Circus Oz

Thursday:

This afternoon we went to see Circus Oz, an acrobatic-style circus. Just fit athletic people doing amazing things, no animals. It was an hour drive away and we didn't know exactly where it was, we drove around nearby streets looking for parking and found a good spot about 1 km away - anything closer had a 1 hour parking limit. 1 km is a negligible distance except that it was really stinking hot. By the time we got there I was feeling pretty overheated. We followed some other families up a side street (not actually the advertised address, although only a couple of hundred meters away) to the Big Top set up in grassy area surrounded by a water park and restaurants - and also a multi-story car park! Oh well. The mini tent antechamber was about 50 degrees C so we all had ice cream. Medically necessary I assure you! Then they let us in the Big Top where it was thankfully air conditioned, so only uncomfortably warm instead of "I'm going to need an ambulance in a minute" hot.

The circus was great! It was fairly small, about 12 performers, and we were in the second row so quite an intimate experience! They had a unicyclist carrying a girl in various lifts, a girl with a dozen hoola hoops, acrobats, trapeze, juggling, most of it with a bit of humour added. We weren't allowed to take photos (I assume it's dangerous if you distract a trapeze artist at the wrong moment) except when one guy came out to pose specially for us. He said he was a triple threat: not singing, dancing and acting; but gay, indigenous (Aboriginal) and adopted!

Long drive home in lots of traffic, we picked up Chinese for dinner. We made it home just before the rain started, hopefully it cools everything down a bit because it is sweltering here right now.

Hunger and fullness

Monday:

Aiden had his first day of Kindergarten today (my baby is growing up!) but big sister Jasmine doesn't start until tomorrow so we had a day together. I'd planned to go to the gym first but we stayed at the school too long (Aiden didn't actually need any settling in, he was with all his friends and had preschool last year and Koala's the year before that, but all the other parents were hanging around so I felt I had to as well) and I missed my class. In fact I barely had enough time for half an hour on the Kinect and a shower before we rushed out to get to our movie.

I shovelled in a nectarine before we left but I knew that a movie and then lunch at the shopping centre before grocery shopping would take some careful pre-planning, food-wise, and I had already packed accordingly. Jasmine had a lollypop and a couple of other little things, I packed an apple and a low-cal cereal bar for myself. It was kind of strange, sitting in the theatre without eating. I was a little bit hungry, and could have easily eaten junk food if allowed, but I wasn't really interested in my apple. I thought about my cereal bar a bit, but told myself it was 2 ProPoints for no nutritional value. It was there if I really needed it, but I could wait for lunch. And I did.

We came out of the Muppet Movie at 1 pm and I was very hungry by then. If I hadn't thought ahead I probably would have grabbed something terrible, but I lined up at Subway as planned. I didn't chose the healthiest option, I got a 6 inch with steak, cheese & chipotle sauce. It would have been 11 points if I'd eaten it all. Still much better for me than McDonald's (which Jasmine had as a last-day-of-holidays treat) or most of the other options around. And I found I couldn't eat it all. Even now, three hours later, I feel kind of full of bread. Very different to how I feel after salad or soup.

While grocery shopping I bought ice cream for the family and (since one scoop is apparently a horrifying 7 ProPoints) I thought I would try the Weight Watchers brand for myself. I had one after walking out in the hot sun to pick up Aiden, it was 3 ProPoints for a reasonably-sized tub of chocolate flavour and was pretty nice. Good to know I can still have ice cream occasionally.

I also planned for D&D supper tomorrow night. I bought some portion-controlled mini bags of Burger Rings so I know how much I am having. I still have plenty of weekly points to spend on a few treats so I don't feel deprived.