Definitely A Vegemite Kid

Vegemite is one of those things you either love or hate. I grew up on it and love. It seems most people who experience it for the first time later in life tend to have a problem with it.

I think I mentioned previously that we introduced Callum to Vegemite pretty early on and he has taken to with vigor. In fact his current trick is to lick the Vegemite straight off of the toast and eat the toast as an afterthought.

I happened to have the camera out when he was eating some tonight.

Callum At The Playground

We took Callum to his (and our) favorite playground this afternoon. Most of the equipment is low enough to the ground that even when boy wonder decides to climb things we can keep a check on him without having to climb on the equipment ourselves. Callum is going through a bit of a "lemming" phase, so stopping him walking off into thin air is quite important.

I Want My MTV iPhone

Um, maybe Jen and I need to rethink our plans about getting iPhones later this year ...

A Man's Carton of Beer is His Castle

The fact that Australian's are reasonably passionate about their beer is pretty well established.

However, if you were not already convinced, I present you with this news story from today's newspaper in Adelaide:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25359141-5006301,00.html

and-a one, and-a two...

** This one was actually written by Jen, but she forgot to hit publish **

it's been a rather hectic last few days here in the dickson household. callum came down with what we assumed was a cold/light flu on wednesday. he stayed home with me thursday and friday to rest up, and by the time yesterday (saturday) rolled around we decided it was time to investigate the clinic near the house for a checkup. there have been a couple sleepless nights for everyone.

it appears our baby has come down with 5ths disease, in addition to getting an ear infection. for having something with such a fancy name, callum has been quite a good patient. he goes through his pitiful moments of only wanting to be held, but is generally content to play near either craig or i. this has been the first illness, since the brand new baby stage, that has prompted us to take him into the doctor. we got him some medicines and he will be all better very soon.

hopefully we'll all rest tonight.

Peeping Tom Spotted In Neighbourhood

On A Bicycle Built For 2 (More Like 1.5 Really)

Jen has been riding her birthday bike quite consistently since she got it. To the point that she convinced me to get my bike back into riding condition. In addition we bought a baby seat so that all 3 of us can go riding.

Tonight we had a trial run of the baby bike seat down at Bolsa Chica State Beach after work.




Callum was not over the moon about having to wear his helmet. Perhaps he will be more open minded if we try riding when he is not tired.

Easter

This morning Jen setup a pile of eggs and other chotchkies out on the lawn for the boy wonder to go "hunt" down. Last year he was a passive participant in Easter, but this year he was much more interested in what was going on, if not quite so sure as to why it was going on. It took him a while to figure out that ideas was to collect all of the brightly colored things and put them his basket. He also decided that tipping the basket out and starting again was a good idea.








We did weaken and let him have one piece of chocolate. You can see the result in this photo.

Now All Natural For Your Enjoyment

So today was the end of a long journey. When I first came to the US I was here on a working visa. Then I had that visa extended. Then I moved on to a temporary Green Card. And then onto a permanent Green Card. And finally today, I officially became a US Citizen.

Luckily in the last few years, the US and Australian governments decided to play nice and it was not necessary for me to relinquish my Australian citizenship, so now I am officially a dual-citizen and will have 2 passports. Of course, the reality is that if being a dual citizen wasn't an option, I would not have even pursued US Citizenship, as you will only ever pry my Australian passport out of my cold dead hands.

Basically all of the paperwork has been done for almost 2 months now, but you are not officially a citizen until you go through a Naturalization Ceremony, which is what happened today. So my closest 905 friends and I and all of their friends and family, including Jen and Callum gathered at the Montebello Country Club. The ceremony only lasted 45 minutes at best, but it took most of the day to get there, get processed in, get into the ceremony room, sit though the ceremony, get processed out and get back to the Huntington Beach area. Such is traffic in LA and also the problem of needing to get 1500 people, most of whom English is a second language for mustered into the right lines in an orderly and timely fashion.

This ceremony was a small one. They regularly have them at the Los Angeles Convention center and process 3,000 new citizens in one go. It must be the definition of organized chaos at those.

All of the new citizens were given a little American flag, which Callum has hold of in this photo.



Yes that is Callum in fancy black pants, a button up shirt, a vest and a tie, with white sneakers. Send your inquiries to Jen.

Here is a poorly lit photo of the stage where the dignitaries and the federal judge made their speeches from.



The whole thing was a bit overwhelming for my little buddy who promptly fell asleep in the car in the way home.



Now, I suddenly have the urge to drive an unnecessarily large car and drink tepid yellow fizzy beer.

In The Park

Callum and I visited the park today to get out of the house and give Jen a break.



This shot is actually courtesy of Callum playing with the camera.

Los Angeles Zoo

Today we went to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was the first time any of us had been there as it is way out on the other side of LA, about an hour's drive from where we live now.

The Zoo was actually much better than I had expected. I think it gets overshadowed by the San Diego Zoo, which might be warranted, but it was still worth the visit.





We saw this Camel. I have never seen a Camel lay down on its side, have you? It wasn't dead, because it was breathing. Very odd. But not as odd as what happened next. Alongside the Camel enclosure was the Llama enclosure. And as we walked passed there was a teenage girl looking at the Llama and we overheard her ask this question to her friends (I swear, I am not making this up), she asked "Do Llamas grow up to be Camels?". Ah, the American public school system shining through once again. :)



This last photo is especially for everyone back in Adelaide, particularly those that live in the hills areas.



Your eyes do not deceive you, they actually had a little enclosure for Millipedes in the nocturnal house!!

gratuitous cuteness

here's some shots taken by my parents while they were down for their visit.

first up - some bathtub cuteness...


next - callum and grandpa both looking quite charming...

Have bike... Will travel...

as craig mentioned in an earlier post, for my birthday this year he got me a new (PINK) bike. it has been years since i've ridden a bike for any distance, and never on southern california busy roads. after a review of bike road rules, suggestions, and safety tips i decided to head out and explore.

my trips lead me towards the beach. i like the neighborhoods along my current path and all the moms and babies i see on walks so i've kept up with this route even though it's not the most direct. it also has a few (for me) reasonable hills to get my heart rate up and pumping. once i get to the beach i cross over onto the beach trail which is full of other bike riders, people, strollers, dogs, and all sorts of life. it's a fun ride, but even more fun to people watch. i am really enjoying it and can't wait until we get a bike seat for callum so he can join me. right now i head out a few times a week for my hour or so of exercise, maybe sometime soon i'll use the bike for purposeful transportation and errands.

out of curiosity i used google maps to track how long my rides are currently. as you can tell by the picture i go a random path, but for me it's about the ride, not the speed the destination. approximate ride distance 4.3 miles or 6.9 kilometers.