Happy Birthday, Dear Classmate!

Lilly got invited to the birthday party of one of her classmates. The party was held at Traffic School. The kids were all invited to bring their bikes and the area is set up with roads and traffic signals. This is one of the smaller ones I have seen but it was the first one I have been to so I was impressed.

There was a person doing face painting but by the time Lilly got hers done it was almost time for her to leave so Lilly got a quick butterfly with some glitter (the glitter made it a masterpiece in Lilly's eyes).

Waiting for the light to turn green (notice she is on the left side of the road):

Lilly: “Oh, no! A flat!”

Me: “That stinks, we can always borrow a bike.”

Lilly: “Mom, I’m just pretending. Besides, I can fix it at the petrol station.”

4 Months!

Holy Cow! Is it time for pictures again?


Here's my crazy eyes:


What's with this bear?


Ok, a good one for you:


And a cute one for me:

I Hate Good-byes!

Took mom to the airport today. I was very sad about it. She took some pictures of Adlai with her camera but I don’t have them to share. Besides, who really wants to see the inside of Melbourne Airport? Well, I’m guessing everyone does but only if they are physically in the airport. So I guess you’ll just have to come for a visit!

Last Day

We didn’t do too much while mom was here for the last day. We took Lilly to school and then headed to the city. I wanted mom to see something on her last day. We did have time for lunch on Lygon St. I would have liked to have gotten dessert, but it wasn’t meant to be.

We picked Lilly up from school and she looked so happy to see Grandma for another day.

At home we had the pleasure of meeting with the plumber. And he started to cut a hole in the ceiling. This was just the beginning. I’ll show you the end result next time.

Mom spent the evening cuddling with Adlai

and playing Chirpy Chicks with Lilly

(a game I’m sure she’ll be happy to never see again, maybe I’ll send it to the twins).

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

We didn't take any pictures on the way home.

Except for us in the car. That was the Territory that we borrowed from a friend. See mom crammed in the backseat? Luckily Adlai slept most of the time. Lilly on the other hand did not sleep. Ever. But she did talk. And talk and talk . . .

It took us a little longer to get home than expected. Honestly it takes us longer to get anywhere, I wasn’t surprised. Plus we had to go back to the first accommodation to pick up Adlai’s sleeping bag. We stayed at a hotel that had a handful of two bedroom cabins. We picked those as they were cheaper than the regular rooms. We also slept with the heater running full blast the entire night. Mom always seems to come during the winter months.

We got back home just in time for Lilly to go to her swimming lesson. It was a good way to get her to work off some energy since we had been sitting in the car for the past two days.

And in case you were worried about our ceiling, when we got home the bucket under the leak was full and overflowing through part of the kitchen and in our laundry closet. Nothing was damaged – other than the ceiling but it just makes for fun to deal with!

Manly Beach

We wanted to head to a beach but our family had already been to Bondi Beach. The weather wasn’t very cooperative so we didn’t even get to stick our feet in the water. Lilly only wanted to build a sand castle. We didn’t even do that. Lilly had to settle for an ice cream cone instead.

You can see the beach behind Adlai's head.

We drove to a look out point where we could see the city.

Seth and Lilly as they pass the binoculars back and forth. This was not a steep drop off so I wasn't holding my breath.

On a non-sight seeing side-note . . . Seth and I took advantage of having mom as our personal nanny and we went to see the Harry Potter movie. Kind of sad that the series is over.

Hello, Sydney!

Seth made plans for himself while we were in Sydney. He was able to find a location that was hosting a Magic tournament that was fairly close to our hotel. So I took mom, Lilly and Adlai to the nearest train station and headed to the city. It was a long day with loads of walking.

First stop was the Opera House. I really wanted to see a show and there was a children’s show on but it was sold out for the entire weekend we were going to be in the area. Oops. That was a bit of a bummer and Lilly was pretty close to having a meltdown about it.

It was time for food (Lilly’s stomach is on a timer). I wanted to find a café to grab a sandwich but of course, there was nothing to be found. That always seems to happen. We ended up at Subway. Nothing like American fast food for the visitors.

Adlai's view of Sydney:

Next stop was the market at The Rocks. Mom bought an album for her pictures. While we were wandering around we did run into a tiny museum. It was about how the Rocks came about and the role of the convicts in the area.

We figured out the ferry system and caught a boat to Darling Harbor. We walked to the aquarium and explored the fish from down under. There were quite a bit of exhibits that were under construction so that was a bit disappointing. But, they were doing a huge lego promotion so there were massive lego statues. Lilly insisted on getting her picture taken with each one. We still were able to walk through all the tunnels and see the dugong and sharks.

Fun story from the aquarium: I noticed a guy with a Xenia shirt on! It was some sort of band shirt, which made me laugh. So, I approached the guy and asked if he was from Xenia, Ohio and he was! We kept running into each other so we were discussing the band scene back in Xenia. Finally I put it all together and asked who his parents were. Sure enough, his dad was someone I sat next to in band (a year older than me) and I met his mom in junior high (a year younger than me). How’s that for a small world?

Seth eventually finished playing and met us at the Harbour. We had a very late dinner and then headed back to our hotel by way of train.

On the Road Again!

