The Show and Birthday Cake

My sister turned 10 this week, and decided that she would like to go to the Royal Melbourne Show on her birthday.  My mother, Tabitha and I took Q and her friend to the show, first thing in the morning, to beat the crowds.  We arrived at 9am, and managed to leave just after noon, fitting in the baby animal nursery, the dogs, cats and poultry, the craft/cooking competition areas, the big food pavilion, and a quick scoot through the showbags and rides area.  It wasn't as hideous as I'd feared - not too crowded so early in the day - and Tabitha seemed to really enjoy seeing all the activity and the animals.

My sister and her friend had pony rides:

I didn't give Tabitha a pony ride - she's too small to reliably hang on by herself - but she enjoyed waving to the ponies as they walked past:

My mother and Tabby cuddled a bantam chook.  Tabby thought it was a rooster, I think, and said "cockalocolocoloco" when she saw them, which is her very cute way of saying cockadoodaldoo.  She buried her hands into the feathers, and the chooks were all beautifully patient and calm:

Pointing out its red comb:

My mother helped Tabitha pat the lambs 'very gently':

Tabby was mildly alarmed by the sweet cow, who tried to lick her toes.  She did say moooo back to the cow, though, which was polite of her:

Patting the fluffy baby duckling very gently:

This little feller was only hours old.  So wobbly on his little legs!

Don't you want to just curl up amongst the baby lambs?!

I have a real weak spot for a orange-and-black pig.  Here is a whole pile of piglets:

I know they say that dogs look like their owners - how about cats?

This rabbit is a rex.  This means, essentially, that his fur coat is literally the softest thing in the world.  Softer than any chinchilla or mink I've touched.  It's what I imagine beds are made of in heaven.  I took a card from the breeder - I am trying to convince The Daddy that it would be a fantastic idea to have a couple of rex rabbit pets.  Once Tabitha is older, I can teach her to ask, "please can I have a rex rabbit, daddy?"  Surely he can't say no to her...

Tabithe enjoyed the big food hall immensely.  She ate samples of Jalna yoghurt, some spinach and beef golzeme, some seafood laksa, a little of Jock's award-winning chocolate ice cream, some chewey pretzel and she tried some honey fresh from the comb:

I love checking out the entrants in the cooking competitions.  This 'Amy Winehouse tribute cake' took out a prize in the decorated cakes section.  The attention to detail was incredible:

Check out the dizzying height of this blue ribbon winning sponge cake:

I always say that the best scones are never the prettiest - the things which make a scone 'pretty' tend to prevent it from being a good scone (over-mixing, over-kneeding, less liquid, too thoroughly rubbed in butter).  These first-place scones look satisfyingly ugly.  This is how you can tell they must have tasted fabulous:

An entrant in the children's decorated cupcakes section - third price to a Miss Tabitha!  I hope one day my Tabitha also enjoys decorating cupcakes.

For many years, I mocked the Dagwood Dog a.k.a. Corn Dog.  "How disgusting!" I would sneer.  The Daddy made me try one a few years ago, and I now concede that when they are fresh (e.g. the batter is hot and crispy), they can be pretty tasty:

Tabby loves pinwheels, so I bought her this fancy foil one.  She doesn't have the lung capacity to blow them properly, but she has learnt how to hold them out in the pram as we walk, so the wind gets all the wheels turning.  Here she is examining her newest pinwheel:

I also bought her a 'dolly on a stick', with layers of pink glitter tulle skirts and a glitter-and-feather headpiece.  Ostensibly, the dolly is for Tabitha - and she does love it - but I do love them myself, too:

We managed to escape without being too laden down with colourful cr@p:

When we got home, Tabitha chased Possum the cat around with her dolly.  He then chased the dolly around, trying to chew off her feather headpiece.

Of course, Q and her friend bought a couple of show bags each, and had a wonderful time unpacking them once we got home:

I bought a small 'Wizz Fizz' showbag for my best friend Amy, and a Bertie Beetle showbag for The Daddy.  He tells me that it contains 15 Bertie Beetles, and a nifty beetle toy that creeps and flips down a wall.

Naturally, the cats hid inside the showbags as soon as the girls emptied them.  Strange creatures!

After a morning of show food - including a treat of some chocolate ice cream! - Tabitha had a nice healthy lunch of steamed veggies and baked meatballs:

While Tabitha napped, I quickly whipped up a chocolate cake for after dinner, for my sister's birthday.  I used the same recipe I used for Tabby's first birthday cake, only with two tiers instead of four...

Such an easy recipe - just throw everything into the food processor...

The chocolate cake batter, with brilliant Valhrona cocoa and sour cream, is the most delicious batter I've ever tasted.

Q was most thrilled with her cake, however did manage to bite down hard on one of the dragees with her 'wobbly tooth', which apparently hurt quite a bit.  So warning, if you are serving to other 10-year-olds!

Palm Cove

We have just returned from a week long holiday at the Sea Temple, Palm Cove, which is in Far North Queensland.  As I have always done in the past, I took Tabitha to the GP for a check-up a few days before we left.  In the past, everything has been fine, however this time, the GP found the beginnings of an ear infection!  So I am glad we picked that up before we left.  

