Melbourne in Autumn

It is officially Autumn here in Melbourne.  It's very chilly at night, it rains quite frequently and while the day time can be comfortable in the sun, you still need a warm sweatshirt or jacket.  I organized everyone's clothes today to pack away all the summer stuff and make the cold weather-wear more readily available.  Only about 3 more weeks left here, but I believe it will be about the same temperature when we get back home.  Should be an easy transition!  It's hard to imagine that we have been living in 3 seasons in only 4 months.  I am so excited to go back home to another summer (however, currently mother nature is not letting spring make an appearance in MN yet).

I was able to go downtown tonight by myself to do a little shopping whilst Devon put the kids to bed.  I will welcome any opportunity to get out of bed time!  With my un-showered, hair in a pony, I've been taking care of kids and cleaning the house all day good looks, I set off to the trendy Melbourne city to go... grocery shopping!  Oh the exciting life I lead!  I was able to take in so much more than I usually do.  When I'm with the kids I am constantly and only aware of them.  Are they near me?  Are they going to get hit by a car?  Are they running into people?  Are they going to have a tantrum now?  I don't see anything else.  I got my shopping done, and perused the aisles a little more than necessary and headed back home.

Perhaps the next time I get this opportunity I'll have showered and will be more presentable and maybe even frequent a coffee shop, or have a glass of wine.

Tomorrow is Friday.  No big plans for the weekend.  We might take the kids to see a movie.  Any good kid movie recommendations?  I'm so out of the loop here!

No pics today. I'm tired and they take too long to upload.

'Night for me, Morning to you!

Isla's art

I just LOVE kid art.  It's my favorite kind of art and I proudly boast my children's drawings on the walls, the fridge and the garage door.  They may not be budding artists 'yet', but I still do love their interpretations of life however abstract that may be.

Here is just a sampling of Isla's artistic endeavors.  Favorite medium; crayola washable paint, on printer paper.

'Running'
A depiction of going running with daddy and Cairo at Red Cherry Circle
Done with colored pencils

'The World'
A composition by Isla with the aid of 'daddy'

'Fireworks'

'Horse on Roller skates and other random things'

'Ummmmm'
???

'Muppet Sock Puppet'
Also used, glitter

 Perhaps I will next post a sampling of the boy's art work, however you will only see a bunch of scribbles at this stage.  They are not even drawing the usual potato people you normally see at their age.  They'll get it soon enough!

Have a fabulous day!

Deep thoughts by me

When thinking of an idea for this post, I was at a loss.  What do I write about when it's just been a run of the mill, normal day here in Giffordville?

Boston:  Tragic, horrible, sad.  I am not a runner of the Boston caliber, but I do have a couple marathons under my belt.  It's an exhilarating feeling finally crossing the finish line after 26.2 brutal miles.  These athletes have trained all year and have pushed their bodies to the physical limit.  At the 4 hour mark, with the finish line in sight, it's all you can do to muster up the very last fiber of energy to push your way to cross the line and hear your name being called over the loud speaker.  I can't even imagine the sickened mind of the person who decided this would be a good event to place a couple bombs.  I know there are several news articles, blog posts, opinions etc. already written on this subject but I just wanted to share my 2 cents.  There may not seem to be much hope for humanity these days, and sometimes I worry about the world my kids are growing up in.  But then I remember that the world is filled with mostly good people.  People like you and me.  Living in fear is a waste of living.  While we mourn with those who were effected by this tragic event, we also must remember that life still goes on.  The sun rises, we get out of bed, we make good use of the life we were given.

This is where my hope lies:

'Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.'
Psalm 62:5

Quotable quotes for a Monday

Here are some great quotes for those of you with a case of the 'Mondays'.  A little inspiration to get your day off to a great start.  I had a great Monday here in Oz, I would encourage you to have the same!

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” – Art Linkletter

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

May the God of hope fill you will all the joy and and peace in believing, so that the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  Romans 15:13

'Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there' - Will Rogers

And a picture to send you off with.

 Have a great day everyone!

Sunday Funday

The Gifford's know how to make good use of a Sunday.  Have car.. will drive..

Today, we went to Fairytale Park about an hour drive taking dirt roads from Melbourne.  Have you ever seen Shrek, the part with the freaky theme park and the old animatronic figures moving around to out of tune carnival music?  Yep, pretty much that.

Don't remember this fairy tale!

Aladdin

Camelot

Scariest one - Jack in the beanstalk.  Yikes

They had a really cool playground at the end of the displays in which the kids (and Devon) enjoyed immensely.

Climbing down the castle tower

Isla's in shackles!

After Fairytale park, we decided to go back to pick more strawberries and apples.  Last weekend to do that here in Melbourne and we went through our first kilo of strawberries in less than 24 hours!  

Ian the apple picking king

So much fun

After apple picking we decided to continue on with our day.  Had dinner - Isla had lasagna and declared "Mommy, this is junk - from now on I just want to eat broccoli and cauliflower.  Please order that for me right now."  I'm sure she really enjoyed it anyway and I'm not sure that the restaurant we went to had veggies. :)  She ate my salad and was happy.

