April...

The first week of the month Bruce was away as your already read. The week was a fairly usual one for the rest of us. The boys had school and I had the usual work. Everything was the same, nothing out of the ordinary. Jamieson had baseball, which was not great for them, they are a young team and it’s going to be a long season I think. The boys had a minimum day at school and officially went into their holidays. We had picture day on the weekend then caught up with the Rivera’s and they came to watch Jamieson’s game. We spent a quiet Sunday at home, I cleaned and the boys chilled out. Then we finished the weekend at the airport picking Bruce up from his trip away. YEAY!!!! It was definitely time for us to all be together, we missed him and he missed us.

The next week Bruce got stuck back into work, the boys chilled out and did a little homework everyday, which kept them out of trouble for a little while anyway. I spent a good part of the week working on a new contract we have, a little community about an hour away called Manteca. They have no systems so that will be a big job as well as we will also be helping them process special projects. It’s going to keep us busy for a while which is good considering the development community is feeling the pinch along with the housing market. Pete and Fleur arrived for their visit on Thursday.

We drove back making a pit stop at Costco’s for a bit of shopping and a Costco dinner. They got some good stuff had a HUGE slice of pizza and made our way home. We had a quick catch up then off to bed for all of us. I took the Friday off work and Bruce took them for a drive around the city in the morning so Fluer could see the sights and then we went out for some bargain shopping in the afternoon. 3 stores and 4 hours later I had to get home to make Pete his lasagna and we all sat down to a nice dinner then watched the Cats play the Saints LIVE!!!! Yes, we have the International sports channel, so we get around 3 AFL games every weekend, I think it’s all the free to air ones, Channel 10. What a game!!! We didn’t see the lot of it, but we love Direct TV with the DVR, we can program shows so whenever they turn up on the guide it records.

The weekend was upon us, Jamieson had a baseball game in the afternoon and then off home to have a bbq with the Rivera’s and Daneluk’s. Paula’s mum and step dad were over from Idaho (Justin’s first communion on Sunday) so they came too. They had a busy day in the garden then baseball so they were a little late. Carlos dropped in the say Hi before heading off for his flight to Sydney. We had a fun night; Bruce set the bbq on fire, which was funny even though there was fire everywhere. The kids all ran around playing and the adults just chilled out and chatted, it was a good cruisey evening and Pete and Fleur got to meet more of the family we have over here, which is always great.

Sunday (HOT) I got dressed for church and went to see Justin make his first communion. We spent the afternoon at Paula’s, it was a hot afternoon so we all just sat around and drank and the kids swam (pool was COLD, but it doesn’t matter to them) We had a great time with Paula’s mum and step dad, especially after the others left, we had a great time just chilling out talking. We got some take away for dinner and went home for a quiet night. Pete and Fleur started their packing with an extra bag from us, which is about right, Pete shops like Bruce used to over here.

We got up on Monday morning and helped Pete and Fleur do the rest of their packing and all jumped into the car and made our way to San Fran via the Vacaville outlet Mall, and some more shopping and another bag to add to their stuff. Jamieson also scored getting some new (size &7 Nikes, got help us!!) We made it to San Fran drove around and found the hotel, dropped the bags off and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was blowing a gale and cold even though the sun was out. We got some good pics and then dropped them off for their tour to Alcatraz. We had some dinner after the tour with them at the Rainforest Café (Mum, be glad we didn’t go there) We dropped them off and said our good byes, then took the long ride home. It was late when we got home but it was a good day even though it was cold. Cross fingers, Pete is going to try and make it back for Thanksgiving.

The rest of the week was a little catch up from the couple days I took off and starting to get ready for the next school movie night. Flyers etc to get out…..nothing really good to show so we just settled on Alvin and the Chipmunks. I lodged blogs for everyone and the boys just did the usual at home and playing at the park while Bruce did his usual juggling. Jamieson had baseball; he got to pitch and did well, but still losing. He seems to be dealing with it ok, still enjoying it, which I thought he would be over it by now. I’m not overly happy with the coaches. The team is young and they aren’t teaching them, no training sessions, it’s a little disappointing and Jamieson isn’t improving at all!!

