sure something was going to give.

Turns out it was cactus-zilla.

New home, new world

I just wanted to let you all know that we're in and settling down. It was the "funnest" move ever. I kid you not. Without coming across all negative nelly:

1) Bank not accepting my documents with my middle name on them - we missed settlement by a day
2) Owner conveyancer losing our transfer documents
3) Owner refusing cactus-zilla from the front balcony (look in photos)
4) Owner missing settlement due to being short 17k
(nervous weekend of 17th 18th Oct as all things were in place to go ahead with move)
5) Bank overcharging stamp duty by $3100
6) Rental property we were vacating - owner requesting alarm installed be removed unless safety certificate provided - no bond otherwise
7) Nine days of bickering with IINET, Telstra and Carrier check over who's codes were on the line, with the conversation ending yesterday that nobody could tell me so we could never get ADSL and had to get cable
8) No good TV reception despite external airiel and (?) juiced up supply to airiel

Wow! That's negative.

But here we are, just 9 calendar days after the move and we're unpacked, enjoying the spa, airconditioning, heating, (dial up) internet and life isn't too bad. In fact, today was great because I found out who's codes were on the line (Telstra!! of course), the rental property bond is being returned in full without the alarm being removed (great!) and ANZ refunded the stamp duty straight into the home loan (even better).

Deepti has settled in and found parks and day care and child care nearby and struck up a friendship with some people about partime and casual work. And there are Indian neighbours with young kids. And she still gets to go to Carnegie shops! And I don't think I mentioned but in mid-September, Deepti got her learner's permit on the first go, so for Deepti, this past four to six weeks have been great.

Naina's become naughtier and boisterous and demanding and loveable and adorable day by day. But she's settling in and enjoying the new place - especially those stairs. I'm going to time her getting up.

No photos as I am on dial up and I think I'll crash everything if I tried.

Various September 2009

Inappropriate places to sit.



Appetite too big for mouth

Paternity

Deepti had a mother's group lunch at a fancy cafe. South African air dried meat.

I got to spend some quality father-daughter time with Naina at the nearest park to the new house - Dendy Park in Brighton East. I was a bit nervous. Naina doesn't spend too much time away from Deepti, so this 2 hour period was going to be interesting.

In terms of closeness, Naina recognises me as her "daddy" but I sometimes fret that Naina's most complicated expression is "bye daddy" and not "hi daddy" or something else that doesn't involve me leaving or going somewhere. She loves to greet me in the evenings when I come home from work and seems to have an understanding that I won't be able to lift her up for long periods as on the occasions that she wants to be picked up by me she is happy with one or two seconds before she wants to get down.

Anyway, being interlopers to Dendy Park (not true Brighton East residents), we were pretty much in awe at what rich kids get to play with. The play area is covered, full of various swings and toys, including the whiz bang (speakerphone toys) and gated as well. As a playground novice, this is all fairly awesome.

Naina had just woken up by the time we got there, so there was an element of wide eyed shock:




She isn't really into other kids. She just sort of gawps at them. I think she doesn't know what to do with them. Apart from steal their ball and not give it back to them.


Eventually she warmed up to me (note I have no photographic evidence of alleged warmth) being with her and Deepti not. So there was slides and playing in the sand, swings and wanderings.
I am glad to report that Naina and I bonded for the best part of two hours without a single tear (Naina or me) - even when I had to bring her back to the car. I think she just accepts I'm not as much fun as 'didi' (Deepti).

No news is good news

The move is approaching (20 October 2009) so we're already doing the chuck and recycle.

I managed to accumulate 3 computers. At least one of them (and associated parts) ended up somewhere useful (byteback). The sight of around 200 computer monitors in a skip is something to behold. The knowledge that they will not end up in landfill is a very good feeling.

But really, we've had a quiet month. I think it's like an impending storm. We'll be glad to be in a new house.

City trip

Melbourne Central at its best...

Engrossing (or so it would appear)

2 seconds later

And yes, Deepti got N's ears pierced, without a single tear.

Words words words

N's started surprising us with her vocabulary.

Just this week, she's started saying "Bye daddy" when she goes to sleep or when I leave in the morning. I can't pick an accent yet - indian or australian. That was a big shock when she put those two words together.

