We spent it lounging around, gardening (Steve & the kids), sewing on nametapes, washing, ironing, and doing schoolwork (me). Oh – we did go to a lovely birthday party on a boat around Torbay, which was fab.

Anna, meanwhile, was living it up with a friend from school, whose family took her to Greenbelt. I was very envious. I asked her to take some photos for me and this was the only decent one she came home with … clearly she was too busy having fun to worry about recording it on camera for her old mum

My penultimate weekend of the holidays was spent caching; my friend and I were rather proud of ourselves managing 109 in one day, a figure of 8 walk of around 20 miles, mostly in the pouring rain as well. We did 30-odd the day before, and 28 the day after, as well. We had been going to camp up in North Devon but in the end because of the weather we decided to camp at home instead, so that we could dry our clothes/boots and charge batteries overnight!

The girls had time with friends over the weekend which was great for them, Josiah came with us on Sunday, and Steve had some peace and quiet!

All I can say, having done that, is that it might have bumped my total caches found number up significantly, and it was fun to have the marathon challenge, but I can hardly remember any one individual cache. I would far prefer to spend the time and energy on one decent cache(password available on request) than on 150 pots behind posts. I can safely say that the graph won’t carry on going upwards at such an almost-exponential rate, as I won’t be carrying on like that throughout this academic year!

Since then we’ve just been bumbling around at home; I’ve been working every morning on school stuff and a little bit of orchestra as well, and the children have been generally annoying me. We hoped to have some ‘family afternoons’ but Steve hasn’t made it home before 5pm any day so far, so never mind about that! Evenings have been spent sewing nametapes onto school clothes in the vain hope that if they’re named they might not go missing so often

Anyway. This summer’s trip to Russia has been in the pipeline for years; it was first conceived by a small committee of people around the time that Anna joined Exeter Children’s Orchestra three years ago. Little did I know then that I’d have anything to do with it at this point!

Last year we signed up to be part of the trip – I figured it would be the experience of a lifetime, since I knew that our family would never be brave enough to go to Russia on our own. I’ve been part of the planning process this year, working harder on things as the year went on, so it was just incredible to finally see it all come together and for 104 people to *actually* go to Russia (and get back, too!!). We had an amazing time – we all really enjoyed it for various reasons, and I don’t regret it for a moment. I’m almost looking forward to helping organise the reciprocal visit!

So, read on if you want the details … or as many as I can remember, at least

Usually I write a diary while we’re on holiday, so that I can remember things to blog about when we get home – but I was so busy organising things this time that I didn’t get round to it. I thought I hadn’t taken many photos either, but Steve made up for that, even if they’re not quite the shots I would have taken. Here goes, anyway.

Sunday 8th August
Our adventure started this evening, as we travelled up to a Travelodge the night before our flight out. I’d thought that this way we’d get some sleep before a whole day’s journey the next day, but I was wrong. In typical Travelodge style the mattress was soft and bendy so I spent the whole night lying awake trying not to roll into Steve … he slept ok, apparently, and so did the kids, so that’s what matters I suppose!

Monday 9th August
We had to be up early, to get our car to Purple Parking (all great there – would use them again, does what it says on the tin, happy customers!) before getting to Terminal 5 for 6am. When we arrived lots of our group were already there checking in, so we joined the queue! We had Anna’s cello with us as well, which had a seat booked on the plane, so that made for some extra excitement … and we took another couple of kids plus cello and tuba with us so that we could get the instruments through security – almost lost the tuba at one point but talked the security people round! They were the first three onto the plane because of the instruments so that was fun

The coach journey from Domodedevo airport to Yaroslavl was about 4 – 5 hours long. This was a bit dire for some as the stops hadn’t been organised in advance, the drivers didn’t really know where to stop, and none of us had much to eat … anyway, never mind.

We made it to the hotel, eventually (our coach driver got lost, which was quite amusing), around 11.30pm which really wasn’t too bad. Everyone checked in and went to their rooms. The Park Hotel was great – it made all the difference for everyone to have a bit of personal space! Unfortunately this evening we discovered that one of our group had lost their passport at the airport, but this got sorted out during the week, with only a day lost for the people concerned when they had to visit the British Embassy in Moscow to apply for a replacement.

Tuesday 10th August
We woke, bleary eyed, and had our first strange breakfast of the stay: savoury rice pudding with butter, followed by a strange cheesecake – all a bit much to take first thing in the morning. Still, our group was fed in a nice conference room which we had to ourselves, making it nice and easy for me to give notices every day about what was happening (if I knew, of course, which mainly I didn’t!). The most annoying one this morning was that in order to use the hotel swimming pool we needed swimming hats – only 3 out of 104 people had thought to bring them!