The next week I worked full time to get through all my stuff before our trip to Vegas. We found our new offices, now it’s just time to organize the lease and the move, I’ve done it before, I can do it again…it just takes some organization. I went out and did some present shopping for Bruce to take home on his trip, the timing worked so that I wouldn’t have time cause Bruce was leaving 2 hours after I got home. We had community garage sales in the morning and Bruce went out and got himself a bike and then we had baseball hit a thon, it was just like a little carnival and all the kids got to hit.

Sunday rolled around and I packed for our trip to Vegas. Paula & Steve picked me up around 12.30 and off we went to the airport. It was a short trip, we arrived and check into our room at the Paris Hotel in Vegas. We walked down to the Wynn Hotel and had some dinner at a sports bar of all places (we thought that was pretty funny, the boys would be proud) then we headed to see the show Le Reve, it was a great show, we had no idea what the story was but the show itself as a spectacle was amazing!! We walked back to the hotel and Paula gambled a little and we met up with her friend Bret (from Texas) we had a couple of drinks and inevitably started talking about work so around 1.30 I left them chatting and went to bed.

The next couple of days were working during the day, dinner and out to see a band or dancing. IT was a fun time, but exhausting, most nights we were 1.30-2.00am finish and up at 8.00 in the morning. It was nice to be home, even if I was home for 2 hours and Bruce and Carlos left to come down to visit the homeland.

I was exhausted but it was good to be home, but lots of work to be done and catching up to do. I have lots of projects on the horizon the big one would be moving to our new offices.

Hope everyone had a great month.

A big happy birthday to my DAD!!! Love you…XXXXX

Bruce Dubai & San Antonio...

Hey everyone,

Well – as you know I just got back from a week in Dubai and the Final Four in San Antonio.

Dubai – well – what can I say – HOT!!! It was about 95 every day there (about 35C I guess) with high humidity – but it gets up to 50C over Summer and higher humidity again – yuk! Hopefully I won’t be there over that time!

The feel of the place is a little like Vegas if you have been there – nothing seems real.

And amount of building is something to behold – it is just everywhere.

Some funny things that happened and observations…

1. NEVER put your arm around an Arabic lady for a photo – “my husband will kill me” was the reply – with a smile though – pretty funny.
2. DON’T order bacon when you order scrambled eggs!!! D’oh! Yes – I did this as well – apparently they serve you a turkey bacon – but I declined out of principal – again – pretty funny.
3. If you want to fill up your fuel tank over there – it will cost you about $0.30 a GALLON – that’s about 8 cents a liter folks!
4. The “Berg” hotel – the one in the pics here – is a lazy $3000 US a night – nice for some!
5. YES – you can Ski on real snow in Dubai – in the “Mall of The Emirates” – the largest mall outside of America – yes – it is HUGE – you can go skiing – it is -4C inside and it is weird to sit and have a coffee while sitting in shorts and a t-shirt – watching people on the other side of the glass having snow ball fights – a truly amazing piece of engineering
6. The people of Dubai are very gentle and welcoming – I learnt that “Marsharla” means God Bless You in Arabic
7. If you want to be a laborer in that heat – you can – you will receive the amazing salary of $100 US a MONTH – if you are good – then $200 US a month. Yikes!
8. Speeding – apart from a few speeding camera’s – the rest of the road is a free for all – there were several times we hit 180klms going down the freeway – yes – packing myself!!!
9. Emirates airlines are taking over the world – with the best fleet in the world and new routes and no lack of funds – these guys are going to change the way we fly – nothing short of brilliant. Especially the new direct flights from LA that are about to start – I can get there on a single flight in 17.5 hours – amazing – especially when you consider you fly over the top of the world near Greenland and down over London – weird.

Well – that’s about it – the launch of BillyBounce went amazingly well – some highlights of the coming months will be…

1. Backing by the Princess’ “Right to Play” initiative
2. Schools involvement across the entire country
3. Retail launch of BB products into a major sporting chain
4. Training programs for teachers across the nation
5. Expansion into Saudi, Jordan, Qatar and probably India in the next 12 months

Well that’s about it for Dubai – I have included some pics for you to check out.