Other new words this week - "ut-to" meaning get up, "daddy shoo-shoo" meaning daddy and #1's.

And of course singing and dancing. I've introduced her to O Brother Where Art Thou, not quite the Wiggles, but she recognises the songs and starts clapping along. Very cute. You are my sunshine being a favourite. We can't decipher what she sings each morning, but as soon as it is picked, it'll be blogged.

Link

Not sure how long it will last for, but here's the link for the new house.

We got one

We got one! A 3 bedroom, fully renovated, 2 story townhouse with backyard and front yard, heaps of storage and east west facing in Hampton East.

Deepti and I had talked about my previous misadventure at an auction and felt that Andrew's guidance on the big day (or even bidding) would be a huge boost for my confidence. Andrew's an expert on this topic - he's won a couple of auctions but more than that, is well read and industry savvy enough to read the agents and seemingly outsmart them.

So Andrew turned up in a suit, very smartly dressed. I think it had the agents on the back foot from the start. They kept avoiding eye contact with him and coming to me, even though they knew Andrew would be bidding on my behalf. After the auction they asked me if Andrew was a buyer's agent - sure enough a compliment that he had them on the run.

No one bid, at first, so the agent passed it in and then went into a gathering bid mode. The agent came to me and then some others. Each time, Andrew was clearly the smarter at the game than the agent. A comment from the agent - which I would have never have known to be rubbish - resulted in a firm retort from Andrew that basically shut them up. It was actually funny. To be honest, that firmness that Andrew has resulted in me saving a few thousand at least and not losing my nerve as well.

When the agent came back and shook my hand, Deepti says I was crying on the inside. More than true. A sense of relief and exhaustion swept over me.

So we settle in mid-October and will be moving in thereafter.

Here's the obligatory celebratory photos (we're all exhausted).

No more househunting - let's party!

Video update

Giggling fit



BJSM induced confusion - N mingling. I forgot how to use a digital camera.

Oh and Naina

Naina has been a bit neglected with househunting, there is a lack of meaningful photos or videos. But she's well. More and more words, everyday. Today we got "Pey-no" which means "wear it". She knew what she was saying because she was trying to put her sweater back on.

I think her vocab stretches to maybe 20 words now. Words come in ebbs and flows. She's stopped saying de-do, but is more interested in kol-do (open) and kya-huwa (what happened) and clearly understands the context (such as me doing the dishes and making noises). We think she keeps saying O God! but it might be Ogooooh!

N's an addict of In The Night Garden I recommend this show to all who have missed it. However, I have no idea what it's about. All I know is that its meant to be a "calm baby down before bed" TV show. For N, it works anytime of the day.



Gotta love Makka Pakka. And yes, that is a potty chair. No she does not know what it is for.

I don't know what N makes of all the English vocab she hears because none of it is repeated. She's very talkative, but little makes sense, but what does, is all hindi. This may prove problematic later on; her father may be unable to communicate with her.

Bihari Samaj

We went to Bihari Samaj last weekend as a break from househunting. It was a funny day.

The idea of Bihari Samaj (BJSM) is that India being a diverse country, there are few things that unite people - caste and state being two of them. So, in each big city around the world with an Indian Diaspora, there are regular gatherings of Bihari and Jharkandis. For Deepti it's a chance to socialize with other new migrants from Bihar and Jharkhand and to eat Bihari food. It's impossible not to run into someone from Deepti or my grandfathers' home towns. It's just that kind of place.

The other noble goal (apart from socializing) is introducing foreign born kids to Indian culture, on a more meaningful level than TV and movies.

So this weekend just gone past, we turned up at Ashwood Hall, for an Independence Day celebration at BJSM. Independence Day is on the 15th of August. The idea was to have the kids do an Indian dress up and put on a show and the ladies to have a fashion show with prizes awarded for the best dresses and costumes. Great, culturally significant.

My friend Anu despises BJSM. He is half bihari, on his mother's side, so he occasionally gets dragged along. We've discussed this at length; he cannot see the point of people getting together without a purpose of activity; mixing, eating and socializing is not sufficient. So he has gone to BJSM with several ideas for instilling Indian culture and knowledge into the gatherings - cultural nights, quiz nights, singing competitions, meditation sessions. All have fallen flat.

