Life with Lotus Maria and Lucian Stone

On May 1st Nate and Lucian shared there birthday... as they will do for eternity.  It hard for me since I do really want to honor and celebrate them individually, but clearly a 42 year's birthday celebration is a tad different than a three old's celebration.  Hint: One has tequila, guess which?

Birthday Pancakes

This year I was particularly sappy about Lucian turning three.  We almost lost him when he was born and I really couldn't imagine my life with this outrageously cute and sometimes simply outrageous little guy.

I equally couldn't imagine my life with out my amazing husband, who truly is the most patient and supportive partner one could ask for.

So a month late, but here are some shots from their birthdays.

Nate eating his favorite food, fried clams.  I must really love him, because those things are GROSS!

Lotus came with me to see one of my dad's lectures in Australia.  His topic was the seven principals of democracy.  Lotus miraculously managed to not throw a temper tantrum from having to sit quietly through a college lecture (thank you iPad). After his lecture she climbs into her Papa's lap and asks, "Papa, what's democracy?"

As most of you know we took my dad to Australia as a 90th birthday present.  It's no easy feat to get a 90 year old, a 2 year old and 6 year old and Nate and I across the planet.  In fact it seems like the start of a really corny joke.  Most people thought we were crazy, but hey what's life with out a little adventure.

The plane trip was a tad worrying, but my kids are great travelers and my super energetic little boy was just thrilled that he got to watch tv for 16 hours straight  Though he only wanted to watch the same show over and over again.  "Mickey Mouse again?" became his anthem for the trip and Lotus was an old pro.  The only time we hit serious turbulence she was in the bathroom and of course that was when they brought the dinner carts out.  I was about to leap over people to get to her, but she got out and asked a flight attendant for help and was carefully and safely escorted to her seat.  The kids got along so well that I thought we should put them on an international flight everyday of their lives, since they don't always get along that well on an average Wednesday in their rooms.

Once we landed I was so thrilled to be there, to be able to take my dad to see so many of his friends, and to show off this amazing country to my kids.  I was concerned that all the things I loved in Oz may not be so exciting to Lotus and Lucian and I would be devastated, or at least really sad.  But for the most part they seemed content if not thrilled to be there.

The best part of our trip was that we got to spend so much time with two of my favorite families on the planet, The Phillips and The Knight-Gills.  My kids were spoiled rotten, by Mick and Veronica Phillips and Prue Gill.  Lucian took to calling Veronica Grandma and I seriously considered relocating them all to the States for all of our sakes.

We had one good day of jet lag, but the next day we were all pretty ready to get going.  Which was perfect since it was Lolo day.  Otherwise known as our anniversary as a family.  Lotus wanted to do something pretty fun and so we tried to deliver.  We hopped on a tram from our flat in Lygon Street and rode out to St. Kilda and spent a glorious day in the little beach town and at Luna Park, the funky beach front amusement park.  The kids had a blast and we reveled in the great late summer weather.  We had dinner that night at Prue's amazing home.  I seriously had Nate take pictures of every angle so someday I can recreate it here.  The kids got to feed her "chooks", play with the dog and meet Isaac, the apple of the Gill clan's eye, otherwise known as Ninnie's son.

The next day we met friends on Brunswick Street for brekkie and then headed to the Carlton Garden Playground, which according to Nate is the coolest playground ever.  We then spent several days catching up with old friends, going to the beach, traveling around Melbourne by tram, eating and drinking way too much.  I was particularly amazed at how much had changed in the nine years since our last visit.  Federation Square, which once was just a bunch of train tracks, is now an arts hub with two museums, cafes and a great play space. The old service alleys are now home to some of the greatest street art collections in the world.  In Oakland they call it graffiti and spend untold amounts of money painting over it in an true exercise of futility.  In Melbourne they just got the best to come and paint in the first place and who was going to tag over their idols work so they just add to it. It's really makes you look at US cities with the eye of a disappointed parent.  See this is what you could be if you just applied yourself. Oh and you had people who paid taxes and compulsory voting.




I was surprised for a particularly secular society Easter was a really big deal.  More so than I remembered, so I did my best to shield my children's eyes from all the shop windows dripping in chocolate eggs.  We instead had a fantastic Easter dinner with The Phillips and the kids were thrilled to find chocolate bunnies in the garden and continue to get love and attention from Mick and Veronica. 






After about a week we rented a car, which I NEVER drove, and went out to Halls Gap in The Grampians.  I really hate driving in Australia.  The drivers in Melbourne (and this is my one and only complaint) are out for blood.  The speed up at pedestrians and split lanes like no ones business... don't get me started on a hook turn.  So Nate braved the Aussie roads and once you exit Melbourne it gets easier... though still on the other side of the road.  Our first stop on our road trip to The Grampians was the town of Stawell (or "Stall" as the Aussies call it. Who needs a W?).  Stawell is home to the Stawell Gift, which is one of the most famous and oldest running races in Australia.  And of course my father was asked to gift the Stawell Gift to the winner of the event.  We weren't really aware of how well known the race was until we rolled into town and saw the huge crowd of thousands of people and television cameras.  We figured there was no way we'd find my dad.  We instead found a small cafe and got a bite to eat.  On the way out of town we miraculously found a parking space right in front of the stadium and got into the stadium just as the race had finished and my father was standing on the podium presenting the medal to the winner.



