Melbourne for the weekend

I'll admit that I'm getting a bit weary now. I have become very used to staying up late and saving up for weekend sleep ins (encouraging news for those with small children - you will get to sleep in before they leave home!). Last weekend I was in Sydney for the reunion and this past weekend was spent in Melbourne so I am running on empty but it was completely worth it!

Andrew had the opening night of The Boy From Oz on Saturday night so he wasn't able to come with us. The kids and I got up bright and early and had a great trip down to Melbourne, arriving in time for lunch. The men very kindly minded the children while the women headed to the shops on Maling Road. The shops were lovely for window shopping. We saw a dress that we'd have loved to buy for Tim and Shona's Pumpkin but it was $250! (we really missed them, especially the new Gumnut.) After that I had no qualms at all about buying some chocolate at Xocolatl. I don't remember all the flavours and they don't have them on the website but the red one is strawberry balsamic, the long one had macadamias and honey, the silver one was creme brulée and the white one was raspberry and lime. Delicious.

And pretty.

We had a fabulous dinner of ribs which the kids enjoyed with gusto and necessitated serious cleaning of faces and fingers.

Poor Phil and Kristin had a rough night when Henry was too excited to sleep and he and Georgiana woke up very early. How can you be angry with these sweet faces?

The early start enabled us to fit in two coffees and all the lunch preparation without stress. We all got dressed in our finery and Henry and Georgiana wore their special baptism outfits. This is Henry smiling out the window at the trees - he has the loveliest nature!

Georgiana's outfit was beautiful and I do apologise for not having more photos of her - it's because I was spending time with my godson on the day of his baptism!

Matching side ponytails. Not matching height despite there being only three weeks between their birth dates!

Henry with his godparents. Wayne is Kristin's brother.

After the ceremony we went back to Phil and Kristin's for a delicious lunch and a piece of this cake - not fruit cake but mud cake with a layer of ganache in the middle. There is a great photo on facebook of Toby's eyes bulging at the sight of it.

It is always great to get the cousins together and Bethany even made some new friends at the lunch. Charlotte has great dress ups.

Jossie held babies all weekend.

Thanks for having us P,K,C,H and G!

We got home around 9.30 pm, probably 10 minutes before Stephen Fry would have finished reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone! Audio books are the best. Andrew's opening night was fabulous and they were given a standing ovation. Jossie, Toby and I are going to be in the audience on Saturday night and can't wait to see it. Now, I need to sort the three loads of washing I did last night.......