This past weekend we headed out to The Little House in the woods for some R&R in honor of celebrating Mother’s Day.  The weather was superb and we all had a super enjoyable time.

Some highlights were: lounging around and taking it easy,  freshly baked scones in the morning, a trip to Port Townsend for ice cream and playing on the beach.

Some lowlights were:  falling out of the tire swing in Port Townsend the send Daddy started to push and winding up with a goose egg on my noggin, and having to take the long way around Hood Canal ‘cuz the bridge was closed.

H A P P Y  M O T H E R ‘ S  D A Y  M O M M Y ! !

This weekend we headed down south to the Vancouver/Portland metroplex to pay a visit to Grammy Sam and have an overnight with the Lights.  Saturday night my former ELDC teacher Heather Jones made the trek out to East Moreland/Sellwood to hunker down with Henry, Audrey and I while Don, Amy, Mommy and Daddy headed out to East Hawthorne to Sel Gris for a heavy duty culinary get down.  While they were popping fois gras and pairing wines, us kids were running cirlces around Heather and having a GREAT time… So awesome to see her.

Today after a hearty round of ebelskivers and Otto’s bacon expertly cooked up by chefs Don and Amy, we all saddled up into the new Light family SU-Huge and headed down past Newberg to the Dundee Hills area of Oregon to taste some wine and hang out at the beautiful vineyards of Erath.  As Erath is one of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates labels, mommy and the gang got the royal hook-up.

Today we had some great coffees from Far Horizons and enjoyed a little walk on the beach before we caught an early shuttle to Cairns in order to make our Ocean Spirit catamaran out to Michaelmas Cay in the Great Barrier Reef.  The boat was massive and features a crew to guest ration of 9:1, so we were well looked after.

It took almost 2 hours to get out to the cay (a cay is an island without trees) and I did have a little bout of sea sickness.  Yuck.  Once out at the cay the crew had to resort to plan B as the boats usual moorings were unavailable since the island had changed quite a bit due to all of the recent nearby cyclones.  And due to the relatively high winds and choppy water, we weren’t able to go ashore.
Mommy and Daddy each donned stinger suits and had a nice go at some snorkeling around the reef.  They saw coral, giant clams, lotsa fish and some sea cucumbers.  Awesome.

Even more awesome is that the Ocean Spirit keeps a semi-submersible glass-bottomed boat anchored on the far side if the island.  We took the 1:30 PM trip around the reef and were floored by all the amazing creatures and pretty colors.  Since I wasn’t able to get out and snorkel, the glass-bottomed boat turned out to be just the ticket for this little girl.

The ride back went a lot smoother for me as I felt great and helped the crew organize all of the stinger suits and scuba gear.  And once again I became the subject of adulation and photographs for bands of excited Japanese girls.

One of the crew members channeled his inner Jimmy Buffet and was the entertainment in the saloon for the ride back while Mommy and Daddy sipped the complimentary sparkling wine from New Zealand.

Once back in Palm Cove we hit the pool, sourced some takeaway pizza and watch Stuart Little in our suite.  A relaxing end to a busy day in Tropical North Queensland.

We piled out of the Melbourne Grand Medina at way-too-early O’clock and hopped aboard our shuttle to the airport.  It was so early in fact, that Queen Street didn’t even have a single café open.  Youch.

The flight to Cairns in Tropical North Queensland was smooth, quick and uneventful.  I drank a lemon squash (a carbonated lemon drink by Solo) while Mum and Daddy watched Australia as the onboard entertainment.

We dropped our bags at our beautiful Angsana Resort accommodation and quickly put flip-flop to sand and headed up and down Palm Cove’s Williams Esplanade.  We heard that there is a netted swimming area about 3 K’s down the beach that has a livesver on duty and protects from marine stingers.  Unfortunately the beach was closed due to too many stingers in the water.  We’d never heard of the stingers and while not lethal, they can cause fever, vomiting and heavy sweating.  The pools back at the Angsana seem like a much better option.

Another good option was the happy hour at the Vivo restaurant where Daddy had an amazing orange margarita and Mommy had a beautiful fresh watermelon and mint martini.  A massive squall pushed through while we were there and I stomped through the puddles and got soaked while Daddy and Mommy stayed dry under a giant umbrella.  Our server was the really, really sweet Miss Jade that actually will spend Tuesday night with me as Mommy and Daddy have a nice meal to themselves.

Loving the tropics!

Today wraps up our last day in Melbourne and we went out with a quiet bang.  After the ritual morning coffees at the Milano Café, we saddled up and braced ourselves to leave the aircon of our comfy apartment for what turned out to be Melbourne’s hottest day on record… A blistering 107 degrees Fahrenheit.  Ouch.

We did some last minute gift shopping for Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick and had some beautiful Waterford Champagne flutes wrapped along Little Collins before hopping a train at Flinders Street Station bound for Hampton.

The train had aircon and was a nice respite from the heat and hot breeze that felt like being torched by a hair dryer.  Once at the Hampton station, we stumbled into a health club to nick their aircon and phone the Chadwick home to see about getting a lift.

Kevin Chadwick arrived in about 3 minutes ready in his Dodge Caliber.  The Beelzecchi 3 piled in and were off to the home of Bob and Patty Chadwick to attend the afternoon luncheon they were hosting for newlyweds Paul and Helen Pettigrew.

I was on could 9 in the back room playing with best mates Eleanor and James Chadwick.  Though quite hot, both us kids and the adults made the most of it with Tasman beer, tasty vittles and plenty of post-wedding good vibes.

Mommy and Eleanor’s mom Sue chatted about what the plans were for the rest of the evening and devised a plot that would take me to the home of Sue, Anthony, Eleanor, James and Gracie Chadwick while Mommy and Daddy headed out with Helen, Paul, Kylie and Kevin for a final night on the town in Melbourne.

The plan worked perfectly as I had a ball over at the Chadwick home while Mommy and Daddy bid farewell at the Deck Restaurant overlooking the Yarra in the Southgate area of Melbourne.  I hear the duck confit and seafood risotto were both tops!

The Southbank party crew rang Sue to let her know that they were walking back so Sue and I saddled up and met them right in front of our Medina digs.  Flawless.

Mommy needed to take off early today, so we bopped down to the Milano first thing.  While sipping our coffees and hot chocky’s, Daddy spied Bob Chadwick sauntering down the Queen Street sidewalk with ciggy in hand.  He was a few minutes early to meet up with Mommy as her transport to the Chadwick home in Hampton for the girls to get ready for the WEDDING!!

Daddy and I hung back, finished up at Milano and then hit the hotel pool.  It was fun splashing around in my floatie and playing preted Kung Fu Panda.  Daddy was Po and I was Tigress.  I put a whuppin’ on him for sure.

We sidestepped over to Hardware Lane for a quick lunch at Max Restaurant consisting of Greek salad and some pizza.  It was cool people watching and kind of amazing to see the GINORMOUS plates of food the Aussie’s were taking in for lunch.

Getting ready back at the hotel took over with showers and baths, ironing, hair cobming and teeth brushing.  Daddy and I were matching with me in a two-tone purple dress and him in a lounge suit with purple accents.  We looked smart!

We walked about 7 blocks to the Flinders Street Station and hopped a train to Sandringham on Platform 9.  A couple of stops later we got off at the Ripponlea stop and walked the four blocks to the Ripponlea Mansion on Hotham Street.  Neither Daddy nor I knew this before hand, but Ripponlea happens to be a center of orthodox Jews.  Daddy kind of thought he’s be getting looks of sympathy from people in his suit on a hot day… No such looks from this crowd!

While blisteringly hot, the grounds and gardens of Ripponlea were beautiful and made a perfect backdrop for Helen and Paul’s wedding.  We stood around in the shade making small talk before the wedding began.  So many people were amazed that our family made the trek all the way from Seattle.  Frankly, we are too.

Thankfully, due to the penetrating sun, the ceremony was short and sweet.  In Australia, the people that officiate weddings are called celebrants and Jill, Helen and Paul’s, did a great job.  The vows were touching and the same for both Helen and Paul.  Best mate Angie handled the rings and successfully handed them off without incident.  Mommy looked beautiful standing beside bride Helen and maid of honor Helen… The only puzzling thing is that the hair stylist FLAT-IRONED Mommy’s hair.  ?!!  Mommy drew the short stick on that one!  And Helen, looked stunning as a bride with her fitted ivory dress with beads and sequins across the bottice and a lace up the back.

After the wedding people headed to the Middle Brighton Beach Baths for a wonderful reception featuring lovely food, moving sentiments and some serious booty shaking supplied by the Fat Cats band.

