Qld Roar vs Perth Glory – 24 January 2009

I have tried to make the most out of the time we have remaining in Brisbane.  As we’ll obviously miss a lot of things when we’re overseas. So it was a handy coincidence that the Queensland Roar were playing their last home game last Saturday night – against the Perth Glory of all teams.

We met up with some other soccer friends who incidentally left their three young girls at home so they could have some worry-free fun.  However, those plans were dashed when Myles say them and continued to hang off them for most of the night.

The crowd was only 17000-strong which was a bit disappointing considering the Roar’s good season.  But the Glory’s 2nd last place on the ladder may have been a factor.

There was plenty of action early in the game which is always a good sign.

In short, the Roar played well, and came home very convincing 4 – 2  victors.

Baptism under fire

Today my two boys were baptised at Wavell Heights Uniting Church.

Myles has not had much exposure to religion, except for perhaps some disparaging comments from me from time to time – which made me quite anxious if there’d be any embarrassing moments.

A fortnight ago Myles and I visited the reverend in her office to organise things. Myles was quick to grab a book from her bookshelf and ask questions.  The reverend answered his questions well. She’s clearly worked with kids before.  But perhaps something she wasn’t expecting was Myles matter-of-factly saying he doesn’t know anything about the Jesus guy she mentioned.  She had a perfect answer, saying that’s what getting baptised is all about.

Today was the day of the service, and I’m glad to report it went well. We were off to an interesting start when we gave him some change to donate to the offering when the bowl went around. But that would take too long, so as we walked into the church he ran straight up to the minister and tried to give it to her.

Among his more interesting questions were why Jesus wore sandles all the time, and if he could use his Baptism candle to hunt for cane toads.

He’s a big fan of the Blues Brother’s movie, which has a scene in a church complete with an African-American choir and James Brown as the evangelical minister. I’m glad Myles didn’t appear disappointed like I feared.  During a hymn or two though, his foot started tapping like he was about to embark on a full dance number.  But we managed to distract him.  I nearly couldn’t hold back the laughter when my brother – the godfather for the day – started making the sound of The Crazy Frog at the time.  (Very worryingly, Myles has started copying the antics of the said frog which is essentially him naked, jumping forwards pretending to ride an invisibly motorbike while singing the annoying song.  As I said, very worrying.  It’s quite funny also, but we try not to encourage him.)

It seems the Baptism has certainly worked.  Myles received a present of Thomas the Tank Engine flash cards from one of friends.  Tonight he read them to us, and instead of citing the individual words that appeared ont he cards, he said they were God stories. Each separate card he’d pull out of the pack, and recite the alleged God story, which all made mention of the spirit.  Even that the spirit was dead.  No matter what the stories were, he recited each with a sort of quiet yet stoic voice.  Perhaps this is the start of a career quite different to the police car/train driver, or the paleontologist.

New Year’s Eve at Coffs Harbour

Friends of our have bought a house beautifully situated within a short walk from the beach at Coffs Harbour.  We were lucky enough to stay with them over the New Year’s break to celebrate with them.

I hadn’t been there since I was a kid.  One of the only memories I retain from the place was that I found a dead baby shark that I proudly carried back to our hotel to show my aghast parents. It was nice to see the place has even more to offer tourists these days.

A must see is always The Big Banana, although I have issues with what they deem a “mega” sundae.  I’d hate to see their measley sundae.  We had to visit twice, then we planned to go a third time for the big boys to do the giant toboggan ride.  But perhaps luckily for our health, it was closed.

Another tourist attaction I had forgotten about is the Pet Porpoise Pool.  I have mixed feelings about this place.  It has the best intentions with rescuing injured animals, but it seemed like a few of the animals could be far better off with more room to move.  Before the show we did get our four year old, Myles to get kissed by a dolphin which was sweet.

I did enjoy the water show.  We got to learn a little about the dolphins, seals, and sea lions on display. And occasionally they did a trick or two also.

