The best of Brisbane during the technology freeze

I'm sure a few of you are wondering what was happening at PTT's Brisbane Headquarters during my unexpected Australian technology freeze.

Here's a summary...

Princess and Princess PTT were introduced to the concept of grass without a guard standing beside it to stop interested parties (God forbid!) walking on it...

We gorged ourselves silly at that fabulous Brisbane institution The Breakfast Creek Hotel...

Prince PTT took it upon himself to gorge himself on a Mango a day...

We played tourists and went on The Wheel of Brisbane...

We dined out al fresco whenever we could...

Princess PTT turned 4...

I'm sure Prince and Princess PTT heard Santa up the chimney on Christmas Eve...

Christmas Day was fabulous...

I introduced PTT to the joys of ironing (not!)...

I snuck in a sneaky Yatala pie on our trip back from the Gold Coast...

You'd have to agree, we had a fabulous time!

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Real gardening as opposed to inside pots 36 floors up...

A real garden excites me so....

Grandad PTT is particularly G&T (gifted and talented) in the gardening domain and prepared some mighty fine outdoor vignettes for our Australian Summer return...

Our front entrance...

Princess PTT's 'Pinkalicious Garden' in celebration of her 4th birthday...

Grandad PTT's Anthurium collection...

Christmas themed display of petunias...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx

O' Christmas Tree

Today Nanny PTT, Aunty J, Prince and Princess PTT and I went to pick up our first Australian live Christmas tree.

Prince and Princess PTT with Aunty J...

 Arriving at the Christmas Tree shop...

Prince PTT and I selecting...

Aunty J and Princess PTT had different opinions...

You'd be happy to note that Princess PTT had new shoes for the occasion. Ignore the nails... she's obviously in need of a pedi...

Prince PTT purchasing...

The tree arriving with assistance from Mr PTT's dad, Grand M...

Unfortunately, we were met with high drama on our first attempt at assembling the tree as it was too wonky to fit into the base. They don't make it as easy as you see in the movies... you know: cute guy arrives with tree that looks light as a feather slung over one shoulder and an elegantly wrapped gift for his wife in his other hand. He then places tree ceremoniously yet easily on a stand and the whole family decorates it whilst the adults sip glasses of bubbly...

Our tree decorating ceremony didn't go quite like that... The tree spent the night languishing in a bucket of water until Grandad PTT could put his carpentry skills to good use. Princess PTT embraced the spirit by nominating herself as "Official Cleaner of the Pine Needles". Do you like her Hong Kong Cheongsam? I thought it was cute as well!

Grandad PTT and Prince PTT made this super strong superior base...

When the tree was finally up and stable, we thought about going minimalistic this year and just decorating it with Princess PTT...

But as you know... we are never knowingly under-christmassed so we lashed out and went the whole hog...

Don't think I didn't have a Tognini's Fruit Mince Pie and admired the lights once Prince and Princess PTT went to bed. Well, wouldn't you?

The whole house now smells of pine, it's just beautiful!

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx

A Very Christmassy Tree House

Prince and Princess PTT decided to deck the halls of their tree house with Grandad PTT's help...

A little tackiness goes a long way with 4 and 6 year old as this caused staggering excitement when it was blown up on the lawn...

It's the small things...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx

Hello from Sunnier Shores!

Last night's airport adventure was a bit of fun....

First we checked out Prince PTT's recent modelling efforts. He quite enjoyed greeting a larger version of himself at the airport...

Next we had dinner at a surprisingly decent Japanese curry restaurant...

The kids fell asleep fairly quickly and before they knew it, they were reunited with Nanny PTT and Grandad PTT!

Later in the afternoon Princess PTT and I indulged in something we miss a lot whilst we are in Hong Kong...

Grocery Shopping!

Its the small things that get me excited...

- a trolley your child can sit safely in
- wide aisles
- meat and seafood as far as the eye can see at a price that you don't have to take out a second mortgage to afford...

I'm off to have a glass of crisp Australian Savignon Blanc accompanied by a prawn cocktail followed by a steak...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx