Japan (Part 1) Kyoto

We are officially crazy. In some hormone induced pre baby high where everything is easy and you are sleeping through the night..... every night, we (I) booked a trip to Japan for January 2014. We wanted to go somewhere different to home, different culture, climate, food and language... but a direct flight. We took all the hassle out of the trip by using BYO Kids to book everything. Erin our consultant booked flights, transfers, accommodation in adjacent or adjoining rooms (we cant fit in one room...anywhere anymore) and was on the phone or email constantly with options in planning and booking, I highly recommend using BYO Kids for anyone travelling with kids especially with a large family. 

Not sure if eating the book will teach you Japanese

Every trip has an obstacle, ours had a few. Firstly our plane was delayed..... for 8 hours. We took the opportunity to run the kids raggered at the airport, games, races, songs, activity books so when we boarded 3 were sleeping soundly before take off whoo hoo!!!

 

There were all so tired they slept the whole way. We arrived at Osaka at 3am then boarded a bus for a complementary random hotel (as we had missed our transfer) checked in at 4am to check out at 7am to return to the airport to find our way to Kyoto. A few things stuck me during this time, not everyone in Japan speaks English (we should have learnt more Japanese), the people are so helpful (even opening more customs stations for our unplanned flight at this crazy hour) and everything is so clean. This is Japan, helpful, clean, organised..... a travelling with kids dream.

 

 

 

Mr These Beautiful Days quickly acquainted himself with the Japanese transport system (I still don't get it) and maps and worked out a plan to get to our hotel in Kyoto. The kids slept on every train and walked and pulled luggage like seasoned travellers.... we checked in to our hotel at midday (awesome effort). We quickly got changed into our real winter clothes then set off for Gion we had lost sightseeing time and we weren't missing anything. It was so nice to finally feel cool after leaving a Far North Queensland summer behind. Our first real Japanese meal was in Gion, tofu and soba noodles with green tea overlooking a Japanese garden... beautiful, simple and stunning.

We walked and saw Japanese gardens, temples, Geisha's,  markets, we drank strange drinks ate real Japanese food, tasted Japanese coffee (then quickly found Starbucks) and were in bed by 8pm.

 

Kyoto is an amazing place, the people are so friendly you go into a Family Mart or 7 Eleven to by 6 bottles of water and they open the door for you greet you with a smile and  as you leave endless bows of "Arigato gozaimasu" they make you feel so welcomed and every transaction is considered and done with respect regardless of the value. Nothing is rushed or hurried, it was lovely seeing the kids embrace this part of the culture.

The next day we found a bakery for breakfast, we were learning happy kids are fed kids (funny that) and piled our trays high with pastries, croissants breads, juices and coffees we ate.

We then went to Fushimi Inari (The Fox Temple). The big orange tori gates line pathways trough the forest and are donated by businesses for prosperity. There are Fox statues everywhere that are regarded as messengers.

We loved it and found lots of Foxy gifts here. We then continued on to Nara and saw the Deer and Todaiji Temple (Great Buddha).

 

The deer were, well Deer (on advice from others who had been there we didn't buy food for them and after seeing what happened to others that did we were glad). The Deer were quite happy to be patted by the kids and were very gentle to us but were a bit crazy to those with food.

The Todaiji Temple is majestic and was one of my favourite Japanese experiences. There aren't words to describe the dimensions of the statue and the feeling of calm, and peacefulness here. It is truly a spiritual, magical place.

The next day we went to Nijo Castle. This is a fort.... a real fort with beautiful gardens and a squeaky floor that sounds like birds to detect when Ninjas were trying to invade... for real. We looked for Ninjas for Master 3 but we couldn't find any ( we may have bought one home though). I liked the castle and the gardens but I got really bored here, the kids liked it but I was the first one on the trip to get bored (go figure).

 

In the afternoon we then went  on to Arashiyama and to the Bamboo Grove. This was also beautiful the lines of bamboo in the forest were hypnotic and all encompassing. It made everything feel a little green and the kids loved running up the pathways. There is a lovely little village here that we would have loved to wander through a bit more but by this time we had some tired kids (I wonder why). It was interesting seeing parents here pick up their kids from preschool on bikes sometimes 2 or 3 kids on one push bike, so different to the car filled pick up back home!!

 

One of my favourite meals was here at a little road stop stall. Miso soup with tofu for about $4.00....delicious.

 

 

Our last night in Kyoto we ate at a restaurant where we ordered at the 'teller machine" in the front using the pictures, basic Japanese, and the helpful Japanese girls that Littlelove at 7 months was chatting up. We thanked them by letting them look after him at their table while we ate in peace!

