The cold wind blows

It seems Melbourne has turned the corner into winter. A short few weeks ago we were still having sunny days in the high teens/low twenties. But yesterday was a day of steady rain and winds. Hello winter.

Of course, with winter comes illness. This week has been a doozy for that at Chez Thommo. It started Monday night with Sebastian having a mild reaction to dinner. Then there was vomit in our bed (not the last time for the week either). And it was on like donkey kong from there. A fairly random, nasty bug has invaded. Respiratory with a side of vomit, sounds like fun right?

As always, Bas got it the worst, I spent yesterday mostly stuck on the couch cuddling him as he dozed. A diagnosis of ear infection came after he started refusing water and cried in misery (and spat out the Panadol we were trying to give him).

Are chemist visits expensive for you too? I get all “I’ll get one of those, and maybe one of those and one of those might help too”. Came out with his antibiotics ($8.50) and $45 less in my account. Hmmm. Anyway, worth it as he is feeling much better today. In fact, all of them are judging by the bouncing off the walls. And I’m ignoring that niggle in my throat. If I ignore it it will go away right? Just like the pile of washing waiting to be put away…..

Bloggy mum bliss

Yesterday I attended my very first blogger event, if you’re on Twitter you may have seen the #big4mno hashtag flying around. Obviously I don’t have anything to compare it to but wow, wow, WOW!

First of all, the accommodation and facilities at Big 4 Bellarine Peninsula are far and away the best I’ve seen for families, and we stayed at a LOT of places on our Queensland roadtrip!

The cabins are clearly designed with families in mind. I stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom cabin (all by myself, oh the silence, bliss!). Bright, modern, decent kitchen with oven and dishwasher, hello!!!

Oh my gosh I nearly forgot the best bit! KING size bed in the main bedroom. That’s right, parental luxury right there.

The playground is ah-maz-ing. Seriously, if you take the kids you will not have to go anywhere else, there’s 2 big jumping pillows, cubby house, climbing frame, sandpit, swings…..

A warning for mums, the jumping pillows are heaps of fun, but it certainly tests the strength of your pelvic floor muscles, if you know what I mean…

Elsewhere on site is a flying fox, indoor heated swimming pool (a delicious 33c), indoor kids play room, peddle power go-karts, a walking track around the park, a theatre room…poor Thommo was home with the kids and kept getting messages as I discovered things “ooooh and there’s this! And this!”. Oh yeah, there’s soccer goal, footy goals, bocce and croquet. And yet I’m still probably forgetting something.

But for me, the BIG stand out was all the little details. You can really tell it’s been designed by parents of a young family, all the little details they’ve included are designed to make holidaying with kids so much easier. The decks off the cabins have full railing with 2 gates, perfect for keeping small ones contained while you organise meals or get ready to go out. One of the bedrooms in the cabin I was in had a nook designed for a portacot, that’s a huge thing to me. When we were away trying to find a spot in small cabins and apartments to put a portacot or 2 that was quiet and yet not in the way was a complete PITA. A sweet set of polka dot teacups and saucers instead of the usual plain white made me smile.

Plastic crockery ready for littlies:

And along with all the picnic tables scattered around the park  weere these wee kiddy size ones. Yeah, I really like little details.

Attention to detail is clearly what the Big 4 Bellarine team are good at. We bloggers were spoiled with a fun race with challenges that took us all over the park. A delicious candlelit dinner, dancing until the wee hours, waking up to newspapers on our doorsteps before a delicious breakfast. I floated home after an amazing massage.

Even though this was my very first blog event I’m pretty sure Big 4 Bellarine just raised the bar on blog events, waaaaaay raised it. Thanks for inviting me Big 4 Bellarine, I had a fantastic time! Thommo and I are already planning on invading with the Thomlets sometime soon.

So lucky

Today was the twins baptism (more detail post to come) and I just feel like gushing. Spending the day surrounded by our closest family and friends, all busy loving our beautiful babies. What could be better than that?