Well, Mum and Geoff arrived on Sunday (a day earlier than planned due to lockdowns in NSW). We didn't tell the kids they were coming early, and we called the kids into the lounge room to 'chat with them' and their grandparents were there instead. They were so surprised, Carmie jumped a mile. It is fun to surprise them like that, they love it. It also meant that Jeffrey and I could leave a few hours earlier the next morning for our trip the the Gold Coast. We were so happy to get away. I haven't had a break in the longest time. NSW has made it mandatory to wear a mask, but Queensland hadn't, so we were happy about that. We drove up there and stopped at Burleigh Heads for lunch and a vacation drink. Then we drove to my friend's work to pick up the key to his apartment where we were staying. He's a good friend from Aiglon, and I hadn't seen him in 30 years, so it was a trip! Nathan is living in a three bedroom apartment at the Hilton Hotel in Surfers Paradise, so we stayed with him. When we met him he told us that it was mandatory masks in QLD as of midnight that night. That afternoon Jeffrey and I wondered around Surfers, and then had dinner out. We hung out with Nathan that night after he came home from work. The next day, Jeff and I went out to breakfast and for a wander, and that's when we heard that QLD was going into a snap lockdown at 6pm that day, for three days. WTF???????? End of vacation! We had a dinner planned that night with Nathan and his girlfriend, two rental properties to see the next day...we had to scrap all plans! We drove around for a bit to see some of the neighbourhoods we are interested in, had a delicious vegan lunch at a marina, and then drove home! When we got back to Coffs we had dinner at a lovely restaurant before we came home. So that was it, our 36 hour vacation.
If QLD does actually come out of lockdown on Friday like it's supposed to, we are going to make a trip even further north to check out the Sunshine Coast. That's a big if though!
This week has been good and bad as far as the kids. Arley is still super happy but still really aggressive when he has a meltdown. He had a couple of big incidents, one where he really hurt me, and one where he went after Carmie. We are not quite sure what to do at this point, but we have his therapists working on it.
Another sad incident happened. Our beloved rat Nacho died the morning we left. Jeff went to give him some love in the cage and found him lying there, cold. Such awful timing. We loved Nacho so much and had no idea that he was sick. He was showing us so much affection this past month, coming to us when we put our hands out, sitting in my hood while I worked, giving us whisker kisses. It's really sad. And now we are stuck with Merlin who we got to keep Nacho company, and he's mean! He bites. Such a bummer.
We got out to some parks with the kids this week too. I try to get them out every day for a walk at least. The weather has been crap yesterday and today, and will be tomorrow too. Tomorrow is their birthday, and they are so excited. I can't believe they are turning 8 and 10! It's craziness. We are taking them bowling with their grandparents, and then out to lunch. We have presents stashed under the bed, and I keep catching Carmie checking them out. No big party this year, maybe just a small get together with some friends when Lolo and Dida leave.
Photos that should have been in last week's blog:
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