Tag Archive | out and about

Bring on the Summer Holidays!!

Jul21
For many of us Mums, today or perhaps tomorrow marks the start of the Summer Holidays, that 6 week epic break from school that we either love or hate.
I fall into the first of those categories.  I love having our kids at home; being able to do things with them, even if that means that on a rainy day we spend the day huddled in the living room with a pile of goodies and a stack of DVDs. 
When your kids are tiny, you just don’t realise how bereft you will feel when they go to school, so I cherish every day of that six weeks as the most time I get to spend with them, uninterrupted by school bells and uniforms.  I only have four of my ‘little ones’ left at home, ranging from 10 years old to 17 (but add dear daughter and darling grandson into the mix too, for good measure on some days).
image from interiordesignarchitects.net
I’d love to be able to reproduce this design
This summer, we are going to decorate one of the bedrooms – ‘teen daughter’ has been waiting patiently for her turn of the paint roller to come around.  That should take us roughly one week of the hols.  We work as a gang – some will be stripping whilst others are sanding or washing and so on.  Last summer we did both of the boys’ bedrooms and I think we all had fun along the way.  Not sure how the lads are going to feel about being spattered with bubblegum pink paint, but it should make for some hilarity when we hit the beach, if we hit the beach but that of course needs some reasonable weather.
Other plans for the holidays are trips on the train to London perhaps or to visit one of the Uncles in the midlands. Family Railcards are an amazing piece of kit – we get to travel all over the place for a fraction of what it would ordinarily cost.  When you are trooping at least four of your little darlings around with you (up to a few years ago it was up to seven of them), every penny counts, especially on trips to London.
To be fair, my tribe are great kids, they don’t make demands, unreasonable or otherwise and are happy to mostly do whatever comes along.  The museums in the capital make for a good day out on a shoestring budget – as long as you take a picnic of course.
More soon on our plans for the summer, but right now, it’s time to collect some banana boxes so that ‘teen daughter’ can start to pack away all of her worldly belongings.  The strippers move in on Monday morning – 8am sharp!

Teen Getaway

Jul18
Just another Monday morning in a family household… except another one of my babies has taken that first step toward flying the nest.  My teen son has gone on holiday without us!

It’s not a bad thing, and I have to keep telling myself that.  At seventeen years old, we have brought him up able to cook and care for himself properly. But… and it’s a huge but, he is still one of my babies and it is so hard to let go.

So for the next week I shall have sleepless nights thinking about all the things that could go wrong, but safe in the knowledge that these are just the dream-time thoughts of an over-protective mother who needs to let go.  Will they get the train ok? (Forgot to mention – he is going with his twenty something brother.)  Will the rain have washed out the camp site before they get there?  Will the tent hold up to the rain?  Will they burn the tent down cooking the spoils of their fishing trips?  Will they get horribly drunk and vomit in their sleep?  Will they have enough food?  Will they get the right train home again?
The answer to all of these questions is immaterial of course. 
They will have a fantastic holiday.  I imagine they will have their moments of madness and several cock-ups along the way too, but isn’t that how we all learned to get along in the world?
I’ve told them to enjoy their holiday and that I don’t expect a phone call every night (yeah!).  And that, dear readers is why I’m here on my computer at stupid o’clock in the morning, writing this blog post.  Ahh! the joys of motherhood!

Look UP!

Jul5
Look up…

Sitting in the park a few weeks ago, I chanced to look upward through the trees.  This was the beautiful sight that met my gaze.  I did, admittedly have sunglasses on, otherwise I think that the sun may well have pierced my poor eyeballs.

It set me to thinking… We spend our lives pretty much looking down at the ground or at what we call ‘eye-level’.  How many times do you actually raise your eyes and look up at say, the buildings in your town centre?  There is some wonderful architecture out there, old and new to be seen even in the most built up areas.  Alternatively you may be missing sights like the one opposite.  Not right under your nose, rather, raight over your head.  Take a look, just raise your head next time you are out and about and see what you can see!