The orchestra had a rehearsal in the morning, which, due to being late, didn’t really happen A few parents went out into Yaroslavl and we all met up at the Jubilee Restaurant for lunch. After lunch we had a tour of Yaroslavl’s monastery, which was interesting. Most amazing were the singing quartet who just started singing in the Cathedral – incredible voices and the acoustics in there gave it a wow factor too.

One of the ladies from the Friendship Group (Yaroslavl’s version of our Twinning Circle) had, however, managed to buy 100 swimming hats! I’ve never seen children looking so excited about swimming hats – most of them immediately went swimming before dinner!

Wednesday 11th August
The smog lifted – but it was still very very hot. The kids had a rehearsal in the morning, during which a few of us walked around the city. Steve and I walked as far as a supermarket to buy drinks and fruit from a fruit stall, then back to the Art School where the children were to meet up in time for lunch. In fact then I went off with one of the Friendship Group people to look at venues for the other concerts, and had an epic taxi drive back through the city at 60mph – Russian driving is worse than French, I think! Met the rest of the group back at the Russian Hunt restaurant.

Wednesday afternoon was the first ECO concert, in the Art School. Some Art School students performed as well, making it very long – and the auditorium was very very hot – little or no air circulation; I seriously thought some of the kids might melt (or at least faint!) under the stage lights. We were all sweating buckets (nice!). There was a presentation at the end too, making everything take even longer! Luckily then we could leave all the instruments on the stage and the kids had a ‘disco’ outside, with some Russian children – I’m hoping someone else has photos of this because I didn’t take any …

Back to the hotel for dinner after that …

Thursday 12th August
We had a sightseeing day today – something I’d never usually choose to do when on holiday, but it was strangely relaxing, and very entertaining. Firstly a three hour drive through the Yaroslavl Region to a small town called Myshkin (definitely worth clicking on that link to get the full story on what the town was all about, it will save me explaining), where we had a brilliant guide, and visited an interactive museum – this had everything from singing tea ladies to live mice that made you jump, a potter and a blacksmith, loads to see and do, and we had lunch there too.

Friday 13th August
Today was ECO’s second concert – at Yaroslavl’s Palace of Culture. Sounds posh – and it was! An amazing building, which, thankfully, was much cooler than the last venue. The weather had cooled off a bit itself, too, but temperatures were still in the high twenties, if not around the 30º mark. Anyway, the kids had a rehearsal, during which we discovered a missing music folder, and a missing trumpeter, so a couple took a taxi back to the hotel to pick up the folder and Alex, who had fallen asleep after breakfast and missed the coach – and no-one noticed . Bedtimes were strictly observed after this so that no-one could claim they were so tired!

The concert went well, then we all had some free time in Yaroslavl, before going back to the hotel for dinner, and then watching ourselves on Russian local news tv – very exciting!

Saturday 14th August
We had a sightseeing visit to Tutayev by boat along the Volga river today. Very relaxing on the boat – lots of chatting going on as well as having the chance to take in more Russian countryside. When we arrived we were greeted by a welcoming party who presented Richard and Ron with decorative bread – some Russian tradition or other, I understand! No-one ate it, which I thought was a shame!

The actual tour around Tutayev was rather rushed, but we enjoyed seeing the cathedral there – both inside and out – amazing. We had lunch cooked in a school, which was interesting – and then had to rush off to catch our boat back to Yaroslavl.

In the evening, the hotel had laid on a ‘Russian Evening’ for us; which consisted of traditional Russian food (ie stew!), but then we were treated to a Russian folk band who came and played for us. They were totally amazing – I was particularly impressed by the accordian player, I’ve never heard an accordian sound so wonderful We bought CDs, we liked it so much!

Sunday 15th August
We had a bit of a later start today, thank heavens (it was all great but somewhat ‘full on’), everyone enjoyed a bit of a lie- in. After lunch in the Jubilee Restaurant again we had some free time in Yaroslavl. A few of us went to Exeter House, significant for all of us from Exeter anyway but specifically for one member of our group who was the architect who designed the house when it was built! He and I went in a taxi with the director of Yaroslavl’s city council’s International Department who quizzed us about how and when we were going to arrange a reciprocal visit. This has always been our intention, but there is clearly a difference in expectation about what a ‘city council’ will be involved in. They were clearly very involved in hosting our trip, but I can’t imagine the city council here to be involved much at all if ECO host a return visit! Anyway.

