The end of the earth...

I've been sewing - there was a lot created at Sewjourn last week, nothing for me, but my head wasn't in the right space to pack for me when the time came.

Here's a glimpse of where we spent the Cup Day Long Weekend (yep, here in Melbourne we get a public Holiday for a horse race - pretty amazing huh!).

We went to what is the 'end' of the mainland here - the most southern tip of mainland Australia - Wilson's Promontory National Park - a really beautiful part of the world.

It was quiet and peaceful and we spent hours reading and talking and walking and playing.
It was bliss.

Despite the 117km hour winds that tested our tent...!

Blink and you'll miss it...

That's how these holidays have felt...

They seem to have just begun, but now they are over...

This is but a brief snippet of what has been happening - so many days, parks, friends, play dates, family outings and fabulous cubby houses built that remain as memories, not images.

Blogtoberfest is on again - join in over here.

A week in pictures...

School holidays - week one...

Phillip Island with family and friends.

If you are a Victorian and haven't been here, then you are missing out - Phillip Island is a natural treasure - there is so much for the kids to do and see, whether summer or winter.

One of my favourite activities is the penguin parade, a Victorian institution - but it's strictly a 'no photography' event - so you'll have to go see that one for yourself!

Images L to R, top to bottom:

View from The Nobbies toward Seal Rock, Pelican feeding time at San Remo, swimming with Daddy, koala at the Koala Conservation Centre, mini golf at A Maze 'N Things, milking a cow on Churchill Island, peacock on Churchill Island, surfing the tube near Newhaven, horsing around on Churchill Island with friends.

We've visited Phillip Island before - click these two links to see how they've grown!!

Summer in the city

In between tripping off to the beach and visiting family and friends, we have been lucky enough to spend some time in the city, with friends and by ourselves.

A trip to the Victorian Opera performance of Sleeping Beauty (a fabulous show, unfortunately finished now) was followed up by a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Federation Square to see the exhibition "Just sing what you feel".

We were really keen to see this exhibition as the artist is a family friend and a really lovely person who has such enthusiasm for what he does, it can't help but rub off on you.

Jon Campbell is passionate about suburban life, slang and everyday language, pop culture and rock 'n' roll music.
He has combined these loves into a really fun and interactive exhibition people of all ages.

Once it was discovered these were magnets the fun was on!

The exhibition is really interactive - with the first space being a room filled with magnets of assorted sizes, both illustrative and graphic, that represent elements of a typical suburban back yard.

The girls had a lovely time relocating the magnets around the room into various groupings or collections.

As is her nature, the small kid wanted to make a 'family' of cockatoos!

Next up was the chance to record a duet with Jon in a small sound booth.  Once you were done you could email the file home to enjoy later.

The girls had waaaay too much fun in here singing into the microphone.

A singalong with Jon was fun for all

Lastly was the chance to contribute to the installation by making a flag with a word on each side.

These were made using only pink and green writing tools, to coordinate with the 'yeah' flags that were around the room, a word that Jon uses regularly in his day to day speech.

Never kids to miss an art and craft opportunity...

The flags were then positioned into one of two large 'yeah's' on the wall for all to enjoy.

By just using the pink and green the result was visually really striking.

Two exhibits this size have been filled and refilled multiple times over

The girls enjoyed this exhibition so much that when we found ourselves in the city again the next day they insisted going again to 'show Dad'.

It's a winner.

It's on until Feb 17th so there's plenty of time to pop in.

Oh and it's also free entry, so now you've got no excuse.

The next day we visited another fabulous haunt - the Ian Potter Children's Garden at the Botanic Gardens, and following a picnic with a gorgeous friend we took some time and explored this fabulous space.

The characters from The Magic Pudding are always a hit for a pose or two...

Cute little garden fairy!

Only one cheesy grin - not bad odds!

And you can't go past a kiss from a koala...

She's a smoocher!

