Life without kids

Life without kids

The last week has been VERY exciting for Karina and I. The kids have gone to Singapore to visit Grandma and Grandpa travelling with Qantas as unaccompanied minors. I dropped them at the service desk last Tuesday and 9 hours later, they were met in Singapore by Grandma and Grandpa. They are having a wonderful time in Singapore and if you’re interested in what they are up to, Julie (Grandma) is posting a daily update which you can find on her blog here. It really is worth a browse if you want to see the kids living it up in Singapore without us! They arrive back this Thursday at 4.15AM (uggh).Enough about them however. Karina and I have had the last week to ourselves and it’s been wonderful. Last Tuesday night we went to the movies and had dinner out afterwards. We saw Terminator: Salvation (my choice) and it was OK, but not great – pretty much what you’d expect.On Wednesday, we went to the Comedy Theatre and saw Avenue Q, the new musical that’s just opened in Melbourne which is best characterised as an Adult Puppet show; it was very funny and we loved it.Thursday we travelled to Sydney, then spent Friday cruising around the Sydney CBD, shopping in QVB and had lunch with some work friends of mine. Friday night we sipped champagne over circular quay then went to see “Every little step” a movie documentary about the making of the Chorus Line (actually very interesting and entertaining – sort of a “so you think you can dance / American Idol” without all the added drama).

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Tim in QVBSaturday we went to Natalie and Matt’s place to meet them and their two kids, Joshua and Tessa. We had a great brunch and enjoyed the catch up, meeting Joshua again (who is fanatical about cupcakes) and Tessa for the first time (who is a cute 5 1/2 month old). They have just all moved in to a renovated terrace in Paddington after several years in a small flat in Kings Cross and we enjoyed being with them at home.

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Matt and NatalieMatt kindly dropped us off at Central station and then we caught a train out to Woy Woy, then a taxi to Ettalong Beach. It was kind of like a time warp, with Ettalong beach feeling like it was still trapped in the 80’s, although the scenery was fantastic. Maddie and her partner Ciaran live in Empire Bay which is near by and have a 15 month old daughter Eva. We had a great dinner with them on Saturday night (and drank an enjoyable amount of Champagne and Red Wine) then on Sunday morning, they picked us up, took us out for brunch at Hardy Bay and then drove us around some of the sights. We managed to see whales off one of the headlands and enjoyed the gorgeous, sunny central coast weather.

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Maddie, Ciaran and Eva

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Karina and Tim, Hardy BayAfter this it was back on the train to Central station, a cab to the airport and then we relaxed in the lounge. Qantas managed to get us on an earlier flight AND upgraded us to business on the way home, so we were in the first row and first off the plane. All in all, a great end to a holiday.Today we’ve both been to work (slept in, no kids to chase around) and are enjoying a quiet evening doing and watching what we want on TV (just saw the news instead of the Simpsons for the first time… ever I think).