St. Kilda beach, date night and Mornington Peninsula

We experienced a random heatwave on Thursday which was a good reason to stay inside and have a 'day off' from activities.  We have been keeping very busy during the week, so this momma was tired and needed some reprieve.  We did, however, take an evening trip to St. Kilda beach only to discover later that it is full of druggies and prostitutes.  We had fun playing in the water and getting ice cream not knowing that we could be stepping on hypodermic needles at any time.

 No needles were found, just fun to be had!

Friday - Date night!  I was able to find a fabulous babysitter through Aussie's online advertising website called 'gumtree'.  Sarah is a uni student that just moved here from Sydney.  She has free time everyday until classes start again in March.  SCORE for me!!  Unfortunately for her, I heard Drew scream all the way down the hallway after leaving.  That boy has some serious separation anxiety.

Devon and I had a very nice (and very expensive) dinner at Hare and Grace downtown.  Scallops, Mushrooms, King fish, risotto, prawns, cucumber salad.  Yummm.  Nice end to the first full week in Melbourne.

Saturday - Woke up late and decided to reserve our mini-car and drive down the coast to Mornington peninsula.  It was a spur of the moment decision as we didn't have anything planned and why not jump in a car and just go!?  That's what spontaneous adventure is all about!  Yes, even with 3 kids in tow.  On our way down, we came upon many vineyards, pick your own cherries and strawberries, tons of kangaroo crossing signs (only kangaroo sighting was unfortunately on the side of the road).  We stopped at a beautiful vineyard called Morning Sun.  They had delicious wood fired pizzas, and delicious wine.  Double bonus!

Notice the bachelorette party behind us

 Now that we were sufficiently fed, on our way to the next adventure.  It was a long trek down a boardwalk stairs, but worth it.  The walk back up.. a very different story.

Kids were worn out, tired and cranky after the long trek down the stairs, climbing on the rocks and then the long climb back up.  Isla cried the whole way, Drew was really thirsty, and Ian was a huge trooper. As soon as we got back in the car, they all passed out.  Yay, for sleeping children!

Drove around some more and found a nice calm beach to play in.

Kids were in the water for over an hour.

And nothing beats a trip to good ol' Macca's after a long and tiring day.  Devon ordered me a Pavlova Mc Flurry and an Aussie BBQ lamb burger.  Gotta love Mc D's in Australia!

It was actually VERY tasty!

It is now after 11pm, put the kids to bed over 2 hours ago and they were still making noises until a half hour ago.  I have no idea how they have so much energy to stay awake for so long.  Just another exciting day down under - too wound up to sleep!  All is quiet now, so I will head to a peaceful slumber.  Ahhh, bed.

Love and miss you all!