I have been extremely lucky these past 2 weekends. I had lovely couple time last weekend. And this weekend I had a fantastic girls weekend. I have to say how great my hubby is! He took me away last weekend and then stayed home with the kids this weekend without one complaint or pre cooked meal.
We had our second bookclub meeting on Friday night. It was the first one we had had since we have actually read a book. The first meeting was to receive our first book. IT was a great night with 10 women talking about a great intense book. We quite often got sidetracked (as women do). It was really interesting to hear peoples interpretation of the events in the book. We had great food, great company & a few drinks. Perfect bookclub meeting.
Saturday we headed off on a pre season players only hockey trip. Leaving town at 12pm in a bus we were off for a great weekend. As much as we were all keen to have a drink or 3 on the way out we were under instructions from our coach that once we got there we would be training. We went to Jurien Bay a beautiful little coastal town just under 2hrs away. We stayed in a house which belongs to a relative of one of our players. It was the perfect beach house.
We arrived and were unpacked at by about 2 and decided to head out and grab some lunch. I did suggest we go to the pub. (more then once I might add) It was rather warm and humid so training wasn't until later in the afternoon. Some of the smart girls actually packed their bathers. I was not one of them. Why??? Who knows but I didn't have a lot of luck with my bags over the weekend. So I am not hugely surprised. So the smart few went for a dip to cool off before we got stuck into it.
We didn't have much of an idea as to what was going to be involved in the training but luckily for us there wasn't much 'beach' to run on as the tide was up. So we headed off for a 'run'. And did we run! We stopped a few times to do some circuit work. We jogged past the main jetty & playground and got a few strange looks. Went all the way to the marina thankfully stopping to walk a bit. We lost one of the ladies for a bit of the run as she went to visit a friend who's house we ran past. We were sure she would come back with a beer for us but no such luck. Back from our run we thought maybe that was it. But no back to the house grab our sticks, shinpads and of course the esky for afterwards. (couldn't possibly wait until we were back at the house for a drink) We headed back to the marina for a quick mini game of hockey on the grass. It was great fun and challenging as it was a very narrow strip of grass. I even received my first bruise of the season thanks to a ball the the knee. By the end of training we were all exhausted and covered in sweat. I looked like I had swum in my shirt. It was soaked. My whole cap was saturated!!!! After a much needed beer and attempts to take a great photo of us all jumping in unison on the beach. Training was done and it was onto the fun.
There is something that happens when you get a group of women together who all know each other, some better then others, with ages ranging from 40's to late teens. We all settled in for some great food, drinks & laughs. There were 13 of us and it was the perfect number. We could all be part of the conversation and no one was left out and there weren't any 'groups' it was awesome. Our coaches had given us 'homework' before we went in the form of a questionnaire full of questions about our lives. We were given a booklet with everyones answers in it. It was great as I think there was at least one thing that everyone learnt about others. I found out one of the ladies had lost 38kg. I was inspired!!!!!
Once we had rotated through the shower, had tea and some birthday cake. I brought out the toilet paper! No I wasn't worried about not making to the toilet in time. It was for a game I discovered when I hosted a 'Girls Night In' last year. Everyone takes between 5 & 7 sheets of paper and you don't tell them what it is for. Once everyone has done it this you tell them the game. For every sheet you have you have to share something about yourself that no one knows. In the past when I have played this game it has taken maybe 20 minutes. And that's with more people then we had on the weekend. Well I think this game went for at least an hour if not two. We decided to do 2 each and then just keep going around. So you had about 3 goes each. As the rounds went on people opened up more and more. Not sure if they were feeling more comfortable or the drinks started to kick in. We laughed (snorted), some cried, shared proposal stories, shared our heritage. It really was a circle of trust.
This is where I have to stop and fast forward to the next morning as what happens on tour stays on tour. Lets just say there wasn't a lot of sleep. And the morning wake up call was not what you would expect from a group of ladies.
I will fast forward to packing up. A few of us had gone for a walk and some how, not sure how, ended up at a cafe. On the way back the swimmers sent us a message saying they had packed everything and were ready to go. So we got back and they said they had everything but if we wanted to go and check feel free. If someone says this to you ALWAYS go and check. I said no no it's fine. They said they took no responsibility. Which is fair enough. I should have known when I couldn't find my pillow on the bus that something was wrong. But I thought it was just under something. We get home at about 1:30pm tired and happy so see our families. We started unloading the bus. Swags, bags, hockey gear. None of it mine. Nervously I asked it there was anything else. Nope! You guessed it. My bags were still upstairs at the house. Completely my fault.
We headed home with plans for me to head out one day this week and go and get it. Then when we got home Mark suggested we go and get it. I think he just wanted to feel like he didn't miss out completely and still got to go to the beach. So we headed back out. I didn't have to drive so as tired as I was I was happy to chill out in the car. We got my things then headed to the beach for the kids to have a play then a very early fish & chips dinner. I didn't have my own I just picked at the kids dinner. I know it wasn't the best choice but I am glad I didn't get my own as then I wouldn't have been able to stop and definitely would have over eaten.
We got home just after 7pm. Showers, kids to bed, a bit of the voice & into bed by 8pm. I had the BEST nights sleep. It was a fantastic weekend. I have to say a HUGE thank you to our coaches who organised everything and it was so nice to go away and not have to do anything. Also thank you to my WONDERFUL team mates who made it such a great weekend. I really do feel a lot closer to each and everyone of you. Bring on the 2013 season!!! Miling Hockey Club are pumped and ready to take it ALL the way!!!!
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