Country Road, Take me Home...

To the place... I belong...

(Thanks John Denver, your tunes are always welcome in my world!)

The journey home is never as quick or spritely as the journey out... except the journey home holds the added satisfaction of a box full of treasured memories coming with you, and the knowledge you are returning to your resting place, the family home that always calls you - the place where you and yours can truly just be...

For we are a family. This is our nest. The adventures may be of smaller scale but the comfort is so much sweeter. It's always good to go home...

Beach Babies

We had a brief stay with my sister on the Mornington Peninsula, and of course we had to make a visit to the beach! We chose a lovely little cove where dogs are allowed off-lead, so her gorgeous Staffy, Occy, could run wild. Needless to say, the kids ran wild right along with him! It was a sweet morning of sand castles, waves, shell collecting, beach walking, eel-spotting and just general delight with my treasures.

Mornington has the cutest little beach shacks... well, can you call them shacks when people pay $100,000 for the privilege?? Probably not - but cute nonetheless!

Beach time with my little Shadow...

Daddy got creative!

Lily spent the whole time intently building a city

Patting Occy is Eli's main priority!



Love my family - they are the sunshine of my life...

The perfect end to our Melbourne adventures, along with a raucous family dinner with my extended family that night. Good times, beautiful family.

I'm so grateful for this time away, grateful we could seize the chance to pack up and head out to rekindle treasured friendships and of course to seek a bit of adventure! The thrill of new things for little eyes to marvel at, new places for their little feet to tread, and the privilege I have of experiencing everything new along with them - making beautiful memories all bundled together in our family history. How blessed we are, blessed beyond all imagining....

A little more Melbourne Magic...

Our second day in Melbourne city, and more fun to be had! My sweet friend Tamara came to spend her day off with us, and it was lovely to spend time roaming the city with a local, checking out some more sights and of course I much appreciated the second pair of hands when navigating the busy city with two tiny ones!

As we checked out of the hotel today, it meant no 'home base' to return to - just me and two kiddos to keep ourselves busy in the city until Mark could finish work... possibly not till 5pm... which  most likely meant no naps for the kids... eep!! Did I mention how grateful I was to have the gorgeous Tamara with me? The kids adored her and she was ever so gentle and engaging with them, we all enjoyed her delightful company!

After yesterday's more child-focused adventures, I was keen to hit up good old Bourke Street, the main shopping strip, even just to get a whiff of all that clothesy-goodness - even if actually doing much shopping was unlikely with our two little companions! It was fun strolling the street, we even had a look through the highly anticipated new Zara store...

It ain't Melbourne without a pic on top of the Purse!



Amazing wall at Sportsgirl - wish I'd gotten better pic but they are too quick!

Although I used to live in Melbourne and still visit family and friends there pretty frequently, staying in the city itself is quite novel and I enjoyed putting on my tourist hat and exploring it a-new - especially with the kids. One more thing I simply had to check off my list was a fabulous Melbourne coffee from one of those quaint little cafes you find tucked away in the city's many little laneways.

What can I say, my kids know their way around a Babycino...

Thought this photo was fascinating - the scaffolding is holding up the stunning heritage exterior of the buiding (on three sides) while the inside has been completely gutted!!

Of course, being Melbourne we had to take a ride on a tram! Lily was super excited at the prospect of this strange Bus/Train hybrid! We found the free city circuit one and cruised for 30 minutes, enjoying the city sights and a break off our feet! So much to see...

At this point it was 2pm. Tamara had to get going to work, and I was faced with two over-stimulated children, one exhausted mother, and Mark finishing his work at some undetermined time in the afternoon. Oh, did I mention it was the middle of nap time? And we were in the middle of the CBD??I should point out that the kids were happy as clams and still enjoying soaking up the thrills of the city but, wow, I was tiiiiired and I wasn't sure how much longer the kids could hold out - or me either! Oh and yes of course, the sky was looking ominously grey. Like, this sky was no longer just joking around like it had been the last day or so... Cue Law and Order-type ominous tones...

I had noticed the State Library when we came into the city, and decided to check it out. In we wearily rolled and I asked with trepidation at the front desk if there should happen to be a kid's section. Yes, there was. I seriously could have kissed this nice young librarian!!!! We cruised past the hundreds (literally) of studious Uni students and into a truly magical Children's area. Bean bags, colouring-in tables, piles of books, little tents to read in, toys. I could have wept!

I flopped onto a bean bag, snuggled up with my babies and we spent a good hour or two just reading, snuggling, colouring and chilling out. Just what we needed - I was soooo grateful for the tax-payer dollars that funded this beautiful little area!!

