The idea for making a quick dash home to surprise the in-laws had been fermenting for some time. Given that we still needed to pick up our tent and camping gear at some stage in preparation for our trip to Tasmania (or arrange for a friend to bring it to Melbourne, which was the original plan), we decided that a sneaky trip home to allow the girls to see their grandparents and new baby cousin before Christmas would be a good thing.

After a day in Melbourne to have some issues with our van fixed and with no advance warning, we headed up to the Murray River to surprise Corey’s Mum and Dad.

The girls loved sneaking up onto the porch and waiting for Nan and Pop to see them and we loved our few days back home catching up with family and friends.

After we spent the night with Nan and Pop, we then headed to Mildura to surprise our Sister-in-Law. With our Prado still up for sale, I decided to drive that up for a change of scenery (and also because it was convenience for us to use). Taking all the back streets, we were nearly there when we bloody passed her on her way!!! I rang Corey to let him know she wouldn’t be home and then about five minutes later I get a phone call. The conversation went a bit like this:

SIL: “Just humour me for a minute, but did I just see you and Corey drive past me”

Me: “What on earth are you talking about H?”

SIL: “Well, I’m just heading to catch up with my Mum’s group and I saw a car that looked a lot like Corey’s tricked up Colorado followed by a gold coloured Prado that looked a lot like yours. Maybe I should ring Dave (our father-in-law) and check that no-one has stolen your car?”

Me: “No, don’t do that. How about you come home and put the kettle on?”

Needless to say, a quick U-turn and a few moments later and the reunion was happening!

Funnily enough, it wasn’t the only conversation along those lines. My good friend Mrs Pett apparently recognised me by THE BACK OF MY HEAD and calls me. “I know I’ve just had a baby and am a bit sleep deprived, but did I just see you sitting outside of Mocha Mecca having a coffee”. Boom… what can I say, I have a recognisable boof-head!

We were able to catch up with Mrs Mone and ditch some stuff back into the shipping container.

And retrieve all of our camping gear!

In addition to catching up with some friends, our sneaky trip home also meant that we could have an early Christmas too. We arranged for Santa pics with the girls (here’s hoping the proper ones had them all looking at the camera!).

And pulled together an impromptu Christmas lunch (which involved the pork catching on fire!).

We had all agreed that it would be a kids-only Christmas and they loved being able to open them all early and have Christmas with Baby Zee.

And the girls loved playing with their new wings from Mrs Mone.

Before long, our time was up and it was time to head back to Melbourne, ready to catch the boat for Tasmania!

Bye-bye for now! See you in Feb!

Have you ever planned a sneaky visit home? Do you have any distinguishable features that mean you’re instantly identifiable?