Our Holiday Day

Last Monday (just over a week ago) we had a one-day family holiday. We didn't get any kind of holiday last year, and don't know what we'll manage this year either, although it would be very lovely to have something. So we wanted to make sure we did something before our baby arrives. We had hoped to stay somewhere for a few days where there is a sandy beach and it would feel like a holiday, but even one night stay in a travel lodge costs loads. So we decided on one day at a sandy beach instead. We tried later the previous week, once everything was here from the house sale and we'd had a day to work on clearing some of it. Everybody was so grumpy that day though, the traffic was awful (last day of school Easter holidays), and then the weather forecast changed to rain later in the afternoon, so we gave up and came home!! We did a couple more days work at clearing and organising some things, and on Monday we tried again (we hadn't realised before that Michael didn't need to be back at uni. until the Tuesday - good job!)

So we went off to Bournemouth for the day. It was a two hour drive, which is longer than we ever drive anywhere now, and it was a little challenging for the children because of it. Good job there was something nice to look forward to at the other end though!

It is SO different being at a sandy beach. You can actually run around and play, or sit and relax and just feel comfortable, and it just feels like being on holiday. It was a nice warm day, and although the sea was still freezing, that didn't stop all four girls getting in it the first moment they got, and then deciding that they wanted to be properly in it - so on went the swimming costumes! Peter was not so sure about being in the freezing water, but loved the sand, and didn't mind the waves so much as he has done in Brighton.

The girls just loved playing in that cold sea.







Peter loved digging, and making a sandcastle was just EXCITING!






Michael remembered something he used to do when younger, and Sarah thought making a squiggly sandcastle like that was fantastic!





Rachel and Hannah made a sandcastle,



Peter played,



Sarah turned into a mermaid for a while,


Rachel dug for water


and Rebekah dug to make puddles. :o)


Michael dug down deep, and Peter was pretty impressed by this. It was best of all once Michael had built a ramp for him to get in and out by.







Hannah stuck by their castle to the very end as the sea demolished it,


and Rebekah did her best to protect Rachel's pool of water from the sea.


Peter was very protective over that hole - he only happily let Sarah in to dig for a while when he was otherwise engaged in demolishing a juicy plum.


He also tried to bury himself in the sand.


When I saw what he was doing and went over to him he said he couldn't do it, so I helped out a bit and made a sand car around him. :o)



This is Hannah dancing in the sea! She was dancing for ages, clearly just loving being there.


I also made a sandcastle in between other things (including taking pictures of everyone!) Then of course I had to wait for the sea to come and get it before I could go!



Michael realising quite how cold the water was!


We had tea there, and hoped to have fish and chips by the beach. It was warm enough still once everyone was wrapped up again.


The outdoor places were all closed by then though, and the only place we could find that was open was Harry Ramsden's chip shop. We worked out a way to just keep the total at around £50! It was nice having tea out together, even if chips and fish for some, chicken nuggets for others, cost that much.
Peter loves sitting properly at a table, and likes having a glass to drink from with us on special occassions. I think he liked it.



We had a very late drive home. Michael and I were exhausted, and we had to stop on the way for Michael to sleep for half an hour (I was too uncomfortable to sleep, so I read a book on childbirth for a while!!) We had to recover for a couple of days too(!), but it was well worth a lovely family day by the sea. :o)

Of Bumps and Bubbles - the follow-up to Easter

Thanks Kylie and Debbie for your comments - you might want to look at my replies in the last post.

Well, that funny collection of things that the children found as their treasure for the egg hunt really did have a purpose, which they were very excited about when they realised what it was. They opened a joint present between them after that which explained all - in leiu of chocolate eggs or whatever! Sarah has struggled with the idea of Easter because of the big deal everyone makes about chocolate eggs, how many they have, etc., so there certainly needed to be something to make it a bit more fun! They didn't get to try it out until two days later though, on the Wednesday.

First let me explain something else...

While I was putting out the treasure hunt on Monday, the back windscreen of the car decided to explode!!! I heard the crash, and various things the children said like,"What happened?", and "How will you go to Coventry tomorrow now the car is broken?!" I was aware SOMETHING had happened, but decided not to investigate until I was finished as we were so late in the day already. I was glad I didn't, as it had given me time to quietly absorb all I was hearing and seeing, and feel sure that whatever needed to happen was best. How wonderful to take that in my stride!

Peter had picked up and thrown a small screwdriver while they were all out in the front of the house with Michael, which had hit the bottom right corner of the windscreen and bounced off. Then a whole minute or so later the glass suddenly exploded in the top left corner of the windscreen and shattered right across it! The two pictures I took of it were among the ones that didn't upload to the computer properly, so I can see them, but you can't! It was quite impressive shattering with a nice huge hole! It made for an interesting evening, as nothing was open, car insurance lines included, and it was clearly going to impact on the next day. We felt it best in the end anyway that Michael would be around the following day so that we could do anything that was needed for Peter's head if he wasn't alright by then. He was, but it still felt needed, and that it would work out somehow.

Michael was meant to be sorting out things in our house in Coventry, the sale of which was completing on the Thursday. He'd been there the previous week, and we'd planned for him to go on the Tuesday and Wednesday of this last week. So it all had to be done on Wednesday instead. It took a long time on the Wednesday to do what was needed, and with help from my Dad and a LOT of help from Michael's brother Tom, it was finally done. Michael and Tom didn't arrive back in Brighton though until early morning, so slept until morning before unloading Tom's van and he was back on his way again - a big thanks to Tom!

While they were busy doing all of that in Coventry on the Wednesday, we were also very busy here. Then having done as many jobs as we had the energy for, we decided it was time to try out the Easter gift. So here it is...

The Bubble Thing!





All of those ingredients together made for an interesting bubble mixture. It wasn't at all the best weather for making big bubbles, especially as it was starting to cool down by that point in the late afternoon. Knowing that though, everyone did pretty well, once we got the hang of it.











Everyone had a go, Peter with assistance as he couldn't manage it on his own. They often popped quite quickly, but some lasted fairly well. It will be fun to try again in warmer weather, or after it rain is meant to be good too, both because of the moisture in the air.

Hannah became the entertainer after a while. She really got the hang of it and was producing bubbles for a while for everyone else to watch and/or pop!













The audience showing their appreciation from up on the balcony!