I had the most lovely time snuggled up with my little bookworm. We took turns reading and of course Eli did all the page-turning (oh, those agile little fingers!) - and with some tricky one handed camera handling, I managed to snap some shots of our reading time. I was so thrilled with what I got as it so perfectly captures so many hours we spend together. Love reading with my boy... just bliss!

A castle for your reading privacy needs

Love me some forward-facing bookshelves - the kids do too!

At 3.30pm, Mark called to let us know he was done. Thankful it wasn't a 5pm finish, we made our way back to the hotel to get our car and bags. A good 20 minute walk. Of course, by this point it was pouring rain!!! I gave my tiny umbrella to Lily, put the extremely-inadequate travel pram hood over Eli and set out. Eli finally fell asleep after his massive day out, completely zonked out with heavy rain drops plopping on his oblivious face... poor dear! Needless to say, I got soaked, but the sight of Lily zipping around the pavement like a little orange beetle kept the smile on my face. It was a wonderful day, full of adventure and now it was time to leave the city and head out to the Mornington Peninsula to see my sister!

What a day - a very Melbournesque day indeed!












Eat, Splash, Explore - Melbourne Style!

Our glorious day began with breakfast on the balcony...

A splash in the hotel pool....



Poor Daddy had to go to his meetings (oh yeah, that's what brought us to Melborne in the first place!) so it was time to meet up with a dear friend Charlotte over her very long lunch break while we checked out Carlton Gardens, the super-cool playground and then the fabulous Melbourne Museum... phew!!

My little man... he is so beautiful, it makes me weep... those golden curls, those blue eyes, those chubby little cheeks..... adore.

Exploring the indoor rainforest at the Museum

Interactive Animal display

Lily is 3.5 Wombats high!

To top it all off, we hit up fantastic Lygon Street for dinner with five wonderful old friends. It was a magical night. strolling along, laughing, catching up, and enjoying the atmosphere of Lygon Street - Melbourne's Italian hotspot. It has dozens of Italian restaurants lining the street, all filled with people, amazing fresh pasta and cute checked table cloths. I felt like I was back in Spain or Italy with gregarious Italians standing out the front of each place and trying to coax us in to dine. Not being toughened up enough, I pretty much agreed to enter the first place we got accosted at!! Thankfully it was wonderful, and I had the most incredible gnocchi ever - little fluffy bites of heaven - divine. Mmmm!!

Little E loved the pizza and worked out an ingenious way to get all the scraps from his bib.

The tables were covered in paper and the kind waitress gave us some textas. I told Lily she was allowed to draw on the table clothes. She gave me a dubious/shocked look. When the waitress came out again, Lily piped up 'Scuse me, are we allowed to draw on the tables?!' Lol... obviously she thought Mama had gone crazy or something!!!

After a stroll through the streets, we finished off with Argentinian gelati. I had Salted Caramel. I almost passed out from the deliciousness. Seriously.so.good. I think I could happily eat on Lygon Street every night forever... mmmm, love me some good Italian food!

Devouring Gelato

Soaking up the magical atmosphere

A fantastic night indeed - perfectly topped off with a cuppa on our little balcony, soaking up the night views. A massive day of city sights and lovely friends, adventures with the kiddies and divine food....  I couldn't ask for a better day!

Road Trippin'

We got up early in the morning to pack the car for a big road trip to Melbourne. Mark had a couple days of work meetings down there, which we were so thankful meant the whole family could tag along and spend some time together in a lovely hotel, catching up with all our Melbourne friends in the city (far too many of my faves have moved to Melbourne, what's up with that?!) and then spend the weekend with my sister and all my extended family who live down on the outskirts of Melbourne. We had been hoping to swing this kind of combo trip for a few months, but it all seemed impossible to orchestrate. The minute I gave up - suddenly it all came together perfectly!! Gotta love that!

Then Lily announced in the early morning that she wasn't feeling 'vewwy well'.

Then asked for a bucket.

Then threw up.

Then immediately lifted her head and said 'I can still go to Melbourne!!!'


Ah, this girl! She simply hates to miss out on anything and looooves holidays and adventures!

Poor little darling girl...

But what to do now?! She was soooo excited about this trip, and we were all ready to go. She seemed fine afterwards and we thought it might be one of those random occassions where she just throws up once and then is totally fine. She has done this a few times in the past. So we continued packing, got in the car by 8.30am, Lily armed with a trusty ice-cream bucket - just in case. Good thing we had it! Poor darling started to feel sick again and basically continued to throw up and sleep for most of the trip. No complaints, little champ. She would just sleep, wake up, vomit, then go back to sleep. Too sad for words, darling girl. Hardly any misses using her bucket either!! (Although there was one miss which required cleaning car seat and sick toddler by side of the freeway - good times). We discussed turning around but knew she would be more devasted to miss her holiday and lying there and vomiting would be all she could do at home too. Poor baby girl, I don't know what was up... a couple hours out of Melbourne she suddenly emerged from her haze, full of beans once more!! And none of us (thankfully) got sick either so I really don't know what it was. Anyway, she was just fine and we all survived!

