Alexandra Headland and Eumundi market

We arrived in Alexandra about noon on Friday. Our hotel was right across from the beach and we had a 4th floor balcony suite- nice view. After checking in, Ashley and I hung out at the beach for about an hour. At that point she decided to cry uncontrollably (something she doesn't do) until I left. We walked back to the hotel and ended up watching Vampire Lestat for about 10 minutes, at which point I questioned myself, "How did I ever read this book?" then secondly, "How did this movie ever get made?" then thirdly "How did they ever get Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in this movie?" and lastly "Who ever thought that Brad Pitt was a good narrator for this show?" It is an awful movie. I turned the channel and was overjoyed to find "Girl with a Pearl Earring," one of my favorite books of all time, and a good movie. It stars Colin Firth, need I say more? Ashley had some veggies and we hung out for a while.



Ashley went down for a nap about 4pm and Jared was back from his appointment so I headed down to the pool to read my book, The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (coincidentally by the same author as Girl with a Pearl Earring). It got chilly so I walked down to buy Jared a snack. I chose a plain meat pie (Lori, your mouth is watering, isn't it?) which was cold. I, not being a meat pie eater myself, didn't see any problem with this. I thought micro-heating would be ok, but in the world of meat pies that violates all kinds of rules. So sorry Jared.

After he forgave me for the bad judgment call, we headed out for dinner in town. There was actually quite a few nice looking restaurants down the street from us. We decided on "Bellissimo". We had a delicious "Trio of Dips" with Foccacia bread, then I had a marinated chicken salad with sundried tomatoes, olives, and prosciutto. Jared went with the only thing he ever gets at Italian restaurants... Spaghetti. Not too exciting. We had some gelatti afterwards. I was happy they had Tiramisu flavor though it wasn't as good as the one Lori and I had in Surfer's Paradise.




On Saturday, Ashley decided to wake up about 5:30 am (UGH!) So much for my plan to sleep in!! I gave her a bottle in the portacrib and she was happy to drink it. I collapsed in bed again, then about 7 am Jared dumped some toys in the crib with her and she played nicely for another hour, I think (I wasn't completely coherent so I am not sure if she was awake or what, all I know is... there was no crying). We got up and slowly got ready to go. We drove north towards Noosa to the Eumundi market. It was huge. I was surprised how many stalls and vendors were there. There wasn't a whole lot I actually wanted to buy, but it was interesting to walk around and look.



There were camels to ride- too bad the kids weren't with us. I had a Risotto ball for lunch- pumpkin, risotto, and feta cheese in a marinara sauce. Yum. Jared had (what else?) a sausage. Ashley was pretty good and even slept in the stroller for a while. When we stopped for lunch she was climbing around her stroller- I don't know what I'm going to do with her- a climber?! I am in for trouble.

We were back on the road by about 1pm. We called Katherine (who had Austin and Olivia) and planned to pick up our nephew James on the way to her house, then hang out with them and have dinner there. When we got there, the kids went down to the beach for a while and even went swimming in the pool at Kate's. I didn't think it was very warm (about 85 during the day and it was 5pm now) but they swam with their teeth chattering anyway. I put this photo here so you could see the funky pool at her house- it wraps around the front of the house.



Jared watched a rugby game there with Daniel, then we all headed home. I love putting sleeping kids right into bed! It's so nice not to go through the whole bedtime routine "... I need a drink of water... he kicked me.... where's my toothbrush?... Olivia, would you just come in here?... Austin, it's her turn to pray tonight...." You get the idea. This morning Jared made me a nice omelet for breakfast. We later went to church and he left today for Coffs Harbor but he'll be back on Thursday.

Tomorrow starts two weeks of school holidays (Spring break) for Austin. What will I do with him? Luckily, he has a tennis clinic one friend invited him to tomorrow morning, then a friend over in the afternoon. Then, on Wednesday, another friend is having him over for his bday. They'll go to an indoor playplace then he'll sleep over at his house. Hopefully when Jared gets back we'll make some plans for next week too- maybe camping? Sea World?

Oh, BIG news. We are getting a new IKEA here and it's supposed to be 3 floors! What a difference from the tiny one we've got now. Jared and I passed the new one yesterday and it looks huge. I hope it's done soon. Have you heard the joke about the guy who bought the Ikea franchise? It's not open yet. He's still putting it together. (insert laughter here) I thought it was pretty good. Ok, to bed with me now. It's 11pm. 46 days until I leave for America! Grey's Anatomy is on tomorrow!