"Dead Week" 2021

I recently came across this article on the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, nicknamed "dead week" as it's kind of a nothing week - still sort of part of the holidays, but nothing really happening, a waiting space for the new year. It's a week where you are probably not working, and the one time of year where it is acceptable to not be busy/productive/ambitious. Ollie's daycare was closed this week, so we spent the entire week together as a family going on day trips, visiting friends, and trying to stay cool through the little heatwave we've been having here in Melbourne. 

As I mentioned in my last blog post, we spent Boxing Day at Heath and Priscilla's, a little hungover and lounging around while all the kids played together. We finally came home just before dinner and ignored the mess of presents still taking over the playroom - instead collapsing on the sofa once the kids were in bed and watching the movie The Unforgivable on Netflix. (Great movie! Sandra Bullock is fantastic. But a fairly depressing look at the prison system in America.)

The next day we were searching for somewhere to go, and we settled on taking the kids to the Docklands District.  I am not really sure what we were thinking going here! This is the site of the now closed (forever) Melbourne Star and it is a shopping and entertainment district. But a lot of the shops seemed to have closed (I'm assuming due to Covid) and the entertainment options were all indoors (Glow in the Dark mini golf, ArtVo and Imaginaria) so we decided that with the Covid numbers climbing fast here due to Omicron that it wasn't worth the risk. We've visited the Docklands in the past where they have fairground rides for kids, but that is not set up at the moment. In the end we had ice cream and went to a few shops before heading home for the day.

On the 28th Andy went to the Boxing Day test cricket at the MCG and I stayed home with the kids. It was a beautiful day for cricket, but unfortunately it was Day 3 of the test and England lost in about an hour... which is very short for what should have been a day cricket! (My cricket knowledge is very, very limited so I only half understand what I just wrote there...)

Ella and Ollie had an excellent morning playing together with their new toys while I was able to do a few jobs around the house. I was even able to get a work out in! They started getting a bit ratty in the afternoon so I took them to our favourite gelato place in Kew, Augustus Gelatery, and we took our ice creams over to Alexandra Gardens to eat them and play outside for a while. Good ice cream is a favourite treat for everyone. 

Next up, we went to the Werribee Zoo for the morning. We arrived early and headed straight for the safari bus. The last time we were here I think I was pregnant with Ollie, so Ella would have been two, and perhaps a bit young for the 45 minute ride through Asian, North American, and African landscapes. This time both kids really enjoyed the whole bus ride and were excited to see the different animals. 

After the bus we walked around for an hour or so through the Australian trail. It was a very hot day so the animals weren't super active. Ollie was disappointed that the wallabies were hiding in the shade and called out to one of them "just jump, mate!" and made us laugh as at how Aussie he sounds! We finally cooled off in the splash pad before having (yes more) ice creams and then heading home.

I have no idea what is going on here, only that this was when the kids were waiting for me to get their ice cream...

That afternoon we headed over to our old neighbour's new house. When we moved to Kew East last year we happily discovered that the boy next door was in Ella's class at school. They played together all year, and it was so nice and easy to have someone her age right beside us. They sadly moved house a few weeks ago. Their new house is not too far away, he will still go to Ella's school, but we definitely notice their absence. (We've had another set of friends move away recently: an expat Canadian/British couple with two boys, one in Ella's class. We hung out with them A LOT this past year and they just moved to Townsville in Queensland for work and I am SO SAD they are gone! )

Anyway, our ex-neighbour's now live in a townhouse complex with a shared outdoor pool, so we went over for a swim and a BBQ. Hopefully we will still see these guys regularly as all the adults got along as well as the kids!

We are up to the 30th of December now, and that day we were invited to another BBQ. This time with another family we know through Ella's class, and they also have a 3 year old son who is good friends with Ollie at daycare. They are from South Africa and have been in Melbourne a few years, so being expats with kids the exact same age we already have a lot in common. We've had a few playdates with these guys and I can see us becoming good friends - let's just hope they don't move away any time soon! We had a fabulous afternoon at their house. It was a very hot, 37 degree day, but they had a small blow up pool and "slip and slide" in the back garden to keep the kids cool (and entertained for hours). 

The next day was New Year's Eve, and it was hot, hot, hot again here in Melbourne. We went down to Sinead and Jon's who live in Hampton, so it was slightly cooler (like 36 degrees instead of 38) being bayside. They live in this beautiful, modern townhouse complex right on Beach Road, with an indoor pool/gym. As it was so hot we took all the kids to the indoor pool for the afternoon where they had a fabulous time. Ella got some "sinkies" for Christmas and loves diving down to get them from the bottom of the pool. There was also a not-too-hot hot tub that we all spent some time in before heading back to their apartment to give the kids dinner... we decided to save "adult dinner" for when the kids went to bed.

We had a 8pm New Year countdown with the kids and did sparklers outside before sending them off to bed. This was probably not a great way to wind down kids before bed, in case you were wondering! Haha.

As is always the case when not sleeping in their own beds, it took a while to get Ella and Ollie off to sleep. Ollie ended up coming out of the bedroom and quietly lying on the sofa near us until he fell asleep. Ella usually wants someone lying with her the whole time while she falls asleep, so we compromised and I spent dinner checking on her in three minute intervals. Ah the joys of parenthood!

The four of us nearly didn't make it till midnight... in fact Andy, Sinead and I were quite happy to head off to bed just before 11:30pm. However Jon was appalled that we'd go to bed half an hour before the new year so we stayed up and watched Tina Arena on TV and then the Sydney fireworks (which are spectacular... watching them live would be a real treat). 

And just like that... it was 2022! (Yes, I'm watching the Sex and the City reboot.) It was another hot one, so we went to the beach for a couple of hours in the morning. Port Philip Bay still feels pretty cold, I think its around 19 degrees right now, but it was so hot that even I got all the way in to cool off!

And so concludes our Dead Week 2021. To be fair, it was hardly a quiet week for us, but we did spend manage to put aside any thoughts of admin/jobs to get done and just enjoyed spending time with the kids and our friends.