Sept 2 - Happy Father's Day!

  I would like to dedicate today's blog to one of my heroes, my Dad.  Happy Father's Day to him and to all the other wonderful and loving father's in the world, including my grandfather, my brother, my brother-in-law and my best friend.  It's not an easy job being a role model and you all have different ways of going about it, but you love your kids, you give them your support and you make sure they know they are important to you.
  My Dad lives interstate so unfortunately I couldn't be there to make him a special breakfast but I'll do it next time we're together again!  However, I was proximate today to one father in the extended family, my brother-in-law Tricky.  He was keen to join Bertie, my nephew and me for a day's Mali hunting including a trip to the Queen Vic Market.
To see all ten Malis found today, click here and look for the September 2 heading.

  Tricky has been working nights so we waited until everyone else was up and breakfasting before we thought about waking him.  Bertie was making pancakes but I declined in favour of toast.  I had four slices of toast made with Helga's Pumpkin Five Seed bread.  Two slices were spread with Yumi Hummus and two slices were spread with Nutella.
  After we all had breakfast, my nephew presented Tricky with his Father's Day present.  It was a card that he had made at daycare and a hilarious 'all about my dad' sheet which included things like 'My Dad is 3' and 'My dad's favourite food is noodles'.  The whole thing was very sweet and funny.

  That done we headed off to the city starting at the Queen Vic Market.  Right off the bat we found two of our ten elephants for the day!  We entered the market in search of caffeine and a type of four-part lacquer art.  Tricky used to have one like this which got damaged in a house move and he was investigating what might be involved in sourcing a suitable replacement.
  We meandered around the market for a little while, spotting two more Mali's along the way and then proceeded down Elizabeth Street and up Latrobe to Melbourne Central.
  There was an unfortunate sight at the base of the Shot Tower.  Our third Mali for the day, Mali's Winter Wonderland by Pat Minahan had suffered some vandalism.  This statue, sponsored by Buller Ski Lifts, was dressed with a blue fur fringed hat, a stripey blue trunk warmer and it was quite evident that the matching scarf had been ripped from it.
  On my Mali pictures for the day, I've included an insert photo of Pat Minahan and the undamaged statue from Pat's blog.  It wasn't the only statue we saw that had suffered deliberate damage, several others had names scratched into their paintwork, but it was certainly the worst.  I don't want to go on about it but it made me really quite cross that some jerk-wads out there think it's their right to mess up other people's stuff.  It's not fair, it's not meaningful and it's not attractive!  It's just spiteful.

  We stopped for lunch at the Melbourne Central food court and I had a Burger Edge 'The Original Edge' burger which is a lean beef pattie, lettuce, tomato, onion, tomato relish and aioli and I also added a slice of cheese.  I chose to have it on a wholemeal roll accompanied only by a bottle of water.  I avoided ordering chips and I also avoided eating any of my nephews leftover chips!  It was a rather nice burger and it was certainly filling enough.  In fact it kept me from snacking later!
  After lunch we continued on up Latrobe Street and down Exhibition Street to the Marriott Hotel where our eighth Mali stood, then down to Chinatown in Little Bourke Street for our ninth, quite an amazing construction that one!  Then we walked all the way down to the Bourke Street Mall for our final Mali for the day.
  It was quite a big walk for my nephew so luckily Bertie had thought to bring his scooter.  He's only three so he can't really work a scooter by himself, so he stands on it and Bertie steers and pushes him along.  It looks a little awkward but she assures me it's a hell of a lot easier than carrying him!  Once we finished our hunt, we decided that I would take my nephew back to the playground in Flagstaff Gardens via tram, and Bertie and Tricky would walk back together and meet us there.
  It was a very short tram ride, only 5 or so stops, but my nephew is a big fan of public transport and loves getting to press the button for our stop.  He did need carrying from the near tram stop to the playground but fortunately I can cope with him sitting on my shoulders for a little while.  He had a lovely time going down the slippery dip and playing on a digger in the sandpit.  When Bertie and Tricky arrived, we all headed home.
  I was as exhausted as everyone else by the time we got back to their house.  I lay down in the spare room for a second and promptly conked out for an hour.  I felt much better after my little Sunday nanna nap though, and was able to head home.  I got home, brought in my dry laundry and put another load on then sat down at my computer to process photos, write my blog and plan for the week ahead.

  About 8pm I realised I hadn't eaten dinner yet and so, having not planned anything for this night, I grabbed a Lean Cuisine Balanced  Serve Honey Soy Beef with wholemeal noodles from the freezer and zapped it in the microwave.  I also had 20g of Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate for dessert.  Luckily, remembering to eat also meant I remembered to hang on the wet load of laundry!
  I hope you all enjoy the Mali photos from today.  It's certainly been a lot of fun (and exercise) finding them all.  Only ten to go now!  I shall sign off for now and commence my week's planning and getting ready for work tomorrow.  A change of scenery for me, I'm off to Northland for the day to participate in a hopefully very useful training course.
  Jess