Eli happily read most of the way. Yes, his book is upside down in this photo. We are just grateful he has his good looks to fall back on in future, if needed! ;)  (Eli, if you read this in future years, this is just Mummy joking, we all know how clever you are!)

We made it to the hotel, a lovely two bedroom apartment overlooking Carlton Gardens in Melbourne. The kids (and Mummy) shrieked 'WOW' as we entered (and Eli continued to shriek 'Wow' every time we entered our apartment for the rest of the stay!). The 12th floor gave us a glorious view of the gardens, the city skyline and of course the traffic - the kids loved traffic spotting especially the busses and of course trams!





The kids were right at home!

We felt very spoilt in our central location and settled into our temporary home with all the glee two little kids can possibly muster. We got to enjoy dinner with a dear friend that night too, and of course Mama enjoyed just chilling with her precious family without cooking or cleaning to think about - yeeha!!

Little E

So privileged to be the mother of this little angel...

Chickens are People too...

So... we have pets.... not permanently installed, it's true, but for now we do have pets! Two cute orangey-brown chickens called Coco and Chanel. Yes, they are stylish designer chickens, if you were wondering! My dear former neighbour and current friend Josie owns the chickens, but the house next door to her is being knocked down and rebuilt and the fence in between is coming down for a few months so she asked if we were interested in chicken-sitting.

Why, YES, we are!

Lily pleads on a daily basis for a 'real pet' and I have always loved the idea of having chickens roaming the backyard and of course delicious fresh eggs, so this was a fantastic opportunity to trial the whole shebang without committing for life or buying all the gear. Win/win!

So here they are. The kids are enraptured, following them around pretty much all day. Eli runs after them shrieking 'KICCKKKEN! KICCCKEEEN' and trying to pat them (he only occasionally succeeds). Josie has two little kids so I'm glad the chickens are used to little people! It has been  lovely to have the children be able to experience having animals around, learning how to care for them, and seeing the way they actually produce eggs - just amazing! Lily is constantly mothering them, making a nest for them out of grass pulled out the lawn, and trying to encourage them to drink from cups of water. Bless her!

Eli and Noah kept a close eye on the chickens. Eli developed this own theory that if he kept clapping, the chicken would eventually just come to him, charmed by his cuteness!

And of course - the eggs!! Coco and Chanel generally lay one each a day, so we have two delicious fresh eggs each morning. Yes, these eggs are absolutely free-range if you were wondering! Going to check for the eggs is a gorgeous little adventure, the kids are busting to get out the door each morning to go see them. It is so fun expectently checking the nest and collecting the eggs that have miraculously appeared. Lily squeals 'Good job, chickens!!! Good job making eggs, I'm so PROUD of you!!! Thank you for these lovely eggs!". Eli cheers 'Good boy! Good boy!". I hope these chickens recognise just how loved and appreciated they are around here.

Pictured is our very first egg, which Lily insisted placing in a special silver egg cup and on a little doily, giving it it's due honour and respect and pride of place on the counter.

Of course, where there are chickens, there are chicken droppings. Quite a lot in fact... the one downside to all this farmyard heaven! I was thinking it was going to be quite a lot of work to keep the backyard clear (especially as we all love to run around barefoot) but then realised I have these little helpers for a reason! ;)

It is a fantastic opportunity for the kids to learn some responsibility, learning to care for something consistently and diligently. I sat and talked with Lily, explaining that having pets is a lot of fun but they also need to be looked after, and that takes work. We enjoy the chickens, collecting their eggs and patting them but we also need to look after them by giving them food and water, keeping their cage clean and of course picking up the droppings. After all, if we can't look after them, then they won't be happy in our home and we won't be able to keep them. She whined a little at first at this realisation it's not all fun and games, but I was so thrilled and proud today... while I was hanging the washing, on her own initiative she went and got the spade I had assigned to the task, and cheerfully scooped up the 'business' all over the yard and flicking it into the garden. Atta girl!

(Of course, Eli wants to help too)

It is pretty cute to see the chickens wandering around the yard, warbling and pecking away in the garden. It is even cuter seeing how much the kids already love and adore them and are so keen to care for them.

Something tells me we are going to get pretty attached to these little chickies!