29/09/2017

End of Summer

After a long, hot, busy summer break visiting Disney World in Florida and a month in England we have been back in Austin about six weeks now.

The children returned to school at the end of August, we have celebrated two birthdays in the family mine and our youngest and we are generally just getting in the swing of Austin life again.

Out with friends on my birthday!
Along with the usual family and friend get togethers on our trips back home, this summer I decided to travel further afield and visit some lovely places I remember from my own childhood such as Ilfracombe and Clovelly in North Devon, England. 

For the first time I used Airbnb to book a self catering apartment in Ilfracombe and my mum, the children and myself headed down there in my little hire car. After forgetting how snug and tight the Devonshire roads are, with my blood pressure rising on numerous occasions we eventually got to Ilfracombe, the weather was amazing and I had my first fish and chips meal in years!

We then spent a fun three days taking in the sights, sounds and experiences of North Devon at its finest 😎

Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe
Clovelly
Clovelly
Recently I was introduced to a fun British girl in Austin, we have been out a few times together now and it always feels so homely just to hear her voice even though until recently we were strangers. Last week we all went out to a new bar in Austin called Holy Roller probably not my usual choice but it did serve some great drinks, Austin is slowly but surely coming round to some good rose wine! 🍷😀

My eldest daughter went to a friends birthday party last week at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to watch the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie on the big screen.

The special surprise at the end were the appearance of two actors from the original movie, Mike TeeVee (Paris Themmen) and Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole) for a Q&A session with the audience about the movie plus the children all had a photo taken with the actors and given a signed poster. I was very jealous as this was my all time favourite movie when I was a kid!


Last night some friends and I went to the 'Girls and Giving, Gin and Jazz' night hosted by Partnerships for Children at the very lovely Hotel Van Zandt downtown, the night was to help raise money for a collection of programs that offer resources, support and comfort for foster children and families in the local community.

As you can imagine with a large hotel full of mums out on a school night and free alcohol we had a ton of fun and laughs!


Girls & Giving, Gin & Jazz Night Out!