Family, Food, Fun Times, A Cold & An Itchy Rash

The title pretty much sums up our week long visit back home to Adelaide... It was sooo good to spend quality time with all the family, I got to satisfy my food cravings and we had some great laughs with friends and family. The downside... Beth got sick about 3 days into our visit, but despite running a high fever, a runny nose and a horrid cough, she was still happy and spent most days dancing around as her energetic self! I also developed an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking for my ear infection, which resulted in me breaking out in a light-sensitive rash! Phan and I have an ongoing joke that I must be getting allergic to Adelaide, because it seems everytime we come back home something goes wrong with me... the last couple of times, I've gotten a bad stomach bug just as we land in Adelaide!

I really can't be bothered doing a day-by-day review... especially since on a couple of days we just stayed in because it rained all day and Beth was sick... I guess things to note were -

- Beth wasn't anxious at all on this trip... she travelled amazingly well on the plane. We told her we were going to visit Ong Ba Noi and that we were going on a plane that would fly in the sky... and that seemed to help and had her really excited about the trip. She have everyone hugs as soon as she saw them (which is a far cry from the last few trips where she is clingy and nervous to start with). She is really beginning to remember everyone now...

- I got a haircut... I'm now sporting a funky, page boy style of haircut... I wasn't sure about it to start with, but I love it now... So liberating!

- I got to eat all of my favourite foods that I'd been craving... yum cha, tay do banh mi, chao tom... and Phan's mum made the best dinners (thank you for cooking for all of us, Me!)... hu tieu, heo quay, thit nuong, goi cuon, pho... mmmm... yum.... we ate really well! I even got a chance to browse around the Central Markets with Bec for an hour on day... I couldn't buy anything (although, I did sneak in a box of porcini mushrooms to bring back to Brissie as I've had trouble locating any here!), but it just felt good to browse through the stalls and just oogle all the yummy things...

- Phan played a lot of xbox/ps3 games with his brothers... actually most nights they were trying to whoop each other's asses at something whether it was FIFA, Wii or Halo 3... It was funny listening to them!

- One night when Beth was sick, she decided to wake up at 2:30am... she just couldn't seem to get back to sleep... at 3:30am, she decided she was hungry and proclaimed that she wanted something to eat... and that it had to be a mandarin. 20 minutes later, she was still hungry and wanted grapes... By 4:30am, she had no intention of going back to bed, so Phan and I booted her out to hang out with Ong who had woken up at 4:30am to watch a soccer game (Liverpool vs Arsenal). She was playing with some times and talking at regular volume as if it was noon. Phan and I thougth she was nuts! 5am... Beht came back to bed and then slept 'til 8:30am. What a crazy night... it felt like some really weird slumber party... and suffice to say Phan and I weren't impressed!

For some bizarre reason, I don't tend to take a lot of photos when we visit home... which is really daft, because I should be capturing all our family moments together because it doesn't happen very often... I think I just get so wrapped up in enjoying everyone's company and relaxing and seeing everyone interact with Beth that I just forget. I tried to make more of a concerted effort to take photos this time around, but even then, on review, I really haven't taken that many at all... Phong took quite a few though... so between the two of us, here's a small selection of photos that sum up our trip -