So seeing him turn up at this weekend's festivals was a surprise.

I think the highlight was the kids costumes. There were genuinely great dress-ups. One kid came dressed as Shiva, complete with blue skin and serpents. I was really impressed. Then there were a few kids dressed in traditional Indian dress great. However, the crowd wasn't that impressed and continued to talk and shout and drink as is usual at most Indian weddings and parties.

It then got a little bizarre.

Three kids came dressed as Batman. They individually proceeded to jump off the high tables to rapturous applause of the audience.

Normality was returned when a young girl did a seven minute dance recital to Om Shanti Om, though it dragged a bit. The crowd were unimpressed. Another young lady did a proper choreographed dance to Indian songs, there was a child reciting the national anthem of INdia, all good.

Bizarre returned. Young Jaswant wanted to do a dedication to Michael Jackson. He was complete with white glove and long frizzy black hair wig. To "Beat It".

At this stage, Anu was near melt down. The crowd loved it - judging by the relative lack of talking and shouting.

A Spiderman then appeared and I think another Batman.

Finally a young boy appeared in a familiar black white striped outfit, with AFL ball in hand. Anu cried "It only gets better..." as the young boy announced his name was Nathan Buckley.

Secret posting whilst meant to be working

Naina's up to her first two word phrase. This is great!

Over a period of a few months since coming back from India she has been saying words like jha, achcha and (surprisingly) a-dit. We've heard her saying "ko-wa" which means crow in hindi. We didn't realise what it meant until about Saturday as she's now saying "kya-wa" which means, wait for it, "what happened?". When a loud noise emerges from the kitchen, "kya-wa".

My mum says N speaks hindi like I do, i.e. very poorly. I insist it is Naina who speaks hindi extremely well for a 15 month old and it is I who speaks hindi like a baby.

Progress

Naina is progressing pretty quick. It feels like it to us. In April she couldn't walk and crawled everywhere. It's the opposite now. The sight of N crawling today was a surprise. It's been months since I saw her do so.

The handbag phase is passing onto the collecting phase. She will toddle into the kitchen, open the cupboards, collect the good cups (three at a time) and deposit them into locations as yet unknown. Like a bear in the winter. We found one cup in our bedroom behind the door. She handles the cups very carefully; I reckon that won't last. I think she has "collected" two of my old cameras and "deposited" them safely for future reference. Today I found a toothpaste tube in the lounge room, her lunchbox lid in the bathroom, a soap packet in the hallway and her socks in the kitchen.

Naina

Naina's probably been on a growth upswing this week, teeth, feet, legs, head. She's also probably cottoned on to the tension in the house and so she's been unsettled as well. More temperamental, less ease helping to sleep and more work on the reading and concentrating part.

Meanwhile, here's some photos from N's first trip to the Zoo from Queen's Birthday weekend in June. It was wet, cold and windy. We had no umbrella. But she loved the butterfly house, just because she could run free in a place that was warm, light and sunny.




This is N's new trike! It took me two hours to build.

Househunting sucks!

This househunting thing is turning into a pain.

Example in part.

Turned up to an auction. We had driven past a house, liked it, but accepted it wouldn't be in our range (with previously mentioned 10 per cent rule) and so decided to attend and see what happened.

Dutifully, turned up to the auction last Saturday, dressed as powerfully as I could muster (not very powerfully) and stood up the front. I'm confident it worked because there was no opening bids, so I through in a "try my luck" bid.

The bids didn't follow the script and I easily won. But we didn't meet the reserve. This gives us the opportunity to be individually pressured by the agents to meet the reserve. I actually think it is a higher pressure game than being outside the house. Three agents in suits all trying to muscle me up. I refused to meet the reserve, but did up my bid to the top of our range.

They then went outside to talk to other potential buyers and got a higher bid, which they asked me to match. I said no and lost by 3k.

The next day and a half was full of angst; for 3k we would have got the house of our dreams etc etc. Deepti tried her best to console me, but she also liked the house. So I rang the agent on Monday and said if the contracts do break, give me a call.

