Isn't bark lovely?

Time to celebrate

We went out to Edward's uni for his graduation. Took a cruise round the grounds and swung by Ella's creche. Ella and Edward started uni when Ella was nine months old - so Ella has a strong sense of connection with her creche. She did a half day a week during term time, while Edward went to school. Now Ella's 5 and a half and Edward's graduated. It was warm, we ate curry and sandwiches, and during the ceremony we had the run of the back of the hall.

summer soon

sharks are friends

Ella's started a campaign against shark-finning and is learning about sharks ("Sharks are good people"). At the aquarium she could identify the shark species we saw - Port Jackson, Leopard, Carpet and Grey Nurse. We stood among the Grey Nurse sharks, stingrays and large fish in the walk-through tank. She stands proud in her defense of sharks - sees them as beautiful and good, deserving of sympathy and respect, and rejects the popular view of sharks as killers. I heard her telling a boy at the aquarium that they only bite humans "by accident sometimes."

big screen entertainment

Ella and Jamie get themselves into the frame at ACMI.

cupcake shop

This is one of our favourite places for a visit at the moment - it's Little Cupcakes on Degraves Street. Tiny shop, tiny cupcakes, lots of icing. Happy little pit-stop on any city outing.

bag painting

Two bag artists stand proudly by their work. I keep paper bags and every now and then we get them out and decorate a few for gift-bags. It was hard getting the logistics of this art project sorted out because Ella had everything carefully set up on a special little table that Jamie wanted access to so mucho shouting, shrieking and paintbrush snatching. This isn't the kind of vibe you hope for in a chilled out spring garden art project, but we pressed on. I hung the results to dry on the climbing frame and decided to take a few pics - both artists quickly edged into the frame to appear with their work.