Getting Away From It All

I probably don’t have to tell you how much I adore my kids.  At least I hope I don’t have to tell you – I’d like to think that it’s pretty evident.

What’s also possibly rather evident is when I need a break.

Just for a little bit.

Having three kids is like living in a theme park.  There’s so much colour and fun, noise and activity.  Each new corner has something fun and exciting hiding behind it, even if you have to try a few times to knock the balls down, the reward is so much better than a FLUFFY unicorn. (Spot the movie reference?)  It’s glorious.

And while those things bring a thrill to my bones, not every day at the theme park is fun.  It rains, you have to deal with annoying people in the lines and too often you just keep missing the target – leaving without the prize.

Basically what I’m saying is, parenting is hard.  Rewarding but hard and I wanted a small break from it.

When Seth won a #SecretSunday away at Old Mac Daddy it was like he’d won the freaking lotto.  We immediately made the booking but had to wait until 2 November to go – they are just so booked up.  Although having been there before, we could totally understand why everyone wanted to go and (not so) patiently waited for our chance to get away together.

Kids collected (thank you Ga and Papa – we love you) we headed off on our adventure.  The first stop included lunch at Fresh – the restaurant on the Paul Cluver estate.

We weren’t sure what to expect, but walking into a beautiful, grassed courtyard with tables hidden under the trees was more than any expectation I could have conjured up.  It doesn’t help that everyone seemed to have gotten a secret memo to wear white and pretty hats – I almost felt like I was in an episode off Downton Abbey.  Sort of.

We sat down at our little table and indulged in a bottle of the wonderfully chilled pink rosé (perfect for the hot weather) while we deliberated over the menu.  As everything is made with farm fresh ingredients, the menu changes every day.  I like that.  Going somewhere and not knowing exactly what to expect pushes me out from the safety of a burger to the taste explosion of a Thai green curry.  I need that in my life.

If lunch was delish.  The puddings were even better!  Seriously – the deconstructed lemon meringue was amazing.

After chilling and chatting for a good couple of hours we buzzed off to our Give The Bees A Chance room at the Old Mac Daddy.

I really love this place.  Far enough away from everything that you can’t get cell reception but with amazing Wifi so you can still check on the kids.

We got to the room, opened up the folding doors, kicked off our shoes and lay on the couch for an hour.  Just lying there – no one to feed, watch, bath, wipe, clean or anything.  Just birds chirping in the tree and the smell of the pizza oven fire getting started.

It was pretty perfect.

Still full from lunch, we rolled ourselves over to the dam and then checked out the new outdoor play area for the kids (so awesome) before heading to the Old Mac Daddy restaurant for supper.  We had the most amazing bottle of wine (One Man Band by Iona) and pizza.  It was great – watching the sunset while chowing down – perfect combo.

It was then that my camera lense stopped auto focusing.  So I had to do it myself.  No big deal to most people, but as I’ve mentioned before, the Roaccutane has left my eyes rather blurry recently.  Not ideal  So I’m really sorry if the pictures aren’t clear enough (I can’t even tell now when I’m editing them at 9pm at night – will probably look at in the morning in fright).

We were so relaxed that we rolled right into bed for 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Let me say that again quickly – 10 HOURS OF UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP.  And then to top it off, we woke up because we wanted to.  The freaking best!  That in itself is a holiday.

Keen on making the most of the day, we showered (no spiders hiding in there yay) and headed down for breakfast.  A spread of teas, coffee, yoghurts, cereals, cold meats, cheeses, breads and hot egg, bacon, sausage and tomato greeted us.  Everything was so yummy I had to try and stop myself from piling everything onto my plate.

And then we had to say goodbye and head off home.  It was sad, but it’s definitely not the last time that you’ll find us there.

Thank you again to Old Mac Daddy for pulling our name out of your hat – we had a fantastic time!!