Girly weekend away to Gloucester

A few weeks ago, I went on a girly weekend getaway to Gloucester - just Izzy and mummy.  One of my really good friends Gabby moved from London to a little village in Gloucestershire more than 2 years ago, and we have not met up even before the pandemic started.  Finally when the lockdown eased off, I suggested bringing Izzy with me to visit her and her little girl Bella.  It would be a "fun, girly weekend!" I said enthusiastically.

Because we live in the outskirts of London, to get to Paddington train station itself to catch the train to Gloucester was quite a journey in itself.  I kept checking the train timetable from our place to Paddington, and contemplated asking K to drive us to a tube station instead.  When the day arrived, I had the entire route and train timings etched in my head.  We were to pick Izzy up from school at 330pm first.  "Let's aim to be in front of the parents queue at the gate" I told K.  Then K would drive us and drop us off at the train station to catch the 3.59pm train into Charing Cross, where Izzy and I would then connect to the tube to Paddington.  Guess what the day was so gloomy and rainy, everyone decided to drive that day.  The traffic jam getting out of the vicinity of the school was such a challenge.  Cars were everywhere.  It was still raining non stop.  We kept getting stopped at red lights.  Oh the agony!  We debated in the car what to do if we were to miss the 3.59pm train.  Finally, with his mighty driving skills, K dropped us at the train station 4min before the train arrived!  Phew what a start of our 3.5h journey!

All ready for our train journey!

Concentrating on her babycino

I felt much better when we arrived at Paddington train station, 30min ahead of our train departure.  We checked the board for the train platform to make sure it was on time.  We then went to the restroom, followed by picking up a pastry each, a cup of tea for mummy, and a babycino for Izzy to accompany us on our 2.5h train ride.  The trains were very new and clean, which was good.  We sat at our pre-booked seats, which had a table so it was easy to put our stuff.  We had a friendly young lady called Emma who sat opposite us, and we chatted a little when the train left the platform.

Soon we were out of London.  We passed by farmlands and fields, towns and villages.. finally after 2.5h we arrived in Gloucester.  Well done Izzy for being such a trooper.  She took the train with no fuss.  She ate her snacks, and I bought her a Peppa Pig sticker magazine to pass time.  We took some selfies and looked out at the scenary from time to time.  Gabby and Bella were waiting to welcome us in the station carpark.  So nice to see them!  

As it was about 830pm when we finally settled down at their place, we had a simple dinner and allowed the girls to sleep very late (past 11pm!).  The mums tried to catch up a little, but we were exhausted too so we all decided to go to bed and hang out properly the next day.

Rise and shine!

Waking up the next morning in the countryside

After breakfast we did a Facetime with daddy and Gabriel!

We went to a park in the neighbouring town, had lunch and walked around the high street.  Gabby and I used to shop together and we relived some of our shopping memories that afternoon, whilst the girls ran between the clothes racks in the store playing hide and seek.  Ah so different now that we are shopping with kiddos!

We went to one of their favourite parks

There was a huge playground with loads of things for the kids to play/ climb on

Dandelions were everywhere

Cow Parsley was also everywhere

We decided to forage some home to put in a vase.  They are so beautiful.

Catching up as we were too absorbed in foraging flowers

Lunch break!

Guess what - this was everyone's first time dining indoors in a restaurant in months.

Cheers to that!

Ice cream for dessert.  Big treat!

In the neighbouring town centre, the girls went on this merry go round

We only had half a day on Sunday as we were to take the 3.15pm train back to London.  We decided to take it slow.  We attended a church service in the morning, then we went to a nearby Asian supermarket because Gabby wanted me to help her pick out some easy to cook Asian sauces and frozen foods.  We finished off with a leisurely lunch so there was no rush whatsoever.

Not forgetting another Facetime session with the boys back at home!
Daddy and Gabriel were bonding over that weekend.

After the church service

The little girls

A short but sweet 1.5day weekend getaway.  So nice to spend some time with the girls.  Hopefully we won't need to wait so long before we see them again!