Reluctant Spring

We've had so much rain and cold windy days this Spring that if the sun comes out at the weekend we all feel like celebrating. 

A week ago we thought we'd plant some carrot seeds. Abi is a very keen botanist and loves the outdoors. Today she asked Rob why the seeds haven't sprouted yet. He replied that they had only been planted for 7 days and they take 10 days to sprout (in theory). He then asked Abi how many more days she would have to wait. She replied without hesitation.........3 days!! (Pretty good for a 4 year old....was that just a lucky guess??)

Ella enjoys the artistic possibilities of gardening - she planted her seeds in fantastic amazing patterns.

Then it was back to a week of wet windy weather again....poor cold carrot seeds!

But Rob managed to get this clear blue sky picture of recent progress at C5... The building is at its finished height..the roof goes on next. Our apartment is the one on the right above the grey balconies (one floor below the top floor). There are three apartments on our level and six apartments facing on to the grey balconies. A wine bar, a gastro pub and a cafe have opened on the corner opposite and we are doing our best to patronise them on our visits. There's a lot of excitement about the way the area is developing.  We're already planning our boules tournaments on that lawn.

Reluctant portraits

It took us all a week or two to recover from our travels; the girls (and Jody) came back with bad colds, the weather's been very wet and miserable...and there's not been too many opportunities to enjoy being outdoors during the school holidays.

So when the temperatures rose late last week, and the sun emerged, we took the girls to Floriade. Usually it's a fun and colourful place to be and the girls were looking forward to the Jumping Castle........but despite the anticipation they are not too keen on our photo taking these days - especially Abi!!!

 This is Abi's and Ella's best impression of a pirhana smile!

 The mood lifted a bit after the giant slide ride.........

But Ella was disappointed to find she was no longer eligible for the Jumping Castle (too tall).  She took it well though - and Abi wouldn't go on it either out of solidarity with her sister!

No petting zoo at Floriade this year either - although the girls found the reptiles display quite interesting (goannas, frill neck lizards and lots of pythons). Ella even patted a baby crocodile

But the best fun was had on the old stone fort in Commonwealth Park - just outside the area devoted to Floriade. Kids have been playing on this old stone construction for over 30 years - it's really old school and probably very dangerous by today's standards. The girls played in and on it for nearly an hour (with all the other kids) getting filthy dirty and risking life and limb in the tunnels and on the (really high) turrets.

The pic below is of Ella and me at the start of the holidays after we'd enjoyed dumplings for lunch in Civic.  This girl is always OK about  having her picture taken (lucky us)!!