::Spring::

We are so excited that spring is finally here. Brent in particular is excited, because it means his garden can finally start enjoying some sun ...
Today, Lachie and Brent spent most of the afternoon planting some new vegies in what will be 'Lachie's garden'. We are fairly short on space, but hopefully this tub will give us some good salads over summer.
Lachie loves being in the garden with Brent - the combination of one-on-one dad time, as-well as being able to get dirty is the perfect combination!
And it was a great way to spend Father's day afternoon together ...

I love this time of year for the blossoms coming out and the blue skies ...

It makes me want to spend the whole day outside with my boys

I hope you've all had a great Father's day too! Lx

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

Inspired by SouleMama

The Last Month

It seems that as the weather has been colder, my photo-taking and posting here has been much less frequent! Hopefully as things warm up again, I will be able to get back to being here much more often (with some interesting things to say too ofcourse!)

It has been fairly chilly in Melbourne, but last week was almost warm! And there is blossom coming out on the trees, as-well as huge magnolias coming out in flower, which is always very welcome at this time of year!

We have had some fun adventures, including a trip on the Maldon Steamtrain. Lachie thought this was pretty amazing, and it was well-worth the trip out to the country for the ride. The carriage was completely original, with all of the old brass fittings and luggage racks. It felt like being on the set of an old movie ...

Lachie also had his first ride on a Carousel, which he also thought was pretty fantastic. He called them 'Pa Denis' Horses!'
Brent didn't realise I was taking the photo above, but I think the resemblance is quite amusing!
When the weather's been anything other than rainy and wet, we have tried to be outside as much as possible. Mr Lachie is not one for sitting around inside too long it seems!

This is my brother Andy (who while I write this will be about two hours from landing in Stockholm, where he is going to live with his girlfriend Cecilia!). I am so excited for them, although I'm of-course sad that they are not so close-by. But, it's all the more reason to plan some holidays!
Here, Lachie is hanging out in one of Andy's cars. They both share a passion for anything involving wheels and engines...

The cafe pictured below is a new cafe I've found here in Melbourne. It has really great coffee and plenty of good food to buy. I'll definitely be going back here ...

Here, Lachie is enjoying a game of cars with his Auntie Cecilia (my brother's girlfriend). CC works with kids and is a natural at being around them and having fun...

Please say 'hi' in the comments section if you are visiting, it's always great to know who (if anyone!) is keeping us on their blog-lists! (and I'll try to be back more often myself too!)

Scandinavian Style

All of these lovely pics are from here - a great blog I just found tonight... well worth a good look!

:: Ultimate Paper Dolls House ::

I just came across this amazing artist Ana Serrano, and this sculpture of a village, made entirely out of paper and cardboard. I would love to play with this - it looks like lots of fun!

You can see her website here

:: The Last Month ::

I have obviously had a very busy month as I haven't posted anything up here for that long! I'm not really sure why it has been so busy, but I'm sure being back at work after a lovely 5 weeks off has thrown me!

I thought a post with a whole lot of photos from the past month would be a good way for family and friends to see what we've been doing since Lachie turned 2 ....

Just after Lachie's birthday, we were really lucky to have Pa Denis and Trish come to town to visit. Lachie loves seeing them & Denis got jumped all over (as seems to be the tradition now when they are visiting!). Trish and Denis bought Lachie a beautiful tin car for his birthday which he has hardly stopped playing with. It is the sort of toy we will still own in 30 or 40 years because it is such a special gift ...

We had some more sparklers, just to extend out the birthday fun ...
And lots of cuddling up under blankets to watch movies, as it has been very chilly in Melbourne (and now that our house has one less wall inside, it's much harder to heat up properly too!)

We've been up to the Dandenongs a few times during the week for bushwalks. Even though this is a long-ish drive from our house (about an hour), it still feels worth the trek to be in this beautiful part of the world. I love going to Kallista, where there is a really nice cafe with an open fire and big open area for kids to play in. Then we go for a bushwalk and Lachie then can sleep all the way home - therapeutic for Lachie and me!

We have also had a lovely visit from my mum and dad (Granny Di Di and Poppy Jon). They were here for a week and a half, which was really lovely. And really helpful too as I had some mid-week work shifts which they were able to spend with Lachie (which he adored ofcourse!).

We went to Heide, the gardens and art museum in Bulleen. I hadn't been before but I will definitely be back. The gardens are set on about 14 acres and have a whole lot of statues and sculptures dotted around. There's also a cafe that's run by Shannon Bennet (who owns Vue De Monde in Melbourne), where you can get some really good food. We bought their takeaway lunch packs that you can eat out in the gardens - they were very yummy (Lachie can attest to this as he ate most of mine!)


Lachie and Dad had plenty of painting and drawing sessions (complete with appropriate dress ups for the occasion)

We also had a lovely visit from one of Lachie's closest little friends, Maddie. They are just getting to that age where they really interact and play, which is so lovely to see. Here they are having some dress ups - oh, I've been waiting for dress-up fun to happen and I'm so excited, it was my absolute favourite thing to play as a kid and I'm sure I can still get into it now!


We've also been to Werribee Zoo, which is an Open Range Zoo with Giraffes, Zebra, Hippos, Rhinos and some Buffalos and Camels. You take a bus trip around to see the animals, which ofcourse, Lachie thought was amazing. There has been lots of talking about 'the bus' (and not so much talking about 'the animals' - which I think is a reflection of Lachie's current passion with anything involving wheels!)

And yesterday, as is our tradition on weekends it seems (!), we checked out another Garden. This time it was Ripponlea in Melbourne's South East. This 19th Century house (which is fairly old for Australia), is on 15 acres, and the gardens were established by the original owner who wanted to replicate the gardens he grew up in in England. So it has beautiful old established trees and orchards. And the house is now owned by the government who run tours and events here.






Lachie is having a play here with the farmyard Dad built him while he was here last week. You may notice that the all-over body drawing and colouring in has begun (just don't ask to see his tummy!)

And a beautiful sunset last night while I was out on a walk. We live down the eastern side of a hill, so getting to see the sunset is a rarity. I think I might try to go out for a walk every night at this time, just to see it as it's such a great way to end they day.


I hope you've enjoyed this little tour, and I'll try to be back much more often next month so I don't need to write such a gargantuan post! Lx