We then went to Karaoke and sang every Taylor Swift song before going back and packing for the next leg tomorrow we were on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Tokyo.

 

So far we had learnt.....

 

1. Feed the kids, feed the kids, feed the kids (they cant move without food, funny that).

2. Where there is a toilet use it and everyone must go and nappies must get changed... otherwise in 5 mins someone will need to go and we will waste 20 mins trying to find a toilet to then miss the train and have to wait 15 mins for the next one... Just go now!!

3. See Starbucks get coffee (little like no.1 but for the parents).

4. Just ask don't try and figure it ,out take a phrasebook and ask.

5. Forget Lonely Planet food guide, see a place and eat.

6. Mum gets bored first.

7. Get the kids to sleep where and when they can, planes, trains a 10 min nap makes all the difference at 5pm.

 

 

8. It takes 47 mins to get 4 kids ready from normal clothes to outside clothes to leave the hotel in a cool climate..... I am in wonder of people that do this all the time...

Next Friday on the blog we are off to Tokyo!!!

 

The Best Christmas Cake ....... Ever!!

It's Christmas time which means that we get to do crazy things like get along with our families, buy heaps of presents and shop like everyone lives where we live because the shops are closed for one whole day!! The best part of Christmas in my opinion is getting to eat this Christmas Cake.... THE BEST CHRISTMAS CAKE ....EVER!!

20 or more years ago my Mum made this for Christmas lunch with Kahlua and dried fruit, sort of sounds okay now but to us at the time it was a huge waste of perfectly good icecream. The next year I took over the preparation and I have been doing it ever since with different combinations. It is my favorite thing to eat...ever and this year we are having 3 Christmas celebrations so I get to make it and eat it 3 times whoo hoo!!

Its so easy to make all you need is 2 litres of vanilla icecream, any combination of chocolate bars (my favorite this year is pepermint areo x 2, malteasers, turkish delight and cherry ripe).

Slightly melt the ice-cream and chop the chocolate and  guard this with your life from little fingers wanting tastes, mix and put in a bowl lined with cling wrap freeze for about 24 hours then serve. 

I serve this with berries or mango on top just to balance all the chocolate and because it looks deceptively healthy to anyone that doesn't know that they are about to eat a huge bowl of ice cream and chocolate.

I will guarantee if you make this there will be no leftovers, unless you sneak some away for yourself by cutting a huge slice for yourself and hiding half in the back of the freezer for later, not that I do that.... just saying!!

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy the BEST CHRISTMAS CAKE.... EVER!!

Christmas Craft Princess

I have been in lockdown in this town for what seems like soooo long (I escaped for 1 day trip, so a total of 7 hours and 36 mins away in 4 weeks) and the weather has been a little warm so we have all been spending loads of time inside.....together. So what's a girl to do? Well with Christmas around the corner I seemed to turn into Martha Stewart, or some craft obsessed Princess from another land that I don't even recognise. The thing is I didn't think I liked crafting, sure I love knitting, baking and sewing, but craft yuck!!. I actually complained at the school last year that the kids did too much Christmas Craft as they bought home paper after paper of decorations,(note: take photos of any artworks that the kids are attached to before you bin them, then you can show them the photo when they ask. For artwork and craft that are really cool create a digital art book for them, its heaps easier to store them on the computer and great to share with family and friends), but the last few weeks have made me realise while I hate crappy craft, I love useful craft.... there is a big difference (Sure!) Anyway here are some of our projects, they are quick, will keep the kids amused (which may prevent heads little being scarred for life buy cranky sisters), easy, and best of all.... USEFULL!!

 

Gift Tags

1. We made these over a few sessions, the kids used Christmas Stamps to go crazy out the back with butchers paper. Session 1 done!

 

 

 

2. Then Master 3 and I practised his scissoring skills (for like 30 seconds) then I cut the shapes out while watching re-runs of Project Runway and drinking tea.
3. Miss 6 and I then cut out some Japanese Paper into shapes, and glued them with the stamped Christmas shapes onto cardboard. Merry Christmas 2013 and a hole punch...Ta Da Christmas Gift Tags!

 

 



Outdoor Christmas Tree

 

This was crazy easy and was an attempt to show Master 3 that sticks are useful for things other than chasing his sisters around with. He is still chasing his sisters with sticks but this project made use of his weapon stash in his room. We collected sticks from everywhere, painted them using the left over paint from the gift tag stamping and arranged them in order. We then bought a garden stake, whitewashed it and screwed the wood on in order and... Wallah.... Outdoor Christmas Tree. (This may end up as a bean climber in a second life after December 25).



