Rio al Mar

Last weekend the boys and I went away to our friends beautiful holiday home.  After Noah passed away we got to know Chris and Erin as they bought 'Nan's van' so the could easily transport their gorgeous son Jack, who uses a wheelchair. 

Before Aaron passed away they told us about their home they rent out as a holiday home at Dolphin Sands (near Swansea) which is called 'Rio al Mar (meaning River to Sea).  They told us to check it out on the internet and said we were welcome to use it if we would like.  As soon as we saw it we were blown away as to  how beautiful it looked and looked forward to taking the boys there.  We booked a couple of nights for last weekend but unfortunately things are of course a lot different to how we hoped. I decided it would be nice to still go away with the boys anyway and the owners Chris and Erin said that I was welcome to take my extended family with me if I wanted.

Nicki and Alex were hoping to come but unfortunately Linc was sick, so instead it was just us, Mum, Jared and Becky and their kids and Eden and Steph and their kids.

I picked up the boys from school early on Friday, after I finished work and we headed down with Mum.  We were so excited when we arrived and saw how beautiful the house and views were.  You can see the river and beach from the lounge, kitchen, bathroom and main bedroom (which the boys and I claimed).

The day bed in the lounge room was definely a favourite spot for lots of people.  Mum pretty much spent half of her time enjoying the sun, reading and resting.

The rumpus room was fantastic with four bunk  beds as well as an eight ball table and foosball table which kept us all occupied all weekend.

When we arrived it was quite cold and windy, but it didn't stop us from walking down to the beach to collect some shells.

The river was just too tempting and the water wasn't actually that cold, so the boys decided to roll up their pants or just wear their undies and had some fun trying to jump across from one back to the other.

Everyone else finally arrived and we all settled in for the night. Kobe was so excited that his cousins were coming and kept saying 'why my cousins having a sleepover!!!?'.

The next morning we all rugged up as it was so windy and cold and the girls and kids headed off to the beach with the kids, while Eden, Jared, Jay and Mum went out in Eden's boat fishing.

The boat came past us on the beach and gave us a big wave.

The kids had a great time collecting hundreds of shells. It made me laugh as both Becky and Steph's kids live near the beach, but were still so excited about getting some shells to take home.

Hugh fell asleep and braved the cold wind and slept on the beach all morning.

After some time back at the house we all headed back down to the beach together.

 The boys loved having a kick of the footy with their uncles and playing cricket.

 The next morning it was Steph, Jay, Hugh and my turn to go out on the boat with Eden. Jay and I decided we were going to keep up Aaron's tradition of keeping a family tally of who was catching the most fish. So Kings V Triffitts was on!

Jay was reeling them in and caught way more than the rest of us. I kept saying it must be his rod and spot on the boat, which Eden said was a typical Aaron comment :)

Steph quickly though caught the two biggest fish of the day. In the end it was Kings 14, Triffitts 3 but I won't mention that most of them were undersized and had to be thrown back or that Eden was busy untangling our lines most of the time.

 

We sailed past the house to see if the kids and Grandma were on the beach, but we missed them. 

 Hugh was a champ on the boat and absolutely loved it.

As lovely as the weekend was it was so nice to get home. I really missed Aaron a lot and it was hard being down the East Coast, even though it was a place we hadn't been together before as it brought back so many memories of our last summer together.   I also felt sick the whole weekend, which didn't help. I was so happy to get home as it's where I feel safe and the closest to Aaron and Noah right now.  Jay was also happy to get home as he found it hard being away from home, even though he also had fun.  

We were so grateful though to have such a lovely place to go to for a weekend away. Thanks Chris and Erin for sharing your beautiful holiday home with us.  We look forward to going there again sometime.