As far as the Final Four in San Antonio went – this is basically the National Basketball Coaches Conference – met with a few key people and had some fun promoting the BUG around the Hoop City exhibit –

Pete Williams dressed up in the suit and did a fantastic job.

That’s if for now – will check back in again soon!!!

Cheers

Bruce

Easter & End of March....

Happy Easter

We woke up at the usual time, the boys ran down the get the chocolate, and we had a quiet morning.

We chilled out and went over to Paula’s just after lunch for an early Easter dinner. When we arrived the Charles’ were already there, so the kids were all running around outside and the adults caught up in the kitchen. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was out and we all had our nice spring clothes on.

Paula made a beautiful dinner as per usual, we had a feast, the kids did the traditional Easter egg hunt. They were checking out their stash which here includes money…and they sat down and ate. The adults sat inside and ate and ate and ate.

After dinner the boys decided that the sun was out and so
they had to jump into the pool…..OMG!!! Their eyes nearly popping out of their heads when they surfaced from under the freezing cold water said it all!!! Just after they all turned blue we ordered them out; dried and warmed them up.

Monday came around again and it was back to the usual grind for all of us. We made the mistake of measuring the boys before they went off to school. They had both grown, Jamieson had grown another 1cm, which makes it 1cm each month since December, god help me. The boys went off to school, I went off to work and Bruce started getting ready for his next trip in 24hours to Dubai and then straight back to San Antonio for the Final Four. The rest of our day was pretty much normal, the boys did their homework and went off to the park while Bruce packed, scratch that, pulled out his clothes and asked me to pack them. Just like that he was ready to go!! We watched some TV and made sure all the i’s were dotted and T’s were crossed so there would only be the usual things that inevitably come up.

Bruce woke me up at 3.30am, I got dressed, not sure if I matched, we got in the car and off to the airport. As per usual at 4.30 in the morning the airport was packed with people everywhere. I dropped Bruce off and headed home for about 1 hour of sleep before it was time to get the kids up, lunches, showers and off to school and work. He called from Houston mid morning, then flew out for Dubai a couple of hours later. I finished work a little early a raced off to get some passport pics taken. I have to apply for a Work Authorization card (permission to work) more govt forms to fill out and they need passport pics for my renewal application.

The boys and I had a quiet rest of the week. Jamieson had a baseball game that Thursday, they lost but he did ok. He struck out for the first time ever, the pitchers are the older boys so they are coming down faster than he’s used to. Hopefully its not a sign for the future? He got to play catcher, which he loved and did a pretty good job, so we’ll see what happens.

Friday night came around, Nina and Mario came over for dinner and then the boys went off to Youth group with the rest of their family, which gave me a nice quiet night. They got home around 10.00 and went off to bed.

The boys had a little sleep in after their late night and we chilled out for a little bit, then off to baseball again. It was a nice sunny day, it started out going really well, then they pitched, and kids started walking the bases. Pitching is not the teams strong point, something they need to work on. Conner spent the afternoon putting together his University poster assignment that was due on Monday. We had a quiet night again, the boys watched some TV and I did some blog etc stuff.

Our Sunday was nothing too exciting, I spent the day cleaning and Conner finished off his poster and the boys went off to the park for a while. I called Paula to see if we could catch up but they were out, Carlos called; they just got back from Easter in Sydney and asked if we wanted to join them for dinner. I put together a plate for dessert (just like my mum taught me, never go somewhere empty handed) It was a fun night, we had a bbq for dinner and the kids played outside until it was time to go home, school the next day.

Some March Birthday's -
Happy Birthday to Melissa & Ali...Glad you had a great day.

Hi Everyone,

Bruce here – I am putting together a short report and some pics from the trip – just give me a chance to get my fat butt into gear and stay tuned!!!

Hope you are all well.

Canada Trip...

THE HULTGREN'S GO TO
'CANADA'

Day 1….