Seeing as how we do a lot of road trips, this could be the title to a lot of my posts. You'll have to bear with me if I repeat myself. I'm not very clever with the titles.

We finished our drive up to Sydney but not without a stop at the Big Merino. This time we could go all the way up to the top of the head. If we had thought about it we would have tried to take a picture with someone looking out it's eye, but we didn't think about.

The hotel we stayed in was courtesy of Seth's extended stay in the US last year. We were able to do the Marriott Hotel and we even got a bottle of wine. We drank it with our fancy take out dinner of chips and ribs.

Which then led to dancing and jumping on the beds.

It also may have been because 80's videos were on the television.

But the kids were upset when Grandma said to stop.

Just kiddin', she was the one taking the pictures, I made them stop, it was time for bed.

You want to do what?

We got up and moving for a very important stop. Lilly had her say in this one. We drove up the side of a mountain.

Seth got out to take this picture since the people in the back seat couldn't get out very well.


Then there was this:


And all so we could see this:


So Lilly could do this:


And make this:


And try to have a snowball fight . . .


All Lilly wanted to do for school holiday was to see the snow. She was so excited that we were going to see the snow. I don't think she understood that mom was less than thrilled. Don't get me wrong. Seeing Lilly going down the hill on the sled was fun, and seeing her build a snowman was really cool. But it's JULY!!! But now mom can say she saw the snow in July.

Seth and I did a couple of runs as well. I wish I had a video of it. I hit a bump and got some good air. My tail bone was a little bitter about it.

At the bottom of the mountain we had to get snow chains. Further up the road from where we stopped the chains would have been required. A hefty fine comes to those who opt out of the chains. Since we rented the chains, the place threw in the toboggan for free. We rented some pants and boots for Lilly. I'm sure she would have been fine but it saved us from her complaining that she was wet or cold.

Of course, she loved the boots. But wished she had them in a color other than black.

Highlights of the day:

If Lilly knew any curse words, they'd be coming out now:


or now:


But she still went back for more:


And a fabulous family picture:


Note the awesome hat Seth is wearing. It's mine.

Sydney Bound

We borrowed a Territory for our trip and put the two car seats in the middle row. We had every intention of switching out the person that got to sit between the kids, but I don't think anyone ever sat there except mom. Oops!

So we were heading in the directions of Sydney but we had some very important stops to make before we got there.

First stop was the Big Ned Kelly.


And he was quite large.

We stopped in Bright and on the way to our accommodations we had to pull over because mom saw kangaroos.


We actually ran to a brewery that we had been to with my brother to pick up a six pack before stopping for the night.


And we stayed in a little two bedroom apartment with a kitchen.

No Flooding in the Kitchen, Please

I don't even have a picture to go with this one. We had a very busy day planned and we were leaving for Sydney on Wednesday. And what should I see when I walked into the kitchen? A bubble in the ceiling. A very large bubble in the ceiling. Even bigger than the ones caused by the bees. It had to be something to do with the shower in Lilly's bathroom because we never use it. Until we have company that is. The management company didn't think they could get anyone out so we just said we wouldn't use that shower and get someone when we were back from our holiday. Sigh!

[In case you are keeping track of dates, we didn't do anything on Monday. Unless you count laundry, but I didn't take a picture of the laundry.]

And so . . .


Adlai had what was equivalent to a wellness check-up. Everything came in at about the 25%. Which is small compared to Lilly, but we don't compare our kids, do we?

Next stop, the tram.


And on to the Melbourne Museum.


We met our friends Heather and Alex for a play.

And then headed home for swimming class.


And we got home, the kitchen ceiling was actually leaking. Bummer.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Ok, really it's Aussie Rules Football but I'll get back to that later.

I had these big plans of heading to the market with my mom and having Seth and Lilly meet us later but Lilly was sick.


But that didn't stop mom and I! Off to the market!! This is the Sunday Arts Market. It's usually held down by the water and there used to be a lot more booths. But the building that it was held next to is under construction. So I don't know if the market will go back to that spot or if it will ever be as big.


Next we grabbed some food and ran over to the MCG to watch some Aussie Rules Football.

I encourage you to go to Wikipedia and look up the rules for this game. In order to give the ball to someone else you have to either punt it to them or handball (which looks similar to an underhand serve in volleyball). You are able to run with the ball, but if you run more than 15 meters, you have to bounce the ball. It's hilarious. I tried to explain some of the rules to mom, but you just have to watch the sport to see what I'm saying and really, it takes years to understand.


It was rather cold but we had hot chocolate and our food to keep us warm. Mom had brought her poncho so we threw that over our legs. It was pouring during parts of the game but we only would get wet when the wind blew. Luckily the wind had died down by then. [Picture is the view of the city on the way to the stadium. You can kind of see how awesome the weather was.]


As the game went on more and more birds started flying around the stadium. There would be a flock of seagulls and then the players would run that direction and the birds would all fly up and over to the other side of the field.


And so we watched the Magpies vs the Kangaroos (I think). And the Kangaroos lost. I believe the final score was 147 to 30. It may have been the biggest upset ever (I know it was the biggest upset between these two teams). When asked who we barrack for, we usually say Kangaroos (when Seth moved here three years ago, the family he stayed with cheered for them so they told Seth he had to as well). But it's days like these that we just look at our feet and say we don't know.