Escape to the Country

Do you know how much I love South Australia.  Seriously.  I am so patriotic about this state.  I am actually surprised myself by how loyal and proud I am of my adopted homeland.  Even after coming home from the beautiful Queensland, where all my much loved family & friends reside & of course I miss them all dearly, I feel abounding love for the SA countryside.  And I’ve long maintained that a sunny spring day in SA beats anywhere else.

Behold!  Clare Valley.  Ooh aah.  We had a great weekend away.  Our cottage had wine, chocolate, a fireplace & a spa.  Heaven.

The Second Sister

So, Christina arrived in Toowoomba on Friday, & we hit the main street looking for a wedding dress.  Mum had said that the bridal shops were great in T-town, but Christina was rather pessimistic about her chances of finding the perfect dress.  Of course, mums are right, & this was no exception.  The most beautiful dress, THE DRESS, was found.  And purchased!!!!

Then, mission accomplished, it was off to have some chocolate.

That Friday night, we had an amazing Mexican fiesta…it featured the legendary Banoffee pie…we needed a chainsaw to slice it, but gee it was delish!

Then it was time to commence the BrisVegas leg of our trip.  I had a fun evening out (sans kids) with the girls & must say a huge shout out thankyou to David for offering to look after my little munchkin.  He had a ball.

We spent a few lovely days with Christina & Dave in their new apartment.

And I think that about concludes our trip up to Queensland.  I have a gazillion other favourite photos…so many happy memories!  We had the best time.

But it is good to be home.  Especially because we missed this man so much.

So home for a day and now we are off again to Clare Valley, Mintaro to be exact, for a much needed family long weekend in the countryside.  I seem to have packed twice as much for a holiday that is only 3 days long…

Marble cake

This was a marvelous cake!!!  I loved watching mum making it.  I don’t think she was all that happy with me taking photos though because later in the week she told me that I couldn’t take photos of her preparing her banoffee pie.  Oh mum- I miss your cooking already!

This cake was made for Poppy Rog’s birthday.  We had the most awesome picnic in the park.

T-town

We arrived safely in Toowoomba.  Unfortunately our flight was delayed for more than two hours, meaning that we didn’t actually get back to T-town until 2 am in the morning!

Ash was a total trooper.  Seriously, this kid makes being a mum look easy.  The old lady who was sitting next to me  on the plane commented that “no mother could complain about this little boy’s behaviour”.  He charmed her socks off!

So…I was right about the weather.  It has been so cold & rainy & foggy!!!!  To combat this crazy insane “spring” chill, Tanni & I hit the coolest little tea shop & stocked up. Mmmmmmm.

Tanni has also been cooking me delicious caramelised bananas to go on the most divine porridge.

Today was actually not so bad & we had a bit of sunshine.  Maybe spring has decided to visit T-town after all.  We visited the beautiful Japanese gardens.  They are so lovely and peaceful.  Apart from all the ratty schoolkids on holidays racing about the place like lunatics……and the fact that Ash was dragging us along behind him at quite a rapid pace in order to explore  every single corner of the garden…

Nevertheless, because I am in the process of reading “Eat Pray Love”, I could fool myself that I was surrounded by tranquility & calm…

Epic

Well, we are back from our epic adventure.  I really don’t know why we do this to ourselves- have an intense holiday then come home & have to go back to work the very next day!  I really do feel like I need a holiday to recover from my holiday.  Oh & another thing….does a holiday with a toddler actually fulfil the neccesary requirements of a holiday (eg: rest & relaxation?)  I think not!!!!!

Nevertheless, it was fabulous to see my lovely mum & sister in Mt Beauty.  We also enjoyed a great stay in Melbourne & Mt Gambier.

Ash experienced snow & wasn’t really all that impressed!

I had some huge stacks on my snowboard- I’m getting too old for all of that!  Concussion & whiplash are not fun.

We spent a lot of time in the car…..thankfully we had a dvd player, Hi-5 on very high rotation & lots of food & drink on hand to keep a little someone occupied.  He did so well & I’m very proud of him considering our holiday was not child-friendly at all!

Life is back to being super busy again.  Paul is now teaching at TAFE & uni- I’m also very proud of my talented husband.  I’ve got 2 new classes which started today.  Our house is on the market (!) so we are frantically trying to get everything ready for the first open (next week).  I have no idea what will happen but I am open to all new & wonderful & good things to arrive in our life.  Let’s hope the universe agrees with me : )