We woke up in a timely manner; Conner ran off to school to grab his work for while we are away, his teacher forgot to get to him. Bruce was in and out and I couldn’t pack the bags until he got them down, so I tried to get the rest of the house ready while I was waiting. I was packed and ready to go by 10.30, which was pretty good, I thought. Paula arrived at around 11.20 and we packed the car and were off to the airport. We checked in and us with all our bags piled through security, shoes off, laptops out and the two kids, it’s never a fast process. We chilled out and Bruce bought the kids some chips, I found a sports store that was having a Spring weekend sale, yes, it’s officially spring this weekend, so everyone over here uses it to have a sale. Good for us, anyway, I found a Kobe Bryant singlet that was on sale, and wasn’t too expensive without the sale, so needless to say Conner is getting a Kobe singlet for his birthday, amongst other Kobe/Lakers things. We got onto the plane, which was like one of those adds that you see about comfortable flying, we were the cattle in the back. It was a full flight and it was like a zoo. Two hours, peanuts and sodas (which both the boys threw up while landing) later we exited the plane went to the bathroom and washed sicky faces. Don’t know what happened with Conner, Mr Jamieson refused to take his travel sickness tablet, cause he doesn’t like the taste; you can imagine that I wasn’t in the most compassionate of places with him. He doesn’t care; he knows how to use the sick bags and was very proud of it even.

We got out of the airport and caught the bus off site to pick up the car, drove to Rich’s house, arrived around 5pm, right on Bruce’s schedule. Rich made us some dinner, we caught up on all the happenings in Seattle, Deb came home and Brie as well. We sat down and had some dinner and chatted. We were in bed around 11.00, and up again at around 6.00am.

Day 2…..

We had some breakfast, the kids were still kind of half asleep, but they would sleep in the car. We were packed and out of the house by 8.00am and traveling on I-5 North towards the Canadian border.

We were about 30 minutes out of the border town Blane, when yes; Mr. jamieson and his tummy gave us a little surprise all over himself and the back seat. You guessed it; we stopped in Bellingham and went into the gas station to change clothes, tried to clean out the back seat us much as I could. We stopped at a supermarket and grabbed some water and snacks for the morning, decided to go to the banks in Blane. We needed to get some American money out before we went over the border. We jumped back into the car and down the freeway again, we found Blane and turned off just before the border, but Blane I think had all the banks that we didn’t need and none that we did. We went into the US bank and the nice ladies there helped us out.

We hit the borderline and waited with all the other cars etc around 11.00am. We went through the first checkpoint in the car and then parked and went inside to get our passports stamped etc, there was a picture of the Queen on the wall, very weird. We saw car being searched as we walked in, then as we were coming out, the same car had the dogs going through it. It was a nice lesson for the kids to see, as weird as that sounds.

We got in the car and started driving, it felt very homely for some reason, maybe it was the fact that they are in metric; makes it feel a little more like Australia. So we drove down the highway doing 100km and the petrol stations were $1.20 per liter as well as there were a lot of commonwealth names (If you like) there was just a combination of European/English and American. Only a few chain fast food places and not as many chain stores in general as I thought there would be, considering it’s proximity to the US. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we decided to drive into the city and have a look around seeing as how we couldn’t check in for a while. The city itself is amazing; the amount of buildings is incredible it’s almost like a mini New York. The streets are grids like Melbourne; the suburbs that we drove through from the freeway were very much like Brighton area, big homes in little side streets.

We found the bank we needed to and did our visa banking for our appointment, while we were there, I was talking to the ladies and we were chatting about the Easter weekend, I realized that unlike in the US everything in Canada is public holiday like in Australia, so we thought we would get our visas on Friday, now we had to get them on Thursday or it’s in Canada until Tuesday, yes slight panic!!! Then we stopped for lunch at a shopping center, not really in the mood for anything, at this stage I just wanted to check in and get a shower, as gorgeous as the day was, felt blah and stinky. I think Bruce and I had a lot of anxiety going on, even though both of us were very calm about the process and the outcome, invoke the Secret and everything will turn out.

