Ripponlea

An open day at the historic Ripponlea mansion at Elsternwick for Children's week made it a great excuse to finally pay a visit. 

The kids had a great time with the bear treasure hunt inside the mansion and there were lots of old fashioned games on the lawn such as tug-a-war, spinning top, croquettes, bowling and quoites.  

 

 And the rest of the day was spent exploring the beautifully  grounds of the estate. 

 

 

She's growing up too quick !

The transition to prep for Eloise has started and we've already had 2 transition sessions which lasted about 3 hours at the school.  

We went and picked up her school uniform and bag and other school paraphanelia today and mummy had to stiffle a gasp when saw how grown up Eloise looked when she tried on her school uniform.   

Edendale Festival

There is a little community farm just around the corner from us which the kids love frequenting. This weekend, the little farm looked a lot busier than it normally does with a festival there complete with all sorts of craft activities for the kids, face painting and lots of installations made of recycled materials.  

The theme of the festival was sustainable living and all manner of recyclying.  So there were lots of musical instruments made of junk which the kids 'mastered' !  

There were also art installations made of old discarded toys ... which was very colourful and striking 

Not sure how it fits in with the theme of recycling but I guess what is a festival without  face painting 

and dancing  ....

Eloise even learnt a circus trick from the Thumbelina Fancypants fairy !

 And we even got to do some herb planting to take home.

 

Food

Food glorious food.  One of the highlights of the Thai holiday was the food.  There were so many tropical fruits that we just don't get back in Melbourne.   Abbey cultivated a love for rambutans which she devoured at breakfast whilst Eloise got stuck in her mangoes and her watermelon juices.  As for Jess, the pungent Durian was hard to resist !

Lazy days on Phi Phi

The days on Phi Phi island were nothing short of idyllic without the usual traffic noises and the general hustle and bustle of everyday life. 

 Each day was pretty much a repeat of the day before and nobody was complaining!

First up was a casual stroll over to the beachside breakfast gazebo where we would stop to pick up shells on the beach and any other interesting things we could find

 

 

 

Then it was breakfast time where Eloise got into the local noodle dishes and all Abbey cared for were the rambutans ....which by the way are the hardest fruit to give to a 2 year old who insists on you cutting the flesh off for her! Abbey's record number of rambutans in one sitting was 23 !!  

At breakfast where the girls were on their best behaviour

Eloise enjoying her noodles



Whilst Abbey waits for her rambutans to be peeled and cut for her!

Abbey patiently waiting for Dad to cut up her rambutans

 

The view out from breakfast was hard to take!

Then it was back to the villa to get changed and sunscreened for either the pool or the beach .... ahh it was indeed a difficult choice! 

 

 

By lunchtime the girls were famished . They loved their banana and mango  smoothies.

 

The afternoons were then spent resting, Abbey would go down for a nap whilst Eloise is supposed to find something nice and relaxing to do such as swinging in a hammock.



Eloise relaxing on the hammock

Eloise no longer relaxing on the hammock !  Crash !

 

Then it was down to the beach at low tide to collect some rocks and shells.

Next up would be an afternoon drink at the bar.

 

And then dinner time !  

By the end of our week long stay, the girls were upset about leaving their island paradise.