Kel Man is the cutest, smartest, most beautiful child in the world, but then again every grandparent thinks that, don’t they? Ash and Mike live in a cute little house but very different than what I had envisioned. Lou and I both agreed the house and neighborhood reminded us of the northwest, Seattle or Vancouver but a LOT hotter. Just a block down the street there is a park and through the park is a Tech University followed by a quaint little strip of college type shops, coffee houses, restaurants and book stores. Since we hit the ground we have been soaking up Keller Love.
The little guy is so much fun at this age and Ashlie is exposing him to life, coffee shops, catching the commuter train to go downtown and everything in between. Someone told me mothers in Vietnam keep a new baby in the house for the first six months of their lives, at seven months theK-Man had been on and airplane multiple times to New York, Florida and Australia, out on the golf course, the zoo and to gourmet restaurants. No helicopter flying over the K-Man.
We took the train into town, had coffee at a café and ventured over to the Melbourne Zoo. It was midday before we got there so it was a bit hot for most of the animals but that didn’t stop the little man from riding a Galapagos tortoise (without the knowledge of the zoo staff), checking out the snakes, orangutans and the new baby elephant. The little man really rolls with the plan.
Ashlie took us to a couple of great restaurants, Movida, a kind of new age Spanish cuisine. There were two things that really stood out a chilled soup with grilled corn and crab and the best paella I have ever had. The next night we tried a highly recommended Italian restaurant, this time we had the owner Antonio do the ordering, we must have tried a little of everything on the menu, smoked cod, Waygu Beef Carpaccio, squid ink infused rice with white fish and a light tomato sauce, goat with peas in a cream sauce, and pork belly, it was a gastronomic extravaganza. Kel Man joined us for both nights the first night he slept through the meal but the second night he joined in and tasted the gourmet delights along with us, both nights he was a joy to have along. I think it is important to teach a child how to act in a nice restaurant and Umi and I loved having him along.
Yesterday we had a barbi with a couple of their friends in the park, lamb burgers, pasta salad and good company. Ashlie’s best friend is an expat couple from Charlotte, leave it to Ashlie to travel 4700 miles to make friends with someone from Charlotte, she could have just driven 60 miles and accomplished that mission.
The last day in Melbourne we took the train down to Brighton Beach along with the Kel Man, it was a cool day and we were headed towards the beach, which called for packing a bottle of wine in the stroller. After a quick train ride, a great lunch and some mid-morning cappuccinos we walked the last few blocks to the beach. Lots of guys working on their sailboards and the famous colorful Brighton Beach sheds, we were told that people pay $100,000+ for a shed to keep their beach chairs and umbrellas, Hmmm some people just way too much money if they are paying 100K for a colorful tool shed.
We found a little walking path down to the beach but it looked a little rough for a stroller but the K-man but Poppy decided it was time for some rough riding shortly after Umi and Ash walked down the path. I suggested that it was the perfect spot to sit and have a glass of wine, the only problem was that we forgot glasses, since K-man had two baby bottles we repurposed one of K-man’s baby bottles. Thanks K!
