Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day.

We had an eventful Australia day, spotting all the Australian flags in shops/houses windows and and having a very typical Aussie BBQ which we were to tired to fully appreciate after the mammoth day we had. I began the day with a walk on the beach with the kids and their cousin Mia (who had a sleep-over) and Kooly, followed by a visit to the library with Myles and his two cousins. After foolishly suggesting we visit the art gallery and when I say foolish I mean taking three kids under the age of 6 into an art gallery where the words 'quiet' , 'don't touch' and 'stay with me' mean nothing and to top it off loosing the 5 year old for 5 minutes, which seemed like 5 hours. However, once we located the missing toddler, I was still feeling amazingly energetic and patient, and we ended up on adventure around the city.

The art gallery was featuring an exhibit by one of the artists involved in a public art event 'Back to the City' which started this weekend. It is a collaboration of artists and designers, featuring 16 works scattered across the town in prominent and obscure locations alike, all commenting on the city as a living environment. It was great and so wonderful to see our city embracing art and the best thing was that the kids enjoyed them all, particularly the ones they could touch or sit in. This one was my favourite, "Second Nature" , by Nicola Xavier and Adrian Hill. The fabric is stencilled with a William Morris wallpaper design impregnated with wheat grass seed and will be watered daily. I cant wait to see what it looks like once the grass grows through the design. After our little adventure I couldn't get the energy to take them to the carnival (as promised) and decided it was Daniel's turn to take on the tribe. So today he took them on rides as promised and spent a small fortune in space of a couple of hours. Oh well it was worth, to see their smiling little faces and hear their colourful stories.