Weekend Getaway

Well, we did it! Something we realized on the drive out of town that we have never done. Ever. An official, us only, weekend getaway. We've done an overnight a couple times, a few long dates, and even a full week in NYC together, but even most of those were either with a nursing baby or a work trip where we only had dinner and a couple hours at night to enjoy together (nyc.) Granted I am almost 8 months pregnant, but we did it - we got away for 2.5 days, just the two of us.

AND IT WAS FABULOUS.

Thanks to some good friends who offered so convincingly (and tripled their kid count), we headed out to the coast for the weekend and explored some new sights. Kangaroo Valley, Nowra, Shoalhaven, Kiama, Berry, Jervis Bay... we did our fair share of driving, but loved it all. Just that feeling of stopping the car on a whim, hopping out, shutting the door and walking away to whatever interests you - without being responsible for the safety or opinions of 4 other beings and their belongings. Incredible.

I didn't realize how depleted I was until I felt the exhilaration of release. It's not like my life's a drag or motherhood is drudgery. It's just a total full time job emotionally, physically and mentally. It's draining. It's fantastic, but it's draining. You have your own agenda as a human being - like a string coming from your forehead, pulling you forward. But as Mom, there's also these other 4 strings tied to 4 other sections of your brain pulling you simultaneously in 4 different directions and the multitasking and balancing and maintenance is crazy taxing on that little old brain!

Anyway, it was awesome. We found a couple cheap but nice places to stay which allowed us more freedom to drop some moula on some serious food. Definitely my second favorite perk of a getaway. Hungry? Duck into a restaurant. Hungry again? Just grab yourself an icecream - no guilt, no begging, no taking out a loan to get one for everyone! Still hungry? Try out that little cafe for some homemade goodness. Oh yes. I was made for this.

My one regret was that the lady at the River Adventures place didn't let us take the rapids route in our canoe (they were all level 1s - would've been totally fine.) However, it was probably for the best seeing as apparently I have some sort of mental block on canoe navigation. When I tried my hand at sitting in the back to steer, we both just about fell out of the boat we were laughing so hard. Darren in disbelief, me in humiliation - I simply could not get my brain to register which way to paddle to keep us straight so we crazily zigzagged the river for the last half hour. Memorable.

 We explored some little inlets on the still river and discovered a whole Teletubby world of green hills dotted with wombat holes (and poop.) It started to drizzle and we felt like we were the only two people left in this lush green world.

 Honeymoon Bay was pretty gorg. See those kangaroos hopping through this beachside campground?



I don't know what happened to this tree to give it such a peppermint stick effect, but I loved it.

And man, getting to spend some one on one with this guy was pretty priceless. Seeing as we both usually fall into bed every night over a sleepy conversation before my hypno-tracks knock us into oblivion. We needed some daylight to reconnect. Man, I love him.

Of course, the night before departure Summer vomited and was up with fever, so we almost didn't make the miracle happen. But our friends are amazing and insisted they could handle it and we owe them big time.

Sleeping in 'til 10. Pulling over for an impromptu waterfall hike. Indulging in seaside fish'n'chips at nine in the morning.

Fantastic getaway.