He rang me a few hours later. The purchaser hadn't shown up, etc I'm sure this is illegal but basically said make an offer; if the purchaser falls through I'll take the bid to the seller and he'll accept it straight away.

Anyway, the purchaser did eventually show up. But at the stage the agent started being all friendly to us, i.e. on the Monday, I started to hesitate. I actually started to think, be careful what we wish for. It wasn't the dream house and we're so glad we didn't get it.

Andrew, when the next house comes to auction that we want, I'll give you a call...

New habits

We took a trip to Chadstone and Naina showed some new habits off.

Handbags, anyone's. She steals handbags at the playgroup and then argues with mum's over whose handbag is it. Anna warned me about this; it's adorable though. She's taken to trying to hold my backpack when I get back from work and demanding to be lifted up as well.


Her confidence in walking is fantastic now and there's very little stumbling or falling over. Hard to imagine it has been only 6 or 7 weeks. Really short video to follow.





Balloons at any cost, the more the better. Quickly snatched by N at Dick Smith.


Sitting too close to the TV. We've actually been disciplining N about this. I know, shocking. I try the count to 3 method (she obviously doesn't understand yet, because this makes her excited), then take her hand method and guide her back to her port-a-potty (pics to follow soon). Finally, after three goes, we turn off the TV. N starts half-hearted howls of protest but then gets on with other stuff.

Definitely takes after father and grandfather. Weather is her favourite part of ABC news.

Reading to N is proving harder ground to cover. I sometimes think it is the material we try to cover is too heavy (Real Estate magazines, Satellite TV catalogue, Australian Financial Review) and other times she's just too tired. I'd like her to be a bit more patient with the reading but tonight she got through a soft book of about 1 minute in duration before she started squirming and pushing. I probably dropped the ball a bit, because there was a period about six months ago when she wasn't so mobile and I could read to her in bed and she'd be content turning the pages and listening to me. She doesn't listen so much any more and tries to pull the book out of my hands.

Househunting

This is all about Naina, but house hunting, home loans, mortgage brokers, they suck. And agents, they are the worst of the lot. That said, the mortgage broker I spoke today was quite nice and the agent from Buxton was good as well.

Naina's not minded househunting too much. The first weekend we went, she slept the whole way through three houses so we had to do tag team visits. The second weekend, she slept through an auction while aunty Anveeta sat with her.

All good so far. I think N is looking forward to more space. She spends a lot of time running around in circles these days. We're definitely getting closer, but still not sure when that finally jump will occur.

I actually tried to use bits of Andrew's auction buying tactics, but I was too nervous to stand up the front, I drifted to the wall. Deepti says the timbre of my voice was not that confident either.

Random photos

We met Andrew Kate and Harriet in Port Melbourne last Sunday. A gorgeous cold morning meant breakfasts all-round! And N was all dressed up for the Port!


N's learning things fast now. One instruction session on how to use chopsticks at Kaneda was all she needed to clean up the miso soup... check out the head-fakes, didn't spill a bit.



Watching that video makes me feel all full of pride, like Dr Evil and Scott Evil.

Random blogs

The computer finally won - the epic battle continued after the last blog and kept crashing. Finally a new, younger, faster model took its place. Worked out I've gone through two motherboards, a bit of RAM, a video card, a power supply unit and a hard drive (without including various pirated software), before the old comp was put in its resting place (i.e. the garage with all the other ex-computer parts). Hence the time between updates.

We've started looking at buying a house which I honestly like the least of all adult tasks I have to do these days. Melbourne it is a case of trying to guess what it will actually sell for and if that is in the price range we can afford. So I've tried to go on the +10-20% asking price. Yes that's right, every house is quoted at 10-20% below the vendor selling price (underpricing) with an equally non-transparent reserve. Imagine my surprise when 80 people turned out for an auction in Malvern East and the selling price 35% higher than the opening bid. We're looking in Clayton, Mt Waverley, Notting Hill, and some western and northern suburbs. With all the news about attacks on Indians recently, the real west (Werribee, Footscary, Altona, Brooklyn, etc are out, even though they are affordable). That said a stabbing occurred within 50 metres of our front door last week.

