February, 2017 - You Are Doing WHAT!?

One of the “fun things to do” ideas that our friend Delia mentioned to us was the Solar System Trail. Along the beach, there are models of the sun, moon, and planets. Although we walked past “the sun” at least once before, we weren’t looking for it, so we made a point to find it one day last week, BUT we didn’t have our camera/phones in hand. 🙁

The next day, we decided to check it out again on our way to the beach…this time with a camera! The installation was done in 2008 by artists and scientists and basically provides a model of the solar system using a 1 to 1 billion scale! It starts at the sun (at St. Kilda Beach) and goes for 5.9 km (representing 5.9 billion km) to Pluto (at Sandridge Beach)!

Our journey started at the St. Kilda Marina looking at some fancy boats!

The first stop was at Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the sun.

And then the sun! Da da daaaaaa!

Whew! That was a lot of work…time for a quick break and some playground time! 🙂

Back to work…a little further down, we spotted Mercury. Look at how little it looks!

Next stop…Earth! G is pointing to the moon, and L is pointing to Earth. (Just in case you’re wondering, G is holding rubber gloves that the kids were using as beach balls and then used for digging at the beach! Makes them look more scientist-y, don’t you think?)

By this time, we’d reached the beach and our planet search came to a halt. We’ll have to find the rest of the planets another day…

February 20, 2017

Jodelle Dueber1 Comment

Valentine’s Day and Week!

Just down the street from our apartment is Jerry’s Milk Bar, which was recommended by both our Airbnb host and Jeff and Delia. It opened in 1964 and is a fun little diner with tasty breakfasts, lunches, and milkshakes!

The kids and I did some Australian animal-themed Valentine drawings.

We spent Valentine’s Day at Scienceworks, with a majority of our time focused on the Think Ahead and the Sportsworks exhibitions, although I think we wandered into all the areas for a least a minute or two.

Started our day in the **Test Lab**, where there were all sorts of tools and gadgets for inventing, creating, and building whatever you want.

In the Think Ahead exhibit, we all got to choose which special features we’d add to our bodies, if it was possible, and then see how they worked for us by trying to hit targets.

L thinking hard about what special features he’d add to his body.

L chose a third arm (in the form of a trunk), rocket hands, and jet-propulsion legs!

G chose rocket hands, a bionic hearing device, and jet-propulsion legs!

Mike chose rocket hands, a bionic hearing device, and grasshopper legs!

Jody chose changeable hair, wings, and jet-propulsion legs!

Next, G and L designed some cool eco-friendly cars made of bamboo and solar panels.

Here’s L inside a space station that rotated, so it made it feel like you were really floating in space.

What if you really could teleport yourself? This display made it almost seem possible…here she is…close the door…where’d she go?? 🙂

In the Sportsworks exhibition, we all tried out snowboarding, G did a little rock climbing, and G and L did a simulated wheelchair race. There were also a bunch of areas to test strength, balance, hand-eye coordination, etc., as well as more sports things like shooting skills for netball, how fast you throw a baseball, etc. Lots of fun!

Upstairs, there was model of Melbourne made out of Legos! Quite impressive!

G and L pumped the pedals of this pianola to play a few old songs, while a little guy stopped to watch and listen.

Cool view of the huge, very high bridge we crossed to get to the museum.

Mike found yet another playground for us to try right around the corner from our place!

L and G trying to equally balance their weight.

L leaping off the swings…1-2-3!!

Time for some static electricity shocks! Slide down, run over to someone, and ZAP!

A beautiful evening for playing hearts on our balcony.

Took a long walk…but a nice walk…to a playground on the beach.

Another view of the steel giraffes in the background.

Time for some ice cream!!

Beautiful architecture and gardens all over the place.

I love the tiled courtyards in front of many of the houses.

The iron scroll work and stained glass is amazing!

Stopped at the St. Kilda Twilight Market for a bite to eat on our way home.

A little popcorn and Blackjack to end the day! 🙂

February 15, 2017

Jodelle Dueber

St. Kilda Festival

On Sunday afternoon, we walked down to the St. Kilda Festival. It’s held each February and reminded us of a gigantic Grand Old Day!

Before checking out the music, we shared some Greek chicken pita sandwiches and fries.

As we walked by the main stage, we heard a little bit of Mitch King, who sounded pretty good.

This was a booth we thought covered all the food bases.

There was men’s beach volleyball and mixed netball going on down by the beach, despite the fierce wind!

We watched a bunch of kite surfers before making our way over to the Kid Zone.

At the Kid Zone, they were handing out iced coffee samples! Yummy!:) We heard a little bit of Little Feet Music singing about brushing your teeth. 🙂 While the music was a little young for G and L, the singer reminded us of one of our favorites from a few years back, Laurie Berkner.

As we were making our way around, G and L got to try to high-five the biggest gnomes we’ve ever seen and then pose for a picture!

At a field near the Kid Zone, there was a game of bubble soccer going on, so we decided to check it out. It was available for all to try, so Mike and the kids did, and I stayed on the sidelines as the backpack holder and official photographer!

The two other bands we heard as we walked around were Wallflower, just for a second, and then a band up on their balcony. They weren’t part of the official lineup, but they were great!

It was a group of five or six 60ish year olds, playing the keyboards, sax, drums, etc.! They had quite a big crowd gathered below their building. We stood and listened to them do “Eight Days a Week” and “I’m All Shook Up.” G was a big fan of me singing along and trying to get her to dance with me…;)

It was a great afternoon followed by a fun evening getting together with Jeff, Delia, M, and T for dinner and an incredible ice-cream cake for dessert!

February 15, 2017

Jodelle Dueber

Exploring Elwood

Started off last Saturday morning with a trip to the Elwood Farmer’s Market. It was a really nice market with a great garden/plant stand and some tasty foods to go (including fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice, falfels, homemade peanut butter, and fresh scones and cookies), in addition to typical fruits and veggies.

Mike and G in line to get some falafels! 🙂

G and L think this type of tree house would work great in our Silver Maple!

We walked to Elwood village and Mike and L stopped in to True Barbers for real haircuts! (We left our do-it-yourself trimmer in France…had to lighten our bags.) The barber told Mike he’d done a pretty good job with his do-it-yourself haircuts!