We were also almost included in the show when the massive male sea lion dragged its 2 tonne body out. Apparently the trainer forgot to bring out the sea lion’s favourite toy – a basketball.  To this the announcer looked around the crowd for something the sea lion could balance on his nose.  Nothing seemed to be forthcoming, then she walked in front of where I was sitting and asked if she could borrow the four month old Lewis whom I was nursing.  I didn’t really know what to say, so I just declined saying I’m afraid he was asleep. It got a few laughs but what was far more funny was the german tourist sitting next to me who was adamant when he proclaimed, “No, He Iz Not!”.  Thankfully, she moved on and the trainer on cue got the sea lion to balance a fish on his nose.  Once they were happy for him to eat, they mentioned that a seagull was coming down which got a quick-fire gulp from the sea lion to save his catch.

On the way home the traffic was terrible.  I can’t believe the New South Welsh think it’s a good idea to do roadwork and have the major interruptions during Christmas and New Year break.  It’s good to have a reason other than rugby league.  Due to the delays we didn’t stop at Ballina (the half way mark) for lunch.  Instead we went further to the Macadamia Castle at Knockrow – which I will forever call the big gay knight place.  They have a once-impressive giant knight with a dress.  On top of this obligatory photo opportunity, there seemed to be quite a lot on offer at the castle.  If we had planned it better we could have easily spent more time there.

Who’s up for some Queensland sport?

The same night we went over to our friends who have kids around the age of my eldest, the kids wanted to use a torch to try and find geckoes.  Well, all the girls did, my son didn’t think that sounded very exciting at all.

To try to include him, I suggested they could use the torch to find cane toads as well.  My four year old’s eyes lit up, he definitely preferred this option.  But curiously he raced away back downstairs to where the toys were.  He returned up the stairs triumphantly raising a golf club in one hand, and said to the girls, “Yeah, you take the torch; I’ve got the golf club”.

Maybe I’m not always the best influence on him.

Who’s your Daddy

We had dinner with some friends that have children similar ages to my eldest. It was a great night cause the kids could have a ball wearing each other out.  Interestingly though they were having so much fun that only the two year old girl slowed down.

Even on the drive home my four year old was still excited.

Finally after he had a drink I laid down the law and said he had to go to sleep. He became a bit puzzled, and said that he didn’t want to so why am I asking him to do that. 

Mistakenly I said because I’m the Dad, and I say so.

He lowered his shaking head then defeatingly said, “I wish I could be the father first”.

J-E-E-P spells poxy

We joke with a friend of ours who has a Jeep, that his car is poxy. It’s come from my father in law who in his vast 4WD experience has come to the conclusion that American products just don’t measure up.

My four year old son’s very interested in cars, and has been paying attention to our ribbing of Jeeps. It’s a regular gag when our mate comes over that my son asks to see the “poxy car”.

We thought this was the extent of it, but we were following a Jeep – quite different to our mates – and the boy said we were following a Poxy.  We asked why he said that.  He pointed at the Jeep logo and said, “See – it says Poxy!”

Gold.

What a mature audience

Despite his protests, at 8:30pm I was marching my four year old out of the television room to have a bath when the television ratings warning came on for the impending movie.

Trying to leverage this he pleaded with me, “Ohhh, but I love ‘Low Level Course Language'”.

Car based trivia

My four year old was driving with me on an errand when he spotted a taxi driving along beside us. He proudly explained and demonstrated how you get a taxi driver’s attention by waving your hand.

I then asked, and what do cricket umpires do with their arms when the batsment hits the ball into the fence.  He triumphantly did the boundary motions – waving his arm from left to right, and back.

He then had another cricket question for me, “What do you do at the cricket when the police take away your  beach ball?” He got it in one, “BOOOOOO!”

We were impressed again in a later trip that same day.  Despite the roundabout being 100 metres in front of us, he was able to spot an Audi just like the matchbox car I bought for him the night before. Of course it wasn’t exactly the same.  He was able to tell us it was a different colour, and it was bigger.