City Adventure

This cute girl starts school next year and with the end of the year looming I am enjoying taking her on a few special adventures of late.

We've been to the museum, to a gymnastics centre and last week ventured to Heide, all with another little friend.

This week it was a joint adventure with her lovely aunt - to the city.

First off a trip on the train...

Such a happy little travelling companion.

Which is always exciting - particularly through the tunnels...

Peering into the darkness..,

Then we had a trip on the City Circle tram down to Docklands for morning tea.
She was very excited to see a double decker bus and insisted I take a photo of it with her!

Tourist bus in the background!

Next up was the Reading Room at the Victorian State Library, a truly majestic space.

Like stepping back in time...

Including an up-close look at the domed ceiling that was restored in 2002.

Viewed from the highest level via a lift.

We then headed down into the Bourke Street Mall to admire the decorations and look at all the people...

We did check for trams before walking here!

And a quick stop at the Myer windows, with the theme of The Gingerbread baby this year.

No matter what we think the kids are always riveted

It was lovely not to have to fight the weekend crowds  I must say!

My baby with the Gingerbread Baby

Next up it was off to the arcades and we checked out Gog and Magog though we didn't hear them chime...

Beautiful old architecture

And of course the Block Arcade with it's beautiful tessellated floors...

You don't see tiling like this in shopping precincts any more

It was a really lovely day, there's nothing quite like playing tourist in your own city.

Have you been on any adventures lately??

Adventuring in the city.

Sometimes, it's easy to forget that for small children, even the 'everyday' is exciting.

Ever since we saw The Wind in the Willows last year, the girls like to say whe are going on an adventure, like Mr Toad, when we go out for the day.

For our adventure yesterday we drove to East Melbourne and caught a tram into the city (the trip would probably take about an hour from home, which is a little too long for the very busy smallest person to sit still).

We visited the Myer windows which this year feature the very non-traditional Christmas story 'Olivia Helps with Christmas'.

It's been noted before that we are Olivia fans in this house so we knew the small folk would delight in this.


and they did...

At the end of the windows it was asked where the next story was...

From there we went to visit the man in the red suit.

One of the girls asked him for a fluffy toy for our cat Molly.

It seems not to matter to her that Molly died in March, apparently we can send her the toy.

She also asked for a scooter for her little sister because she doesn't have one.

Nothing for herself.

The other wants a big basketball "like mummy's".

It seems she's ready to move on from the small one we bought her.

We then each chose one special decoration to put on the tree when we set it up next month.

A small child confronted with choice can take a while to make a decision...

To finish the morning off we shared a couple of milkshakes, had a walk through the gardens, then caught the tram again.

Cheap and easy entertainment.

They couldn't decide what they enjoyed the most.

PS - oh yeah - and the hats were as easy as everyone said - great pattern Toni!