These two lovely statues had been up and down towers, in and out of trees and following waterways (which unfortunately were not running this day) before climbing up the stone bridges.

Standing on one of the stone bridges...

There is also a vegetable garden filled with such delights as Green Zebra tomatoes and purple king beans.

Also free, it is open every day from 10am until sunset.

That should keep you busy for a day or so and I will be back with some actual sewing by then!

Hello 2013!!

Hello...

Is anyone still there!??

Just let me say, I love summer and school holidays.
It's a chance to get all the gang together; to get out and about and do all the things we miss during the school year.

I'm not going to go into everything we've been up to - it would take me too long to catch up and I already have lots to share with you.

So here's a little photo montage of some of what we've been up to...

It includes city visits to shows and exhibitions, family and extended family holidays, lots of water play at the beach and in the pool, parks, last day of school, Christmas lights, special birthday celebrations and even a tiny bit of sewing!

(If you follow me on Instagram then most of these photos are probably old news as I find it really quick and easy to just post a daily pic (or two!) about what's been happening. Sorry if that applies to you!)

Regular programming will resume shortly...

Time out

Anyone want to guess where we went??

Gesundheit!

(This post is long, but trust me, if you want a laugh at my expense, it's worth persevering.)

This is Solomon.
He's a 200kg Australian Sea Lion who lives at the Coffs Harbour Pet Porpoise Pool.
Before each show you can sidle on up and feed him a fish.

The smallest child in our family is the bravest one of all, she wants to be kissed by seals and dolphins, pat animals in the street and make friends with chickens.
It goes without saying she wanted to feed the seal.
By herself.

Picture from here.

When first in line I made the mistake of holding the fish for her, after all he's a seriously big sea-lion and she's a relatively small child.
Back in our seats she declared "No! Me feed seal!", when she realised she'd been ripped off.
We rejoined the queue, the last in line.

We sterilised our hands.
She took the fish and reached up.
Being too small to reach him I picked her up, we leaned in closer and without any warning at all...
Solomon did a massive sneeze all over the two of us.

I don't just mean any old sneeze.
This was a "blow-your-hair-back-and-spray-your-face-with-a-wet-combination-of-salt-water-and-fishy-smelling-saliva-filled-hurricane-like" sneeze.

There we stood, in front of the entire stand of people gathered for the performance, covered in what might best be described as seal snot.
They all roared laughing as the smallest and I tried to fathom what had just happened.
She cried, I cringed and together we used the anti-bacterial hand gel offered earlier to smother our faces, hands, arms and anything else we could.

I am eternally grateful to the lady behind us who handed me a pack of anti-bacterial wipes as I sat down with the small fish-smelling child on my lap.

We sat through the show (which is great entertainment by the way, even though I am still not sure how I feel about marine-animals being held in smallish pools)- smelling delightful.

I didn't pat or kiss her little head as I usually do when she sits on my knee, because I knew what coated each strand.

I felt thirsty but dared not lick my lips, as they had a salty tang to them.

Once the show ended and we'd moved away from the area, I bent down to retrieve somthing from my bag and the man of the house snorted down a laugh as he extracted from my hair...
a fish scale.

We went home, where I scrubbed us both in the shower with soap and shampoo to within in inch of our lives.

If anyone was in the crowd that day and has this event on video, I would urge you to send it in to "Funniest Home Videos and send me half the large sum of cash you win.

I'm going to need it for the kid's therapy.

Freedom

We've been away, enjoying the freedom of no routine.

Freedom gives you the time to do what you want, rather than what you have (or feel you have) to do.

Time to spend doing lots of this...

Time to take a walk without having to rush...

Time to enjoy lots of fresh air and sunshine...

Time to enjoy each other's company...

Time to partake in some 'touristy' adventures...

Time to spend with family we don't see enough of...

Time to try new things...

Time to just be silly, for no reason at all...

Time to love and be loved...

Time to be still...

What a time we had.