Melbourne Cup Pool Party

Yesterday I hosted my mothers groups Melbourne Cup Party. It was 35 (110) and steamy so the party was more of a pool party where we watched the horses for about 2 mins. Not really your traditional Melbourne Cup affair. Luca and Scout had a blast. To quote Luca this morning "my friends came over to watch our horses in the pool". Here are a few pics, Scout sporting her first barrette (my attempt at a fascinator). Oh and Shocking won the race, cool name for a horse huh!-kel

Hot and Cold

10 min after Luca went to bed...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am hot

Mark: Ok mate we can fix that (removes quilt from Luca's bed)

5 min later...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am cold

Mark: Ok mate we can fix that (put quilt back on Luca's bed and pretends to turn on Luca's heater)

5 min later...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am hot and cold (said with a very very cheaky smile)

Oh the joys of parenthood! -kel

Melbourne (a couple of weeks ago)

It's always a bad year when we don't make it to Melbourne at least once so it was with great enthusiasm that we accepted an invitation to friends Adam and Amanda's wedding ... in Melbourne.

We travelled without the kids, without Scout for the first time, so we were a little sad to leave but the upside was days of sleeping in, long breakfasts in cafes reading magazines and relatively unplanned cruising around.

We stayed in the heart of the action in South Yarra - although in Melbourne the action is really spread out pretty thick. We hit our favourite Italian cafe, Brunetti, and a couple of Kel's favourite fabric stores on the first morning and we spent the afternoon shopping on Chapel St followed by a few beers and sushi for dinner. The sleep in part was an anti-climax, being so used to 6:00AM wake ups accompanied by being woken at least once during the night to adjust blankets or administer a feed, we found we were up and ready to go by 8:30.

Day two was fun, we always manage to discover something new on our trips to Melbourne and this time it was Albert Park. We went there on a whim to a cafe we had read a recommendation about and to visit a store Kelly had seen in a magazine. The cafe was good, although there were half a dozen others on the same strip that could have easily filled the brief, the shop we went to see was marginal at best however the area had a ton of other interesting stores and we ended up spending half a day there and I didn't even make it to Andrew's Burgers (supposedly the best in Melbourne). 

After Albert Park we ticked off another favourite of ours, eating vanilla slices on Ackland St, St Kilda. Full stomachs and back to the hotel for cruisy wedding prep.

The wedding ceremony was out on a pier in the middle of Port Phillip Bay and it was blowing a gale, the 15 minute walk out along the pier was a tough one for Kel. For the ceremony we were in shelter but there was still the walk back to the reception. We had a really fun night and I even got a quick opportunity to show my dance floor clearing moves which always provide Kel a few laughs.

Sunday we caught up with our friends Dieter and Katie who were also down for the wedding from Sydney. We had a great morning wandering the laneways of Melbourne enjoying a lazy breakfast and some window shopping. In the afternoon we visited our good friends Franc and Di (Scouty's god parents), had pizza and watched the rugby league grand final on TV. A quick diversion for gelato on the way home.

Monday involved some more eating and catching up with the newly married couple and then home to see the kids. Melbourne is awesome and so is getting home to see Luca and Scout.

Sneaky Exit From Work

Nothing better than a day that seems like two and no better end to the week than sneaking away from work a little early to hang out with kids at the beach for a few hours. Granted it was still a little chilly, but a million miles from work and only a minute from home, here's to a few more sneaky exits from work and to many hours of fun at the beach this summer for Kelly, Scouty, Luca and I. 

Luca Sings Johnny Cash

Luca's favorite singer is Johnny Cash (clearly influenced by Mark!).  Tonight he was in performance mode...-kel

Spring Weekend

We've had a busy few weeks, Mark and I have both had heaps on with work and we took a long four day's in Melbourne (kid free) last weekend.  Since we were kid free last weekend, this weekend it was all about the kidos...Saturday I took Luca and his best friend Sean to see the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Show, Sunday was lunch at our favorite Aussie Pie shop and a picnic in the park.  Scout is crawling everywhere, chasing Luca.  Luca is talking non-stop and his imagination is running wild.  Seeing the two of them together is amazing.  We are really looking forward to a nice warm summer and can't wait to see these two in the ocean! -kel

Dust Storm

This morning we awoke to bright red skies, it was unlike anything I've ever seen in my life.  Sydney was hit by a dust storm, gale force winds have been blowing dust from Australia's red center through the entire state.  At 6:30 AM it should have been bright and sunny, instead the skies were so full of dust it was a bright red day.  Truly unbelievable.  I took a few photos (above over our cabana and pool), however check these out from the Sydney Morning Herald. The skies have now cleared to a very windy day...time to wash the car and dust the entire house top to toe!-kel

Father's Day

Not just a Father's "day" this year I got an entire Father's weekend!

On Saturday we went over the "big" bridge to Rozelle for a bit of exploring and lunch with my parents. Back tracking slightly... before we made it to the "big" bridge Luca vomited in the car. Luckily Kel carries a change of clothes for each of the kids in their diaper bag so we snuck into someone's yard washed off the clothes, changed Luca and we were on our way.

We spent a bit of time at the Rozelle markets walking around. The markets are in the grounds of the elementary school that my mum and I both went to so it is always a bit of a nostalgia trip - but hey, it's my weekend so I can indulge myself. Kel and my dad accosted the coach of the footy team we support, the Balmain Tigers, (the guy was just trying to enjoy a lazy Saturday visiting the markets) and gave him the third degree about not making the play-offs this year. We brought a few things and Luca was sick again - Kel is always prepared but not that prepared so Luca came away with a new t-shirt.

An enjoyable lunch at the Three Weeds and a few beers down we headed home for the nights entertainment.

On Saturday night Kelly had organised for us to go to a black tie fund raiser for Bear Cottage. A rare chance to get all dressed up. It was a lot of fun and all for a great cause.

Sunday the festival of the father continued with the purchase of a new car, very unexpectedly, which Kelly positioned as a surprise Father's Day present (a bit sneaky if you ask me!). Our current car is coming off lease soon. We had identified what we wanted to replace it and after looking for a few weeks to get a feel for the market we found exactly what were looking for on Sunday morning.

The action continued ... off to football (soccer) for our last game of the season (we got whacked) with the game followed by a bbq with all the players families afterwards.

I already knew I had the best family in the world but after getting a whole Father's "weekend" I feel incredibly blessed.