Floriade

Talk about a love-affair with Spring! Canberrans know how to celebrate the season right. Check out our main city park transformed into an explosion of blooms. The breathtaking and glorious "Floriade"

(Even the Queen of England is here visiting Floriade today - kids were begging to skip school so they could catch a glimpse of her on the boat ferrying her over the lake to the entrance.)

 There were daily cooking shows and gardening experts and a full schedule of presentations.

You'll notice these mannequins are all dressed entirely in plants and flowers. The creative artistry and detail was exquisite.



The plots were all carefully arranged and planted in designs more clear from an aerial view, with signs posted in front showing whether it was a "dragon" or "chili pepper" or what.

With designs continuing to bloom over three weeks, talk about planning!

 The Bonsai tree collection was amazing.

 They had craft stalls, rides, games and petting zoos for the kids. And of course, booths full of cool foods, oils, handmade toys, jewelry and everything else you'd expect to find.

Kids Contest for decorated garden gnomes

Free admission during the day, paid admission for special night concerts & activities.

If I were to suggest a time to visit Canberra is would definitely be during the spring, and if you could manage it make sure to arrive when Floriade is on.

Sprite Stand

Maybe THAT'S why not one Australian stopped at our "lemonade stand" last week - lemonade means "Sprite" here and who cares about a sprite stand??

I don't know. I guess it's just not done here. We had to start texting friends when we hadn't had a customer the whole first hour. Kids held on a couple more hours though and ended up getting some nice folks - albeit all "foreigners" like us (except a couple sweet Oz kids/neighbors/friends who were kind enough to oblige!)

And it's not like there wasn't appropriate signage...

It was awesome to see all the thoroughly confused faces slowly drive by, maybe throwing out a smile or wave. One friend texted back, "Yes, not the done thing here, more like something we'd see in a Peanuts comic."

I love it. I can't imagine growing up without ever doing a lemonade stand! Maybe we planted some seeds in some little heads...

But seriously enormous lemons right off the tree (thanks Odette!) then FRESH-SQUEEZED, I mean, c'mon - who passes that up?

Now that I think of it there actually was a sweet Aussie grandma that passed then swung back around the neighborhood to purchase, saying "I couldn't pass up those sweet little faces."

They were sweet. We had fun. And they even sold all our fancy "lemonade" by the end, thanks to a caravan of Malaysian businessmen, so a successful venture after all.

(Next time we'll try setting up at the park instead.)

School Break

Back to school. Two weeks of Sydney, the beach, off-roading, LDS General Conference, stitches, and a lemonade stand among other things. But I think the fave was just the freedom & quality time.

This was slept in most nights.

You know it's a good book... And some excellent choreography sessions with friends.

See, flowers even sprout from the rocky hillsides - never seen such a brilliant spring.

 Enjoying a little lunch break (ie: barf break) and some fresh air on the bumpy roads.

Oatmeal cinnamon rolls are the new tradition for Conference morning.
(Better than Cinnabon, friends. Recipe in comments below.)

 

Lots of biking. 

Even snuck off for a few trail ride "dates." 

Aren't we all cute and matchy-matchy?? We only ride in style...

Speaking of riding in style - check out this family bike we rented on Lake Burley Griffin. Between the weather, the blossoms and sheer enthusiasm of the kids, definitely made a memory.

Summer was thoroughly confused and enthralled trying to figure this contraption out.

The best was when we stopped so I could feed Summer (Darren wasn't about to escalate our spectacle by condoning a feed ON the bike) and the kids jumped on for a spin. Hardly touching the pedals, they started running people off the sidewalk, narrowly escaping a dip in the lake at every turn. Many a concerned look was cast our way. Kinda hilarious.

 The required tree climbing breaks...

Plenty o' beds full of exhausted kids. Good times.