We have had two very busy weekends in the trot comprising the usual ballet and soccer hilarity and strops in the mornings followed by consecutive Saturday night dinner parties (no children allowed) and Sunday afternoon gatherings, with lots of unruly children (not our own) breaking things. I had a small tantrum on Sunday night when I realised one of our friend's kids had broken Scarlett's rosary, which we bought for her at the Vatican when she was a baby. Middle age now means that despite wanting to pack in as much as we can into the two weekends a month Rob doesn't work, Sunday morning hangovers do not work when you are 40 and have a small child who routinely wakes at 7am. Also the thought of entertaining again only a few hours later can only be prepared for with a large gin with just a splash of tonic. Anyhoo, we have enjoyed seeing our friends without kids on the Saturday nights and being able to hold a conversation without a child asking for something, crying about something or grassing on someone about something, although to be fair our adult friends make just as much mess when they are eating as our children. Here are some pix of a lunch, of Florence checking in with her posse on her iPhone, and another of her just looking very cute. Plus a moody shot Scarlett took of Rob - she loves taking pictures and is going through a Mario Testino phase.
It seems due to some new politically correct laws, we are no longer allowed to push children up chimneys . Feeling more energetic on Friday, and no longer attached to my pain killers, I arranged for friends to visit on Saturday afternoon and for other friends to come for dinner that night. While the friends - Kendall and Richard - are super of course, I was exhausted before they even arrived and played an under-whelming game of TP, managing only to correctly answer questions relating to Catherine Zeta-Jones. Must be my Welsh heritage. Despite feeling pooped on Sunday morning, I dragged Scarlett off to soccer skills before disappearing off for a sleep at lunchtime and Rob dressed Scarlett in her favourite ballerina dress and wings and took her to Maya's 1st birthday party. 
Today, with Rob sleeping off a night shift I packed sandwiches and took the girls on the tram for a ride into the city to visit the Chinese Friendship Garden. 
Built to commemorate Australia's bicentenary in 1988, it also pays homage to the large Chinese population in Australia and in particular, Sydney. It was absolutely gorgeous with lots of peaceful places to sit and look at reflection pools, waterfalls and ponds, lots of massive fish and a lovely tea garden to sit in and feed the fish while enjoying steamed dim sim and Chinese tea.
slightly more successful ballet class for Scarlett who only had to be talked into dancing for the first 20 minutes of the 30 minute class, before finally joining in, and then only with Margaret the 56-year-old teacher. In the afternoon we went in to see our next door neighbours Kirsty and Simon for a bbq. Scarlett and Gabe play so well together we hardly saw them and Florence and two-year-old Charlie pottered about in the garden. Watching the kids play swingball, took me back and made me feel old all at the same time. The grown-ups in the meantime settled in for an afternoon of Singapore Slings, thanks to the generous donation of bush limes from another neighbour, while the sausages and chicken cooked and the potatoes roasted. When it was time to eat the kids all sat together at 'the kids table". My god, it really doesn't seem that long ago that I was sitting at such a table, when mum and dad had friends over to our house. After dinner they jumped in the bath together before being snapped, ensuring embarrassing incriminating photos to be produced at 21st birthday parties in the future.