What a fabulous weekend I’ve had. We hags (happy autism group support for those of you not in the know) went to Healesville for Saturday night and had a fantastic time. Amanda picked me up just before 10am on Saturday and after picking up Gwenny we headed off to Healesville. We booked in at the wonderful Bed and Breakfast – Tuck Inn – which I can highly recommend to anybody that might be thinking of going to Healesville for any reason. We then lunched at the Healesville Hotel. Clare met us there along with Margaret, Nicky and Dominique who came along just for the lunch. They all left about 3 so we went back to the Tuck Inn to get our bathers and drove out to the Piaf Day Spa for massages and other yummy treatments, followed by a spa.
We all felt a bit decadent as the treatments were something that we as mums don’t generally get a chance to do. It was in a beautiful setting in the trees. The treatment rooms were so serene and as Amanda pointed out it was like being in a James Bond movie, the girls pampering us walked so quietly that we almost jumped each time they came back to us. Amanda, Gwenny and I were in 1 room and Clare was in another. Both Amanda and Gwen had some hot rocks and at times the only sound was them clicking together. I lay there laughing to myself as the sound took me back years to when I was single and a drinker, it sounded like pool balls clicking together!
After our treatments we popped into the local Thai restaurant then went back to the Bed and Breakfast for cups of tea and choccy. We didn’t get to bed until 2am, we never seem to run out of things to say to each other and we wanted to make the most of our time. In the morning we all had a cooked breakfast and made the most of the fact that they had a cappuccino machine. We then went for a stroll along the shops with me spending all my money on presents for the kids instead of things for me as planned. The only bugger was that the markets weren’t on but if we go again next year we agreed that we would make it on a market weekend. I think we’ll get a few more people next year too. It was my friend Tiff (the art teacher) who suggested going there as she goes with a group of friends every year and they book the whole place out. Hopefully we can do the same next year.
Amanda dropped me home at about 2pm and Paul was round as his mum and dads with the kids. I knew they were there as Minka wasn’t at home, so I collapsed in a heap, enjoying the last bit of me time before the troups arrived. The house was a pigsty but then again it was before I left too! They had had a camp out on Saturday night so Beth’s double mattress and Bridie’s single one covered the loungeroom floor. Bridie had been to a party that Sunday morning so Paul had dropped the other kids over to Bev and John’s in the morning and they had taken them to church with them.Â
Originally when Paul had started sailing I had told him that he would have to let his friend know that on the 22nd I was going away so he couldn’t go. I insisted that he was the one who had to take the kids swimming as I have to do it every week when he’s sailing so he couldn’t palm them off to his parents. In the end though I just thought “who cares, I wont be there anyway so it’s up to him how he deals with it.” He did in fact take them swimming and had a grand old time with them but either way, as long as I got my break I was satisfied.
I must say I was happy to see the kids when I got home. I love staying in hotels but as usually if we go away with the kids I have one or two in the bed with me I felt a pang of longing lying in this strange bed without them. I wont say that I thought about them constantly as I loved every minute of my time away but I think I was more excited about buying their presents as I was looking for myself. They all ran into my arms when they came in the door, partly I’m sure to see what I bought them but also because we don’t spend much time apart except for school. The only time I’ve been away without them is the same time last year when the HAGS went to the city for our night away, so it’s been a whole year. We have had nights if we’ve been out when the kids have stayed with Bev and John but we’re always there early to pick them up and we’ve slept at home. I love it when Beth tells me she misses me or that she loves me, not that I love her more than the others or anything like that but just because it doesn’t come naturally to her. Yesterday she said these things, not in response to me saying them but spontaneously which made it mean so much more. I absolutely needed my break and deserved it too but being at home with my babes is even more wonderful after a break. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