Wreath



I loved looking at these last year and we have never had a wreath. I thought the wool ones were pretty and would be a great use of extra wool I had lying around but the whole cardboard circle thing was a task in itself, so I never got round to it. Then I saw this... http://www.craftstylish.com/item/8659/how-to-make-a-finger-wrapped-pom-pom easy finger wrapped pom poms. Our little hands made many in such a short amount of time, we even had extras for the tree. I love our bright wreath!!

 

Teachers Gifts

We have beautiful staff at the school here. There are about 26 students and 7 staff including Administration, Teachers, Principal and Teacher Aides, so they all know the kids really well. For gifts for the teachers we made some Bliss Balls (raw cacao, LSA, raw almonds, rolled oats, dates, apricots, sultanas, blitzed in mixxy and  rolled in coconut or raw cacao) and Chocolate Fudge balls (biscuits, condensed milk, coconut, and raw cacao blitzed in mixxy and rolled in coconut). We then put them in sterile glass jars topped with Christmas Fabric bought up by Granny from NSW (thanks so much xxx) and finished with a gift tag. Miss 8 sewed around all the edges of the fabric all by herself and Master 3 helped in the cooking and taste testing. Beautiful!

 

 

 

Our Artwork

We were so lucky to be given a canvas from one of the teachers that is sadly leaving at the end of the year. In the spirit of Klimt who I love we created a family artwork. Miss 8 painted the background, Miss 6 and I painted the trunk and branches and then we all used our fingerprints to create the leaves. Little love had to use his toes... Its now hanging in our lounge room.

 

Our Tree

Our Tree this year is a branch from the Mango Tree. Decorated with all sorts of decorations. When we moved here we ditched our old plastic tree and we haven't bought a new one. Last year the Mango Tree served us well, I am not sure we will ever have a plastic one again!

These craft little projects are so easy, useful and have elements that can be done by all age groups.... Me crafting away... Who would have thought? Its amazing what so much time at home, in the heat can do!!!

 

 

My Weapons....

 

This week has been a little focussed on weapons in our house. Possibly because master 3 ended up at hospital at 8am Saturday morning getting his head glued together as a result of a Spinjitsu fight with one of his sisters who shall remain nameless. Her weapon was a medal, Master 3 thought it was great and has not learned a thing from the experience.

 

 

We all need weapons in life, things that we arm ourselves with to make the daily battles a little easier, a bag of popcorn for the kids at the shops for example.  A few weeks ago I was feeling a little 'meh' tired all the time, hot all the time, grumpy and a little shouty some of the time you know just 'meh'. Then I thought what can I do to make this all a little easier and I remembered a book I read recently by Paul de Gelder 'No Time for Fear'. This guy was the Navy clearance diver attacked by a shark in Sydney Harbour a few years ago. One line from the book jumped out at me.... "use sleep as your weapon". Which got me thinking.... I had been staying up late till about 11pm every night just to have some me time, but I was waking up at least once a night for Littleloves feeds and then up for good at about 5am without any downtime during the day... so even though I was getting a couple of hours me time every evening I really wasn't sleeping enough. So I decided to 'use sleep as my weapon' and set myself a bedtime. 9pm knitting needles down, 9:30pm bed, and it worked!!So I have achieved something Mum and Dad never could at 32 I finally have a bedtime.....(My Mum and Dad will be sitting in their recliners with a bottle of Red between them reading this and giggling and I say it now guys... you were right all along!!) For two ish weeks I have kept up this bedtime and I feel great, Littlelove has even slept through a few times since and I think its because I am feeling relaxed and not so tired so his feeds have been better!

 

 

 

At the same time I also set myself a Yoga challenge, to do at least 10 mins of Yoga every day. Its so easy as a Mum to let everyone's needs come before your own. There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done, washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning, the list is endless and its so very easy to put these tasks in front of any time for yourself so I the spirit of paying myself first (thanks Oprah) I decided I would make it as important as one of those other things and set myself the goal at least 10 mins a day! Some days I only get 10 mins done right before bed as a relaxation. Other days I manage 20 or 30 mins when its still dark and its just Little love and I awake, but its been lovely getting to do something just for me every day!!

 

 

With Christmas coming up its lovely to be heading into it feeling good and refreshed. We are heading away on holidays soon so it will all fall by the wayside while we are away, Life is too short to go to sleep at 9:30pm when you are on holidays and visiting family you see once or twice a year but when we get back and I start feeling 'meh' again I know what I need to do to feel better.....Get my weapons back!! I only hope that the kids can adopt sleep and yoga as their weapons of choice at some stage otherwise there will be more hospital visits I'm sure!!

