Magical Melbourne

Until Saturday I had never been to Victoria, let alone Melbourne. Phil, Kristin and Charlotte moved to Melbourne last year so we have been very keen to visit. Charlotte turned 5 and Phil and Kristin invited us to her birthday party so we decided to go for a little drive. We got up early and were on the road by 7.30. Five hours later and with thanks to the trusty sat nav, we pulled in to Phil and Kristin's driveway. Charlotte didn't know we were coming and was shocked to see us at the door! We had a quick lunch then got back into the car to drive to the fairy party.

The party was fabulous, fairy fun. Toby was the only boy invited and he was careful to distance himself from anything too girly. When the head fairy counted the children fairy one, fairy two etc. he made sure he was an elf. He was front and center whenever food was involved. The cake below, however, was a fake!

The party was jam-packed with dancing, stories, food and games. Phil and I went over the road to a patisserie called Frou Frou for coffee and we also ate brie and quince paste while the fairies (and elf) enjoyed cake.

After the party the children played upstairs while the grown-ups relaxed. Kristin's brother Gerard and sister-in-law Briar were also there and Briar and I made a banoffee pie. We had rigatoni al forno for dinner and then came the pie!

Toffee sauce in slow motion.

Andrew and Kristin gave the rest of us a solid thrashing at Trivial Pursuit. In the morning, after a lovely sleep in (for those of us who get up at 6 during the week), we went to a cafe for breakfast. A play in the park concluded our time in Melbourne and we headed for home, arriving around 6pm. We had so much fun and remembered how great it is to spend time with family. We may have spent 10 hours in the car but it was well worth it and we plan to go back but I think we'll make it a long weekend.