A grand day out

I had a lovely day today.In the morning I photographed and listed three new size 2 dresses in my etsy store.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bananaorangeapple?ref=si_shop

 Aren't they cute? Then my daughter the Pickle and I went to pick up her friend Cupcake. Off we went to Floriade, Canberra's annual flower festival.

There are a few Canberrans who think the government should plant native trees and give up on the poppies and daffodils, but most of us love the yearly tip-toe through the tulips. Once the govt decided to charge for admission and hardly anyone went, so they made it free again. Every year there is a different theme, this year it was "A feast for the senses".

The festival is held in Commonwealth Park, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. I used my sneaky secret car parking spot again...the best spot to park is near St John's Reid and then walk through the underpass under the Parkway to get in.

The girls were keen to visit the petting zoo. They had been on a trip with the school choir in September but they ran out of time to go in. Sadly the petting zoo had up and left, but they were able to get friendly with some reptiles instead. I sat outside with a coffee while they did this.

They were quite interested in the gnomes entered in the gnome painting competition. I thought numbers were down from previous years.

We looked at all the pretty flowers and had a browse through the shops. We didn't buy anything as it seemed a bit too expensive.

I was interested in the trees in the park, not sure what the white one is, maybe a viburnum, and I think the pink coloured one is a horse chestnut?

We had a ride on the ferris wheel, which gave an excellent vantage point. We listened to the happy music of the "Australia Fair" organ, and I bought a CD so happiness can continue at home. The organ is the oldest working model in Australia and it was playing "Phantom of the Opera".

Then it was time to go...I had used up my two hours free car parking! Plus it was starting to rain. We all had an icecream.  The girls made a donation to the Heart Foundation in exchange for red balloons.

The Cupcake and the Pickle wanted to spend their last $4 on fairy floss. I said they had to share, since I'd spent all my cash on the ferris wheel, iceblocks and an organ CD. The fairy floss lady had a great idea, she made two half sized FF's so they had one each! Great thinking.

 On the way out we met a giant fish, accompanied by a chef with a pepper grinder. He wanted us to catch the fish with a fishing line, but the Pickle tried with fairy floss.

It was lovely having the Cupcake along. It was good company for the Pickle, and there was not a cross word spoken between them. And she was able to take this lovely mother-daughter photo for me.

When we got back to the car, I was happy to see I had avoided a parking ticket, despite being held up by the fairy floss and a giant fish. I opened the sunroof to let in some rain (just for fun!) and the Cupcake's heart balloon got sucked out as we drove away. It provided some amusement as the girls watched it get smaller and smaller.

We went home via St Vinnies, where I bought the most gorgeous navy drill with tiny red and white sailboats all over it. You can guess what I plan to make with that! We dropped the Cupcake at her house and on arrival at Milliways (that's our place) I discovered I had sold two little dresses. I was so happy, and since the sale was to a friend of mine I am busy stitching up little matching bloomers with ruffle bottoms to include in the parcel. Can you just imagine two year old twins wearing sunfrocks? I will ask their mother for a picture to post here, absolute cuteness!