It seems like day in Melbourne would be off on the right foot without a stop at either Torta e Café or Milano.  Considering Milano is ½ block away from our digs, so begins another day at Milano.  Today that had white princess cupcakes with at least one with my name on it.

Next on our agenda was a rendez-vous with Helen’s brother, Mr. Kevin Chadwick.  He too visited Seattle with the Chadwick posse, so he and Daddy were glad to see each other and picked up like it was yesterday.

We piled into his Dodge Caliber hatchback and headed south to St. Kilda.  He showed us around the neighborhood pointing out favorite restaurants and places he used to live.  Once again we were back at the Stoke Restaurant for about 30 minutes of quality beach time on the calm shore of Port Phillip Bay.

After drying off and trying to de-sand, we stopped for a quick coffee and to grab some Thai lunch and gelato to enjoy back at his place for lunch.  He shares his house with girlfriend Kylie and their two cute terriers.  The place is the Moorroan neighborhood and is well appointed with 3 bedrooms and two baths and is done up perfectly with every little decoration and finishing touch to make it look like it is out of a design magazine.

Next we headed to the Docklands to drop in on the photography studio of Yervant.  Daddy attended the Two Views seminar last spring in San Franciso put on L.A. photographer Joe Buissink and Melbourne’s Yervant.  Yervant was first brought to Daddy’s attention by amazing Seattle photographer Jim Garner, a student of Yervant with a very similar style and look.

At the time of the seminar in SF, Yervant was a bit anxious as the finishing touches were being added to his new space in this up and coming area of Melbourne.  The Docklands are a completely new and hip collection of lanes, shops, condos and restaurants located by a marina and all having sprouted out of a derelict industrial area.  Yervant’s shop was amazing and Daddy got the 411 from Vito, a charming fellow and super informative.

A stroll through the high end houses off of Toorak Road capped our day with Kevin.  Mansion after mansion gave way to heading back across the Yarra from the Southbank to our hotel in the CBD.  Kevin was an awesome tour guide, great host and super sweet.  We’ll look forward to seeing him at the wedding on Friday.

Local babysitting agency Dial and Angel sent us Michelle to keep me company while Mommy and Daddy headed back to the Southbank for dinner at Bistro Guillaum, The Age’s “Best New Restaurant” and esteemed holder of Two Hats.

While Michelle and I watched some telly and colored, Mommy and Daddy whooped it up with top shelf cocktails and superb French bistro fare:  Cold smoked salmon with salmon mousse and crème fraiche, seared scallops with fennel and pancetta cubes, steak frites in a bordelaise sauce and duck confit.  Due to Mommy’s position at Chateau Ste. Michelle, they were well looked after by sommelier and rocker Ewan Proctor with wines that would make your head spin…

2004 Chateau Balac – Cru Bourrgeois – Haut Medoc
2007 Sorrenber Shiraz – Beechworth, Victoria
2004 Alain Brumont “Les Lourmes Celestes”

and an interesting varietal called Tannat that Mommy and Daddy found very surprising.

This is becoming a broken record, but it was another fine day in Oz.

The day began with a trip to the nearby Milano Café.  Stepping in here, like yesterday at Café e Torta, is like stepping into just about any Italian café found throughout any café found in Milan.  We were greeted warmly and set about perusing the menu.  Guess what.  It’s the same menu as Café e Torta.  What are the odds that we stumble into two cafés in Melbourne that are under the same ownership?!  Crazy.

We enjoyed our coffees and breakfast while watching all of the Melburnians shuffle through for their takeaway coffees and pastry delectables.  Mommy and our host got in a throrough exchange about the using robusta versus arabica beans and while the coffee in Australia is so dang good.  Just for the record:  Our kind café keeper finds Starbucks absolutely deplorable.

We wrapped up there as we were creeping up on our rendez-vous time with Helen’s parents, Patty and Bob Chadwick.  We were to meet at 10:30 AM in the Medina lobby.  But in an act of sublime timing, they found a park (Aussie term for finding a parking spot) RIGHT IN FRONT of the Milano and were getting out of their Suburu Forester just as we were shuffling out of the café.  Perfect.

They looked awesome and hadn’t changed a bit since my mom and dad had last seen them in Seattle some 10 years ago.  We hugged, smooched and wasted no time getting in the car to begin our tour of Melbourne.

