Sunday afternoon Drive

 Melbourne skyline in background

I felt a need to go look at the ocean on Sunday. Well, I felt over everything and wanted to go to Glenelg North to sit on a park bench in front of the sea. That always makes me feel better. Of course, seeing as Glenelg North is a suburb of Adelaide and I live in Melbourne now, I had to make do. There were no park benches and being out of the car was freezing. (I know that the weather forecast map often states similar temperatures for Adelaide and Melbourne, but I am here to tell you that, map schmap, Melbourne is waaay colder. Not sure how that works, but it is true.) I took my camera with me and this is what I saw. Still feel pretty much over everything as you may have noticed since it took me two days to blog this. Bad news yesterday and again today (small, insignificant things in the scheme of things I guess) have kept me over everything. I think I need to make something!

Some questions whilst walking along the beach.

So, I am still going walking. It's been five days. Tonight we walked along the beach. How long does it take to get fit? Cause I'm kinda getting sick of the walking. No surprise there. I'm not very good at stick-to-itness. Guess that's why there are so many UFO's around here! I do have some pretty places to walk though, don't I?

As we walked along the beach tonight my Bradley and I talked about the upcoming summer holidays. We want to plan some fun things to do with the kids each week and maybe even a short break away. Where would you go? What would you do for fun? I seem to have no ideas. Of course, there are always theme parks. The problem with them though is that they are over 2,100 kms away. (I checked google maps to work that out. It claims we could drive there in a day. I don't think so! It has always taken us three days previously. Pretty sure they don't factor in sleeping or toilet breaks. Google maps also suggests that it would take us just 16 days to walk there. Pretty sure this is not including sleeping or toilet breaks either. Hmm... would 16 days be long enough to get fit? It's tempting! We would just have to walk 135 kms per day. Lol! As if! I could maybe ride my bike 135 kms per day. Nah! Probably not! Technology, so good for a laugh!) So, the theme parks are out. Got any other ideas?

The beach at the end of my street

River crossing between my house and the beach.

Spring.....

Our weather is a bit topsy-turvy. It's spring! The beginning of the week saw the first of the very warm temperatures, and right now it is raining and promising to be chilly for the end of the week. This is our beach at the other end of the week, when it was warm. The beachcombers are four of my children picking up shells to decorate the sand sculptures they had just finished making. The beach is just a 5 minute drive from our house. The closest I have ever lived to the beach. I will miss it when we move.

Sunset

Family activity tonight - sunset watching at the beach. Whilst watching the sunset we had many and varied conversations. Some of the questions we pondered included:

• Why do we say we go swimming at the beach, when quite clearly what most of us do is just standing?
• Why is it that dog owners mostly suffer from illiteracy?
• Why is that boat travelling south, then north, then south, then north, then south, then north, then south, then north........
  
• Why are we watching a sunset because the sun is very shiny? (Really. This was hotly discussed.)
• What should we have for the dessert that was inevitable after the sunset watching.

We just love the beach. Even more if our feet don't get sandy or wet, so Glenelg is one of our favourite spots. Bike path, strolling path, park benches and grass to picnic on. One day when we grow up we're going to live there. (I really hope we get grown up one day)

A day at the beach

My day started and ended at the beach today. I wish I had some photos of my beachy morning, but I didn't have my camera with me. It was sunny and hot. The water was clear. Some was dark blue and some was light green. I sat on the jetty on a seat under the shade and hung my head through the railings and watched the light green water and the sand below it. The sand hid a crab until it moved and it made it's way under the jetty. Once I had seen the crab I began to really look in the water and saw all kinds of fish. It was an Animal Planet kind of day (okay, Wild Kingdom kind of day for us oldies!) because I saw sea birds and even two dolphins!

My hot day had a weak cool change at about 3:30 this afternoon. We had always planned to go to the beach this evening and when we got there it was cool, windy, and overcast. Not sure what you call this. (sailboarding? kiteboarding?) If you do this you must be waiting for a windy day!

They were so fast and made it look so easy! (I'm sure it's not easy!) Everything looked so beautiful at the beach. The colours in my photos are not nearly enough. I really felt like I was looking at a watercolour painting. Despite the cool change Miss 12 and Mr 9 went swimming. It was a really lovely evening!

Where I'd like to be.....

At the beach! Yes, that's where I'd like to be. But I'm not. Having a bit of a sulk this week because I don't live near the beach. (Miss 18 says that's a good thing! She doesn't like the thought of Tsunamis!) Hmm... I could be happy if I was holidaying at the beach, but I'm not even doing that! Haven't done any sewing. Just feel grumpy! I guess I'll get over it.

This is the market we did on Saturday. Mrs 24 was pleased with the market result and we will be back at the market next month. Miss 11 sold some things too, so there were smiles all round! We were all stressing a bit (we are a bunch of worriers here), but next time should be easier. We won't be so worried! It was a great market. Such a lovely setting, and a great variety of wares for sale! Hmm... Maybe I'll sew something tomorrow to sell at the market.

Swimmer sand sculpture

This was the last sand sculpture made last Friday night, just before we left. Miss 22 was determined to finish this swimmer and take some photos. Can you make out the swimmer?

It was dark by this stage and the swimmer was hard to see in the dark. He has seaweed hair (as swimmers do). Oh! And the photo below shows him before his visit to "Ashley and Martin"!

Hot Day!

It's going to be a warm weekend. Today was over 30 degrees. The kids and I decided that going to the beach this evening was a great idea. It was. This was the sunset that I watched as they played.

Mr 7 got the wettest. Everybody paddled in the water and built sandcastles. Some went for a walk along the beach. Mr 7 kicked the water and splashed it all over.

Miss 11 and Miss 22 built this sandcastle. Theirs had windows and doors and flags and a moat. It was (this was their description) very girly. Apparently they planned it this way!

Mr 14 built this very macho sandcastle. It had a moat. It was big. (Ya gotta remember that he is somewhere near 6 foot 2.) It took him all his time on the beach. He was concentrated and dedicated.

Mr 7 built a sandcastle too. As well as everything else he did. Digging many random holes. Throwing sand at seagulls (don't worry, he wasn't likely to hit any!). Splashing. Collecting shells. Studying seaweed. All in all it was a lovely evening. We came home and enjoyed some salad for dinner and looked at the photos we had taken. Must remember to do this again, because it was fun!