Being an extremely patient person. Just listen to this conversation. Ella: “Can we go to that place again?’’ Me: “What place?’’ Ella: “You know.’’ Me: “No darling, I don’t.’’ Ella: “Well, either do I.’’ Who knows!
Having the luxury of staying home to watch Baby Holly as she begins to learn to crawl. OK, so it’s more like a backwards scoot, but she’s getting there.
The Bloke in The Shed regularly posting on this blog. It’s a way to find out what’s going on in that head of his, including Be careful what you ask for. Yes, he’s ratting on me again.
I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.
NEVER, I repeat NEVER, ask your wife if she wants you to pick something up from the supermarket before you come home. Listen to the voice of experience.
Yesterday I emailed Princess Kel asking if she wanted me to pick up some steak for tea before I came home. What followed was, well, you might as well read for yourself:
Don’t worry about eggs, we have a whole carton + couple in a second carton.’’
Far out. Was I sorry for asking.
I’d previously had the whole trip home planned in my mind. I’d figured, a quick trip into the supermarket, home in five minutes, cuddles with girls, crack a cold beer, help feed and bathe the girls and settle into the couch for some tellie.
Baby Holly “talking'' to her Uncle Rick while on holiday in Melbourne last week.
This week I’m grateful for:
Hearing Baby Holly say her first words, including “bubba’’ and… “dada’’. Hmmm… Not so grateful for that last bit. After all that hard work trying to get her to say “mum’’ and that’s how she repays me. Not to mention wiping bottoms, feeding tummies and singing lullabies. We’re now not on speaking terms. Which defeats the purpose of her learning to talk really.
My Twitter friends, who last night helped my new PR business Mum PR reach 120+ @MumPR followers in a matter of hours. That blows me away. Thank you to each and every one of you. Now to work on building upon my 14 Mum PR Facebook friends.
My first pair of big nanna knickers. I think it’s time to pack away the cute hipsters and invest in some full-support beige-coloured nanna undies. Or as my late Nan used to call them, her “footy shorts’’. Although, I really doubt any footballer has ever worn shorts that big. No offence, Nan.
TRUE, and I know it to be so because an underwater diver with a microphone in her face mask told me so. I’m not going to doubt her, especially as she was the one in the tank surrounded by any number of sharks as big as cars, huge stingrays and enough Snapper to send Rex Hunt into a piscatorial orgasm.
The answer came as part of a presentation in the impressive underwater auditorium at the Melbourne Aquarium. By way of qualification, the pumpkin revelation was only a small part of a longer answer to a question I posed to the aquarium diver about where they get the food they feed the fish, with the express qualification she could not reply “the ocean’’. But enough about pumpkin.
The Princesses and I had made the journey to Melbourne on the premise tickets to the footy were my Christmas present, but really Princess Kel and I just wanted to take Princess Ella to the aquarium. Staying at the sensational Medina Grand, we were only a couple of blocks away so we gathered Kel’s Melbourne-based brother Rick and shuffled off to the aquarium.
Now, we hadn’t been to the aquarium POK (post kids) so don’t fall into the trap we and several other families made and try to enter through the old entrance. The main entrance is now on Flinders St where, upon entering the facility, you are greeted by the magnificent penguin exhibition.
The temptation, being the first exhibit, is to hurry through it to the next one. Don’t. Take your time to marvel at the contrast of the penguins at rest on the ice and those putting on the most acrobatic displays in the pool. If you want to, you can actually go back to the penguins again after you’ve seen the rest.
You can follow an easy path through the different sections of the aquarium, but in hindsight I’d suggest timing your trip around the keeper/diver presentations at the different sections to get the most out of your visit. The schedule is online .
Look out for the spots at the aquarium where little kids can actually crawl underneath exhibits and poke their heads into glass spheres.
The rockpool is always a delight for the littlies and Ella showed no fear in picking up a starfish.
However the fear was there when a very brave Ella standing next to a docile crocodile in a glass exhibit was told it was actually a “real crocodile’’. We had to check her undies for stains afterwards.
Other interesting things Ella learned were stonefish are not actually stones, lionfish are not actually lions and you wouldn’t dare eat jellyfish with custard for dessert.
Ella really enjoyed it and it was a good 2-3 hour experience for a toddler, but I think she’d really appreciate the experience more as she gets older (me, I could have stayed there all day). The only negative for those with young, pram-weilding families is the one point where you need to negotiate one tight lift to get to another level.
Overall, the Melbourne Aquarium was an experience that Ella will never forget and that in itself was priceless.
Do you have any other kid-friendly suggestions for Melbourne?
Disclosure: We received a complimentary night at the Medina Grand and complimentary tickets to the Melbourne Aquarium. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.
THERE was just one downside to our incredible four-day holiday in Melbourne last week. It had nothing to do with the crazy Melbourne weather – and this coming from a Tasmanian. And there was certainly little to fault with our sublime accommodation at Medina Grand or the cute waddling penguins at the Melbourne Aquarium.
A penguin at the Aquarium
No, it was watching three-year-old Princess Ella bury her head into her Dad’s shoulder as her Uncle Rick drove off for the last time during our vacation. With tears streaming down her face, she whimpered: “I miss him’’. It broke our hearts. All I can say is, thank goodness for Skype.