After that I legged it down to meet Steve, who was entertaining two small boys, on a little island where there was a fairground type thing – and also a geocache Well, it wouldn’t be a holiday without one! I took a couple of teens with me, who cache at home too, so they were chuffed to add a Russian cache to their count as well.

We met up with the rest of the orchestra after that for the final open air concert, alongside the Volga Embankment. The concert had been publicised and there was a big crowd out listening, which was great. We were entertained by the dancing OAPs at the back, and then by the stray dog which wandered into the orchestra. Richard, being a dog lover, stopped the concert to stroke and make a fuss of the dog!

Monday 16th August
Our last full day in Yaroslavl was spent visiting the city’s new zoo – which they opened specially, it was their cleaning day, but they let us in! The kids loved the area where they could hold some of the animals. Again a bit of a rushed visit but nice nonetheless.

After the reception we hung around on the Volga embankment taking photos and being interviewed by the TV cameras again (and were on tv again that night), before finally going back to the hotel to pack.

At dinnertime we had our own embarrassing thank you speeches and I was presented with a rather lovely engraved glass which has taken pride of place *in front of* Steve’s motor racing ones! It really was a superb trip, and Ron, who organised most of it, was amazing – there was nothing that he hadn’t thought of. Everyone went down and took photos afterwards, of the ECO kids and then the boring old grownups. Then it was off to the shop to stock up on snacks for the next day …

Tuesday 17th August
This was always going to be a long and tiring day but I think we all agreed it was worth it. We got up at 4am to throw last minute things in suitcases before gathering downstairs at 4.30 in order to leave by 5am – which, miraculously, we did! It was 5 hours’ drive back to Moscow, where we picked up some fantastic Moscow guides who were with us for the day.

We had a bit of a coach tour round on the way into Red Square, then some time in Red Square itself. This was when, on visiting the toilets in the GUM shopping centre, Josiah’s croc got mangled in an escalator. I still look at the photos and wonder how he didn’t lose his toes as well! Anyway, that made Red Square even more memorable for us

After that a tiny bit more sightseeing from the coach then it was on to the airport. Or so we thought. One of our three coaches broke down on the way there! We had to be collected by another coach and unload/re-load all our luggage by the side of the road. Still, we made it to the airport on time nevertheless, checked in etc., and waited for the plane home. The flight was fine, everything went smoothly, and I think everyone just fell asleep!

We picked up the car, then opted for a Travelodge again since it would just have been too much to drive home straight away. We all slept well and then drove home in the morning.

Other general memories:
The Friendship Group people were amazing – they had thought of everything. They were rubbish at telling us, and I often didn’t have a clue in the morning how arrangements for instruments or whatever were going to happen, but they invariably did happen, and seamlessly, at that.

Late night drinks with Ron & Natasha (the main organisers of the trip) made for some fantastic evenings – in fact some nights we started drinking before dinner as well as afterwards – I was exhausted (and at times slightly merry!). But it was very entertaining and Steve & I really enjoyed getting to know them

All the families and individuals there really pulled together – it did feel like one happy family, which the Russians even commented on! A brilliant sense of camaraderie despite little niggles along the way – fabulous.

Hotel breakfasts – as odd as odd can be. Savoury rice pudding/semolina/custard, then strange cheesecake or egg bake things – or cold sausage and peas. Lunches and dinners were nice though, once you knew what to expect: vegetable starter of some kind (coleslaw type things), then soup, then meat and pasta or potatoes. A few of us had dodgy tummies for a while but nothing awful.

Spent ages trying to download the Moscow Lonely Planet app on my phone – eventually did it and I’d recommend the apps – for £3.50 you get what looks like pretty much the whole Lonely Planet book as well as an interactive map which you can use offline too. Very impressive I think – and it gave me technical gadgets to play with while we were in Moscow

Steve and I even really enjoyed having time together – we often ended up sitting next to one another on the coach, and because the kids were with friends they just took care of themselves, leaving us to enjoy the sightseeing stuff together – a rather nice by-product that we hadn’t expected!

And if you’ve made it this far – well done. Ron predicted that 50% of the people on this trip will visit Russia again – I know Steve and I would quite like to see St. Petersburg now … in a few years’ time perhaps

Friday night was fab, because Steve came home from a trip to the accountants in a good mood, and took us out for dinner Nice to know that all his hard work has paid off, this year at least.