 

The Mail Run....

We don't get mail here everyday, we don't have letterboxes or firm street addresses. In the past we have collected mail from couriers on the road and iPhones for people who live at the end of the street have been delivered to us. None of the houses have street numbers on them, and the actual street numbers are 'creative'.

All other mail arrives at the post office 3 times a week Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays. This only happens when the mail bus isn't broken down, the roads are open and it isn't a public holiday.

The mail truck also brings out the papers so we only get newspapers on these days too. I love reading the Sunday Mail and I have been known to still buy it on a Wednesday afternoon (if  Monday was a public holiday and it doesn't get to town till then). I know you can download it..... but it simply isn't the same (I feel the same way about reading magazines online).

Its about 200 metres from our place to the post office where we collect the mail, This trip has been known to take close to an hour some days.... (or 6 if we happen to get convinced to stop by the local pub for a 'quick' drink on a hot Friday afternoon). The local pub just happens to be across the road from the Post Office and always has icey cold drinks and a playground for the kids. When it only takes an hour its because of finding shoes and getting them on kids,  locating helmets, bikes, prams, opening gates, closing gates putting dogs in or taking dogs with us. We normally see at least one person and have a chat along the way.

Then there is the challenge of getting all our 'mail' home. Now since I moved here I have become pretty darn good at online shopping, which is why its a juggle to get everything and everyone home. In fact I have given up on the mail run entirely after this effort...

 

I am glad I sent my husband in his troop carrier for this run and I may send him every time until after December 25. We have to be organised for birthdays and Christmas out here. I try and put my online orders in 4-6 weeks before the day I need it so that we have it in plenty of time.

Its only fair that I share my online shopping expertise.... so here is where I go to contribute to our mail.

 

1. Booko http://booko.com.au/ this site compares all the online book websites for prices. Type in the name of the book you want and it brings up where they are available with lowest price first including postage. How cool is that?

 

2. Catch of the Day http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/ this site is only good if you are looking for something in particular. It releases a few deals at midday NSW time everyday, if what you are looking for isn't there close the page or app I repeat 'Mum CLOSE THE PAGE!' or you will end up buying all sorts of things. There is a fair amount of postage depending on the item so you have to factor that in to the deal.

 

3. Grocery Run http://www.groceryrun.com.au/ I have shared my grocery experiences here before and grocery run is great especially for bulky bigger items, toiletries, muesli bars, vitamins and general household goods. It has $11 flat rate shipping... if only there was a similar site for fruit and vegetables out here.

 

4. Made it http://www.madeit.com.au/ This site is all hand made items. I love searching for quirky gifts. Many of the items can be customised with fabrics or sizes. Every item I have bought off here has arrived beautifully wrapped making it perfect for presents.

 

5. Fishpond http://www.fishpond.com.au/ This site has free postage!!!  It has books, DVD's, toys and did I mention Free Postage! It's great for birthdays and prices are usually better than many real shops.

 

6. Wiggle http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ This is my husbands favourite site for sport stuff, he loves it. It has great prices and good variety of stock and all the brands. Wiggle also has Free Postage!!

 

7. Bulk Wholefoods http://www.bulkwholefoods.com.au/ Okay so we have recently got a little healthier and its difficult to get some of the foods we are eating like Goji berries, chia seeds, raw cacao, raw almonds LSA mix, and coconut oil at our local supermarket so we order them online and get them delivered. The postage is free if you spend $150, which is easy to do when you are buying in bulk.

 

Okay so these are my favourites, so far I'm sure I will discover more as time goes on and I am sure even when we live in a spot that isn't so isolated that I will still do lots of my shopping online... especially when I don't have to walk a whole 200 metres past a pub on a hot afternoon with all my shopping oops I mean mail!!!

Meet Mixxy....

I would like to introduce you to the hardest working member of our household...... its Mixxy the Thermomix.

A Thermomix is an appliance that pretty much does like.... everything. They are expensive but this cost has been so worth it for us because of what she can do, (she is female because she can multi task) and we didn't own most of the appliances she replaces. Enough about how good a Thermomix is I could go on forever but today Mixxy had a busy day.

We started of with a juice for morning tea, this had carrot, celery, kiwi fruit, apple, ginger, ice and water. 60 seconds speed 10....done!! I make this juice a few times a week when I am feeling like I need a pick me up, its an easy way to get a vitamin kick and I can drink with one hand (duh I'm not 2) but the other hand usually has little love attached to it. 7kgs of this pure gorgeousness makes the basic things like umm eating hard! 

