just another morning here

Quick roundup of the rest of our week, as it’s late …

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.

but I’m blogging

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.

Ros & co have left – no-one wanted to say goodbye, we’ve had a lovely week. Crap weather to be driving home in, too, it’s chucking with rain. Just posting really to send anyone who’s interested over to Abbie’s blog, she’s put a couple of photos up and would love some comments.

Had another really nice day today – relaxed morning slowly getting ready for our home ed group. I had to drop Steve in to work and run a couple of errands, meanwhile Ros managed to bath/supervise showers for all six children, then french plait all four girls’ hair (no mean feat) – I tell you, she has been the most excellent house guest ever

Puddlers was great today, lots of activities available (which did compensate somewhat for last week’s appalling lack of selection), and the children really enjoyed it, in fact Anna even said to me how much she’d enjoyed it with plenty to do. There are a couple more snaps on flickr if anyone’s interested.

Anna’s space picture – not scientifically correct, obviously, but I really liked it

Once home the kids watched a film, then after dinner they went to bed and we had grown ups’ film night – watched The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Chatted, and have fallen into bed, knackered as usual.