With our Dad's 80th on the horizon it gave us, his children an opportunity to think about how we could celebrate this milestone and honour him in a way that he would feel loved and enjoy. With Hanna's help brainstorming we concluded that a weekend away, just the origin Ryan's would be a lovely way to connect with Dad and do some things that he would enjoy. We chose Fingal Bay and set to work making a weekend to remember.
We came together first at my place and stopped for lunch for local Bahn Mi and then on to Fingal Bay, We booked a beautiful house to set the scene. It had a gorgeous view over the bay and was a lovely place to relax and set up home base. It had a huge gas fireplace with plenty of space to spread out and relax. On our first night we had birthday dinner for Dad at the Little Beach Boathouse and made it just in time for the sunset across the bay. After dinner we headed back to the house and had a special little evening for dad. Shannon had prepared a slide show of photo's through the years which was such a beautiful tribute and mum bought a long a little written history that she'd put together years before that Tate read out. We gave Dad his gift - a requested and very welcome record player and sang happy birthday with the viral bird cake we thought we'd give a go. It was delicious and well worth the hype. It was lovely to reflect on our dad and his life up til 80. He's lived an adventurous, hard working, varied life and it was so fun to look back on.
Saturday we set out for a walk along the Fingal promenade, watching the park runners on their run. We saw a koala up in the tress and then went home for a lovely breakfast mum prepared us. Then it was onto our weekend adventure, quad biking in the sand dunes. We thought this was a fun way for dad to connect to his bikey days and feel the adrenaline rush of times gone by. It was great fun doing it together and I really enjoyed being out there and building the courage to go fast. We met mum for some American burgers for lunch at Shoal Bay and then back home again for a relaxing night in. We made use of the spa, napped on the couch in the sun and had mum made lasagne for dinner. We watched the new Jane Harper book adaptation Survivors and then off to bed.
The next morning we enjoyed going slow, we had a little photoshoot with everyone in the backyard then packed up the house. We went for a short walk together along the headland and then meet up with Levi and the kids for lunch together at Murrays Brewery. It was time for goodbyes then, mum and dad took Shannon for some time together before his flight and I took Tate and Courtney to the airport for their flight out.
It was absolutely lovely to be together as siblings and be all together with our parents under one roof. I'm so glad we took the opportunity to celebrate this milestone in Dad's life and have the chance to think about our memories of him and with him. So grateful.
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