Seven crowded days make one weak

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……

Hear that? It's the sound of this weary Mumma, and Chester the Wonderlab, catching up on some much-needed sleep after the frenetic pace of Sarah's final week here.

After 2 and a half weeks filled with retail therapy, attending to travel-related admin, catching up with friends (hers and mine), enjoying plenty of niece and nephew cuddles with The Princess and Mr J, embarrassing Chester by entering him in a Dogtober fancy dress competition dressed as a fairy followed by a late night mercy dash to the emergency vet with our precious pup very sick with Kennel Cough, and savouring the all-too-few moments of just hanging out together, the pace was ramped up a notch (if that's possible) with the arrival, on my birthday, of Nolan, Sarah's …um… Significant Other.

For seven days we lurched from one sumptuous meal to another, as we tried to give Nolan, a first-time visitor to Australia, the ultimate Sydney experience.

Lunch with Sarah's godmother, Liccy, at the Tea Rooms at Watsons Bay

Breakfast at The Grounds at Alexandria

Dinner at the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park

Nolan even cooked us a candlelight dinner at home one evening. Yummmmm.

We kept on the move too, with the young ones taking part in the Spring Bike Ride across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and around the sights of Sydney, and outings to Centennial Park and Bondi Beach..

On their final day, along with Lachy and Merry and Mr J, we took the ferry across the harbour to Taronga Park Zoo where I momentarily lost them among the meerkats :-)

 It was a delight to share Mr J's excitement and sense of wonder at the tall giraffes,

The elephants,

And the performing seals.

Chester's recovered from his Kennel Cough, though the poor boy is finding it had to understand why he has to be quarantined and can't play with his friends in the park yet. (Three days to go!)

These two have gone home to the States.

 And I've {almost} recovered from a tumultuous roller coaster of a month during which my blog posting and reading has been far more hit-and-miss than I would have liked.

My apologies. Normal transmission will be resumed very soon, dear reader.