Tabitha had a course of antibiotics - the poor poppet is not good at taking medicine.  She struggles, screams and sometimes vomits up the medicine.  We have tried everything in the past - syringe into the side of the mouth, letting her drink it from a cup, mixing it with food or drink, even mixing it up in chocolate ice cream!  Nothing works for her though.  In the end, we have discovered that it is best to treat her just like our cats, and wrap her up firmly (like a swaddle) in a towel.  We call her the Baby Burrito.  This way, she is held firmly, and she seems to fuss and struggle less, and the process is much less stressful for her.  So I recommend giving this a shot if you have a baby who hates medicine...

When we arrived in Palm Cove, Tabitha joined in with the 'sunscreening' from day one.  She quickly noticed that, twice a day, everyone stood around rubbing sunscreen into themselves, and of course she was eager to join in the 'tribal ways'.  So she spent much of the holiday squeezing sunscreen from the tubes, rubbing it into herself and into everyone else.  It was a little messy, but I am glad that she is learning the sun-smart message nice and early!

See this sweet little outfit?  It was given to my little sister, ten years ago, as a birth present from one of my mother's friends.  It is lovely quality cotton, and has survived very well.  I see it getting plenty of wear this summer:

Here is my sister leading Tabitha to the water:

Tabby had great fun rubbing her hands and feet in the damp sand:

She was quite awe-struck by the ocean.  She watched it, frowning, and when we took her in, she clung to us like a monkey, pointing to each wave, looking a little nervous.  I cannot really swim, so I am wary of the ocean myself.  Hopefully she inherits The Daddy's love of the ocean - he studied Marine Biology at university.

Having long hair is sort of a pain when swimming.  It is fun to play 'mermaid' when you're young, but so frustrating when it gets all tangled up.  So I action a FLDS-esque braid:

Look at Tabitha's gorgeous frilly little bathers!  They are Zimmerman.  The Zimmerman kids' range is quite reasonably priced, on par with Seafolly.  I could have bought a matching pair for myself, but they were nearly $400, and considering that I rarely swim, that is very expensive.

She loved wading around in the baby pool.  Every time the water splashed at her, she cracked up into giggles:

She's a funny little skinny thing.  Cuddling her is more like cuddling a monkey than a baby bear!

EEK water a little cold!

She tripped over and face-planted into the water.  She came up spluttering a little, but remained cheerful and keen to stay in the pool.  Little drowned rat:

Like most Aussie kids, she wore a rashie-top when swimming in the sun.  It was matching to her bathers, and my mother decided it looked like she was wearing floral curtains.  So it was called her 'curtain suit' for the rest of the holiday:

We tried to get a family photo.  This is most challenging when your family includes the world's wriggliest toddler:

My sister, below, is a far better swimmer than I.  In fact, she could beat me in a swimming race from the are of around 4 years old.  That is no lie.  I cannot swim, and she is part dolphin.

We were also holidaying with my parents, sister, and our friends and their adorable twin girls.  So we had lots of gorgeous little girls swimming around in the pool!

As well as the 'curtain suit', I bought Tabitha a matching little dress for her bathers.  It was airy and light and cotton and perfect for wandering around in the hot weather.

There is simply nothing more gorgeous than a little nudie toddler at the beach:

The wonderful thing about Palm Cove, in my opinion (keeping in mind that my skin hates the sun), is that from around 4pm, the beach (including the first 10 metres or so of water) is almost entirely in the shade, from the many palm trees.  So after Tabitha's nap each day, we went down to the beach, enjoying an hour or so of swimming and playing without having to worry too much about sunscreen.

Both Tabitha and I ordinarily have very straight hair.  But the sea water and the humidity do crazy things:

Tabby in her Boston Red Sox hat, which we bought for her at Fenway Park, at a Red Sox game in Boston in May:

My gorgeous little sister - trying to smile with a mouth full of Cheezles:

I didn't drag the camera out everywhere in Palm Cove.  The purpose of the holiday was to relax and do nothing, so we spent our days doing the same thing over and over:  my Mother got Tabby out of bed each morning when she woke, around 6:30am (we shared a fabulous, large, 4-bedroom penthouse suite at Sea Temple with my parents and sister, which was wonderful as it had a kitchen, upstairs deck with hot tub, BBQ etc, and was ideal for a trip with the family or another couple with kids - and worked out cheaper than booking two 2-bedroom places), and mum and my little sister then gave her breakfast, and took her out for a morning walk.

The Daddy and I woke up around 8, then we all had breakfast, sunscreened up, and went for a swim.  Back to the room by noon for Tabby's lunch and a long nap (3 hours most days - the heat took it out of her).  The Daddy and I napped and read while she slept.  Out for a late lunch after she woke up, then a swim at the beach.  Tabby had an early dinner and was in bed by 6pm most nights.  My parents and sister went out to dinner, then when they got back, The Daddy and I went out and enjoyed some wonderfully relaxing dinners on our own.

Our favourite restaurant in Palm Cove - indeed, one of the reasons we return to the destination each year! - is Nu Nu.  We enjoyed several lunches, breakfasts and a couple of dinners there.  I managed to snap a few quick photos of one of our lunch meals on The Daddy's iPhone:

Roast Hervey Bay scallops with red curry, coconut, cucumber and cuttlefish pickle:

My Nu Nu Ice Tea - one of the better Long Island teas I've had.  Plus, love the cola on the side, so you can get the perfect mix:

Crispy fried chili salt pork ribs:

An incredibly rich (in a good way!) laksa:

Caramelized pork with rice, drenched in the most divine lime/chili/fish sauce broth, with a pile of incredible salad, loads of mint, Vietnamese mint, coriander and bean shoots:

The meringue tower is filled with a chocolate semifredo.  It is a whole lot of chocolate - we shared it: