Our first family weekend away- part 1

Silly I know but I have been looking forward to our first trip away for some time. We headed to Launceston to visit family and take part in our first Walk for Prems. 

These last few weeks the spring weather has been foul, gale force winds and rain. For once the walls of the hut seemed to close in around me. Even on the weekends with Rob home the destructive winds have been making us both a bit tetchy as we watched it play havoc with the garden and trees.

So we headed off on Friday after Rob mowed the lawns and I dyed my hair. Our commodore wagon groaned with it's load. Packed to the gunnels with gear. Poor dogs had to be squished between the pram and suitcase until we got to their dog babysitter. I'm sure we had to pack the same amount of baby gear if we'd been going for a month!

After a quick stop in the city for cheese (for dinner) and sushi for lunch on the run, we drove north, the girls slept peacefully, and Rob and I chatted without  simultaneously amusing a baby. 

We shared our ritual Friday cheese platter with family, before settling in at Rob's parents place. The girls snuggled between us. 

The novelty of curtains meant we all slept in until 8am! We headed down to the local farmer's market, the harvest market. The girls first expedition in the big pram. Maggie slept through most of it, but Elisabeth took in her surroundings keenly.  

After loading up the pram with baked goods, we headed back to feed the babies and let them have some floor time. Elisabeth took advantage of the carpeted hallway and practised her crawling. She has perfected the coordination of diagonal arms and legs, and is starting to move quickly. We spent the afternoon visiting family.

Earlier in the day Rob and I had decided upon dinner out at Smokey Joe's Creole Cafe. We've been meaning to try it for a while now. I admit that about 4pm my enthusiasm was waning a little. The girls were a little grizzly (they had been in and out of the car several times) and I was a bit tired. But we headed back to feed and change them and if they'd been upset after that I would have pulled the plug. But we all rallied and headed out into the lovely evening. We arrived at 6pm, first in the doors. The restaurant were very accommodating of the girls and their pram. Rob and I enjoyed a beer and BBQ oysters while we soaked in the atmosphere of the restaurant. 

At about this stage I had hoped the girls would fall asleep in their pram. But Elisabeth must have been able to smell the pulled pork. She complained until we took her out of the pram. Her mood picked up as she banged her little hands on the table, drank water out of a glass and waved to the waitress.

The mains arrived: mine a ginormous pulled pork sandwich with fries and slaw, and Rob's BBQ ribs. I gave Rob some of my pork to give to Elisabeth, it was very soft, so perfect baby food. Maggie had a taste but wasn't keen, so after a little rocking I was able to put her in the pram to sleep. Rob was juggling his ribs and feeding a demanding baby, there was BBQ sauce everywhere! I quickly finished and then held Elisabeth so Rob could enjoy his ribs properly. Elisabeth was extremely pleased with herself. Giggling and looking around at the other patrons who had begun to fill the room. 

We thought dessert might be pushing our luck, so with a piece of French Silk pie to go, we headed home. Elisabeth was still in a good mood in the car. Chatting away to herself and breaking out in laughter. Obviously she enjoyed her first dinner out.

The best bit was we were home by 7.30, so we changed the girls, I gave them one last feed and they fell asleep (Elisabeth still grinning) between us. I snuck off Nigella like to eat my pie and then we fell asleep.