8 Years Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away....

 ...a youngling Jedi called Christopher was born.  With the kids being so totally nuts about all things Star Wars at the moment, choosing the theme for his party was easy!  A Star Wars party it was.  We had so much fun preparing for it and the kids really had a fantastic time.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and Christopher, I hope you had a wonderful party!

A very talented friend of ours (Ah McRae..you've done it again) helped up all get in the Star Wars mood by designing this amazing poster.  I love it even though I ended up being the hairy one.

And we got in the Star Wars mood by having the A2 costume shop whip up some costumes for us.  Nick picked up the light sabres on a recent trip to Bangkok.  Scarletts hair is a $15 wig from Ben Thanh Market that I styled a la Leia and mine is half and half.  The top part of the hair is mine and I just parted it into pony tails and stuck 2 little fake hair buns on each side.

All of the kids (and even some of the parents) really got into it.

...and into each other.  It was always gunna happen.

The first game we played was sending the Millennium Falcon home to the Death Star.

We had this kind of hover football that Nick stuck a picture of the Millennium Falcon on to.  You then had to push it so that it landed into the "landing port" of the Death Star.  Kind of like hurling I guess.

Fun for all ages!

We had some large characters from the movie printed up and we stuck them behind the curtains.  We played a game where you had to guess by the clues who it was.  My kids had already seen them so they had the task of "unveiling" each character.

Yoda was there of course.

Along with Anakin.

Every party needs a Storm Trooper.

Nick made a R2D2 out of some cardboard, a ballon and the rubbish bin!

Young Jedi Knights need their food for energy so we came up with some themed goodies to keep them going.

Lemonade with green food colouring became Yoda Soda.

I decorated the table with some cheap fabric from Ben Thanh market and sprinkled it with stars from the paper shop in Pasteur St.

Good old Crumbs on Trung Dinh supplied the Solo Sausage Rolls.

..and the Padawan pies

Nick simply outdid himself with his Yoda Melon.

The cake was from Simran. (just Google them, they have a website).  It cost about $30.  I just had to email her with the photo I wanted and she takes care of the rest.  Added bonus...the chocolate cake is to die for!

Quyen and Scarlett made chocolate balls and I put them in little patty trays that I got upstairs at the import shop Thai Hoa on Ham Nghi

I also got the cardboard patty containers from there and the star pegs from the paper shop on Pasteur.  I used a star shaped biscuit cutter to cut out the sandwiches.

I picked these along with some paper plates and napkins on Ebay.

Sent over by Nicks dad, these vintage Star Wars characters from Nicks childhood were perfect for Nerf Blaster target practice.

The force was strong with this one.

The next game was a spin on pin the tail on the donkey.  Instead of a tail, we used a laser pointer on a life size cut out of a battle droid.

Each Padawan had 10 shots to score points by hitting various discs on the droid.  A crowd favourite.  

The usual formalities. 

Light sabre training at the Jedi Academy.

Using the force, and their light sabres, to keep balloons aloft.

Later we introduced blindfolds and still managed to get away without injury!

Jedi Master explains that anger leads to the Dark Side.

The party finale was the destruction of the Death Star.  Galactic Empire (Nick) took 2 days to construct this evil battle station using good old paper mache.

It took the budding Jedi only moments to destroy!

Perfect form

Paydirt!

Galactic goodies a plenty.

Present time.

He REALLY liked this gift!  Can you tell?

Christopher chose to give his first ever public speech to thank his guests and to announce his 2 favourite Jedi Padawans based on ability and participation.

We had such fun.  Only problem is how are we going to top this once come May Miss Scarlett????

The Things You See.

I've been trying to get this shot for ages but never seem to get the camera out in time.  So I can now take this one off my list.  Next...the fridge.

My Water Puppets

 I have been hunting around for a few quality pieces to take home with us when we leave and when I came across these I fell instantly in love. Apparently they are about 25 years old and even though I found them in Saigon they were originally used in Hanoi where the beautiful art of Vietnamese water puppetry originated.  They were surprisingly inexpensive at about $25 each and I can almost picture them already as a feature piece at our home in Australia.  I especially love the fact that the shop I found them in is a big old dusty one and I really had to scavenge around to find them.  It felt like a real discovery.  I know that when I look at them in years to come they will instantly transport me back here.

