VISITING FAMILY IN BRISSIE FOR A LONG WEEKEND....

We had a public holiday on the Thursday here for our show weekend.... I don't work Fridays so thought it was a great opportunity to have a long weekend in Brissie with the girls and our beautiiful grandchildren.  It also happened to be my good friend Kathy's birthday so it also meant I could celebrate it with her...

Chloe had a day off on the Friday as it was the end of her exam week, so figured it was a great way to catch up with both the girls and spend some quality time with them.

I flew down on Wednesday evening after work, and Sarah picked me up from the airport.  Chloe had her final exam on the Thursday morning so I knew that I wouldn't really see her until Thursday night.

The kids were super excited to see me the following morning and I got to go to school with Willow and see her classroom, meet her teacher and her teacher aide... She was so excited to take me...

After we dropped her at school, Sarah and I ducked into Springwood Shopping Village, so that Max could get a haircut and I wanted to pick up a birthday card for when I caught up with Kathy.

Sarah dropped me off at Ian and Kathy's around 10.15am whilst she went down to Loganholme to do her shopping...

I had a lovely time catching up with both Ian and Kathy, we enjoyed a cuppa together and about 11.30am we headed to Sizzler's at Loganholme for a birthday lunch to celebrate Kathy's birthday.  Sarah and Max also joined us there...

Kathy and I catch up

Ian and Kathy

My lunch... mostly a plate of salads in keeping with my healthy eating...

 After lunch Sarah headed off to do a grocery shop whilst Ian, Kathy and I went and bought some movie tickets to catch up on this movie....

 Once we bought our tickets we still had a good half hour before the movie started.  Got to use my Senior's card and get a discount....  Think I am going to enjoy using this handy card.....

Since we had some time to spare we headed back into the shopping centre to check out the 75% jewellery sale at Colettes and of course I indulged and ended up buying five pairs of dangly earings.  Instead  of costling me $70, I got them all for under $18.. A real bargain.

Once we had finished shopping here it was time to head back to the movie... It was a great movie,  really enjoyed it as it had quite a few twists and turns and held our attention for the whole time...

Once I got back to Sarah's it was full steam ahead getting dinner ready and bathing the children.  Chloe dropped over and the girls went off and did a gym session together whilst I cooked dinner, bathed the children and got them to bed. 

Friday morning was similiar to the previous day in that we took Willow to school, and once again I got to walk her to her classroom and this time we got a couple of photos...

At school with Willow

 We decided to stay for Parade this morning.  this was a little different for me.  Normally if I attend parade at school it is as a staff member.  It was great to go to a different school and see the way they run their parades.  Max was really well behaved and just sat on Sarah's knee.  Having hold of her iPhone probably kept him entertained enough that he was happy to just sit...

Max with his Mummy's phone

 I loved the way they had some up beat music playing and the kids all danced in.  It was great seeing them dance and enjoy the music until the Deputy Principal raised her hand and the kids all sat down and were so quite.  What a chance from our crew back home...

The students all dancing as they came in to parade.

Willow on Parade

 I was really impressed with the school as they said a pledge to the Queen and our country, and they also had a school prayer.  They also had the school band entertain us. 

School Band

 After the school parade, we dropped Sarah off at the Caringdale Shopping Centre as she was meeting her sister in law for brunch and a girls shopping morning.  Meanwhile Max and I headed over to Chloe's place to visit her....  Chloe still had her balloons from their last State of Origin party and between the balloons and Chloe's little bongo drum, Max kept himself entertained for the morning...

 We had lunch at Chloe's and then it was time for Max to have a nap.  He wasn't too keen on going down initially but as long as I lay with him he was happy to go lay on the big bed.  It didn't take him too long to drop off to sleep, and I must admit that  I almost dropped off also...

Whilst I was putting Max down for his nap, Chloe decided to duck out and get her grocery shopping done, and take some of her washing to the Laundromat as they don't have a dryer at home...

Finishing off his lunch

 Sarah got dropped off by her sister in law and by this stage Max had woken again...
Sarah didn't have too long to stay as she needed to be back at school to pick Willow up from school.  I opted to stay at Chloe's as we planned to go out and do a little shopping together and have afternoon tea..

We headed to K-Mart as I wanted to get some new slippers to wear whilst I was in Brissie as it had turned quite cold and when my feet are cold my whole body aches.  Not only did I get slippers, but so did Chloe and Dan as well...  After our shopping we headed to Gloria Jeans where we indulged a little....

Out for a cuppa

Hot  chocolate and Iced chocolate..

 I was pretty proud of myself.  Normally I would have the largest takeaway I could but today I decided to just have a small one and I didn't find it too hard ot dodge my favourite drink of Iced Chocolate.Slowly and surely,  step by step I will win this race of healthier living...

That night I had offered to babysit for Colin and Sarah soo that they could have a date night, as Colin was leaving the following morning to head overseas with his music again...

Once I got the kids settled and into bed, I got a know at the door and it was my good friend Kathy who had come over to visit and spend some time with me, just chilling out and catching up.

Great way to finish off another great day.  Feeling very blessed indeed.