Saying "I Do" again.

Wednesday 21^st December to Saturday 24^th December 2016

Our primary reason for the trip north as I have explained previously was to attend the renewal of the marriage vows by Diane’s parents.

This was to take place on Friday 23^rd which also happened to be her mother’s 80^th birthday, although these days she is not keen on being any older than 39.

Anyway, Sam, ever mindful that she needs to remain the favourite grand-daughter (of course, she is the only one), made the flight from Melbourne to Maroochydore; we duly picked her up from the airport – it is still hot and humid here, by the way.

We had not made any plans other than to spend the day with Sam – we did make use of one of the three pools where we were staying; caught up with Robert and Sonia; but mostly just tried to stay a bit cooler than was usually possible – the air conditioning helped some way for this.

Thursday we had planned for a family Xmas BBQ out at Mooloolah Valley where Diane’s parents lived; just a quiet time with all of the family there (almost all).

But the big day was going to be Friday, and we went over the last of the plans to make sure that we wouldn’t have any problems.

Dad was still apprehensive about it all, secretly waiting for anytime after 12  noon to suddenly appear so that it would all be over.

Mum, however, was keen to make sure that it lasted for as long as possible.

Not even a huge downpour of rain on Friday morning had any chance of upsetting the day – it was gone almost as quickly as it came; we all headed off at an appropriate time to make it there in time – it was a 45 minute trip from Kawana to Montville (near to the Glasshouse Mountains) – we made it with plenty of time to spare – well at least 5 minutes.

Mary, the celebrant was just making the last of the touches to the preparations; Mum and Dad were ready – looking really well, health-wise, and looking resplendent.

 

The happy couple - no pre-vow nerves

Diane (r) with her sister Vivienne

All the kids together - brother Robert in the middle 

Favourute grand-daughter - Sam

It was a lovely ceremony and with the weather being cool but not wet, it all went very well and the backdrop was truly magnificent.

It was fair to say that we all enjoyed it, but the day belonged to Mum and Dad and they did enjoy it as well.

After it was all over we all adjorned to the restaurant there – all pre-booked – we had the gallery area all to ourselves,the remainder of the restaurant was conveniently just away from where we were.

The food was very good and well presented – even the two chefs amongst us – Robert and Sonia – were impressed.

 

We managed to transport this stained-glass panel all the way from the UK
and then have it framed for them both.
But it is special thanks to Dot for creating this for them and they both loved it.

After a leisurely lunch we were ready to go home for a few drinks and just to relax a bit more.

It had been a longish day for all of us and we slept well that night; the following day – Saturday (24^th) – the three of us flew back to Melbourne for our Xmas.

We were in bed relatively early (before 10pm) – with Diane eagerly anticipating Santa coming with her presents – she really is a big kid – and she still believes.