Aside from that one moment, this was definitely one of the more enjoyable holidays we’ve had – and it included a three-year-old, seven-month-old and lots of rain. Ella even got a lollypop from one shop assistant for “being so gorgeous’’. It could have easily gone the other way, considering five minutes into the plane flight she asks: “are we there yet?’’.
Medina Hotels gave us one night complimentary in a two-bedroom apartment at the centrally located Medina Grand on Queen St, which lived up to the cliché that first impressions count.
Hotel room before…… and after!
We were amazed at the service, the facilities and, oh, the space. And I’m not just saying that because they spoilt us. The kids were given a toy chest full to the brim with toys.
Toys and a TV – Ella was in heaven.
While we scored a divine bottle of red and welcoming card on arrival.
Sorry, no photo – the wine was devoured by the time we thought to photograph it.
Ella had the luxury of her own Queen-sized bed, big bathroom and a TV. I think she scored the better room. It was just enough space for her and her nine “friends’’. Her bathroom also included full laundry facilities but, alas, she didn’t make use of them. The Bloke in The Shed and I had a walk-in robe, safe and full bathroom (with bath) off our room.
The apartment was extremely kid friendly – if Holly woke up and had a screaming fit, she was out of earshot from Ella who was up the other end of the hotel room. Plus the walls seemed to be so well soundproofed we didn’t hear a thing from any other room or the city below.
The girls in Ella's big bed.
Add to that a large lounge, dining and work space (ideal for parking strollers), plus a balcony overlooking the city. The full kitchen helped in preparing our own meal the first night, food for the newly solids eating Holly and breakfast each morning. Boy, did it help save some money. There was the option of a handy grocery delivery service through the hotel, but we discovered an IGA down the road instead. Not to mention there being cafe and restaurant options on every corner.
My only negative, and to be honest it’s pretty picky, was the straight-backed high chair. Holly just couldn’t sit comfortably. Thankfully we had the stroller with us.
Speaking of which, knowing we didn’t want to be carrying around a three-year-old when she got tired during shopping and touring the city, we invested in a cheap $30 stroller from Target which served our purposes well. It probably wasn’t a great look for my brother Rick when we managed to get in the background of a Herald Sun photo.
That’s Rick pushing the pink pram. While away we avoided posting, Facebooking and tweeting about the fact we were in Melbourne in fear someone ransacked the house. Then we somehow managed to make page 3 and all that went out the window. Our house is still in one piece, by the way.
Other highlights of the trip included:
Ella’s first experience on a tram, where she learned what it felt like to be a sardine. It helped her feel greater empathy for the fish at the Aquarium.
Shopping in the city and at Harbour Town, which wasn’t actually the plan. The plan was to go to the new DFO South Wharf, but we missed the stop. Typical tourists.
Spending the day at the Melbourne Aquarium and seeing the sheer look of terror on Ella’s face when she realised it was a “real crocodile’’.
Good taxi drivers – there’s slight concern when you know there’s no child restraints in taxis (which is legal) but then score a maniac taxi driver who appears colour blind at traffic lights.
Ella witnessing Flinders Street Station and announcing to all “that place is on our computer’’. (I’d shown her a few online photos to help prepare her for the trip).
Pancakes that made our eyes look bigger than our bellies – or our plates look bigger than our heads.
Pancakes bigger than your head!
So, what do you love about Melbourne?
Stay tuned. A review of the Melbourne Aquarium and footy at the ‘G is coming tomorrow, courtesy of The Bloke in The Shed. Read more about Medina hotels or join the MumSpace Facebook page where women share their experiences.
Disclosure: We received a complimentary night at the Medina Grand and complimentary tickets to the Melbourne Aquarium. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.
DISCUSSION between myself and Princess Kel during a city stroll this week turned to bananas (you know bananas, the fruit which now has a higher price per gram than crack cocaine). Well, the conversation was around the fact we should buy two – despite the cost – to at least give the newly solid-eating Princess Holly a taste for them and Ella a treat.
So after quick call to the bank manager to secure the funding for said purchase, the decision was made. Later in the day we call in to a supermarket and I pop in to grab a few essentials, scruffing an extravagant three bananas on the way. People at the checkout look at me like I’m P Diddy.
On the drive home, Kel remembers a couple of other things she needed and we call by a little supermarket in the neighbourhood. Upon re-entering the car, Kel says “oh, I got bananas’’.
“Um, so did I,’’ was my response. We look at each other and swear quietly enough not to be heard by the princesses in the back seat.
“How many did you get?” says I.
“Two. How many did you get?’’ says Kel.
“Three’’. Yep, five bananas coming in at a nice little sum of about $16.
We cut our losses, decide to live on bread and water for the next month and tell a delighted Princess Ella in the back seat she can have her first banana since the floods hit Queensland …. AS LONG as she saves part of it for Holly. Ella, clearly switched on to the new high value on the bendy fruit, proceeds to jump from the car on arrival home saying “see, I saved some for Holly’’ holding up a piece of banana roughly the size of a walnut. Not even a very big walnut.
Later in the day I posted this status on Facebook: “Bought five bananas today. May not be able to pay the power bill this month.” This is a selection of the responses which followed:
Coley: I’m working two jobs just to pay for my girlfriends 2-a-day habit.
Shae: You can buy a pair of Jimmy choo heels for the cost of bananas.
Testy: I never even gave it a thought and bought 3 the other day from Woolies – got home and realised that they cost me over $8.00 WTF??
