The wet night did make the whole site a bit muddy for a couple of days but nothing too terrible on our side of the site anyway. My parents did have a bit of a Kessingland week in their awning though, and ended up throwing their groundsheet away rather than cleaning it! Think swamp mixed with cowpats and you have the general idea, yuk.

We were camped with friends from one of the other churches in the network, which was nice, because we were the only campers there from our own local church, so it meant that the children had friends to play with, I had more hair to braid (!!) and we had friends to laze around and share coffee and wine with

Saw a number of old friends throughout the week which was nice, and we also saw rather a lot of my youngest brother as well, who clearly had too much time on his hands and kept coming back to be clambered on by small girls – lovely to have him around though.

The organised ‘churchy’ activities (for want of a better word!) consisted of various meetings most mornings and in the evenings too, as well as sports and other stuff going on during the afternoon. The children all had groups to go to, which they really enjoyed and got lots out of. I was on a team helping with the 3 and 4 year olds during the morning sessions, which was a lot of fun.

We had a couple of free days as well, where we escaped the site (it was *so* noisy!) and did our own thing. On the first day we went to Herstmonceux Science Centre where we met some of the Screamteam and most of the Monsterteenies, and had a fab day there. (I didn’t ever get my email from the Art Machine by the way, what happened to that I wonder?!)

On our other day off we ended up in Eastbourne visiting Ros & Tony at Bonners Music Superstore. Steve made himself at home immediately and made a long phonecall but for some reason didn’t want me to take a photo Anna made herself at home too We didn’t spend too much money though!

Mooched around Eastbourne for a while, then went swimming again, then ended up at Pevensey Castle on the way back to the campsite. Fab castle with lots of interesting different parts added over the years. Tried desperately to get a picture of all three children looking nice at the same time but after four attempts I gave up!

We spent a fair bit of time enjoying Ashburnham again; it is a gorgeous site. Tried hard to get the camera to do things it isn’t really cut out to do with the lens I was using but the results weren’t too bad, all things considered.

As an aside, my Flickr post bar has miraculously sprung back into life tonight after months of not recognising me as a user – don’t know what happened there but I’m very glad to have it back!

Got a bit of washing done today but generally lazed around as we were fairly exhausted. Our wonderful neighbour(s) had done a fantastic job with the guinea pigs which was an extra blessing.

Monday: had a visit from our Scottish home ed friends who were on holiday in North Devon – lovely to see them and catch up a bit Anna is full of good intentions of writing to Hannah more often!

Tuesday: got in a pointless stress about stuff I didn’t need to be stressed about. Consequently didn’t do much else all day!

Wednesday: just about recovered from Tuesday’s stress! Caught up with Rog & Ruth back from what looks as if it was a fantastic holiday.

Thursday: packed to go away for the weekend ourselves, sold a few turnips at a good price, looked after Robyn, heard that my youngest sister did rather well in her AS levels (4 As – well done Esther!), and then drove to Newgale, arriving rather late but thankfully after the flash floods – our friends weren’t so lucky and had spent the past few hours moving their tents out of puddles!

Friday: mooched around Newgale in the morning, put the awning up, ate rather yummy egg and bacon muffins, Anna went in the sea with all her clothes on , then drove out to Llys Y Fran Country Park in the afternoon for a bike ride. We’d seen it on this website, billed as an easy off road ride (found another description and picture here for those who like maps ), so hired an extra bike for Violet to join us. The lady in the hire shop did describe the ride to P1, so we set off to do the hardest part first, only to realise that the vast majority of it was much MUCH harder than anything we’d ever done before! It was a huge challenge which Steve and I relished (well, the ride part!) but it was difficult to keep the children quite as enthusiastic!

Barbecued on the beach in the evening which was lovely. Anna swam in the sea without a wetsuit, the mad thing! Can quite see why the HEMUK family are in love with this place, it is gorgeous.

Saturday: was rainy and horrible! We sat around most of the day doing not a lot – there was a brief break in the rain during which P1 took Abbie into the sea with a borrowed wetsuit and body board – Abigail simply loved it and claims it was the best part of the weekend.

