Easter Holidays – Sydney Royal Easter Show

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On good Friday we headed up to Sydney for the Easter Show. We met the Powells and drove to the car park together. Unfortunately I had left our pre-bought tickets at home so we had to line up to rebuy them. Worst part was it took us 50mins :-(. The Powells went in ahead and did the showbag pavillion – which worked out well as we weren’t buying any.

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Finally inside we headed off on the animal walk.

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It’s always fun seeing the animals, esp. the petting zoo. The ducks going down the slippery dip are a firm favourite and I feel in love with the cute little puppy (middle, top row).

Easter Show animals

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Of course no trip to the Show is complete without fresh cooked corn. Lunch part 1.

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We then saw a great high dive pirate show.

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It had been very hot sitting in the sun so the kids were glad to cool off a bit.

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Next up with a circus workshop.

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Then a delightful afternoon refreshment – or lunch part 2. The girls shared some curly fries and the guys went in search of “cheese on a stick”. Look revolting but they enjoyed it.

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Time for the Ashton circus.

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Then the working dog show – which was one of the days favourites.

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It was getting to 5pm so we headed into the food pavillion, where Noel won a special award for chilli eating.

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And we got some delicious chocolate dipped strawberries.

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The girls got to sit on a police motorbike…

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and get a tattoo.

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Time for a little break…which my feet were really needing by now….

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while the girls watched some wood chopping.

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We bought dinner…

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found, with some difficulty, some seats in the main arena….

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and got ready to watch the Rodeo. I don’t really get it but don’t feel the animals were harmed. Not so the cowboys!!!

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Leanne was kind enough to get hot drinks for everyone.

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There was a motorbike jump show – which was a bit hard to see on the other side of the arena.

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Then the fireworks which were fantastic.

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We haven’t stayed into the evening since before the kids were born and it was a great way to end the day. Last up was a ride for the girls as they had been bugging us about rides all day.

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Then time to head home. We took Sarah, and Christy went with the Powells for a sleepover. After such long day I was so exhausted I slept on the way home. I was happy and rather sore but very pleased I managed the day without a wheelchair.

Living with Arthritis – Update

Thankfully, things have improved since my last post on living with arthritis.

As you might know a month ago I saw a dietician and started to cut down and dramatically decrease the amount of nasty additives and preservatives in my diet. Almost immediately there was a tremendous improvement with my arthritis. My pains levels went from 5-7 to 2-3 on a daily basis. It has meant reading food labels, making more things at home (which has been possible due to reduced pain levels) and eliminating some foods from my diet – at least on a daily basis. Hence I have not had one iced chocolate or packet biscuit in a month. It’s really not been too hard and it’s a bit scary to think that these food additives have contributed to cause me so much pain.

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I started walking my dogs again, alternating with riding my bike so my heal spur doesn’t get too sore.

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I half felt unwell (upset tummy) a few times after I had eaten out – I assume due to consuming more preservatives and additives than I’m used to. Other than that it had been a really great 4 weeks. So much so I went to my doc to decrease my meds. But, of course, the day after I had a bit of a flair. I saw the dietician again last week and she assured me this might happen from time to time.

Unfortunately I’m in the middle of another flair – this one lasting a few days. Not sure if it’s because of the hot, humid weather or that I’ve been overdoing things or just one of those things. I’m not happy though. We are headed to the Easter show tomorrow and I don’t know how I’m going to manage. I really feel uncomfortable about using the wheelchair that Kevin got for me when things were really bad, but I don’t know how I”m going to manage otherwise. Still so much to understand and learn about this disease.

On the positive side I’ve gotten back into almost daily exercise and I’ve lost 3.5kgs :-).

Fabulous Friday

Finally some glorious sunshine. Perfect for my drive down to Berry to meet up with my friend Paola. Kiama looked justĀ  a little different to when I was here last week. I was actually meant to come down last Friday but we postponed due to the bad weather.

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And with all the rain we’ve had Gerringong was even greener than normal.

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Berry is such a beautiful old town. One day I will have remember to get some better photos.

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I met Paola at the Berry Tea Shop…

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where we chatted and enjoyed tea. I also had the most delicious cupcake.

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We then shopped, and chatted some more, before stopping for lunch. Every shop keeper commented on the weather and it was lovely to sit outside in this little peaceful courtyard and enjoy our food.

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Luckily Paola suggested it was time to go as I had no idea it was already 2pm, and I needed to be back to pick Amy up from the bus stop. Another lovely drive home.

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Dinner tonight was nachos before I headed off to the basketball.

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No-one else wanted to go so I went by myself. Great game, though I started getting some stomach pains on my way, so maybe I should have stayed at home. With the exception of the day ending with me feeling unwell, I had such a lovely indulgent day. It was most definitely a fabulous Friday.

Amy’s Birthday Weekend

I can’t believe that I’m now the mother of a teenager. Wow! As you know we decorated Amy’s bedroom for her 13th Birthday, so the actual event was pretty low key. All she wanted was to have a few friends from school for a sleepover. The plan had also been to watch movies in the pool but it was too wet, and cool, for that.

It was the certainly the easiest birthday party I have ever hosted. We just got takeaway pizza and left the girls to hang out. Other than the noise (!!!!!) they were no trouble at all.

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There was a pillow pet fight ….

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and pillow pet fun…

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They all slept in the loungeroom after watching half of Ink Heart…

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which they finished watching in the morning…

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Amy made vegan cupcakes instead of a traditional birthday cake …

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and there were, of course, presents to open… she got PJs from Christy and a special necklace and some nail polish from us….

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One of her friends stayed later and they worked on a school project (yes, on her birthday). I felt guilty not having done much for her on the actual day so we let her choose dinner – Thai takeaway.

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I think she had a great time and a fun start to her teenage years.