We are staying in Collingwood of all places, sorry everyone, it couldn’t be helped although the address does say Vancouver, the signs on the poles say; ‘Historic Collingwood’ and you know I have pictures. Bruce’s interpretation of Collingwood here is it’s very much last West Sydney, with a huge Asian influence. We checked in and unpacked, the boys checked out the place and chilled out and Bruce and I check emails. I emailed the mothers, sorry mum and Maureen we forgot to call before we left.

We jumped back into the car and up the street there was a Safeway, so we got some food for the next couple of days and checked out some stuff we can’t get at home, like Sausage Rolls and chocolate Royals!!!!! YUM!!!!! So Bruce, Jamieson and I had sausage rolls for dinner, YUM YUM YUM!!!! After dinner the boys went down to the whirlpool for a dip, aahhh, I had some quiet. We were in bed and asleep at around 10.00pm.

The phone rang at midnight (which is never good), it was mum, we had some bad family news….my cousin Karen (who has had a brain tumor) died on Friday. She hadn’t been doing well over the last few months so it wasn’t a surprise to me, but still a shock to the system anyway. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, being over here and all, but Pete, you know I love you guys, if you want to escape the country for a while, I have a bed anytime. Bruce asked if I wanted to come home, I must admit it’s something I had thought about since we’ve been here, but Pete and Family knows that if I was in the country I would be there in a heart beat. RIP – Karen, I will miss that whit that you developed over the last couple of years. Hales, Cheals, Rhys & Sarah love you all. XXXX

(Love you Kaz - R.I.P)

Day 3…..

I woke to today in a bit of a fog really, a big day a head and a big stuff happening at home, we just have to make it to lunchtime and we’ll take it form there. We were up and around early, woke up the boys and all looking spiffy left the hotel at around 9.00am. We had a coffee across the street and walked over to our appointment at 10.00am. We were inside the Embassy for about an hour and a half. Bruce stood in line on the 1^st floor to give them the papers and passports while the boys and I waited on the chairs, then we all went up to the 20^th floor where we were fingerprinted and had a 5 mins interview (literally) with the guys, some of it talking about his holiday to Australia earlier in the year, which always helps your case, we walked out of there very happy and he said that they should be ready by Thursday afternoon. As you can imagine we did the happy dance in the elevator jumped into the car still laughing and dancing. We drove back to the hotel and changed; well Bruce and I did, called Paula and emailed everyone at home. We went out and had McDonalds for lunch (that’s M’s with a little red maple leaf on it, very cool) and decided to drive around town and have a look, we were going to go to the Aquarium but decided to do that Thursday morning. We ended up driving around Stanley Park which is far from a park, it’s more like hectares of almost rainforest, the trees are old and gorgeous, it’s obviously what Vancouver would look like before inhabitance and ALL those buildings. We got lots of pics and video, some gorgeous scenery. While we were there we found out about a fish n chip place so off we went- Fish n Chips for dinner…what a place.

It’s on Denman street which is kind of like Lygon street, only a variety of different stuff not just Italian, there was also souvlaki places, at that point we all really felt a home. Our dinner was yummy, it wasn’t the same as a home, it was a kind of restaurant, but they served battered fish and chips (and they called them chips) and it was soooo yummy and we all left very full. We drove home and I was asleep I think before the kids, it was a tiring day, Bruce and the boys were not long behind me. What a day!!

Day 4

Bruce and I woke up with the expected anxiety of the day, it was a gloomy rainy day (as expected for Vancouver this time of year) we woke the boys up and we all got dressed and had some breakfast. We were out the door and in the car off to the Aquarium. The day was cold, but it was the morning and we were going to be inside for most of it. We went in and got our map, HUGE place we started with the big fish tank, then went onto the frogs, went through all the coral and fishes, lots of tropical, cold water, experiments and then ended the morning with the dolphin show and seeing the beluga whale. We walked around for about 3 hours, the kids running from here to there, ‘Mum, look at this’, ‘Dad, come here’. Which was fine accept it meant Bruce and I really didn’t get to see the Aquarium at our own pace. The dolphin show was good with the accept ion of the rain that decided to come down half way through the show. By this time the boys were getting hungry and we had seen everything so we decided it was time to go and get some lunch.

