A happy hearty weekend

It is officially fall. On Monday we had beach weather of 32 and now we are in the daily range of 9-24. It is amazing how quickly the change came but we are now enjoying awesome afternoons in the sunshine of the backyard.

Saturday morning saw us head out for another breakfast adventure – this time to ihop We have been wanting to try out this restaurant chain for a little while but every time we have ventured here the place has been so packed out that we couldn’t even get a car parking space. This time we were in luck with the last spot. A two minute wait for a table and then Crystal was ready for our order. I had a ‘Rooty Tooty Fresh n Fruity’ (10 points for guessing what that means), Andrew had the original buttermilk pancakes and Lucy devoured her French toast before we could blink. It was a super quick move’m in move’m out kind of place but the food was very good and inexpensive. The menu even has senior specials (smaller portions at smaller prices). Whilst open for breakfast, lunch and dinner it seems that breakfast is the most popular time to come.

Saturday afternoon we put up our hostess gift from Katrina – a hammock for the backyard! Andrew enjoyed lying in it for a while until Lucy climbed in and insisted on playing ‘horsie’ on his stomach.

Not feeling like cooking dinner we decided to check out the Outback Steakhouse for their autumn specials. The level of cringe is going to be high but we decided we needed to see it for ourselves. Take for example their radio jingle. In an effort to get people to go out for dinner on a Wednesday night it goes “Let’s go outback tonight! Start your weekend two days earlier” We get there but it’s a 40 minute wait for a table. So we went around the corner to Cracker Barrel.

Cracker Barrel is to American cuisine as Outback Steakhouse is to Australian cuisine. Kind of kitschy especially with the Old Country Store attached, the rocking chairs out the front and the old farming equipment hanging from the ceiling. But it’s new to us so its kind of fun. The menu is pure comfort food – Sunday home style chicken, meatloaf and mashed potato and smoked country sausage ‘n biscuits. We celebrated the autumn applefest with apple cheddar chicken and fried apples. A good hearty meal for the three of us cost just $30. We also picked up a free touring map and had a look around at the Christmas decorations in the store. Lucy had a great time sitting in the old fashioned high chair (with leather straps), playing with the old fashioned solitaire game made with a wooden board and pegs and drinking her milk in front of the huge fire place. So although we were disappointed to miss out on our Aussie experience we felt very contented and full after our American feast. We thought about buying a jar of fried apples to take home but discovered the second ingredient (after apples) was high fructose corn syrup so we left them on the shelf. OVerall our exeperience was two thumbs up.

Sunday saw us at church followed by a lunch at our house. We invited Scott, Michelle and Wade over for a lamb roast and pavlova. We hung out in the backyard whilst Lucy played in the sandpit, Wade lay in the hammock and the rest of us chatted. Then Andrew had an afternoon nap given his 4am bedtime trying to fix the church computer.