Bring on Summer !!

Well it's a bit early but Summer has certainly come along nice and early for us here in Australia. This week has seen 5 days in a row of plus 30 degree heat.

Last week we were lucky enough to be invited by one of Lydia's great mother's group friends - Caroline and her husband Rob (and son Will) to Rob's parents beachhouse for the long Melbourne Cup weekend. Their place is a beautiful 4 bedroom house in Anglesea - about and hour and a half outside Melbourne. Another couple - Hyph and Amanda came down with their son Milo to make a real group of it.

The weather was on and off but we still hit the beach to give Nylah her first taste....literally, as she spent the time learning that sand really isn't that tasty. Despite the chilly water, we dipped Nylah's feet in which she absolutely LOVED. I even took a dip myself, although it wasn't as bad for me given that I was decked out in 2XU's newest, greatest and certainly most expensive wetsuit -the Project-X for which I am lucky enough to hold a production sample of!!

We spent the weekend eating some great food,drinking some beautiful wine, reading, watching the kids having a great time together, betting on the races (it was Melbourne Cup weekend afterall) and just generally relaxing for a few fantastic days.

Lyds was lucky enough to head back up for another beach trip, but this time to Caroline's mother's place in Blairgowrie (another beachside town about an hour from Melbourne). This time it was just the mum's (Caroline, Lyds and Emma) with the kids (Will, Nylah and Gracie) for a few days of beach loving.

Got to love this warm weather !!

Here's some pics from the two trips...



In between the beach trips, Lyds and I were excited to be invited by one of my best friends - Kyls and her husbnad Rohan to join them in their Carpark spot at the Races for Stakes day. Any Australian will tell you that the Spring Carnival Races in Melbourne are HUGE. Around 100,000+ people attend each of the four race days at Flemington Race track in Melbourne over the 2 weeks of the Carnival. The actual Races themselves are merely a sideshow for all the parties that occur outside in the various carpark's and marquees that surround the track.

We had a day off with Nylah staying with her cousins for the day, so it was great to be able to relax with a drink or two and have some adult fun. I was lucky enough to bag a 30-1 winner early in the day and Lyds seemed to be picking placegetters in every race which paid for the day quite nicely. While we were there, we managed to catch up with our good friends - Pip and Mully (who introduced Lyds and I in Canada) who were down for the weekend from Sydney. Overall, yet another great Melbourne day.

Here's a few pics from the day....