On Saturday the girls took part in a singing workshop with the Panto people – great fun by all accounts. Josiah and I pootled around all day getting little jobs done – sorting out pets etc.

Today we spent lunchtime at Steve’s parents’ house for a BBQ, celebrating Steve’s Grandad’s and Mum’s birthdays, so that was nice. Sadly his Grandad wasn’t really up to taking part in his own birthday party though

Other than that, we’ve been packing. And giving the house a ritual pre- holiday tidy and clean (which everyone else moans about but I see as essential!). Also watching Moscow webcams and waiting for updates – the smog is clearing and apparently the airport is fully functional tonight so things are looking good for our flight next week. We’re all excited, if a bit nervous as well, but it should be an experience of a lifetime!

After that we went on to see the launch of Girl Friday‘s EP at a tiny cocktail bar in town – plenty of atmosphere and fantastic to see what Steve’s sister has been spending all her time working on recently. Can’t link to the new video yet as I don’t think it’s online so will have to post this one instead

Steve had to work and race, so he didn’t stay with us, although he did take us there (in a lovely K-reg Rover which only just made it – it was the only car that we had with a towbar!) and help us set up (how kind of him! it was payback for the day’s cover I did at the garage ). Unfortunately this also meant we had to wait for him to collect us at the end, which did entail a long wait and a late night! I managed to disassemble the trailer tent singlehandedly (though I’m still not entirely sure I could put it up on my own), which may have been shooting myself in the foot for any future occasions, but we’ll see.

The children spent the vast majority of their time playing games; Set, Uno, and Jungle Speed. I may finally have to give in and buy our own set of Jungle Speed …

Josiah hasn’t taken any music exams this term, but he is still pleased to hold the family record for points

On Friday night we went to Exmouth, along with some other families, for an end of term BBQ. Well, we didn’t BBQ as that would have meant being organised; we had chips on the seafront instead. Everyone else was far more civilised than us, of course. Miss White even joined us for some of the time, which was lovely- possibly the last time we see her! The kids had a ball, and it was very chilled for us grownups as well

Yesterday Steve took all his employees on a jolly down to Haynes Race Track, so muggins here covered at the garage. It was very quiet although I did see one genuine customer – but a quiet day suited me as I had some time to think about planning for next year – not that I actually managed to get any work done, but still. The children spent a pleasant day with Grandma We were meant to go to Exmouth again with different friends but I made an executive decision that I was too tired so called an early night all round.

Today the girls went off to panto for the day, while Steve, Josiah and I went into town, then out to Wiscombe as spectators for a couple of hours – a novelty for Steve! Since he blew his gearbox up yesterday he had little choice

Anyway, back to the girls – over the past few weeks they’ve been involved with a mini-production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by the ‘Juniors’ of the Pinhoe Panto Society. Well, we thought it was a mini-production but actually it was pretty major! Considering how little time they’d had to rehearse it was an amazing show, with all the kids involved, some great singing and dancing too – and they all had such fun doing it, which was obvious in their enjoyment of the performance.

Afterwards all the panto families went and sat in the park and chatted while the kids played, lovely

This daft saying goodbye thing started getting emotional a couple of weeks ago at the Choral Evening – when the choir sang a song that was the ‘Leavers’ Song’ the year that Anna left! It brought a tear to the eye of a number of parents – who knew how much we would blub today!

After that came parents’ evening where yet again I thanked Miss White for giving Abbie the best two years of primary school – the two of them have got on really well, and that has meant loads to me, especially during this last year when Abbie’s been a bit of a latchkey kid. Easy to get emotional when thanking someone who has probably spent more time with your daughter than you have recently, inspired her in many ways, helped her loads with academics (and hence helped with scholarship!), given her great opportunities, been a brilliant role model, and most of all had a lot of fun.

We’ve had the Y6 play, and the farming exhibition, but we mums have been building up to today – joking about how many tissues we would need! Abbie’s leaving present to me was a headful of nits, but the less said about that the better – I’ve been combing like crazy over the past few days! Anyway. Today’s leavers’ assembly was lovely, a bit of a tear-jerker, but not too bad – luckily I ended up sitting behind Abbie so couldn’t see her face, which helped!

And, thank goodness, term is over for me too. We had a balloon release this morning for the little boy who died recently, so that was emotional as well; it’s the end of a year as an HLTA, and the start of a year as a teacher, which is totally overwhelming – aargh! We’re off to the beach to celebrate the end of the school year later so that should be relaxing at least – I’m going to take a few welcome beers!