Vung Tau Weekend Getaway

There are not too many "WOW" weekend getaways out of Saigon that do not require a trip to the airport.  Vung Tau is probably the closest beach to HCMC and the quickest last minute getaway from HCMC.  Vung Tau, Vungers, Vung Vegas...call it what you will, but it kind of polarises people.  Most people hate it.  Some love it...but most hate it.  I can even quantify that by saying I know people that live there and even THEY are not too fond of it.  So, which are we?  Well, it really depends on what you are expecting.  Keep your expectations low and you will never be disappointed right?  Sometimes you just need to get away and the only requirement is a nice pool.  If that is the case then Vung Tau can fit the bill.  We stayed at the Imperial Hotel on the back beach and it was lovely as always.  But I am getting ahead of myself a bit.  Lets take a step back.

To get to Vung Tau it is about a 2.5hr road trip or you can hop on one of the old Russian built Hydrofoils.  We have done this trip before on the hydrofoils and I just want to make something VERY clear.  Personally, I will NEVER....EVER go on one of those again.  In a nutshell, my personal opinion is that they are a disaster waiting to happen.  On the way home there was actually WATER coming in from God knows where and soaking the floor.  The kids were looking at me in fear and I had to play it cool but my heart was racing and scanning the exits.  Seriously folks, please think twice before taking the hydrofoil. They are old and from what I can see falling apart and being nursed through each trip.  Hire a car and driver for $70, whack on a DVD and take your chances on the road.  Believe it or not...I think it is safer.   Mum, pop a valium...I know I took you and dad on it when you were here but it was no where near as bad back then.  Don't worry...we won't do it again.

OK.  So now that my very dramatic opinion/rant is over....we made it (somehow) and the Imperial were there waiting to pick us up. 

Half an hour later we were by the pool watching the sun go down.  Nice.

Surfboards optional...daddys are not.

After a nice Italian dinner at Davids (the woodfired pizza were great) and an early night, we got up next morning bright and early to climb one of the few tourist attractions around...the Jesus Statue.  

Nearly one thousand steps saw me thinking I was going to melt into a puddle.

Perhaps these are the names of the people who didn't make it?

And there is the big fella.  Great view from the top with mercifully cold drinks for sale as well as more kinds of rosary beads than you could poke a crucifix at.

Apparently Scarlett and Jesus are both very popular with tourists.

Whilst my legs had given up the ghost, Nick and Quiddy took it a step further (pun intended) and climbed up the inside to the top of the big man himself.

We spent the rest of the afternoon having a few cold beers at Tommys Bar followed by a relax by the pool.  Things turned a little nasty when my poor little fella came running back from the beach scratching like something out of a cartoon.  We took his rash vest off to find his torso absolutely covered in red bites.  The staff were great bringing over fresh lime to rub on the bites, telling us it was jelly fish.  It looked more like sea lice to me but what would I know.  I had some antihistamine back in the room as well as some "Stingoes".  Within an hour they had all but disappeared.  Back to Tommys for dinner and some life music from Yang.  We spent the sunday morning by the pool also and took the 2.30pm ferry home (2 hours....2 HOURS....of pretending not to be terrified for the kids.  I swear if I had known about the water on the way over I would have WALKED back to Saigon!).  So anyway, that was our little getaway.  Not sure if I will head back to Vungers again before we leave specifically for holiday purposes.  We are definite starters for the ANZAC day AFL footy match there next April though.  Don't worry mum....I'm NOT getting the ferry!

Luke Nguyen - The new host of Masterchef Vietnam!

I was lucky enough recently to bump into Vietnamese/Australian chef Luke Nguyen at Xu Bar.  Luke is quite well known in Australia due to his cooking series Luke Nguyen's Vietnam and also his award winning Sydney restaurant Red Lantern. He also happens to be a lovely guy! He was actually born in Thailand after his parents fled Vietnam in 1978 as boat people. In his spare time he runs 13 day culinary tours through Vietnam for adventurous cooks.  I'm tipping his spare time will be reduced significantly as he has just been named as the Co-Host of Vietnams very first "Masterchef".  It begins filming in December and I'm sure "Vua Dau Bep", as it will be known here, will be a ratings winner and Luke will become a household name.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.  Good luck mate!