We left the aquarium and made our way to the Embassy, it was raining, we got there about 45 mins early, we parked on the street and Bruce ran to the Embassy and stood in line with at that stage about 20 people. The boys and I hung out in the car watching the clock; it was after 2.30 when Bruce came walking up the street in the rain, flashing the passport with a HUGE smile on his face. The boys and I did the happy dance in the car; the car must have been jumping, very funny. As you can imagine our spirits were high, now we just had to see if we could get home any sooner. We got back to the hotel and the boys did some homework and Bruce got on the phone and tried to change our flights, we could get on the flight but it was going to be $400, so we decided to just go with the original plan.

We chilled out and came down from our good day, after dinner the boys all went down to relax in the whirl pool, but it was too hot, so they weren’t down there for too long, Jamieson’s face was red for the next hour….. We had some dinner, Bruce and Jamieson had another sausage roll fix before we left. The rest of the night was chilling out and we were all in bed fairly early.

Day 5

We were up, packed, had some breakfast and checked out around 9.30. We drove through the city for the last time, took some last minute footage and made our way to the border. The radio said that it was going to be a 2 hour wait to get through so we decided to stop just before and grab some snacks for the boys, weren’t sure when we were going to able have lunch over the border.

We got a little cheeky and went down the emergency lane and jumped a lot of cars, got into line when we got around the corner and sat with everyone else. 40 minutes later we crossed the US/Canadian border but another 20 mins we were asked to park the car and take our passports inside. I think it was just cause it wasn’t Canadian or US, but the line was out the door. Start of the Easter weekend, so it wasn’t the best time to go through. We waited in line for about 45 mins; there was an Australian couple that was living in Vancouver in line so we had a chat with them until they were called up. I did get to see an American guy argue with a customs guy, then we he walked off on him cause he wasn’t listening to what he was telling him what to do and to go to the back of the line, he got pissed off. What kind of an idiot argues with a customs official. Then they processed our passports and we were on our way.

We stopped for some lunch in Bellingham about 1 hour from the border in a shopping center, had a walk around and stretched the legs. We jumped back into the car and made our way to Seattle. We arrived and got into a little Friday traffic, we found a nice hotel with comfy bed beds and checked in. The boys had the usual take away and Bruce went to the restaurant next door and we got some yummy tomato bisque soup.

We all had an early night, absolutely exhausted…

Day 6

We were awake at around 7.30 (far too early for our liking) we woke the boys up, and as usual, Conner was in a mood (never wake Conner up) so he pretty much sat through breakfast saying he wasn’t hungry. Then, as we were about to leave decided that the bagels looking at him were just too yummy and started to eat.

We came back from breakfast and chilled out, the boys went to check out the spa and I packed and watched a bit of TV. We packed the car and checked out around 11.00am. We drove into Seattle and parked the car. We walked over to the Space Needle entertainment park and walked around, we were going to go up but the line was Huge so we decided not to worry, it did faze the kids so that made it an easier decision. They just wanted to run around after being cooped up for the last 5 days…. so they ran and ran…..

We jumped on the monorail and rode into the City for some lunch, Bruce had a chat with a family form Glen Iris, over for a holiday and meeting friends from Canada who were driving down. We walked back to the park and the boys wanted to run around the fountain, but brain surgeon, Jamieson ran through it and got saturated, which was pretty funny, but he still got into trouble as he had to wear those clothes for the rest of the day and on the plane home. We drove down the freeway and found the car place, dropped the car off took the shuttle to the airport. We checked in and took the security line; we got through and sound our seats. Jamieson did some homework, Bruce took a walk, Conner played his game boy and I lay on the seat like a zombie. The plane wasn’t full so Conner and I got a row, as did Jamieson and Bruce. We landed feeling very up beat; it was soooo good to be home. We were dancing around waiting for Paula and Steve, they arrived and we all piled in the car, the closer we got to home and more exhausted I got.

My girl Paula made our beds up for us and they left, we all went to bed, very quietly and it felt sooo nice. As Bruce said, “it may be a crappy bed, but it’s ours’. What a fantastic sleep!!!!! So we returned legal and exhausted, can’t say it was a holiday, more of a trip to somewhere different with anxiety.