Deepti's settled back in Melbourne; two months has passed since she got back, so it probably feels like she never left. We're planning a trip to Singapore soon, but with the house hunt on, it may have to be postponed. Naina keeps Deepti busy - apart from chasing N around the house, there's story time, play group, visit to friends' houses and searching for houses.

I'm my usual pensive state; not quite sure if I'm going forward or backward. I actually thought it might be easier to buy a house in July-Sept this year as the economy went down the gurgler. But I got my assumptions wrong, as I think every economist in the country did. Judging by how busy the shops and restaurants have got again, I think the recession has well and truly passed.

Unfairness

This week has not been kind on us.

Computer, you have almost beaten me, again, but the kind people at Suntrom snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It then became defeat from the jaws of victory and finally victory again. Faster, cleaner, smoother computer running again. However, to get to that point meant standing in a queue at the computer shop on Saturday, being computer-less until Tuesday evening, having the computer startup and then crash on Tuesday night, returning the computer to the shop on Wednesday morning and picking it up again on Wednesday night. Laurie from the shop says hi!

Aside from above strain, I've been working extreme hours for my standards. 12 to 13 hour work days are not popular, with me, Deepti or Naina. Those hours have been part work then more at home, which makes them bearable.

But today was not good. When I got home at 8pm, having left 12 hours earlier, Deepti and Naina had already eaten. This I can handle. But my disillusionment with all things free-market and capitalistic and publicly listed reached an all time high when Deepti informed that Naina had gone to bed nearly an hour earlier.

Why I need to get home earlier

Melbourne

Chapter 1.
She adored this city. She idolized it all out of proportion...no, make that: she romanticized it all out of proportion. Yes. To her, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. Er, tsch, no, missed out something.

Chapter 1.
'She adored the City. To her, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in ...' No, that's a little bit too preachy. I mean, you know, let's face it, I want to sell some books here.

Apologies to Woody Allen. I loved Manhatten.

We live for Saturdays

There was a time, not too long ago, where I used to work every second Sunday 8am to 5pm. This meant a truncated weekend every 2nd week and a mad weekend everyother weekend. While Deepti and Naina were in India and the Canberra loan gone, it was time to give it up.

Every Saturday now truly feels like the best day of the week. I suppose that's the same for all of us (though Friday does give a run for its money), Saturdays, in our house rock.

Firstly, Saturdays are not for shopping. They are for eating, exploring and sitting in the sun. The first Saturday we had free after Deepti and N returned we wandered into the city. Within a few minutes of getting off at Flinders, we ran into a movie set. Illegally taken images of "24 hours in Melbourne" (a Kanneda or film from the state of Karnattaka in India) to follow:

The lady in blue was the leading actress.
Gawping gophers looking on.

Damn paparazzi, won't let me get my make-up
done in Swanston St without hassling me for photos.

Deepti tried to take a front-on picture - city of Melbourne grouchies ordered her "No photos". Paparazzi or curious onlookers. Eh. Surely if they didn't expect people to take photos they should have taken filming to somewhere else apart from Swanston St on a football day? We have no idea who any of the actors were. We don't watch Kannada films.

Melbourne's best Japanese at Kaneda (I'm noticing a pattern) was next. Bento boxes all round. Naina's hooked on smoked salmon, raw salmon and miso soup. She tends to miss out on these things when Deepti and I cook. Got some hot chocolate at Max Brenner and then home. FedSq had a busker - but thankfully not Stairway to Heaven.

Arizona Jones was good. He had the decent sized crowd wrapped. I won't describe his show too much, but involves a lot of man-love jokes, whips, fire and juggling.



The following Saturday was Zoo or Crowne. Crowne won. Though once again grouchy Melbourne security told us we couldn't go into the casino proper. (Wow, baby on the table, hey that's good luck etc).

Hamming it up at Pub at Crowne.
I've never worked how N gets her ability to
make a face for a photo. She may get it from me.

Keys 1, camera Nil...

Down by the boardwalk

Don't jump young mum and young baby;
the food at Crowne wasn't that bad.

Last Saturday was a temple visit - inordinately long drive to Carrum Downs, some prayers to Shiva, N getting scared by the same priest as last time (nearly six months ago, no idea), dosa and utthapams at South Indian and Indian Chinese for dinner.

Japanese is on the menu again...