High tea, walking update, and Mini-Break Day 1

Hello from Pelican Waters, Sunshine Coast on our long awaited kid free mini-break! (About 30 minutes drive from our house! hehe). We have two nights here - I've just woken up from night 1, and I'm sitting out on the balcony, coffee beside me, the birds singing and the sun shining. Yesterday was just the BEST. And we have another whole day and night stretching out before us. Aaaah. But before I share a few highlights from yesterday, I have a few other updates from the weekend.

Our hotel pool outlook

I took my mum to High Tea for her (belated) birthday present on Saturday. Al took the kids out for most of the day (to an indoor play centre and a friends house because it was raining), which I really appreciated. During that time I had two naps (not sure why but I was REALLY tired on Saturday, so I had a nap before and after High Tea. High Tea was really fun. It's been a long time since either Mum or I had been to a High Tea, so it was fun to dress up just a little, and drive to this cute little place. I got the package which included a glass of sparkling wine to start, so we enjoyed that, as well of course the delicious food (sandwiches, scones, mini quiche and pie, sweets!), and the very nice French Earl Grey we selected as our tea of choice. But most important, it was so nice to have long, uninterrupted chats with mum (so often we are with the kids and they just want to chat with Nana themselves - very cute but hard to have a proper conversation!).

High Tea fun

Walking Update - Cool Bloggers Walking Club is NOT getting its own post this week and its all my fault, because I didn't walk every day. Sigh. I had a few really nice walks at work around the lake every working day from Tuesday - Friday, which was great! But Saturday I had an opportunity to walk after Al took the kids out and before High Tea, but I decided to nap instead. I thought I might walk later, but when I got home from High Tea, I... took another nap! And then it was pouring rain. Mum and I did wander for about 8 minutes along the street before going to tea, so perhaps that's half a walk? haha. Sunday I did not walk either, I took the kids to my parents and could have walked from there, but instead I sat and drank cups of coffee and tea. AND Monday was a frantic day trying to get enough work done to feel OK about taking the next two days off, while taking E to a paediatrician appointment and prepping the house for Al's parents to arrive for the week. So altogether, honestly I only walked 4/7 days. Oops! Oh well, this week is another week and its already off to a good start - hooray. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from my lake walks at least.

Lake walk photos

Al's parents are staying with us! They arrived on Monday evening, and will be staying until Tuesday next week. We were very excited to see them because its been about 6 months. The kids are being absolutely spoilt (Nana showed up with a giant block of chocolate!!!), and are so happy - it makes my heart happy to see how much the kids and the grandparents love each others' company. And very appreciative of their willingness to have the kiddies for two nights. We've given O a break from kindy (preschool) so both he and E have a holiday this whole week. They had a nice day together yesterday, and today they are heading to the Zoo! How fun.

Mini-Break Day 1 - Yesterday after getting up early and finishing some work before putting on my out of office notice, Al and I packed our bag, hugged the kids goodbye (they were so excited to be with Nan and Grandpa they barely even looked up!), and drove to the beach! We did a bit of shopping and had a coffee at Al's shop, and then headed to Pelican Waters Tavern for lunch and a beer before check in. We were the youngest customers by probably at least 20 years (turns out its a favourite seniors destination due to their great "seniors lunch deals" hehe) . We sat outside, and looked out at the canal views, and we both just... exhaled. We agreed we couldn't remember the last time we went out together to a pub for lunch, just the two of us. It was great to have adult conversation, and not look at the kids menu at all! HA!

Lunch views

After lunch, we drove around the corner to check into our hotel. Our hotel room is large and nice, and our top priority after check in was watching some cable TV and a nap. After our naps (which were wonderful!), we went for a walk (hooray!)... and drum-roll please... say kangaroos! I snapped a photo of course. I told Al it was for my "international readers" and he had a good laugh at that phrasing.

Kangaroos keeping a close eye on us

Then we headed back to the hotel, got changed, and headed out for Japanese for dinner. It was so great! Japanese is one of my favourite cuisines, yet we rarely eat it. We did muse that now that the kids are older, we COULD take them out to Japanese (there are some pretty plain chicken/rice type dishes they would probably eat, though you never know with them!). We had sushi, gyoza, nigiri, sashimi, edamame beans, and seafood pankake. SO YUM!

Out for Japanese

some of our dinner

After a wander along the beach after dinner, we drove back to the hotel, and had a glass of wine back in the hotel, watching the Great British Celebrity Bake Off. I didn't know any of these British "celebrities", but really enjoyed the episodes. I've never watched the Great British Bake Off before, but it was quite heartwarming and fun, so I think now I might start (I know quite a few bloggers are into it). Eventually we went to sleep, and what a sleep it was! All the way through until after 6, and no parenting to do once I woke up.

Today on the agenda will most likely include a beach walk, a pool swim, another nap, lots of eating, perhaps some Q2 planning and novel writing. And just hanging out with Al. Speaking of which, better work out what we'll eat for breakfast.

Hope your week is off for a good start! Happy Wednesday everyone.