Weekend recollections...

Okay... In my fuzzy sleep deprived state, this is what I remember of the weekend...

Friday night - Phan's parents arrived at 9pm and Phan went to pick them up and dropped them off and then went back to the airport to get Jo... Phan's parents were dying to see Mai and snuck into her room to see her sleeping peacefully. Not too much happened that night... Jo and Phan came home and then we settled everyone in for the night, Phan's parents taking the spare bedroom and Jo taking the downstairs area... We were lucky that the weather was beautifully mild (by anyone's standards, not just qld standards) so we didn't need to worry about airconditioning or anybody getting hot.

Saturday morning - Beth got up early at 6:20am and after a failed attempt at putting her back to sleep, we went and harrassed Ong Noi and Ba Noi... You should have seen how excited they were and how much their faces lit up when they saw her. Beth wasn't scared of them at all and seemed to remember them... although it took a few minutes to adjust to seeing them in real life... you could see her mind ticking over and wondering "Why aren't they in the computer?" (from all the webcam conversations we have been having with them). We went downstairs not long after that and Jo was already awake (courtesy of the morning sun that rises at 6am here!) and then we all had a bite of breakfast and showered and stuff. We watched Beth do circuits around the lounge room for a while and Mum and Dad just had so much fun watching her... they couldn't believe how much she moves around and how tall she is. And then we all went to the park (except Ba Noi who stayed home and had a nap - she wasn't feeling very well after taking some medication). The park we normally go to was chocoblock full of people and cars due to Saturday morning sport, so we went to another park... smaller and there was nobody about... Beth just pottered around a bit and played with the jumbo abacus... Then back home and Beth had some lunch and crashed for a 2 hour nap... and we all had some pumpking soup for lunch and then Jo and I sat and nutted out a sudoku puzzle... Ba Noi actually managed to outsleep Beth which was pretty amazing, but by 2pm everyone was awake and Phan, Jo and I got ready to head to the wedding ceremony at 2:30pm.

The ceremony was held at Brisbane Grammar School which is a pretty posh school (a bit like St Peters back at home) and is only about 10 minutes away from our place. It was held in a beautiful hall/school chapel... I hadn't brought my camera 'cos I knew I was never going to get any decent shots sitting in the pews with poor lighting. Despite being without camera, it didn't stop me from checking out the wedding photographer's gear (and his second shooter). I have to say, the wedding photographer had a *heap* of equipment that was very impressive.. he had not 1 but
*2* cameras... and not ordinary cameras but the top of the line Canon DSLRs ... two 1D cameras! I couldn't get over that... combine the cameras with his lenses and he would have been carrying in excess of $20K worth of photographic equipment on his body! Plus a laptop... I was fascinated...
Anyway... the ceremony itself was beautiful... the vows had been written by Koh and Vinnie themselves and were so heartfelt... they both stumbled in their vows at the same line (something to do with being there during sorrow and struggles) and they both laughed and smiled at the same time.... and there was beautiful music provided by a string quartet... it was all so perfect.

After the ceremony we mingled and chatted a bit before heading home for a quick break before going to the reception. We got home to find that Beth hadn't missed us at all... she didn't even cry when we left! She had been a bundle of joy and laughs the whole time we were away... I had pre-marinaded some chicken wings for Mum, Dad and Beth to have for dinner and Phan's Dad ahd started baking them and cooked rice and I just whipped up some soup to go with it... Beth ate it all up... loved it and ate 1/2 a large rice bowl! I don't know where that food goes. Then got her ready for her bath and Mum gave her a bath and we all headed out to the reception.

The reception was at Customs House, which is a function centre/restaurant that looks out over the river and gets a great view of the Story Bridge. It was a beautiful setting, in a gorgeous hall... I took my camera along (complete with big lens and big flash and i managed to hide it all in my gorgeous S&R Georgina handbag... :) Not only is that handbag gorgeous, it is super functional!) and got some great shots... I'm glad I took it along because I learnt alot about the speedlite... But struck up lovely conversation with the people at our table and Jo and I had a boogey on the dancefloor... We had such a fabulous night... great food... plenty to drink... (I had a little wine with my meal for the first time in a long time!)... great company... It was a great night out.

Came home about midnight and Phan's mum said that Beth had been great and no trouble at all... played and read and then easy to put to bed. Went to bed and Beth woke up twice in the night... so I got 5 hours interrupted sleep... Beth woke up at 6:20am again... so we went down and had some breakfast. Then Phan and his parents went to church and Jo, Beth and i stayed at home, but Beth got really sleepy and ended up having a very early nap and then Jo and I just hung out and chatted and did more sudoku! Phan's parents came home... Beth woke up... we had lunch... and then Jo and I went out to DFO while Phan and his parents looked after Beth... I was a bit of a shopping demon... :p... I have been wanting to shop at DFO without Beth because it is so hard to shop with her now because she gets bored and impatient so easily. So I got my chance and boy oh boy did I take advantage of it. I got some essentials (2 pairs of 3/4 pants and a thin summer top from Colarado), new pair of black Easy Steps sandals (my current ones are dying) and a blouse and bargain dress from Portmans ($100 reduced to $20!). I think Jo must have thought i was most easy to please shopper in the world, 'cos basically everything I tried on, I bought! I was just having one of those days when everything I tried on actually fit... which is amazing, 'cos normally it is a literal pain in the butt to find pants/shorts that fit me!

Came home to find Beth in a good mood and to hear that had eaten constantly the whole time we were away (2 hours)... rockmelon, peacherine, grapes, watermelon, rice cakes... she ate it all! Not long after that, Phan drove everybody to the airport and we stayed home (Beth needed a nap and we wouldn't all fit in the car either).

And that was our big weekend... It was so much fun and it felt like a little bit of Adelaide had come to us... it felt like home again... Can't wait to be back in Adelaide in April.