From November 18th, 2006

Saturday Well, we were all up at around 7.00 starting our busy weekend. Jamieson was up and straight into his basketball uniform. I have to say, it’s kind of a relief, and we are all a bit over ‘it’s my first game with the Spurs’. We were all up and around knowing what the day had in store. I was in the car and at the store getting presents and groceries, then back to the house by 9.00, unloading having a very quick tidy and we were all out the door for Jamieson’s game at 10.00am. The game went as expected, they dominated, to say the least. Jamieson surprised all of us, Bruce just looked at me at one stage with the “DAMN” face, very impressed with his son’s game and athleticism. The great thing is that most of the kids scored which was great for them all, and most of them now have a pretty good idea the game. They are going to dominate again…. help me lord, Jamieson spent the rest of the day talking about it. We got into the car and came home to change and get some lunch, then the boys went off to Jackari’s birthday party, Bruce went to my office to do some more copying for Billy Bounce and Mum cleaned for me & I started on dinner. I made up all of dinner and had a shower, all ready for our dinner guests. The boys all arrived home at around 4.45pm and Mum and I jumped into the car and went to Conner’s game. Not as much joy, poor Conner lucked out again. The team was ok, they got pumped but on the up side Conner’s game is getting really great. He has improved as well, which is so great for him. The team improved as the game went on, but they are not going get a lot of wins. Bruce had a chat to Conner after the game about his improvement and he seems ok with it now. We got home around 7.00 (late) and the Charles’ were waiting for us. They came in and the kids went off to play while I put dinner together. We all caught up on the week in the kitchen (cause it’s big enough) and the kids say at the kid’s table and the adults at the adult’s table (YEAY!!) We all finished our dinner and the kids went off to play & the adults chatted. The Charles’ left around 10.00pm and we went off to bed after tidying up. It was a nice end to a busy day. Sunday We all woke up and Bruce off to Wackford to do the coach the coaches for Billy Bounce. We potted around in the morning and got ready for our day out in San Francisco. We had some lunch and when Bruce got home and changed we were on the road at 1.00pm. It wasn’t a very picturesque day, lots of clouds in the sky and we were driving in the car I was really worried about whether we would actually see the bridge or not. San Francisco is known for its fog. We got there and it was a perfect day for it, the sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We arrived at the bridge and did the usual photo’s etc although there was still a little fog over the water so seeing Alcatraz was a little bit difficult. Anyway, we got some nice pictures and went for a walk on the bridge then jumped into the car and made our way to Pier 39. We parked the car and walked down along the street, mum got some REAL clam chowder from the stinky, fishy smelling vendors and it was beautiful. We walked around Pier 39, all the Christmas decorations were up and a huge tree, it was really gorgeous. We checked out the stores and some buskers then made our way to Bubba Gump’s for dinner. Unfortunately it was disappointing, but it didn’t dampen the great afternoon that we’d had. Most importantly, Mum had a fantastic time. We were back in the car and driving through downtown looking for trolley cars and just the city in general. We drove through the middle of town and saw the Macys and Saks Fifth Ave Christmas windows, which were magnificent in Union Square, to say the least. We were all just sitting in the car going WOW!!! We stopped at some traffic lights and managed to get a couple of shots, which turned out really nice. I will post them for you all. By the time we got home it was after 10.00, but we all had a great time and were EXHAUSTED!!! Fell straight into bed and out for the count. The end of another long but adventurous day for the Hultgren’s and one Korostin. Monday Bruce went off to work early in the morning as per usual. I didn’t go into work; I realized that I had bought my entire work home with me so there would be no point in going in. I didn’t get any done, instead I tidied up the house and did a few minor things that I would have done if I wasn’t working every day, like hanging posters and cleaning up the office a little. There are things in the house that I’m not sure where they are, and you can imagine how well that would sit with me. I’m still getting there, the kids being off track with me being home hopefully I will get all that done. Bruce got home from work around lunchtime and mum and I went out to get some groceries. Bruce picked the kids up from school and we got home not long after. I started on dinner, lasagna. Jamieson had basketball practice at 5.00, so they all left for that and left me alone to do dinner in the peace and quiet. It was heaven!!! They arrived home from basketball did showers etc and we sat down to dinner. Paula arrived later; Bruce couldn’t stay up any longer (tired) and went off to bed around 9.00pm. Paula stayed for a little while longer and we chatted for a while. She left, I went off to bed and mum stayed up to chat to home and watched some TV. Tuesday Went into work for a couple of hours to organize computer, came home late morning. The kids had a minimum day today, last day of school. Mum, Bruce and I walked over to pick them up and we all walked home with Millie and Lexie who came over for a visit. They stayed for a little while, and then we just chilled out for the rest of the day. The boys just played around the house and I got onto he computer and did some work and sent some emails. The usual things, I did manage to reply to some, which was good because the guilt was starting to get to me for not emailing back. Spent a quiet night in, Bruce was at a meeting on the other side of town and got back around 8.30. We chilled out then off to bed around 10.30. Wednesday Another nice day, all just lounged out of bed around 7.30. Bruce went off to work, I started cleaning the house, and we all just chilled out for the most part of the day. Paula called and came to get me and we went grocery shopping for tomorrow. Mum took the kids to