happy 40th darling

In the space of 4 months this year our family will be celebrating two 40th birthdays and the birth of our baby. Today we celebrated the first of those birthdays for Dean. Now I don't want to bang on and make this all soppy, but I do want to say that I am so fortunate to share my life with this super awesome man. We have been together since we were 19 and my love and respect for him has only grown over the years. When in our youth he hated the fact that he always looked younger than his age. We'd go out to bars and he'd get asked for ID. Today the tables have turned and it's me admiring him with envy. Not only does he look great for his age but he has a youthful outlook and physical energy of a man in his twenties. I'm relying on him to keep me young at heart too!!

While we plan to celebrate our birthdays together with a joint party in a few months (post pregnancy), today we surprised him and took our immediate families for a bus trip to the Barossa Valley for lunch & wine tasting.

With a 90 minute trip there and back we packed a few goodies to entertain both the big and small kids.

Our favourite wineries today were Kabminye & Saltram. Check them out if you are ever in the region.

The beautiful Barossa Valley landscape from inside Kabminye Wines. The kids had a wonderful time chasing butterflies & crickets!

Lunch at Kabminye Wine's Krondorf Road Cafe was awesome. No chips/fries or soft drinks on this menu! Specializing in traditional food from the early Barossa Settlers (Prussian, Wendish/Sorbian & English). The recipes from their countries of origin were adapted to incorporate local produce and the Mediterranean climate.

Poppy, the resident dog, hung around and received a lot of attention from our table

It was a long day for my boys, both big and small.