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At the Perth Royal Show, 2011

Luke — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:07:03 +0000

The Perth Royal Show is held every year and is similar to the state fairs that take place across the US. It’s generally focused on agriculture and regional Australia (with prizes awarded for the best livestock), but also includes a lot of rides, junk food and … showbags.

Showbags are generally themed and have 5-15 different toys, gadgets and other bits of plastic junk relating to that theme. We like to think we’re doing our very important part to support the Chinese economy. The kids spend a lot of time agonising over which bag to get; comparing the contents, considering the utility and evaluting the coolness factor. They’re fully aware, however, that the chocolate and candy bags are totally off limits.

We had another reason for visiting the show this year: LR had two of her photographs accepted into the photographic exhibition. It was a big accomplishment; only the best photos make it in, and she was competing with high school kids, too!

This year, we visited two times: once during the day, and a follow-up visit in the evening to see the excellent fireworks with Grammy, Poppa and the Melbourne cousins, PA and MS.

Well, we're here guys. What should we do first?

Mom and LR meet the world's friendliest goat.

RJ and LR spend some quiet time with some recently hatched chicks.

RJ really liked the chicks. Someone needs to genetically engineer chickens that never grow up.

LR found Poppa's favorite pig, just laying around in a stall. No performing medical research on this one, Poppa!

The first ride? Teacups, of course! This ride operator made sure the kids were spun EXTRA fast.

The kids rode on the bouncing kangaroos. The ride operator refused to speed it up any further, despite RJ's many protests that they weren't bouncing high or fast enough.

While the kids waited in line, Mom wandered off to get some donuts. The shouty man insisted they were American donuts, but we honestly couldn't tell the difference. They looked pretty tasty.

But to really enjoy them, you first must make sure the kids are locked away behind bars.

RJ gets his donut!

LR gets her donut!

Time for a quick break to watch the show jumping. Mom teaches us all the inside tricks that we didn't know about.

LR and RJ carefully make their way into the boy scouts encampment.

RJ and LR explored the different mazes in the boy scouts area. Apparently, Bear Grylls was EVERYWHERE.

We stopped by the best exhibit of the show, the photography competition, where LR had two entries accepted into the show!

At the end of the day, RJ got his precious, precious glow bag, complete with 200 ways to light up the night.

We went home before the fireworks started, but it was okay. We knew we were coming back the next day with Grammy, Poppa and the cousins!

Everyone enjoyed a super "healthy" dinner of showgrounds burgers, chips and pizza.

We had to arrive a bit early to get good seats, which meant there was time for some angry birds to fight some pigs.

MS huddles in with Grammy to try to keep warm.

Poppa decides the LED augmented green shutter shades are necessary to really enjoy the fireworks.

RJ starts assembling some of the essentials from the Glow Bag.

With all the waiting, Dad and the girls headed off to the ferris wheel. We were hoping to get back to the grandstands before the fireworks started…

The ferris wheel is huge, but luckily the line is not too long.

PA, LR and MS cheer as the ferris wheel starts up!

All of a sudden, the ferris wheel shook with a series of loud bangs and the sky lit up with bursts of colour. We got to watch half of the fireworks show from the top of the ferris wheel and it turned out to be terrific!

MS and PA huddle together in the ferris wheel as the fireworks burst in the sky above them.

LR, PA and MS ran out of the ferris wheel to watch the last half of the show outside.

Eventually everything started going off at the same time!

The cousins had a great time... and they left a trail of mayhem and destruction behind them...

July, 2011 Photo Wrap-Up

Luke — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:07:02 +0000

While we were away for half of July (pictures coming soon, promise!), we were just as busy through the rest of it. American Independence Day rolled around and we invited the family over for hamburgers and sparklers. Dad got to stand outside and grill the burgers in the cold, rainy winter weather and ponder how to get some ‘real’ fireworks into the country. There was a disco for the end of the term at school — apparently costumes were NOT optional. Finally, Dad and RJ rocked out at the AC-DC exhibition at the WA Museum.

Grammy gets some sparklers lit while RJ... Hang on a minute! HEY RJ! STOP TRYING TO SET THE LAWN ON FIRE!

LR attempts to write her first and last names at the same time.

Even Poppa gets into the action.

Auntie Jess and Uncle Nick are back from London! Yaaay!

Grammy came over, bringing along her face paints and a book of great designs to try. LR and I. chose the cat faces.

LR carefully adds some details in the mirror.

Our friend J. helped RJ paint his face as a monster and laid the paint on VERY thick. He looked great, but there'd be consequences later!

LR with her facepaint complete. She is most definitely a practical, jellicle cat.

The two kitties stopped to clean their paws.

The two cats climbed the pillars in our front yard and started miaowing incessently.

After two hours of suffering, RJ was so tormented by the itching, peeling face paint that he could barely move. A quick trip to the bathroom to wash up and the monster problem was solved!

The cats were tearing it up on the dance floor.

We checked out the tour bus, but none of the band members were back in black. RJ thought it rocked anyway.

RJ takes a seat at the virtual AC-DC concert and shook them all night long.

We finished up by heading into the city for some bubble tea and TNT icecream (dynamite!) Thanks Dad!

We visited Grammy for dinner and she bought us some great books! Thanks Grammy!

Australia Day 2010

Luke — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:07:16 +0000

Australia Day (January 26th) is a national holiday, similar to the 4th of July in the states, with the major (tragic) difference being that we can’t buy explosive devices at the shop just around the corner. We tend to go to the beach, eat a lot of barbequed food, and in most towns and cities there are big fireworks displays.

RJ getting his snack on, just before we head out the door.

The petting zoo had the most rude and bossy goats that we've ever seen!

Grammy, RJ and LR cruise around on a camel ride.

We checked out the aboriginal dancers and music and even had a chance to join in ourselves! Strangely enough, no pictures of mum joining in seem to have survived.

LR sporting the butterfly face paint. RJ went for a crab, apparently a first for the artist.

Dad spent a lot of the day cooking and selling sausages (hotdogs) at Bunnings to raise money for a school. While stopping by for lunch, the kids decided we absolutely, positively needed some new rubbish bins.

Perth’s “Skyworks” is one of the biggest fireworks displays in the country and gets a huge turnout each year. This year we tried a change and went to see it from the city side, instead of from across the river. It was good, but not great: bigger crowd, less comfortable place to sit, and it was a pain switching between watching the buildings behind us and the river in front of us. Next year, we’ll go back to our favorite spot.

Time to go and see the fireworks! LR and RJ wait for the train to take us into the city.

The Australia Day fireworks always starts with the national anthem playing while a truly enormous flag is flown around the city by helicopter.

While the main show takes place over the river, they also have some of the fireworks launched from the tallest buildings in the city.