Australia: Gardens and Dish

In an effort to stay out of Laura and Chris’ way as they got ready for work, Kyle and I decided to take Patrick out to the beach to occupy him in the early morning hours.  Only Kyle grabbed a hair clip from my purse thinking it was the house key so we ended up locked out and had to wait until Laura got up to let us back in.  So basically we were standing outside the apartment in our PJs looking like homeless idiots for a while.  Really embarrassing.

 

Kyle and I alternated going on short runs and showering that morning and made breakfast at the apartment – just taking it easy until Patrick went down for a nap.

I made instant coffee (with caffeine!) in a mason jar and added canned coconut milk.

Toast with dairy free butter and fried eggs is the standard for us both (GF bread for me).

 

P was mega tired after playing with Tupperware for a solid 45 minutes and he ended up taking another 2 hour nap.  Again.  These morning naps are insane.  Too bad they haven’t stuck around now that we are back in the States.  In fact, the jet lag issues are STILL lingering and we are practically pulling our hair out trying to get him back on track.  Gahhhhh.  But back to vacation.

 

He woke up happy and refreshed so we decided to try him out on the beach again.  The first time he was really freaked out by the sand but we were thinking that had more to do with the time difference and his exhaustion than the actual sand.  That said, he has been weird about touching new things lately (like he hydrangeas on the dining room table that he is super curious about until you bring him within an inch – at which point they scare the crap out of him).  Anyway he was still pretty unsure of the sand even though he had a rash guard (rashie) and shorts (boardies) covering almost his whole body and he was sitting on a beach towel.  We tried to lure him onto the sand by placing objects just slightly out of his reach on the sand and he finally ventured as far as putting one hand in the sand.  Baby steps I guess. 

He liked the wet sand that the waves had made hard and cool so maybe it’s just a matter of the temperature and texture combined that weirds him out.  Funny kid.  He spent most of he time checking out another baby on he beach and watching the birds and dogs.  Soon thereafter we collected ourselves and went out for lunch in double bay.  We hit up Cafe Indigo again.  Why mess with perfection?  I got the salmon salad with pea shoots, asparagus, avocado, and goat cheese.  The photo below (left) does it no justice at all because it was so so good.  Kyle got the mushroom bruschetta. 

We popped into the apartment quickly after to change P and get sunscreen-ed and then grabbed the ferry to Circular Quay (a central point in downtown Sydney).  P napped for the entire 35 minute commute (we took the ferry to a few other stops rather than direct). 

We didn’t have a real agenda once we got to Circular Quay so we just took our time admiring the opera house and then wandering through the botanical gardens (which are huge). 

P loves plants and leaves and flowers so he was a big fan. 

Kyle wore him on his back in the ergo and he took everything in.

We grabbed a drink along the wharf before we headed back home.  For dinner we went to Dish in Double Bay with Laura and Chris.  I continued the boozing with more champs.  Loves me the bubbles.

    

For dinner Kyle and I split a Caesar salad and a pizza on a gluten free crust with goat cheese chicken avocado and pesto (the bottom two pics). 

Laura got a pizza too (top pic) but they forgot her goat cheese.  Wha wha. 

 

It was a good meal and even though we pushed P to his limits with the lateness, he was a champ and put up with it pretty well.  As soon as we got home we did his bedtime routine and he was out.  My stomach was in a funk from dinner so I kinda zoned out on the couch while we watched more of "the block".