Christmas Concert at Ardrie Park

The City of Stonnington (our municipality) holds several Christmas events over the month of December. The first of which we decided to attend was the Mr. Happy Christmas Concert in Ardrie Park (the park literally half a block away from our house). Sam and Ben (she is from Calgary, he is an Aussie and they have moved here permanently) and their son Connor joined us. After a lovely morning, the skies were looking rather menacing (surprise, surprise) but we ventured out with all of the kids piled into the double stroller. The event started at 4 and we arrived shortly thereafter. There were sausages, a café, facepainting, a decoration painting station, a “Fit for kids” group running physical activities for kids, a “Fairy Dance Party” group putting on dance lessons for all of the girls, and about 200 people enjoying some typical rain in Melbourne. Major difference – most of the adults were drinking alcohol that they brought from home. We are still too Canadian to even think about bringing alcohol to a children’s concert but I can imagine it would have made the event much more pleasant for us. In any event, the kids ran some obstacle courses, painted some decorations and then we decided to head home for dinner, with the intent on returning after dinner to actually catch Mr. Happy and the concert portion of the event. On the way out, we passed the line for the Fire Engine rides and I convinced Jeff that this would be worth the wait. Three turns later, we had our seats aboard the antique fire engine. Jeff volunteered to stay back and take pictures. The kids loved it. Our sometimes shy demure kids were yelling “Hello” to everyone that we passed on the street. They also chanted “Zoom Zoom” for the better part of the 10 minute drive at the top of their lungs. Very enjoyable indeed. Thanks to the City of Stonnington and to the driver of the Fire Engine for making those extra runs!
Dinner was not one of our finer hours so we bailed on returning for the concert. So our only complaint is that Mr. Happy came out too late for those of us that are from Canada and don’t want to mess with “bedtime”. Someday before we leave we may loosen up…