Kids very tired and cranky. Still eating breakfast when Zophia arrived to be taken to school. Jack was late to choir practice. Busy, productive day at work. Prepared bo luc lac while Dzung took the kids to piano after school. Then to Jack’s open night for an hour. Nice seeing his work, but really want him to make some improvements; some of his other classmate’s are writing really great stories (Josh, Emma, Brooke) but he’s just doing the minimum, although his scary story had a great line: “Goosbumps marched up his arm like ants scurring home”. Feels like he stole that from somewhere, it’s that good. Jack got a bit upset that we weren’t playing with a robot with him; we wanted to look at his work. Blame lack of sleep. Home to shaking beef, then got the kids to bed. Ended the night with Better Call Saul.
Mum and Dad over to go to the concert. Eliza dressed and ready, looking very grown up. Dropped her at the Perth Concert Hall early (she was the first of about 450 performers) so we could grab dinner at Long Chim. Got there for happy hour; ordered cocktails and beers. Roast duck noodles for Jack, sausage for me, orange fish curry, rice, veges and a mixed grill with various dipping sauces to share. Absolutely delicious. Walked back to the concert hall to find it packed; we were about the last to take our seats. Performances were great; Eliza’s string orchestra sounded amazing, although we couldn’t see her, as she was seated at the back. Later, the years 7, 8 and 9 choir gathered above the stage, with Eliza positioned right in the middle, with a large gap on either side of her. She looked like a star up there, singing with gusto and smiling broadly. So proud of her; she looked to be having the time of her life. The show culminated will all performers taking the stage for a massive double orchestra and massed choir finale. Great night.
Eliza off for rehearsal for tomorrow’s concert. Took Jack swimming for a double makeup lesson. Dzung and Eliza stayed home to do homework and piano and prepare dinner. Home in the wet and the dark to have pasta with chorizo, pine nuts and ricotta. Delicious. Drank the leftover wine and tried to get the kids to bed early.
Quiet day at work; Labor Day in the USA. Took Jack to Piney Lakes to muck about after school, before collecting Eliza from quiz club. Leftover curry for dinner. Taking things easy. Angry at Eliza for leaving a group project to the last minute. But I hold her to a high standard; need to be aware she’s doing this all for the first time.
Slow morning; a bit hungover. Dzung collected the kids while I made brunch for her side of the family. Kingfish carpaccio, Japanese eggplant, katsu pork curry. Sat outside in the spring sunshine and drank some good wine. Packed up and then started cooking the roast lamb for dinner, with my side of the family over. Was delicious, and everyone had a great time. Mum a bit emotional talking about her three boys. Eliza and Jack had lots of fun playing outside with Fin and Eva, then Mario Kart after it got dark.
Took the kids to karate. As a treat for father’s day tomorrow I had to do the lesson with them. So ninety minutes of working out. Not as cruisy as I would have hoped; had to do pushups with Jack sitting on my back!
Dropped off kids for a sleepover, then took an Uber out to Tsunami for a Japanese whiskey tasting with April and Aaron before a Teppanyaki dinner with the whole group of Uni friends. Then back to A&As for dessert and more whiskey.
Wow. Haven’t written anything for a week. Playing catch-up here. Enjoy reading back over my day-to-day, so need to get back into the habit, and resurrect HackTile too. Sigh.
Dzung out for dinner with Mary and Minh. Mum and Dad over, I cooked a BBQ and we ate hot dogs and sliders with salad and snacks.