Family

And so Sunday became Tuesday....again, Whoops! I have really allowed my brain to take a break over Xmas. I'm usually straight back into things as of the 1st week of January but I think with Ayla starting school this year, there is this sense that the year doesn't really begin until school goes back. Yup....no good can come of that!

I had to share this picture of Ayla when she first spotted Grandma stepping off the plane......it was so cute. You could literally see her mind ticking, thinking "Hey, I know you! Hang on a minute.....You're here!" There has definitely been a very big hole left here since Mum and Dad left. So what better way to fill a gap than with STUFF! Like our first ever family bike ride on Sunday. I don't know who was more excited, Ayla or me :).

Over the Xmas period we went shopping for new bikes and a 'you beaut' trailer for the Little Mrs. We each received some Xmas money from family to buy them as gifts and we raced out as soon as the shops were open. Steven and I have both been riding our bikes at different opportunities on our own. Steven often rides to work and I have had a couple of relaxing early evening rides too. But the family ride had to wait for everyone to be home from work and for the weather to play along too. And Sunday was that day. It was AWESOME! So good to be out doing an activity that I never thought we would ever be able to do with Ayla. I often watched other families out riding together and longed to be one of them.

Ayla's trailer has plenty of room in the front and back. She was loaded up with toys and I think next time we might pack a picnic lunch in the back! Our ride took us around a portion of Lake Burley Griffin, starting outside Questacon, heading towards the Old Bus Depot Markets, over a bridge, past Commonwealth Park (where they hold Floriade) and back over another bridge on Commonwealth Ave riding straight toward Parliament house. All the while, we had the shores of the lake beside us, walkers, riders and family dogs either moving with us or in the opposite direction. It was so great to be out there with all of the families of human and 'fur' kind, but best of all, to be out there with my family! We stopped at a little cafe on the lake edge before we packed up the bikes and trailer and headed home. And all the while, I was planning the next bike ride :).

I have to say, there are times when I wish I was back in Queensland but when I hit the bikeways and walkways of this city (read country town), I start to realise how this town is specifically planned with families in mind. I haven't come across one part of this town that isn't well thought out (ok, the shopping centres are an appalling exception!), geared toward families and totally accessible for strollers and wheelchairs. When you couple these great traits with a stone fruit season that has been nothing short of amazing to my tastebuds......I think I'm starting to like it here.