Australia 6

Today, Wednesday 16 February, is the last day of the conference. Monday and Tuesday were substantially similar to one another. The kids and I hung out in the flat in the morning, then went to the beach in the afternoon. In the evening, a babysitter came and David and I went to a conference function.

Today we mixed it up a little. Some kind Itasca friends (who weren't needed at the conference during the day today) offered to take the tram (the above-ground rail public transport here) to downtown Melbourne and go to the aquarium with us. We enthusiastically took them up on the offer. They met us at our flat and we walked the 1/2 block to the tram stop (now a pause to gush again about how perfect this location is). A six block or so walk from the main downtown terminal got us to the aquarium. It wasn't a spectacular aquarium, but it was really neat to see the array of Australian fish. We saw some amazing sea dragons and some big crabs and other sea "monsters." The sharks and mantas were also a hit. Emory, entirely spontaneously - I wasn't even sitting near him, asked a question at the end of a presentation and was wonderfully clear and articulate and didn't sound the least bit uncomfortable or nervous to be speaking through a microphone in front of a good-sized crowd. Isn't it neat when your kids totally surprise you? Emory and Freya both had a great time. Astrid was a horrible pain in the rear more or less from start to finish. She was tired when we left and didn't quite fall asleep on the way (too much interesting stuff going on). She screamed in the stroller, screamed on my back and required one person's full-time attention to be on the ground. Fortunately our friends helped a huge amount so we all made it through. Astrid did finally fall asleep after we left so we were able to eat a peaceful lunch.

It's hot and muggy today and Emory is having trouble with the heat. We, and he in particular, are pretty cold-weather adjusted, so I think he really is suffering some, not just whining for the sake of whining. Our flat is nicely air-conditioned, so we're back there now recovering. After we're cool, maybe we'll still make a beach run this afternoon. Freya left her pretty sun hat on the tram and had a 20 minute howling celebration of sadness over that, but is recovered now.