Catching up : the rest of our Victorian holiday

A couple of days after Christmas we packed our bags again and set off for Bright with the rest of G's family.


We did lots of swimming in the river and playing hide and seek in the kids pool near the river (eww).

Picnic'ed at Tronoh Dredge Hole, swam in the freezing water, paddled a rowboat and put flowers in our hair.

Had dinner at the Wandi Pub, which is a great place for a meal in the garden (nothing fancy, just a great location and easy with the kids).

Visited Mt Buffalo, although Matilda was very disappointed that there was no snow!

Ate ice-cream.

Waited down the bottom of the mountains while G's brother and girlfriend paraglided.

Had a great ye olde Devonshire tea with homemade jams and lemonade, milkshakes and spiders in Wandiligong.

And eyed-off these cool preserve jar-lights at a cafe in Bright, which I think I need to hang all over my veranda at home.

Then, a bit tired and weary we drove home.

Our Christmas

We arrived home yesterday after a great holiday in Melbourne and Bright.  So nice to be home though.

So a few catch up posts and then on to the new for 2012!

So our Christmas started with G's family celebration on Christmas Eve.  The girls got to wear their special Christmas dresses which I bought ages ago from here and they'd be sitting in their wardrobes ever since.  I have a rule that if I buy clothes for a special occasion they can't be worn before then. 

We had a great dinner and then it was present time.  Matilda was so hyperactive it was ridiculous, she stayed awake for the whole party and didn't even fall asleep on our 30 minute drive back to our apartment in Carlton. She was awake until about 1am!!   Even Polly made it until about 11 and their normal bed time is about 7.30pm.  Luckily we'd left our reindeer food, gingerbread and chocolate milk out for Santa before we left for the party. 

We thought the late night might have bought us a sleep in on Christmas Day, wrong.  We were up around 8am to see what the big man had left behind.  And apparently he went overboard again.

So the kids got straight into it. 

Then we played with the new toys for a little while before heading over to G's cousin's for a pretty low key and lovely Christmas lunch. 

Then we drove home with crazily tired kids and through some crazy Melbourne weather for an early night and a lazy Boxing Day that only required us to get out of PJs for a trip to the local park and some sliding. 

Too tired to even try and convince Matilda that her princess costume was not suitable park attire. 

Boxing Day was our last full day in Melbourne before heading off to Bright for our last week of holidays.  

PS If you're ever in need of a place to stay in Melbourne the apartment we rented on Rathdowne Street, Carlton was perfect.  We'll definitely be staying there again.  Great location and really really spacious.