I figured there was no way I'd be able to let him know we were there, but immediately after the medal ceremony I hoisted Lotus on to the field and she made her way through the news cameras to her Papa.  I figured no one could get mad at the cute American girl.  Post the race festivities we continued on our way up to Halls Gap, which is a pretty magical and memorable place for me.  We used to go there when I was a kid and its where Kangaroo and Emu are bounding about.  Nate and I went in 2001 and I couldn't wait to share that experience with my kids.

We got to town (which is fairly generous, it's a store and a restaurant and of course a bottle shop) late afternoon and immediately found a mob of kangaroo hopping around the side of the road near a footy pitch.  As a quick diversion there is a cricket or footy pitch everywhere.  A town may not have a restaurant but you'd better believe there's a place to play sport.  We pulled over and the kids got to see their first Kangaroos.  There were more right at the cabin we were staying in.


The next morning we saw herds of kangaroos, Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Lorikeets and Emus, and overall it was a fabulous few days in the The Grampians National Park.


 But the most exciting moment, more exciting that the family of kangaroo that bounded in front of us on our morning walk or being woken by the laugh of the Kookaburra, was Lotus losing her first tooth and the first visit from the tooth fairy!

We left The Grampians and trekked several hours down to the coast to Phillip Island to see another Australian Zoological Wonder, the Fairy Penguins of Phillip Island.  We got to the beautiful little island mid afternoon and made a quick stop at a cute farm, where Lotus got to see a Sheep Herding Dog in action, and the headed to the main attraction, the nightly arrival of the penguins.  We huddled on a small boardwalk by the ocean waiting for the sun to go down while wallabies hopped on the hillside.  I was of course so excited by the wallabies and all the Aussies around us were rolling their eyes trying to figure out what the big deal was.  I know bizarre animals are the norm Down Under, but I think when there is a family a deer strolling around people get at least a bit excited about it here.  As soon as the sun went down the waves turned to penguins and 900 hundred penguins waddled out of the ocean and to there little burrows in the hillside.  It's really a pretty amazing sight and the kids loved waddling along side the penguins.  They can waddle up to a couple kilometers so there are lots of signs in the parking lot making sure to check under your car for stowaway penguins, which the kids really enjoyed making sure we didn't squash any cute little penguins or our way back to the hotel. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the penguins, so the best I could do was this shot of the kids passed out after the penguins.

The next day we spent the morning in cute Phillip Island.  Lucian, of course, cut his head open on a tree, but beside that we had a great morning walking on the beach and wandering around the cute town. We then went to the koala sanctuary, where there were plenty of koalas that clearly knew what side their bread was buttered on, since there was twice as many koalas just on the other side of the fence of the sanctuary and obviously they were enjoying some of the perks of being near the sanctuary (like predators being kept away) while still having their freedom.  I can't help it I think koalas are the cutest things in the world.  Lotus also showed her big sister chops when she started carrying Lucian when his whining about having to walk got too much.

From there we headed back into Melbourne, but on the way Nate got to fulfill his life long dream of going through the drive through bottle shop.  A bottle shop is where you buy alcohol, in case that isn't completely obvious, and some of them you can drive through.  There's even a browse lane.  So Nate was giddy when he drove up and bought a six-pack.  The poor guy working must have thought we were nutters since Nate couldn't have been smiling any wider.  I was glad that happened since a few hours later we had to drive into downtown Melbourne and poor Nate had to deal with rush hour traffic to get to our new flat.  It was pretty stressful and I was thrilled that once again I DON'T DRIVE IN MELBOURNE!

Since we barely saw my dad because of his over active social life I finally tracked him down to see if he could clear some space for dinner with us.  We went to University Cafe, which I have been going to since we first moved to Australia when I was 6.  John Carlo, the owner, was there and greeted us as if he had since us last week.  It was a great night.  Carlton was playing a footy match so the restaurant and the streets were crowed with joyous fans.  And the kids loved the restaurant and spending time with Papa.

The final week was spent with friends, at the World Famous Victoria Market and some touristy outings.


 Emma, who I was blessed to move next door to when I was six years old, spent a ton of time with us and Lotus was head over heels in love with.  She then took us all to an amazing North Melbourne vs. Geelong footy match.  Lotus walked off with Emma and came back in full on North Melbourne gear complete with face paint.  North Melbourne won and Lotus and Emma got their photo with the North Melbourne mascot.  I think Emma was more excited really.

I would have loved to do more shopping, but thanks to a terrible US economy and really great Aussie economy the US dollar is currently worth less than the Australian dollar.  Nine years ago the US dollar was worth twice the Australia dollar.  I will spare you all the details about how nut jobs over here complain about "socialism", mean while a country with socialized medicine and high tax rates is kicking our butts in about every sector. I guess I won't spare you...

We were all really sad to go home, but we hope that it won't be another decade before we all return.

Some day my kid will hate me for this, but I can't help myself. We are trying to potty train Lucian and its been a slow process... VERY slow. Everyday a new excuse, today's was, "Mama I can't sit on the potty. I'm too busy". Geez this kid will be in diapers until he is 16!