October 22 - Trip to Tasmania

We took an early flight to Hobart. I will applaud Qantas for their service. The flight was approximately 42 minutes and we got breakfast! That's right, breakfast. Cereal, fruit, and a drink. On a 42 minute flight. We had to eat fast. Lilly also got a kids pack to play with. I dig Qantas!

Once we arrived in Hobart, we were able to get our rental car quickly (it's a small airport) and drove into the city. We parked the car and took off on a walk in search for information. Seth's highlight may have been watching the passed out drunk guy sleeping on a park bench. He woke up and started chugging a beer he pulled out of his jacket. Sorry, we didn't get a picture of it.

Once we found the information center, Seth and his parents chose what we would be doing for the next couple of days. As for the current day, it was between the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and the Cascade Brewery. The brewery won, mostly because you can't actually tour the chocolate factory, just the visitor's center.

We went over to the brewery and had lunch before our tour. Lilly wasn't allowed to go on the tour so Pennie stayed with her. They walked around the gardens for the hour that we were on the tour. The day after our visit was some Tasmanian holiday so everything was going to be shut down for the day. For this reason, there wasn't really anything going on and all the huge vats were completely empty.

After the tour we were able to try a few samples. I think we got three each. The brewery had done the math to figure out how much an average person could drink and still be under the legal limit to drive home. The little glass show here, was not the usual size. They had to account for the stout being stronger than the other beer!

After the tasting was over, we jumped back into our car and headed to our place of residence for the next several nights. We had found a two story, 3 bedroom apartment type place. It was pretty nice but in the end, we really didn't spend a lot of time there.

For dinner we went to the hotel restaurant. Seth and I took off before dinner to find a grocery store to load up on snacks and breakfast foods. By the time we got home, Lilly was in bed (although awake) and we pretty much crashed as well.

October 21 - Let's see Melbourne!

So what do we do when we get guests? We tour the city! We headed to Vic Market for some look at the cheesy souvenirs and chickens - cause yes, you can buy these right next to each other!

Next we headed down by the river and took a nice lazy walk to check out some of the art work. We took a look at Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. We also gave the in-laws a couple of fun rides on public transportation. It never gets old! I really love not having to get in the car.
We kept this day pretty relaxed cause we have some heavy duty traveling coming up!

October 19 - The Grandparents have Landed

Seth's parents arrived in Melbourne on Monday morning. There was a little error in pick up but we finally got everything handled and sorted. I will say we were oddly lucky that the airlines forgot some luggage in Sydney cause we were packed into our car. The airline did deliver the luggage later that day (along with the wonderful canisters of Swiss Miss that were stashed away inside).

**I've already mixed up days so if you are confused, just pretend you aren't, and I'll pretend I didn't mess up!**

The bulk of the day was pretty relaxed. We did head over to Sydney Road which is our main street for Coburg. We showed the family where we did our shopping, went to the library, bought croissants, and had hot chocolate.

When we got home Seth threw a large piece of fish on the grill for dinner. The rest of the luggage was delivered. Lilly started working on her puzzle (to be shown later) with grandpa and then our guests and Lilly were in bed by 8:30.

October 18 - Ballet Sneak Peak

Lilly had her first ballet pictures. It was adorable. The make-up, I could have done without but she did ok with it all. I was disappointed with the actual picture process as I was used to spending time with the photographer in each costume and doing several poses. For this, they did a group shot and one picture in first position with her arms out. That was it. We would find out later that they then wanted $20 for a 5x7 and Seth never even got to see her individual picture. Hopefully we can get some shots on the day of her performance.

October 12 - Structured Playgroup

When we first moved here, I was always asked if Lilly was on a waiting list for three year old Kinder. Well, of course not, we didn't know anything about it. Kindergarten (just known as kinder) is equivalent to pre-school. Right now it seems as if everyone is determined to get their children into a kinder and start the learning process as early as possible. Three year is usually on one day a week for three hours or two days for a couple of hours. While I am sure that there are learning opportunities during this time, I see it more useful for social purposes (especially having moved from another country). But that's just me, I still have people look at me funny when I say we opted not to do three year kinder.

Well, I figured Lilly needed some more kid time and we did find a group that advertised itself as a structured playgroup for those who did not get enrolled in a kinder (there is a waiting list at most places). It may be structured in the same way as I imagine a day of kinder, I don't know. They do songs and read stories. Usually have some sort of art activity and some play time. The parents are all in there and it is a small group. I don't find it particularly educational, but Lilly loves it and that's what I was looking for.

October 10 - Fairies

Part of the bonus of living near a large city is all the free activities. There is almost always something, you just have to pay attention to where they are as some aren't too close. Our friends went with us to our local shopping center and we met with the cast of The Fairies for some singing, dancing and story reading. Lilly wasn't keen on getting to close but I think she enjoyed watching from a distance.

September 29 - Melbourne Zoo

Because we got a year pass, it is very easy to just hop on the tram or train and take a ride to the zoo. We can spend a few minutes (yes, we have done this on a rainy day) or several hours. We like to pick an animal or two and then head to the play park.

This day was special because Lilly told me that she thought we should try the butterfly house. The first time we went to the zoo, she went into the butterfly house and completely freaked out when a butterfly landed on her. She was done. She climbed up my leg and into my arms then kicked me until I got out of the house. It was not pretty. Each visit after we would go see the elephants and we would have to go by the butterfly house. Lilly would go into panic mode and tell me she would not go in, some days she would even be in tears. For whatever reason, today was the day she was over her fear. She went in, stood for some pictures and held her hand up for a butterfly to land on. The only almost tears - she was upset when the butterflies did NOT land on her hand!

We went by the elephants. We like to stand and watch them for a while. Ok, I like to stand and watch, Lilly likes to jump up and down the steps and swing from the bars in the area. At least we are both happy!

And of course, what's a trip to the zoo without a trip to the play area. This was the busiest I have seen the zoo but it was a really nice day.