Sunday: we joined in with the annual Portico trip to Oakwood. Anna was a real thrill seeker and went on all the big rides (twice), and I enjoyed them all too, although I chickened out of Speed a second time! The others enjoyed the more gentle attractions

It was a great weekend, all in all. The children really enjoyed being with their friends, as did we – and the venue was fabulous too. There are more photos on flickr for anyone who’s as nosey as me

Thursday night was happily spent with Nic, Ady, Monster & Teeny. Got back to the campsite late and didn’t quite manage to line the van up with the awning so left it unhooked for the night, which then annoyed me no end the next morning!

Friday we did Nothing all morning. Which also annoyed me. Everyone else seemed perfectly happy doing nothing apart from the fact that the kids were a bit gutted not to have got hold of Ros, until lo and behold, just after lunch Ros found her phone and rang us back, which made everyone’s day! We went over to her house for the afternoon which was lovely too – said hello to Bob, Joyce and Hannah when they arrived, and then went back to the campsite, via Sainsbury’s and fish & chips on the sea front somewhere. Well, in the van, to be precise, but we could see water, does that count?

Saturday was the much-awaited day of the party and we slobbed around for the morning, watching Dick & Dom while I chopped veggies, then spent an hour or so getting ready and attracting plenty of attention on the campsite as we walked around in full halloween garb! The party itself was great fun as expected, and we had a fab time, so again a big thank you to Nic & Ady.

Popped back to the Goddards for a cuppa before going home to the campsite again. By now we had sussed the ‘hooking back up to the awning’ thing and had cunningly marked where the wheels of the van should go, as well as having visual landmarks to line the van up with the frame of the awning. Stayed up late finishing our bottle of wine and having deep and meaningful conversation!

This morning we got up at the usual time (which was of course an hour earlier ) and got everyone dressed, packed, the awning down, Steve & I showered, portapotty emptied, etc., all by 10am. Okay, the extra hour helped a lot there! Abbie has been a bit ill all of today with a headache, temperature and general under-the-weather-ness … not altogether surprising as Steve felt ill for most of the week and I’m starting to feel the same way this evening too

We brunched in MacDonalds (not too healthy but who cares), then set the sat nav for the scenic route to Oxfordshire, avoiding motorways. Great fun to do things differently for once but not have the stress of map-reading! Stopped en route for snacks and coffee, and to shut the sunroof on the van, which *someone* had opened and we only realised when it poured down with rain!

Elodie’s dedication was at 3pm and we arrived just on time. Forgot to take any photos, doh, but it was a good service and nice to see family and friends there. It’s a bit of a family-fest at the moment having seen them all last weekend and of course the wedding next weekend as well, which we’re all looking forward to!

On the way home we decided to call in at Steve’s parents’, and invited ourselves for dinner in the process, which was a good idea on my part fantastically executed by Steve’s mum (detect a pattern here?!), so I was spared having to cook this evening, and it was nice to catch up with them, briefly, too.

And now we’re home. Have unpacked some things and left others clogging up the hall. Washing is in the machine, but the rest can wait until tomorrow.

After saying goodbye to Ros, we set about getting ready to entertain more internet friends who were dropping by for lunch, while en route to Cornwall. Rain and heavy traffic meant they were much later than expected, so we didn’t have much time together (although Steve & I had the chance to sit down and read Devon Life together – he bought it in Sainsbury’s so he could drool over big country houses ) – will have to arrange another visit sometime.

As they left the piano teacher arrived, so she was here for a while, and it was still raining, so the rest of us emptied the lego out all over the floor and spent the rest of the afternoon building spaceships (Steve), houses for the astronauts to live in (the girls), and a digger + a mini rocket (Joe). It felt lovely just to play together. Of course it all fell apart when two children decided they wanted the same piece of lego and one of them ended up being sent to their room when fights broke out, but hey ho.

Tea, then X Factor, which I still love, sad though it is. And Casualty will follow shortly, if I can manage to tear Steve away from Cat Deeley’s dress Should be doing ironing as well but I’ve abandoned it until another day. Quite which day I don’t know, but there we are.

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