Bob drove us out of the city headed south past the Crown Entertainment Complex towards St. Kilda.  We cruised up and around with a birds eye view of the city before landing in Williamstown.  Williamstown actually predates Melbourne as an old whale trading town right at the mouth of the Yarra River as it dumps into the truly massive Port Phillip Bay.  We were there on a Wednesday and the shops were a bit sleepy, but apparently the place goes mad with activity on the weekends.

We spent some time at a playground before making our way down to the Williamstown Marina for a bite at the Pelican.  The lunch and conversation were both tops as the sunshine streamed in and we watched workers de-foul two sailboats.

We hopped back in the car and cruised the streets of St. Kilda while Pat and Bob pointed out houses they had owned, beaches they favored, the Brighton Baths where Helen’s reception would be and eventually ending up at the Ripponlea Mansion where the wedding ceremony and today’s rehearsal were being held.

Aunt Helen’s niece and nephew, Eleanor and James respectively, had been waiting patiently for me to arrive and quickly took me on adventure up to the tower and through all the gardens on the huge Ripponlea property.  It was a cracking 37 degrees and everyone in attendance were on the verge of melting! I think a more than a few people were not-so-subtly hinting to Helen that she might choose to have Fridays ceremony in the shade rather than on the main lawn in front of the mansion.  It was all for naught as she is a bride with a vision.

After that we piled into Helen’s Mazda 323 hatchback for a zippy trip back to St. Kilda for afternoon cocktails and a dinner at the Stoke Restaurant right on the beach.  We were joined by Maid of Honor Helen and later by the groom Paul.  In the meantime the adults put away mojitos at an impressive pace and eventually gnoshed on some yummy wood fired pizzas.  The place filled up through the afternoon and was humming at fever pitch as we finally threw in the towel to head out.  Recession anyone?  Apparently not here.

The day wrapped up at the hotel with a little telly and a batch.  Another fine day.

Last night Helen mentioned to Mommy that there were all sorts of great Italian café’s along Little Collins Street, so we started our day trying to find one.  Café e Torta in the Royal Arcade proved to be one of the best cafés that either Mommy or Daddy had ever been to.

I got a bombolini and hot chocolate to go with Daddy’s strong long black and Mommy’s double cappuccino with skinny milk.  Mommy had a toasted ham and tomato sandwich to share with Daddy’s fruit salad with yoghurt and honey.  People watching was great here and place had a nice vibe with top service and tasty coffee.

Daddy and I headed back to the hotel for a quick spell before Mommy pulled up in our hired Audi A4.  Without delay, and while driving on the WRONG side of the road, we blasted south along the Nepean Highway to the Mornington Peninsula.  Mommy was driving, but Daddy was actively involved as the one minding the lines on the left.  “Babe, move right” and “You’re on the line” were constant (and helpful) refrains from the passenger seat.

Without incident or altercation we pulled into the Royal Mornington Yacht Club for a lovely lunch at the Rocks Restaurant.  I had pasta while Mommy and Daddy had a round or raw oysters followed by a burger to share that was the tallest thing they had ever seen.

After lunch we stopped at the nearby Mills Beach, famous for all of it’s beach boxes, for a romp in the sand.  The Beach Boxes are these colorfully decorated sheds on the beach that house personal belongings like BBQ’s, chairs, umbrellas, floaties and more.  They are handed down from generation to generation or sometimes sold for up to $60,000 even though there is no power or plumbing.  Crazy.

As Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula are inside of the massive Port Phillip Bay, the shore has no surf and is sooooooo wonderfully calm.  I ran amok playing in the water, building sand castles and collecting these gelatin-like things that are actually sea snail eggs.  We could only play on the beach for about 35 minutes because the sun was ruthless.

We packed up the Audi again and continued south the the Red Hills area of the peninsula and stopped at the beautiful Red Hills Estate Winery for a tasting.  As a cool climate area, these wineries are known for their Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noirs.  Our tasting guide steered Mommy and Daddy through about 9 wines beginning with Sauvignon Blanc past Cabernet Sauvignon and ending up at a Botrytis dessert wine.  All were fantastic and Mommy would up getting a few bottles to bring home.

After the pretty drive back to Melbourne we hit up Hardware Lane again for some dinner.  We settled on the Mill and were not disappointed with the ambiance, location or service.  The final act of the evening was a dip in the pool before calling it quits on another epic day in Australia.

Today the Beelzecchi 3 headed from SEATAC to LAX to our final destination of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  The flights amount to my first time traveling internationally and were no problem, but certainly exhausting.

