Of course, we don’t have a lot of equipment for the weather – I was toasty in my ski jacket and Sorels, while Tilda was wearing pink gumboots and my huge gloves, trying to slide down a hill on her raincoat.

We left when hands and bottoms started to hurt from being too wet and cold.

It went better than last time.

There’s also The Light in Winter at Federation Square, the centrepiece of which is Solar Equation. Unfortunately I didn’t know at that point that you could download an iPhone app that allows you to affect the patterns projected on the big sun-balloon.

So we walked around and took pictures, then went to a Fed Square cafe for some warming and restorative hot chocolate before heading out again. I had FINALLY agreed to go on the ferris wheel which has been fluorescing beside the Yarra for years, except for that one time a couple of years ago when it disappeared just when I told Tilda that she could ride it.

It started raining just as we got to the ferris wheel, and was pouring by the time I got tickets, but by that point I had spent $16 and we really had to go on. We were mostly shielded from the rain, although not entirely, and Tilda found the ride rickety and bumpy enough to be a bit exciting.

From the ferris wheel I had seen the Herald Sun building, and remembered that the Press Club restaurant was there. We had recently watched an episode of Masterchef where they’d cooked at the Press Club (which is owned by one of the hosts/judges), so we had to go look in the window. We also went past the alley where Marion outcooked the owner of MoVida.

I had just downloaded the Cheap Eats app to my phone, so I had hoped that we would find a really good place to eat dinner. The more I thought about it, and the more we traipsed around the streets and picturesque laneways, the more I realised that the places in Cheap Eats were more likely to have funky atmospheres than food Tilda would eat.  She also went from hoping that we would go into the City more often to do things like this, to dragging and complaining about her sore feet. After a big loop, we ended up at Cafe Vite in Southbank, loved by Tilda for its chips and aioli, and they were even pretty vite this time. We sat outside, as it was more adventurous.

Fortunately, after a huge bowl of chips and a bandaid for her pinky toe, she had the energy to not only make it back to the car but to climb every climbable thing along the way.

George hadn’t been to the beach in quite a while – maybe not since we went to Apollo Bay almost 2 years ago, although that just seems impossible. His nose was sniffing frantically before he even got out of the car.

He was again nervous of things that moved about in the shallow waves. In this case, it was a dead porcupine puffer fish that freaked him out. When we saw it again on the way back, the tide had receded, so the fish was on solid ground, stationary, and therefore perfectly acceptable to roll in.

He was also nervous of boats, at least until they were close enough for him to figure out that they were vehicles with people inside rather than sea monsters.

Tilda stayed drier than she has ever been on a trip to the beach, which was fortunate as it was pretty cold.

But she did take her shoes off.

Today we went for a bike ride that started somewhere other than our house. I find that mounting the rack on the car and loading the bikes makes me want to yell at those around me, but then again I’ve only used this rack about 3 times in 6 years so a bit of practice might help. I got both bikes on, and they didn’t even fall off as we drove along the Eastern Freeway. Neither did I spear anyone in the eye as I backed up with the rack that seems to protrude about 5 car lengths behind me.

We parked near the bustling Collingwood Children’s Farm and rode along the path which follows the Yarra. Tilda loved the little rollercoaster hills that popped up occasionally, and I tried not to freak out as she zoomed downhill so very, very close to the steep embankment leading down to the river. We had a long stop to admire the animals grazing near the path.

We went downstream along the bike path until we got to some steps, and went upstream as far as Dights Falls.

Tilda thought the falls were very cool, and took the opportunity to do some bouldering. I tried not to freak out as I imagined her being swept away by the current. I really need to relax.

We got back to the Farm Cafe just in time to have something to drink before they closed up. I pictured hot chocolate for both of us, but of course little furnace Tilda preferred a cold drink.

And now I am listening to her snoring.

Nobody else liked it, so I got it for $25.  With chairs!  And free delivery!

It was advertised as being veneer, but it’s real wood, and heavier than it looks (see tweet re: sore back.)  I thought that a bit of paint and fabric would make me much happier.  Off I went to Bunnings, to spend $96 on primer, paint, polyurethane, brushes, sanders, tack cloth (it’s sticky!), masking tape, and a big piece of plastic to cover the garage floor.  Then I spent quite a few days painting, which I didn’t actually mind.  (What I did mind was trying to clean the oil-based paint off the brushes without causing some sort of environmental catastrophe.  Maybe next time I’ll buy one brush per layer of paint.)  In the process I gained an appreciation for people who are willing to do this sort of job sufficiently carefully that they don’t end up with bubbles/streaks/dust/dog hairs embedded in the paint.

I like it, although I can’t let people get too close a look at it, and I definitely can’t let children use it.  Okay, maybe I can, but oh how I will miss the regular sound of someone falling off an IKEA toddler stool.

And some new apps.

I may or may not have neglected the children and dogs in my care.

But I definitely photographed them.