THE LAST BATCHELOR HOORAH!!!

So Mom and John have been very busy here. They have seen several areas, visited a ton of galleries and shopping districts, they even enjoyed a 3-day trip to Cairns which included a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef, a scenic rail tour of Kuranda and jaunt to the rainforest. Upon their return, they enjoyed the free tram tour of the CBD and a trip to the Queen Victoria Market. The last two things on their “To Do” list were the Brighton Boathouses for the compulsory touristy pics (which turned out quite well I think), and a trip to the Botanical Gardens.

So Thursday morning, we started off at Socatime Joeys for Wyatt's session. Mom and John came to watch so John could relive his glory days as “Sideline Soccer Coach Extraordinaire”. Wyatt was true to form - uncoachable. He has some serious skills but he only enjoys the first 2 goes at a drill, then gets bored and decides either to lie down in the middle of the gym, or take a rest on the bench until the next drill begins. Cooper comes to “watch” and he often participates with more enthusiasm than Wyatt, this of course spurs Wyatt on and so I often encourage this sibling rivalry which will likely haunt me for the rest of my life.

After soccer we drove to Brighton Beach and enjoyed a picnic lunch and some amazing KODAK moments (okay, they were really Nikon moments but it doesn't sound as good). This beach is getting increasingly busier every time I go. I have yet to go into this water and am unlikely to do so much in the future with the number of jellyfish that I have seen washed up in the surf – DISGUSTING! This is lame of me, and hopefully I will get over this fear before I instill it in the kids. Everyone else goes in the water and sends their kids in, so I am sure that it is safe. The kids were pretty cooperative considering their lack of nap and they were even clever enough to find the boathouse that matched their outfits that day!!! Mom enjoyed checking out the contemporary homes across the road and they even found a crazy spiny fish washed up on the beach.













After our picnic, we headed off to the Gardens. Mom and John went to all of the various ornamental gardens, the rainforest walk et al., while Catty and I took the kids to the children’s garden. This is a lovely little fenced in area that boasts a fountain that leaks into a “stream” that flows through some rolling hills and bamboo jungles, and other green spaces. The kids had a ton of fun getting soaked and stripping down to their diapers. I met a Canadian woman who moved here 2 weeks ago. She heard me speaking to the kids and turned with a mild air of desperation and asked “Are you from Canada?”...I recognized the quiver in her voice and so we chatted for a while and we have invited them over on the weekend for a BBQ. (Sound familiar Kerri????) I hope to befriend her and ease her transition as Kerri eased mine. She has a 17 month old son named Connor who will likely be the proud new owner of a ton of toys come June of next year….Of course his opening move was to poke Maddy in the eyes. For the next 10 minutes all I heard was "Boy. Poke Maddy. Eyes. (repeat)" Don't you just love Maddy's ice cream shirt! A second hand "bargain" (at least be Melbourne standards).

Mom and John had flight delays on Friday but managed to leave for NZ a mere 8 hours after their scheduled departure time. From the quick e-mails I have received they are enjoying their time in NZ. We really enjoyed having them here and when the door opens in the evening, Wyatt will often look over with anticipation and say “That could be Grandma and Grandad.”…