 

 

Next up was morning tea for tomorrow..... It is a little sad  in town at the moment because a few of the teaching staff at the local school are leaving at the end of the year, so we are having a party at the hall for two of the girls tomorrow and we have to ... bring a plate. So I employed Mixxy to make some bliss balls. Almonds, LSA, rolled oats, chia seeds, coconut oil, dates, sultanas, apricots, raw cacao.... 30 seconds speed 10 then rolled in coconut.... easy as. The kids actually love these, so do I especially after lunch with a coffee so I made a double batch, some rolled in cacao and some in coconut, yummo tomorrow all sorted.

No we haven't been tasting them at all!!

 

Now my lovely husband is working tonight... again, something about not wanting to be home Friday afternoon, hey I wouldn't be here either. The kids are all nuts by this time of the week crazy in the coconut..... so I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last week I cooked dinner at lunch time. I used Retro Mummy's Thermomix Pasta recipe you can find it here http://retromummy.com/2013/04/07/pasta-e-fagiole-in-the-thermomix/ . Mixxy made it so beautifully, no hidden nasties in the pasta sauce, only one bowl so simple and it made plenty so I think Saturday night dinner is done too!!

 

 

Mixxy had a busy day but she wasn't quite done yet..... lastly I made a special Friday afternoon tea for the kids CINNAMON SCROLLS!! this is super special because it has sugar, white flour and butter, things we rarely eat. They took about 3 mins to make in Mixxy and close to 30 mins in the oven (which was pure love because I hate having the oven on when its 40 degrees outside and the air conditioning isn't working), but it was worth it they loved them.... okay so did I!!

The pastry with the cinnamon sugar before cooking was so pretty and sparkly

 

 

So mixxy was done for the day she has retired for the night all washed up and put back together on the bench.... until tomorrows adventures, Thanks Mixxy!!!

For the Love of Sushi!!

Today I officially lost my mind, I was completely insane, crazy in the coconut. I had this idea, because we don't have many takeaway options out here I thought that I would make something for dinner like we would buy for a lazy Friday night dinner if we lived somewhere where we did have takeaway options..... I had this great idea to make sushi for dinner, easy right.

I shared this idea with my husband as he left for work at lunchtime "okay" he said.... Okay?? Why didn't he say "you crazy woman why do you want to make this afternoon miserable for yourself, don't you realise that I am going to work now and won't be home. You have four children..... four! and one is a baby who wont let you put him down, another is a 3 year old boy who cant play outside cause its 45 degrees and waits for his sisters to arrive home to send them crazy by chasing them around the house, your 6 year old is tired so don't talk to her or look at her the wrong way especially on a Friday afternoon and your 8 year old wants to come home and read and relax. Feed them toast or cereal, your night is going to be hard enough. I love you bye honey" Noooo he didn't point any of this out he simply said 'okay' and left.

So the afternoon progressed with me believing blindly in some insane sleep deprived craze that these kids would play happily, maybe watch a movie together while I all Martha Stewart/ Nigella like merrily rolled sushi for our dinner in my clean kitchen.... Well that sure didn't happen.

It appears Miss 6 doesn't actually like sushi, or rice paper rolls or any thing else that resembles dinner, she likes apples and cereal but just don't ask her what cereal because she doesn't know... cue meltdown no 1.

Little love didn't want to be put down as he hadn't all day. He is perfectly happy to smile if he is up with you walking around or sitting on your lap but try to put him on the floor, rocker, bumbo or in the swing in the lounge room and he drops that bottom lip faster than Miley getting her gear off....cue meltdown no. 2.

Master 3 even kitted up for the occasion up in full police dress with a hat, sword and shield to chase his sisters around, he wanted to know why real police don't have swords and even took to destroy the lalaloopsy mini village his sisters had set up in their room using said sword.... cue meltdowns no. 3, 4 5 and 6.

Miss 8 helped with the dinner preparations until she got bored with the interruptions and eventually tried hard to melt into the background, dissolving in corners of the house to avoid the babysitting and breaking up of fights she was doing on my behalf while I floundered with rice, tofu avocado and cream cheese.

 

Somehow sushi got made, and my dear husband arrived home in time for his dinner break on the front veranda with 4 polite kids happily eating dinner, Miss 6  happily declaring that "we are in Tokyo for dinner tonight" and me asking 'why didn't you tell me I was crazy for attempting this and next time I have such a crazy notion can you please give me a reality check and hand me the weetbix'....