A birthday in Bowral

Last year's celebration of Rob's 70th birthday in Bowral went so well we decided to repeat the fun this year - but this time celebrating Joshy's birthday (it's always 2 weeks after Rob's on the 24th January!).

We took Ella with us to Bowral on Saturday morning, forming the advance party (Abi stayed back for her regular Saturday horse riding lesson). We arrived just in time for lunch at Cafe Rocca on Bong Bong Street.

Ella used her extra time in Bowral in the early afternoon to do some research at her fave Dirty Jane's on Banyette Street. Dirty Jane's has the most wonderful collection of vintage treasures and both the girls LOVE it as a shopping destination. They've been saving their money for a bit of a spend up here this weekend.

The rest of the crew arrived a bit after 3.00pm, ready to party. Saturday night we'd set aside for a "fancy" dinner at our hotel - at the French inspired Bistro Sociale. We started with drinks at the bar before moving into the restaurant proper. We'd loved our meal here last year and knew we were in for a great night.

The wine flowed and the food was as beautifully prepared and of the same high quality as ever. We felt extra grateful for this knowing how tough hospitality is doing it at the moment with staff shortages and supply disruptions.

The girls gave their meal the Ella and Abi seal of approval.

My grand-daughters have many talents. Ella was renowned as a very young child for being able to balance a spoon (vertically) on her tiny nose (just like Elaine did in THAT episode of Sienfeld). On Saturday night at dinner, she discovered she could play piercing soundscapes on the rims of the hotel glassware. None of us could do it - no matter how hard we tried. She played symphonies with them!

After our fabulous meal we settled into the beautiful lounge area outside Room 12 for birthday cake and a glass of Tasmanian (Arras) champagne. Even here Ella was still preoccupied with her new found glass whispering skill!

But it was a skill that remained elusive to the rest of us.....

Abi had made Joshy's birthday cake lavishing it with all her favourite toppings (crushed Orreos, buttercream icing and candy snakes!) - it was a lovely surprise for him.

I don't know if it was the sugar hit or just the high of enjoying such a happy night, but the girls went into performance mode then - wild crazy stuff inspired by that final dance scene in Dirty Dancing.

We laughed and laughed and laughed and filmed a lot of it.

And the girls even videotaped us being silly too - who knows what's goin on TikTok now!

... such a happy, wonderful night!

We even managed to front up to breakfast this morning. This beautiful old hotel does everything with such class - I admired their breakfast set up!

We've made a vow to try to make this Bowral weekend an annual event in future.... I'd be happy if we could always get Room 30 with the bay window (and Family Room 12 is just perfect for J & J and the girls).

Harrison Redford was even seen leaving the beautiful, historic Berida Hotel this morning.

.. along with this pair of dancing demons .....

After breakfast (and check out) we walked from the Berida Hotel in David Street ... along Moss Vale Road, past the beautiful Bowral Lions Park.

Until we hit Bong Bong Street and the site of Dirty Jane's Emporium.

We enjoyed our few hours there while the girls (and Jody and me) searched for, and found, vintage treasures and Josh and Rob did some extensive walking around this classy picturesque town until it was time to head back to Canberra. Thank you Joshy for giving us this excuse for another happy weekend in Bowral! 

The week before our Bowral trip we enjoyed catching up with our dear friend David - back in Canberra after 7 months away (thanks to the lure of Nth Queensland and COVID delays). We've enjoyed showing him all the changes around our neck of the wood since he left in May-June last year. He was very intrigued with the fabulous new sculpture of Andrew Inglis Clark outside the new government offices at the top of "our" Constitution Avenue. (Andrew I C was an Australian founding father and co-author of the Australian Constitution.) David was suitably impressed I think.