On the road again...

Long day today!

Early in the morning we piled the child, both dogs, ourselves and the assorted "stuff" necessary to traveling into the car and headed out towards Bendigo. Went through Woodend again, Kyneton, Castlemaine and finally Bendigo itself. Wandered around the towns, gaped at the gorgeous scenery, chirped "Honey, look! SHHHHEEEEPPP!!!" every few minutes, drank far too much caffinated beverages and ate way too much lollies, a coffee scroll and lemon-lime bitters! Wandered around the antiques shops and found this GORGEOUS Edwardian hall stand I'm in looooveeee with - only $2400. :-/ Saw a lot of nice sad irons, old egg beaters, a piece of Staffordshire and a nice flow blue platter (yes, I have eclectic collecting tastes!) I'd have liked as well though the lady wanted far too much for it considering the 3 chips, amount of crazing and minor yellowing. Sierra and Cade got to stretch their legs and wandered with us, causing the usual questions.

"Is that a baby greyhound?" No.

Is that a whippet? No.

"Is he fast?" You betchya!

"Is that a Border Collie/Koolie/Husky?" No it's an Aussie Shepherd.

"Oh, what mix is she then?" Au-sie Shep-herd. No you haven't heard of them before because they're actually an American breed. And yes, I know that makes no sense whatsoever, I didn't choose the name so don't blame me!

Upon seeing her blue eyes: "Is she albino? Can she see?" No, albino means the complete lack of pigment, she's a red merle (!) with blue eyes. And yes, she can see quite well... notice how she's following your hand holding the sandwhich intently... *lol*

I found Laurent an adorable sunhat in this little French shop which he needed after outgrowing last years and a matching shirt but Nic wasn't keen on getting both so I've got the shirt on my wishlist for next time. They had some seriously gorgeous girls stuff, I so need to have a girl next time! Castlemain seemed like a really nice area to live. We left for Bendigo at about 4:30pm to have late afternoon tea with Nic's friend Louise and her daughter who is also Nic's god-daughter at their grandmothers house. Lovely bunch of people and I enjoyed the heck out of it. The area really does remind me of where I came from in a lot of ways! Nic is seeming more and more open to the idea of living in the country now that he's actually SEEN it. I still want to look around because as gorgeous as the areas are I'm also feeling like I need to know more about schools, work and the reality of having to travel several times a week a fair haul to training classes. Great day but I'm bloody exhausted! *FLOMPS*

The only downside is that apparently Nic managed to BREAK our pram. :-( I paid $200 for it used (Bertini Bidwell) and the metal bits that hold the back in locking position are busted from jamming it in and out of our boot when the boot had too much other crap in it. Totally torqued till they broke so now the seat back won't sit up at all and flops down at a dangerous angle. :-( :-( :-(

Notes to self: dog-trailer/float is a priority purchase - two dogs, a baby and two adults in a Honda Accord is at best "cozy", three would be NUTS!