BBQ Brunch

Last weekend was pretty chilled out, as Ella was recovering from yet another virus, this time a stomach bug. She had four terrible nights of sleep, where she basically just cried/screamed for over an hour and nothing we could do would calm her down. Then, on Friday morning, after what we thought was a “better” night (ie no screaming), we woke up to her throwing up in bed. Andy stayed home with her while she proceeded to throw up everything she ingested (mostly just water) for about 24 hours. Ah, the joys of parenthood! The only positive when Ella is not feeling well is that there are lots of cuddles to go around, which, I’m not going to lie, I do enjoy!

Sunday morning she seemed to be feeling much better, so we met up with Charlotte and Adam for a BBQ breakfast in Barkley Gardens. Barkley Gardens is a large 19th century park in the heart of Richmond. And what a fantastic park it is! The large grassy area has gravel paths winding through and across it, is beautifully landscaped and surrounded by huge leafy trees. There is a recently renovated playground, with lots of different pieces of equipment suitable for all ages. The most impressive piece is a gigantic climbing structure with a tunnel slide coming off of it.

We arrived around 10am and cooked some bacon and egg sandwiches on the communal BBQs. Australian’s love a communal BBQ - we definitely don’t take advantage of these as much as we should. Ella was in a pretty foul mood for the first hour or so, still a little bit unwell I guess. She wanted everything and nothing at the same time, so it was difficult to work out what would make her smile. Usually she is so excited to see Charlotte and Adam, but even they didn’t get any Ella love to begin with. While pushing her on the swings she constantly demanded “higher!” and would get upset if I was holding my coffee or (gasp!) talking to Charlotte at the same time.

After our breakfast we were joined by friends of Adam and Charlotte and their 8 month old baby. We had a lot of fun playing frisbee, watching the kids in the sandpit (Ella finally perked up and seemed back to her normal self after lunch), and of course all having a go on the climbing structure. Who says playgrounds are just for kids?!

It was such a nice way to spend a Sunday morning, and far less stressful than taking Ella along to a trendy café. I don’t know why we haven’t done this before, it was a lovely way to spend a weekend morning. It had made me very excited for warmer weather and the arrival of spring!