After dinner we stopped at a fun playground where Devon enjoyed himself and was able to act his age - me too actually, gosh it's fun pretending to be a kid!    We kicked the soccer ball around, spun until we were dizzy and hung like monkeys from bars.

Round and round we go

Do I need to explain this one?

Whenever we head back into Melbourne after an outing, we always pass a town that is known for 'harness racing'.  What is 'harness racing' you ask?  Let me tell you.  It is a type of horse race that pulls a 2 wheeled cart called a skully, in which the rider sits and gently taps the horse to urge it to go faster.  Who's in for another adventure?  So glad we checked it out!

Getting ready for the race to start

And they are off!  Blurry and fast!

 Isla and I really liked the horse that was all decked out in orange so we cheered for that one.  Too bad I didn't bet on it because it came in second and we would have won $450!

Here's a better picture of what they look like - taken from the interwebs.

 What a fantastic Sunday!

Day 4 of healthy eating complete!  So, we may have cheated a little at the restaurant today, but it's hard to control EVERYTHING that goes into our kid's bodies.  We brought a picnic lunch to the Fairytale land which was eaten by everyone and no complaints.  Still no crackers, fruit snacks and teddies!

And this is my new recipe of the day that will be for snack time tomorrow.

These are macerated organic apricots mixed with sesame seeds and rolled in coconut.  And it's nut free so we can take them to the gym.  Perfect!  (I just caught Devon sneaking a mouth full so hopefully they make it until tomorrow)

That's it for today!  Super tired over here and will for sure sleep soundly tonight... unless I dream of animatronic fairytale characters.  Creepy.

Best Strawberries ever

Hi.

Today was full and fantastic.

Woke up early and headed to Bacchus Marsh - orchard country - about 40 minutes away.  We set out to go apple picking, but scored and did strawberries instead.  Best Strawberries Ever.  In fact, we may go back tomorrow morning to pick more.  Fun family outing plus delicious snacks all rolled into one.  Win win!

Happy Drew

Isla only picking the very best ones

So yummy

After strawberry picking, we headed home and got ready to go to Shuman's apartment for a BBQ lunch.  We had a sausage sizzle with veggies, fruit and potato chips.  The chips were not on my food friendly list, but I figure a little here and there won't hurt.  AND, they still have not had any crackers, fruit snacks, or teddy's - DAY THREE.

Kids were exhausted when we got home, so Ian and Drew took a quick nap before the sitter came for DATE NIGHT.

We didn't really have a plan.  I threw a bottle of wine in my bag and a couple of plastic cups and was ready for anything!  We ended up eating at a nice restaurant where we had the server 'entertain us'.  Gave her a price limit and she just kept bringing fabulous little niblets out for us to try.  So much fun!  Unfortunately, they didn't have cork service so the bottle of wine stayed cozy in my bag.

One of our many courses.  Spinner crab, galangal, roast chili on a betel leaf.  Say wah?  But it was good!

After dinner we went to a little chocolate dessert place and got an iced coffee (espresso, milk and gelato) and various truffles and pieces of chocolate.

I'm a happy camper

We were thinking about going to see a movie but decided to do some shopping instead.  We scored some awesome swimming apparel for the boys - check out the Aussie speedos!

Also, got a bunch more delicious and nutritious food and snacks.  We perused the organic and natural food isle at Woolies to get ideas for homemade snacks - market research if you will.  My next recipe will be pureed dried apricots rolled in sesame seeds and coconut.  Will keep you posted on how that goes over.  So far the kids have been fabulous with my new food phase.

You will REALLY want to read tomorrow's post.  I promise it will be super awesome because we are going to Fairy Park!  I think I'm more excited than the kids are.

Naps - blessing? or curse?

I love when my kids nap, and then I very much dislike it.  2/3 of my kids napped today and during that time I accomplished many tasks - including dishes, laundry but most importantly, snuggling with Ian (the one who did not nap).  We bonded, had a great conversation, and he told me that I was his best friend and that he would pick beautiful flowers for me.  Ahhh, the moments that we take for granted.  But now as I write this, it is 10:30pm and Isla and Drew are FIGHTING sleep.  It's very frustrating.  Is the little break during the day worth the late night struggle?  I'm still battling that one out.

Today was a very successful food day!  I know, you are probably super bored with my food posts, but this is a big deal for me.  Isla is even really into it and understands what we're trying to do by only eating things that are good for our body.

Here are some of the things we had today:

Home made Lara Bars:  Medjool dates blended with peanut butter and granola.  They were devoured!

 Lunch: Whole grain sour dough toast with Avocado spread, marinated feta and tomato.  This is my new favorite!

Snack: Rye crackers with light cream cheese and 100% (no sugar) fruit spread

Not as many tantrums (food related) today as there were yesterday.  I hope they are forgetting about the fruit snacks and crackers that are in the pantry.

Tomorrow is Saturday and we are busy all day.  We are going to pick apples in the morning, then to a BBQ for lunch at a co-workers house, then Devon and I get DATE NIGHT!  We've only been out twice since we've been here on a true date night so I am super excited to paint the town red.  Well, we're getting burgers and going to see a movie.  But THAT, my friends, is what I call a good date.