Trip to Melbourne and Other Belated Agenda Items

I know, I know. BUT in my defence, it has been all sorts of crazy over this way. The children have been playing sleep tag and some nights I don't get a chance to be childfree and able to think clearly until 11pm. Suffice to say that by then all I can think clearly is "Must lie down and not think any more". Ted has started a similar nocturnal jaunt that Harriet also started at the same age - getting up in the middle of the night just to play. The other night I went to go to bed at 12.30, but Ted woke soon after and I was then awake until 5am. *yawn* So believe me, I think I'm saving us all a whole lot of meaningless drivel by not writing during that sort of brain space.

So we do have to catch up on the Melbourne trip. We started out almost exactly on time which was a minor miracle. Harriet was so excited she sat in the car while we organised the final few things and refused to get out. Ted timed it all well so that we started out with him tired enough to sleep in the car. Yay! All on track. Luckily we had made the decision to buy Harry her own MP3 player before setting out. If we were to all survive the trip in one piece it's safe to say that no-one, not even Teddy could survive the number of showtunes that Harry would have us otherwise endure. So she happily listened to The Wizard of Oz soundtrack, The Sound of Music soundtrack and several audio books including Milly Molly Mandy and Pippi Longstocking. It was the best investment of the trip I think. She sat in the back happily drawing, writing and listening to her music for the whole trip! *insert shocked face here*. This is a child who cries out "When will we be there? WHHHEEEEENNNN?" if we are driving to the local shop. Perhaps our focus on the length of the trip, the need to be calm in the car and generally putting more emphasis on the confines of car travel than she had ever heard before was enough to actually sink in. Wonders of wonders.

We stopped in Wodonga and we were mightily upset that some beautiful people we know had moved from there not long ago, so we missed an opportunity to catch up with them. But we did check out the local Mexican restaurant that they had recommended to us about two years ago and it was great! Harry had the run of the place and their children's corner was so well stocked - colouring in, a kitchen, numerous toys, a little table and chairs. Awesome!

Next day it was the run towards Melbourne and then we did start to encounter a few "Are we there yets?". Ted also started to get a little anxious so it was with a great sigh of relief that we drove up to our accommodation and...realised we had to go and kill half an hour since they were still closed. But when we finally did organise our check-in we were told that we had been upgraded. Woop-dee-do, yeah? But as you know from my previous post, our upgrade was AWESOME! The penthouse was about as big as our house! Two full bathrooms, floor to ceiling windows, full kitchen..wow. It was glorious, we didn't want to leave!

We walked around Melbourne city for a while, much to Harriet's initial angst. She didn't want to leave the apartment. But once we were out and about she involved herself in the environment with gusto. We had the usual photo opportunities at the big purse, on the Mambo-esque dog and Harriet...well, Harriet being Harriet decided that the GPO was the perfect place for a rendition of So Long, Farewell (Or as she calls it, The Cuckoo Song from TSOM). We've gone from hearing that freaking song maybe 20-30 times a day at the peak of her love, to now only about once or twice a day. I would like to point out that this has now been going on for nearly two years. TWO. YEARS. Seriously sometimes my patience can amaze even me. How have I not performed serious physical harm on her by now? And when oh when will the madness stop?

The next day dawned all misty, cold and beautiful. When we woke there were two hot air balloons that looked as though they were about to smash into our window they were so close! I could definitely get used to waking up to such a dramatic, yet serene morning for the rest of my life. But we had other issues - today was the wedding and we were due to get all dressed up. Harriet was SO excited about getting dressed in her special outfit that she was asking to wear it before breakfast. Fair enough too, since it was probably the first outfit she'd had that wasn't bought from an op shop in years, poor child. Despite being five minutes walk from the venue we did manage to find ourselves literally running down the street to get there in time. But as with all weddings we arrived all worried about being late only to find that no-one else was even mildly worried about time, agendas had been thrown out the window and everything was to progress at its natural state. So we relaxed and enjoyed the Javanese/Chinese/Jewish/Catholic wedding. Gotta love multiculturalism!

It finished early since the bride and groom have two small children, so we all were able to head home, have a sleep/relaxing lie down (depending on your age - over 30s wanted to sleep, under 30s wanted to run around wildly and under 2s wanted to sleep deeply and never again be roused). But considering we were in a different state, the weather was wildly delicious and we would all need to eat again sometime in the evening, we made a beeline for the Vegie Bar in Fitzroy. Harry was way *way* overtired and started to have a little meltdown at the fact she couldn't think of what to eat. And Ted was so tired he wanted to (literally) walk around in circles. So we compromised - I had a mini breakdown while they both did what they wanted. Eventually we walked outside to look in the windows of adjacent shops and I mourned the inability to truly savour the delicious gado gado I had just had.

Well Harry has finally succumbed to slumber, so Jimbo and I are heading straight to the lounge to watch Dr Who. I'll try to finish this off tomorrow night, I promise.