Ocean Groove

The second weekend in June was the Australian official bank holiday to celebrate the Queen's birthday. Happy Birthday your Maj! (When we come back to UK I'll be agitating for an introduction of a similar paid day off so we can all have a slice of cake and raise a glass to HRH togther.) We were invited by our friends Raechel and Richard to go and stay at Raechel's parents' house which is at a gorgeous place called Ocean Grove down on the Bellarine Peninsula, about an hour and a half's drive from Melbourne. Although it was a bit chilly, the weather was mainly sunny and we had a really relaxing time. There was a lot of going out for breakfast. The kids watched wall to wall Pingu!

Thea was confused about being on a beach in the sunshine and not being allowed to go swimming. She threw a wobbly when Will wouldn't let her go in, so he negotiated that they would go and put their hands in the sea and if it was warm enough he would let her take her shoes off and paddle. Of course, she put her mits in the icy water and declared it warm enough, stripped down to her Dora pants and gallivanted around. We got strange looks from all the Aussies who had their kids wrapped up in fleeces. She did some lovely drawings on the sand, including one with seaweed hair.

On the Saturday we took a ride on a little steam train that chugs up and down the coast. It was really beautiful. The kids loved it and the parents found the rhythmic motion slightly sleep inducing. Shame it was only for 45 mins!

Dulcie's second tooth has now come through the gum and she's also experimenting with pre-crawling moves. Instead of sitting up happily amusing herself all the time, she tries to lean forward onto her hands and ends up splatted on her tummy, unable to do anything. Whinging swiftly follows. Thank goodness she has also started sleeping a bit later in the morning. We had been getting a bit sick of 6am starts but introducing a bottle before she goes to bed seems to do the trick most days.