Road trip to...the Gold Coast - again!

We've been lucky enough to have taken a few holidays so far this year. I'm not sure why, but we always seem to go on a lot of holidays whilst I'm on maternity leave! No complaining here. So in April of this year we went up to the Gold Coast again. It's one of our favourite spots, and we were dying to meet the new additions to the Ashcroft clan, twins Chad and Charlotte, who were born on February 23. We also wanted to get another use out of our 3 park super passes, which were set to expire a couple of months later.

We decided to drive since we knew we would have to take soooo much stuff. Tyler had just reached 8kg at this point so we were happy to turn his car seat around. Well, what a difference that made! He was fantastic in the car. All three boys were. We stopped only twice, very briefly, and I even managed to reach back and give Tyler a bottle (unheated) while we were driving, as we were at Byron Bay and didn't want to stop when we were so close to actually getting there.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment at Breakfree Moroccan. It was a great room with a full kitchen, laundry, huge balcony with ocean views and 2 bathrooms. Liam and Brayden were so excited to have a room of their own. Liam immediately set up his toys and belongings in the bedside drawers and on the bed. This is the view of the lounge room with the kitchen in the background.

The day after arriving we headed straight up to Ningi as it was a Sunday so we knew the boys would be off school. They're such great mates, they had an absolute BALL! Straight in to playing like they'd seen each other yesterday.

We left late and after the 90 minute drive we got back to the hotel about 10.30pm. We were all exhausted, but we got up early the next morning and headed to Movie World. I love that place. Even though we'd been there a few months earlier (September 2011) it was still great. The kids went on a heap of rides, we watched all of the shows and we got photos with a lot of the characters -

The following day (Tuesday) we went to Sea World. We weren't there the entire day as it was almost boring to see the same shows and exhibits so soon after the last time. When it started raining just after lunch we took that as our queue to leave.

That night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. The food was delicious but it was so awkward as were sitting at a table surrounded by child-less couples. There were three different couples around us who were just staring at us the entire time. I realise it's almost a circus act taking a 5yo, 3yo and 5 month old to a restaurant, but I felt so uncomfortable I couldn't wait to leave. I had my first alcoholic drink since before I was pregnant whilst there, a cocktail no less, and I was struggling to drink it. I had to top it up with juice about 3 times. Greg was making fun of me the entire time.

The next day was Anzac Day. I got up super early and headed out on my own to the dawn service at the Surfers Paradise cenitaph. It was only a few blocks walk and there must have been thousands of people there. It's the first time I've ever been to a dawn service (we usually go to the mid-morning one held near our home). It was so moving, I'm so glad I went. I was just sorry I didn't take the boys. Even Greg was sorry he didn't go.

After breakfast we headed back up to see the Ashcrofts and had a bbq lunch with them. 

Even though the weather wasn't really that hot we really wanted to get the maximum use out of our theme park passes, so the following day (Thursday) we went to Wet & Wild. We were only there about 2 hours as the kids were shivering and turning blue.

Since Movie World was right next door we tried to talk the kids in to going back there for a few hours but they wouldn't be in it. They just kept saying 'Let's go back to the hotel'.

On the way back we stopped at the most awesome park in Qld. The GIANT jumping pillow is awesome sauce! It was good to let the kids have a ride of their bikes and scooters since we had carted them all that way.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and had a swim in the indoor pool. Tyler's first time in a swimming pool. He seemed to like it.
The following day the Ashcrofts arrived at Surfers. The weather was really lousy by this time so there wasn't a lot we could do. We took the kids to Time Zone for a few hours and watched a movie in the mini cinema at their hotel.

We left at the crack of dawn on the Saturday and had a really good drive back home. The kids were great again and Greg did ALL of the driving. I kept offering but he doesn't like my driving. haha. Doesn't worry me in the slightest.

Another great family holiday for the memory bank.