Lani and went to work up to the 23rd of December, back again on the 27th to 31st, and back in office on the 3rd of January. So really, there was about only 2 long weekends instead of the usual 2-3 week breaks.
Nevertheless, life is never uneventful so here are the daily highlights
- 24 Dec, Saturday
- Ethan and I got up early to play basketball but there's no one on the court. Played less than 30 mins.
- Had a lovely breakfast with Lani and stayed home for most of the day
- In the evening, Ethan and Nanay attended worship service
- 25 Dec, Sunday
- Worship service in the morning followed by meetings and paperwork.
- Attended the Buklod special gather in the afternoon. Whole day was pretty much spent at church.
- 26 Dec, Monday (holiday)
- Was up early to cook food for the days event.
- Spent most of the day at the INC Kids Academy event at Bankstown. Ethan participated in the quizes and activities together with Benson, Abbie, and AC. Erin played with the dog and ate a lot. Oh, and Sydney kids were awarded champions.
- Did a bit of grocery after and stayed the rest of the night at home.
- 27 Dec, Tuesday
- Got up very early to attend the 7am devotional prayer as we were going camping in the evening
- After a lovely alfresco breakfast, we spent most of the morning preparing for the trip
- Noontime - left home go to Rydalmere Wharf where our car will be parked overnight
- Met with the Carungays in the ferry towards Cockatoo Island
- We had fun at cockatoo eating/chatting at the communal kitchen, touring the old buildings and tunnels, eating ice creams, flying kites, and running around.
- 28 Dec, Wednesday - work
- Woke up not so early for our breakfast at camp.
- Lani had to go to the office at 9am while me and the kids stayed behind with the Carungays.
- Left at the island around 11am and headed back to Rydalmere.
- After a short rest at home, the kids and I went to Macquarie Shopping Centre to go Ice Skating. It was fun at first because both kids where really excited. But then Erin got tired (of doing nothing but clinging on to me because it was "too slippery"), so she rested and played with the toy we bought. Ethan continued on to "skate" by hanging on to the side rails and fell down a few times. Sadly, on the last one, his face hit the wall and his tooth broke. So we quickly left and went to the dentist. Thankfully, it was a baby tooth that broke. He promised he will try again.
- Performed in the worship service in the evening.
- 29 Dec, Thursday - work
- 30 Dec, Friday - work in the morning, then church missionary activity in the evening. Had leadership caucus til late evening.
- 31 Dec, Saturday
- Started the day early performing in the worship service, followed by church officer's meeting, then cleaning of the chapel compound.
- Stayed home in the afternoon to rest and cook food
- In the evening, we went back to the chapel for the year-end prayer and socialising.
- We welcomed the new year at the chapel over karaoke, table tennis, watching fireworks on TV, and some firecrackers.
- 1 Jan, Sunday
- Much of the day was spent at home.
- Ethan and I went out in the afternoon to re-try Ice Skating. It didn't turn out well though because all he did was complain about it being too difficult.
- In the evening, we visited the Belens and Reyes' at Chatswood.
- 2 Jan, Monday (holiday)
- Grocery in the morning in preparation for the afternoon activities
- After lunch, Ethan and I went to Minchinbury to help set up our local's booth
- In the even, Lani and I attended the Grand Evangelical Mission and Food Festival at the Western Sydney chapel.
- Got home at about 9pm and played XBOX with the kids.
- 3 Jan, Tuesday
- I took afternoon off work to bring the kids to Featherdale wild life park.
- Erin enjoyed it so much and was happy the whole time. She looked at literally every enclosure to check on every animal.
- Ethan was meh.. he was only interested on the booklet stamping stations and the triiva/facts about the animals. Didn't care much about the animals.
- Was done around 4pm, so we headed out to KFC then headed home.
- Lani was at work the whole day and I just fetched her at the train station at 8pm.
