Hubbie’s last day of holidays is today.
Boo.
And while I am feeling sad about it, there is a light at the end of the tunnel…
Because he has another lot of holidays in a week and a half. 🥰😁
Baby boy’s christening and birthday is weeks apart, so rather than take his holidays in one massive block (not needed) Hubbie split his annual leave into two chunks…
So while he goes back to work tomorrow, I only need to count 12 days, and then he’s back on leave again.
🙏🥰
Hubbie has been off work for 8 days now, and only today did it actually feel like we were on holidays.
We’ve been obviously busy with Christening stuff, the period before that was all preparation, and the period after that has been all ‘coming down.’
Today, we finally did something small, but really sweet.
Strawberries. 🥰🍓
We went to the Rocky Creek Strawberry Farm, we indulged in some yummy strawberry dishes with coffee/milkshake, and then we went picking…
Baby girl and I went searching through the bushes as Hubbie and baby boy chilled in the shade. It was the most relaxing and beautiful thing to do on a warm summer’s day, and we have two punnets of delicious strawberries to show for it, just waiting to be consumed. 😋
Ahhh. It’s good to be back.
Like every time we go away, we’ve made some more realisations post-holiday.
As much as it’s exciting and fun to go away, as you’re seeing new things and going to new places…
We are people of routine, Hubbie especially so.
He is SOOO happy to be back. Back to routine. Back to his food. Back to his bed. And as much as his homebody comments have annoyed me ever-so-slightly today, I also feel like, I don’t know… I kinda agree.
I also, like routine. I also, LOVE my bed. I also like eating well, and I love the set-up of our house, where baby girl sleeps, where we sleep…
I love our town. I love our beach. I love our main strip, in fact it quite frankly smashes other coastal town strips…
And that’s when I realised. We find it hard to enjoy being away fully, because where we live is SO DAMN GOOD.
We live in an area where people travel and holiday to, and we’ve become so used to it, we don’t realise how good it is until we leave!
Also, we are setting up our lifestyle, our house, to be an everyday holiday house. Sure, we still work, we still do the groceries, we still do chores, and all the other day-to-day monotony that drives us insane at times.
But we love our spot. We love where we live. 🥰🌅
We don’t really need a holiday from here. We just need to mix it up at times.
We get to see beautiful water views in the morning when we wake, and watch the sunset glowing over the water at night. I drive baby girl home from school the scenic way, past the water. We visit the beach on Wednesdays when she is at school (when the wind is absent!) after we’ve been to one of the many incredible cafes on our main strip.
We’re trying to live a holiday life already, and we are comfortable in our home doing it.
We WILL still go away. There’s no doubt about that. But the fact that we’re going to be a lot more home-bound in the period after baby arrives, it doesn’t upset me in the slightest.
Home is good. This town, is good. We like it a lot.
In fact, we love it. Which is why we moved here in the first place. 🙏💖
Bush food walk through Wild Food Farm Cafe (we saw kangaroos in their wild habitat today!) – The ‘Relax’ sign (again, because I got the whole thing this time!) – Red Rocks Beach – dinner at Pino’s Trattoria (amazing!)
San Remo to Cape Woolamai boat cruise (dolphins were spotted!) – San Remo Pelican feeding – lunch at the very lovely Haven Wave Cafe – strolling down Thompson Avenue in Cowes (RELAX!) – quiet dinner amongst our accommodation garden. 💞🙏
Also I had ice cream twice, because I am craving it at the moment, and baby more so, soooo…. I must listen, right? 🤣🤰
Just some water-side snapshots from this evening… because wherever we go, the ocean calls us. 🥰💦
Tonight we got a new chair for our deck.
It’s an egg chair. You know those dome-shaped things that hang off a strong hook, and sway slightly?
Our deck is actually its second home. My sister and bro-in-law very kindly dropped it off tonight, as they don’t want it anymore. When they asked us, we did some thinking and thought, maybe it could have another purpose in our yard?
And I love it, not just because we have a brand new thing (nothing like a brand new thing to excite you!) but having loved ones over on a weeknight, really makes you realise it is holiday time.
HOLIDAY VIBES!
Apart from the great company tonight, is the knowledge that all of us will be using the egg chair for varied and happy reasons.
Hubbie might sit in it and enjoy music from the portable speaker while sipping on a cold bevvy. 😉🍺
Baby girl might read in it or do her latest fave activity, play on the Nintendo. 📖🎮
I might read in it, or just sit, because you know, movement is becoming an issue as of late. 😂🤰
And in about a month or so, I might just be rocking a baby to sleep in there. 🤱🙏
The best vision of all. 🥰😍
Today we ended up going through Maccas drive-through.
All of us.
Saturday night.
AFTER 11:30pm.
😬
I can’t even remember how we thought of the story. But some friends of ours had left for the night after a visit, and we were sitting around the coffee table watching TV when Hubbie said “tell baby girl about the time we went to Maccas at midnight.”
So I did. It was before she was born, and it was during our Jan-Feb summer holidays. We were sitting around one night mucking about, and all of a sudden at midnight Hubbie had a massive craving for the golden arches.
I was in my pjs and all. So I chucked on a hoodie, we drove through Maccas, grabbed a meal, and proceeded to eat it at home post-midnight, chuckling about it all.
As we talked about it, I realised it might be a fun thing to do again… it was nearing the end of our hols after all, and I knew it would be one of those things she wouldn’t only be excited to do for the novelty of it, but for the fun memory.
So we asked… “do you want to go drive-through?”
A resounding YES!
Maccas is actually a bit too convenient for us, just down the road. We weren’t the only ones with the almost midnight idea, so we waited a while to get our food, but we finally drove away with some good ol’ fries.
And here we are just chilling on the couch, Mister F between us wondering what the hell we’re eating and can he have some too, making memories. 💞💖
Still on beach posts, but you gotta admit the photos are pretty. 😍
It was an overcast, cloudy and humid day, and yet those conditions still made it practically perfect beach weather. There was a mildly gentle breeze, and without the sun directly blaring down on us, it felt sublime.
I had the idea to walk all the way down to the end of the beach, until the tip of the alcove coastline as it were. So we walked.
And it was different. Beach boxes still adorned the sand, but they grew fewer in quantity, whereas the trees and sloping green landscape rose in abundance. A few small staircases leading down from the grand clifftop houses above appeared out of nowhere, only visible to the immediate eye, and it really did feel like our own private beach.
It was simply lovely to view our local from a different vantage point. An essential life skill I think. 🤔😉
Today was a special day.
And not because it was a “public holiday.”
No, we christened our deck and deck furniture with cherished family, who we enjoyed the afternoon and night with. 🥰
Ahhh. Still, we are in the holiday vibes. The best place to be. 💖🙏🏖️😍
carcrashgratitude 