the park for a couple of hours, they had a really nice time, the kids did their running for running club and mum did some walking. Paula came over for dinner, and then we just chilled out and made up the Cranberry jelly fruit salad. Let the new tastes begin. Poor Paula was going through some of the dishes and Mum and I were sitting there with funny looks on our faces. Like pumpkin/ sweet potato thing with marshmallows on the top. I think we made her very nervous, we will see. Thursday Happy Thanksgiving – (or Gobble Gobble Day, as Paula calls it.) Bruce and I woke up at 7.00 (as per usual) caught up on the last couple of weeks, not a lot of time to ourselves to do that, so that was nice. I walked over to Paula’s to do turkey and stuffing at 9.00, the turkey was still frozen in the middle so we had a good time trying to defrost, it all makes for a good Thanksgiving story. We got the turkey in the oven at around 10.30 then it had to cook for at least 4 hours. We chatted for a while and I left to come home to get some of the other stuff ready. Bruce & mum took the boys over to the park and I stayed and did up the table and tidied up a little. They got back an hour or so later and the kids went out to play, Bruce went into the office to do some work and I fluffed around the way we all do when company is coming over, cleaning etc. Paula arrived with the bird around 3.00 and it smelled YUMMY!!! I had all the vegetables ready to go and then we just had to heat up or brown all the other stuff. We all sat down to Thanksgiving at around 4.00pm. We sat at the table with the following in front of us. Turkey, Turkey gravy, hot bread rolls, cranberry sauce, cranberry fruit salad, sweet potato with pecans and marshmallows on the top, stuffing, mashed potatoes, honey carrots, and garlic beans. Apart from the beans (which Paula agreed) were yuk, it was all beautiful!!! I said to Paula,” I take back all the faces I made last night, she was very relieved.” Mum did too; she has even bought the recipes for most of the dishes home, so the Korostin’s should expect a couple on the table with the turkey Christmas day I would imagine. We sat around chatting while we ate, apart from the boys playing with their VERY LARGE legs, which they thought was hysterical, it was really a great meal. Bruce was sitting there making all the YUMMY noises and said, “Now I understand Thanksgiving”, all day he’d been saying he didn’t get it it’s just a meal. But sitting there with family and friends over a beautiful meal and lots of it, you could really understand why it is such a family day. We heated up the pies (Pumpkin and Apple) and sat down to our dessert at around 6.00. They were beautiful, even the pumpkin one, pumpkin over here is sweeter than at home, so I can understand why they can use it for a sweet. I did have the displeasure of tasting Cool Whip. I told Paula I would try everything. It tasted like whipped sugar but worse. Paula laughed and made the comment of the day. She looked my straight in the eye with a straight face, for a second and said, “You can eat it but it tastes like shit”. Well, we were all just about on the floor in stitches. She usually quotes Bruce but Paul Hogan we didn’t see coming. We finished dinner and rounded onto the couches. Paula got to choose the movie, we got out the projector and watched What Women Want on the wall, the room is perfect for it, it was like we were at the movies, and I even did popcorn. It was the perfect end to the night. Paula left around 11.30; they also watched Pricilla Queen of the Desert, Mum’s choice. Another, Australian learning experience for Miss Paula from Texas. Friday We are really living in America – are you ready for this? We were up at 4.30 (the stores open for the thanksgiving sales at 5.00am) When I said sales I’m not kidding though. There were a couple of things that were on sale for the kids for Christmas, and Bruce wanted to have another experience. So the alarm went off at 4.30 and Bruce and mum were off to go shopping in the dark. He called 10 mins later laughing his butt off, they were walking to the end of the line at the other end of the shopping car park. They got home around 5.30 with goodies in hand. The boys got portable DVD players from mum for Xmas ($70 off) and she also got a fantabulous new digital camera and 2gb memory card. Very flash, she is in picture taking heaven. We went back to bed and woke up around 9.00, the boys were up none the wiser. I woke up mum and we were dressed and out of the house to get some Thanksgiving Day shopping in by 9.30am. You should have seen the people, they were everywhere, boxing day shopping everywhere, we did manage to get some good bargains, we went back to Best Buy to see if there were some things that they saw in the catalogue when they got home, NOT!! All the huge bargains were gone. We did manage to get some other bargain, I bought mum a 1GB MP3 player for her birthday and we got some CD’s for $6.00 each. I then took her to Wal-Mart for that experience, and she got some really great stuff for herself, which was really nice to see. She is loving the whole ladies shoes go up to a size 11 here and making the most of it. Then we went to Target and had some more shopping fun, got a few more Christmas presents. Before we knew it, it was 3.00pm; we looked through another couple of stores, got a couple more pressies and then got home around 4.30. Got back to the house… looking like I hadn’t been home since the early morning, no beds made, food all over the kitchen as usual. The boys were running around, cause their father let them have their Halloween candy and wasn’t watching how much they had, so of course they had HEAPS!! Bruce was sitting at the desk and hadn’t really moved all day, but did get a lot of work done so that was a bonus. Paula arrived with her boys at around 5.00 for leftovers. We made up dinner and all sat down around 6.00; it was still as yummy as the night before. After dinner everyone jumped onto the couches for a movie. Bruce put Will Smith on so we all had a bit of a dance before settling down to watch Shark Tales on the big screen. I chatted with Elise on messenger, which was nice, it’s been a few days so it was good to get all the gossip. Paula and the kids left at around 10.00 and the kids went to bed and we followed not long after. Another big weekend is coming up, lots of plans. I hope everyone is well.