Exploring Melbourne

We have continued to enjoy our time in Melbourne with our wonderful hosts, the Kertons. We began our day Tues., with breakfast at Victoria Market, a Melbourne institution. An open air market with rows and rows and rows of fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, clothing and trinkets - something for everyone! Unfortunately, we were not able to go to Matt's place b/c of weather but are hopeful that we will get there on Thursday before we leave. Instead we went to the Melbourne zoo and even though it was cold and drizzly, lots of wonderful animals to enjoy. The butterfly house was a nice warm stop at the end of our trip there.

After an afternoon nap to continue to help combat what I hope is the last of our jet lag, we were treated to dinner at the Kerton's. Wow, can they cook - several homemade breads to choose from, gnocchi from the market, fresh salad! YUM! Jan and Doug live in a wonderful Victorian home just outside of Melbourne. Doug is a gifted carpenter and has renovated/reconstructed most all of the home himself. Jan pulled out the giant box of Legos and Travis and Clayton felt right at home. Noah and James found computer games in common so we saw little of the two of them for the evening! :) Made for a wonderfully relaxing evening for all of us.

Although Noah had grand ideas of going to see the movie "300" at the IMAX theater, after such a delicious meal, we were all ready to come home and try and catch up on our sleep. Good news is that both little boys only woke once in the night and then were able to go right back to sleep. Progress!

Today, Wed. we spent the morning at Federation Square, home of several galleries. We enjoyed an exhibit of aboriginal art, that is until Travis laid his hand on one of the paintings pointing out his favorite. Needless to say the guard frowned upon such activity and we made a hasty departure. Next door there is an animation museum and the everyone enjoyed watching various clips of animated cinema. These seemed to take up our morning and we headed home, stopping at the "Lord of the Fries" for a quick bite on the street. We will enjoy some famous "Jones family quiet time" this afternoon and then head out for some more exploring before meeting the Kerton's for dinner out somewhere.

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