Our stop in LAX was a bit curious as we arrived in Terminal 2 and needed to connect with our Qantas Boeing 747-400 in Terminal 3.  The curious part is that you need to completely exit Terminal 2, walk on an outdoor sidewalk and enter Terminal 3.  This mean you have to clear security again.  LAX airport = FULL RETARD.  The time spent laying over in that crummy airport was positively bolstered by chow and margaritas from El Paseo.  The last Mexican food for nearly two weeks?  Likely and it did the job just fine.

I slept (the key) 10 hours of our 15 hour flight to Melbourne and felt great upon landing.  We took our shuttle to the Hotel Media on Queen Street right in the CBD (Central Business District) in the heart of Melbourne.  The room is a one bedroom apartment with kitchenette and washer and dryer with all the amenities we’ll need for our stay.

Daddy spied a bottle shop across the street and wasted no time in procuring a nice bottle of Shiraz for Mommy and a bottle of Havana Club Anejo rum for him to enjoying with Coke Zero while watching Super Bowl XLVIII.  By the time he got back from the bottle shop I was already playing dress up with Barbie and it was halfway through the 2nd quarter.

Not much later Helen Chadwick arrived to show us around Melbourne.  Helen is the reason we came all the way to Australia… Her wedding to Paul Pettigrew will be on Friday, February 6th.   Mommy, Daddy, and Helen all had a great time catching up in our apartment with several “I can’t believe you are here’s” and “OMG!’s” thrown around liberally.

Helen hadn’t eaten lunch yet and suggested we find a place in nearby Hardware Lane.  Melbourne, like so many cool cities around the world (so I’m told), harbors no shortage of little lanes chock full of great restaurants and bars.  Hardware Lane is apparently one of the best in Melbourne and only a ½ block form our hotel… WIN!!

In the European style we sat outside under a giant awning drinking our wines, coffees, nibbling on a nice bruschetta, and people watching at Café Max.  While Mommy and Helen could have chatted there forever, it was just a quick pit stop for our next adventure.

Hel suggested we head to the Melbourne Aquarium as our next stop and played human audio guide as we walked several blocks through the CBD.  Based on her tour and intimate knowledge of this establishment and that establishment, it is apparent that she has an insatiable thirst and that she has tied one on at nearly each watering hole in Melbourne.
The aqurium is situated on the Yarra River right at the end of the CBD and the start of the south end and the massive Crown casino area and Southgate.  The featured exhibit were the Emperor Penguins and they were awesome!  The penguins were very curious and came right up the class to check out all the people.  Their feathers are so smooth and look iridescent as the light reflects off of them.  So cool.

We perused the rest of the aquarium seeing all kinds of seahorses, clown fish, small sharks, crabs, lobsters, groupers and more.  Besides the Emperors, the highlight was walking through and under the massive tank that featured the big sharks and rays.  It is pretty amazing to be standing in a glass tunnel and have a 12 foot wide ray swim over your head!  Our time there was capped off with a visit to the gift shop where Helstar generously bought me a stuffed Emperor penguino.  Thanks Hel!

We crossed the Queensbridge Street bridge by foot at the Crown and began walking down the Southbank Promenade looking at all the restaurants and bars.  Everything in this side of the river appears to be pretty new and was loaded up with all kinds of cool sculpture.

Eventually we made it to the Southgate complex and a restaurant called the Bear Brass that Helen is fond of.  The Southgate complex is actually a property she used to manage, so she is pretty familiar with all of its offerings and loves the brick oven pizzas from Bear Brass.  And now we do too!

After a nice meal like that the only logical succession would be gelato from Tutto Benne for some amazing gelato.  I had raspberry, Hel and Mommy split some Fererro-Rocher and Daddy even got in on the act with some cinnamon yoghurt.  Yee-um!

We continued down the Southbank Prom and crossed the Yarra again across the Princes Bridge and took a look a the very busy Flinders Street Station.  Right across the street are Federation Square and all of it’s interesting looking modern buildings.  And on the opposite corner is St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne’s biggest.

Our walk continued down the very busy Swanston Street where all of the Asian students were keeping all of the sidewalk noodle vendors very busy.  We turned down Bourke Street and walked past a never ending stream of high end shops, restaurants and bars all the way back to our hotel.

Daddy and I headed upstairs for the nighttime ritual while Helen and Mommy had one final glass of wine in our cheesy hotel bar.  What a day and wonderful start to our trip to Australia!