There have been many days of bike riding since Santa brought bikes for Christmas and New Year's Eve (day) was no exception. After I went into the hospital for a while I came home early and had a bike ride with the kids. Emily is getting a lot better at steering her tricycle and Cian is a pedalling machine. I am really amazed that such a usually uncoordinated kid is so good at cycling. He is definitely more sports-inclined.
After our late afternoon bike ride we came home for supper and some relaxation before our big night festivities. Serendipitously it was the first annual family New Year's Eve party in Footscray park. We often walk to Footscray park with the kids because the path is along the river lined with palm trees and it's a beautiful walk. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there from our house so it was very convenient for us. We packed up around 7:30pm with our matching silver ribbon bracelets and enjoyed the beautiful summer breezes across the river on our walk. Cian informed us when we were getting close because the music was getting louder. There was a big bandstand and they had varying musical acts that were really good. Later the mayor of this area of Melbourne (because Melbourne is made up of suburbs that are sometimes defined into local districts as I understand it) said they expected about 5-6,000 and there were WAY more than that there. That was fun cause there were lots of people blasting their bubble guns, kicking soccer balls and playing cricket and climbing in gum trees (my kids) and in general having fun family time. It also meant the lines for stuff like the shark slide and food vendors were really long. This didn't bother us too much because we didn't need to stand in those queues but I'm sure they will take it into account for next year. Our kids were over the moon that they got to stay up late and their energy was in overdrive. This was ok though because all the kids were hyper and there was lots of space for everyone to run and play - an ideal location. Emily ran over to a nearby blanket to say hi and stood there with her serious face and the dad of that family laughed and gave her two glo-stick bracelets. She was SOOOO excited and ran over to show me and then ran back to say "Happy New Year " and "thank you". She saved the green one for Cian cause it was his favourite but she was very excited and played with them for the rest of the night.
At 930pm the fireworks started (such a good idea to have an early fireworks show!!!) and Cian was totally pumped but Emily buried her face in my neck and was scared of the bright lights. That was until Keith took her to sit on our blanket and we all sat down and Cian leaned over to her and told her "Don't worry Emily fireworks are cool." Then she was ok to watch them. It was a really great show for a community event. After the fireworks we walked the palm-tree lined path home beside the river that sparkled with the reflection of city lights and stars to the tunes of the ABBA cover band. We could hear those fun melodies all the way home to our front door as the kids eyelids struggled to stay open with the comfort of the summer breeze and the dark night. They clutched their glo-sticks as they fell asleep in their beds exhausted from all the fun of celebrating a new beginning. Welcome 2014 - we are looking forward to a year of adventure, laughter and love.
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