A Week Away

Can’t remember where i left off, but it doesn’t really matter. Last week ended in the normal dancing/kyt type stuff and a good bit more house tidying, before packing ourselves up and heading northwards to my parents house for a night before gong away. That was very pleasant; girls played various games with my dad and Max while my mum and i caught up a bit and slunk about in the shadows.

Got up earlyish for special Grampty breakfast and then headed off to Centerparcs for a few days away with friends. Managed to be there and in the pool by about 11, which we thought quite impressive, then had a lovely lunch and mooch, met friends as they began to arrive, unpacked and swam again in the evening with lots of them.

The week was very enjoyable; we swam 7 times in total and the big 3 were able to be far more independent and go off with friends this year. F and M can swim well enough to be sensible (if not really well enough to not drown if they happened to need to avoid doing so, must fix that) and so really enjoyed their freedom. Being with lots of friends who they’ve grown up with helped and in general they’ve all morphed into a group of kids who are considerate, thoughtful, caring towards each other and resourceful enough that i knew they’d be fine. And they were – and had a brilliant time. Ams got braver as the week went on, graduating to being able to do slides without an adult supervising her by the end of the week and Josie was perfectly happy doing assorted pootling and using a floaty noodle on the last day. So all that worked quite perfectly really.

I really enjoyed bobbling about in water and the walks, chatting etc but got too sleepy to socialise in the evenings. Baby seemed to get bigger and lower and more weighty as the week went on, which left me a bit shattered by early evening. Was definitely starting to engage at one point, but has reversed now, not helping that i seem to have a touch of whatever Max was struck down with one day in the week (that’ll teach me to blame it on the beer!) Max got to have a holiday and some down time and really enjoyed himself in his own quiet way.

So perfect really. Other events of the week were Amelie mirroring Fran from a few years ago and suddenly starting on Fairy books while away at CP – although not so dramatically as Fran since i already knew Amelie could read them if she could be bothered. Was funny though and should keep her quiet for a while! We did a good bit of gaming, trivial pursuit, card games etc and a play morning but didn’t find Sherwood as conducive to trying out other activities as Elvedon so didn’t get round to rock climbing etc Loved seeing squirrels, rabbits, pheasants etc though. Finished off with a lovely last swim and lunch out with the Beans and got home late pm.

Amelie was too tired for kyt the next day but the others went and i mooched in town for some stuff. Has just occurred to me i have given no thought at all to anything for babe to sleep in for any times when my bed isn’t appropriate – used to have a carrycot but it is gone now and not sure crib will fit. Might need to get a Moses basket i think. Or maybe travel cot with an insert newborn bit as we’ll probably use a travel cot for it later rather than bothering with a proper cot. Am having a fairly major fret about how best to extract this baby now 🙁 The simple answers are just not simple.

Got home and then went out again to watch Maddy do an exhibition rugby stint for the rfu – not enough kids turned up so Fran and Amelie joined in. They looked… bemused… and Fran fell in the mud and then wept copiously when she came off after. TBH, i was not sympathetic as i think there was an element of overtired not being centre of attention-ness to it which didn’t please me. Maddy was great; she’s been back today and is apparently going to move up to the contact rugby team in a couple of weeks 😯

Today we’ve done lots of MoshiMonsters and craft and i’ve felt fairly sick and we’ve had a film or two on and done some music practise and… well… nothing.