Catching up in Cornwall

Despite my concerns my son and daughter are having a lovely time in Cornwall. On Saturday morning they enjoyed a long walk along the coast path around Trevose Head towards Harlyn. She took this photo of Mother Ivey's Bay looking towards Merope Rocks, that view holds so many happy memories for me, I wish I was there with them. 

Later in the day they went to Padstow and despite the choppy sea they braved a boat trip around the offshore islands to see the puffins and other sea birds. A boat trip on the Jubilee Queen while on holiday has become a bit of a family tradition, but personally I prefer to keep my feet firmly planted on dry land even on the calmest day! I braved the trip once and I was lucky enough to see puffins, but the braver members of the family have seen dolphins, seals, puffins and many other sea birds.

They spent Sunday visiting their grandparents and then their aunt, uncle and cousins. They even visited Windy Ridge, one of my favourite restaurants. Apparently it has been given a facelift since I last visited, they enjoyed their meal very much; another reason for me to visit Cornwall again very soon! 

Childhood is The Most Beautiful of All Life's Seasons.

I am looking forward to another long weekend. Having such lovely weather last weekend made Easter extra special. On Easter Sunday we had a family picnic in my mum's garden. Having my three year old nephew Oliver there made it extra special. My daughter had the idea of doing an Easter egg hunt for him. He is too small to have a lot of chocolate so I bought a set of hollow egg shaped chicks and my daughter bought some fun things to put inside them (or to hide near them). 

Oliver went racing around the garden looking for the chicks with Grandad giving directions from his deckchair and his cousins trailing behind ready to help him. It was lovely to watch him and to see how much pleasure he got from a tub of bubbles, a balloon on a string, bouncy balls and a selection of books. I think the rest of us enjoyed it every bit as much as he did. It was so nice to have all the family together and to be able to enjoy the sunshine.

I couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness because Oliver has come along so much later than my own children and he will only remember Grandad as old and frail. My children have a wealth of happy memories of time spent with their grandparents and their grandparents have been a very important and much loved part of their lives.  When my children were little they longed for cousins and I longed to become an aunt - we had a long wait! Oliver has cousins who adore him and a whole family who love him very much and who enjoy spending time with him. His experience of childhood will be different, but the important thing is that he is surrounded by people who love him. Grandad may no longer be able to race around leading ponies or playing cricket in the garden, but he and Oliver are great friends and he still enjoys the fun of family life.

That Sunday Morning Feeling

The rain which began in the late evening on Saturday continued all night and Sunday dawned wet, windy and miserable. There was nothing to get up for, so I didn't bother! I had a lazy morning with my radio and my laptop. Robbie was still finding it a bit of a challenge to sit down after his close encounter with the towel rail, so he wardered off into the lounge to read his latest railway book. He bought it yesterday from his favourite bookshop in Padstow, it is all about the trains used on the London Underground. He seems to be fascinated by the book and every so often he stops reading long enough to share a random fact with us. As soon as you hear the words 'did you know .....' you know that you are doomed!

By lunchtime the weather was brighter and we decided to go and visit Laura and Sam's grandparents in Torpoint. It takes over an hour to get there and it involves some rather challenging roads. The journey back to the caravan proved much more difficult as the sun was in my eyes almost all the way. My in laws were very pleased to see the children, they thought that Sam had grown a lot since they last saw him, I don't really notice it because I am with him every day. On the way back we stopped at Windy Ridge in Trerulefoot, it is one of my favourite places to eat, no fuss, no frills, just well cooked sensibly priced food. It has changed hands since our last visit, but the food was every bit as good as before.

Being Prepared

I got at text from Robbie ridiculously early this morning. He was very excited about the rail tour from Crewe to Weymouth and didn't seem at all bothered by the early start. I was less enthusiastic about getting up, but I couldn't stay in bed for long because I had to take Sam to a paintball party. Sam was very enthusiastic about it but I was more apprehensive, I wasn't convinced that the world was ready for Sam to be armed with a paintball gun. I still have vivid memories of my multi coloured garage door after he got a paintball gun from the Gadget Shop a couple of years ago! Hostile Fire the venue for the paintball experience, is in a part of the county that I am not very familiar with, so we had to leave plenty of time in case I got lost. I found it fairly easily in the end and it was a lovely drive through the countryside. Sam had a brilliant time 'under fire' and I enjoyed a very peaceful morning getting my work done.

My mum invited us for a meal at her house this evening, because Emily is going back to university tomorrow. It was a lovely evening and we all came home so full that we will not need to eat for a week. Mum sent Emily home with one of her legendary chocolate cakes to take to university. She is a brilliant cook and her cakes are best of all. The only problem is that she always cooks enough for an army! I wonder if the tendency to prepare for siege conditions develops with age, when I look at her kitchen I am sure she wouldn't need to shop for at least a year. She has even taken 'being prepared' to new limits in the bathroom, there were 16 loo rolls, 4 bottles of thick bleach, 3 varieties of air freshener, 2 spare rim blocks and a choice of three varieties of moist toilet roll. At least they will never worry about running out of anything! My step father David was in mum's bad books for misbehaving at the supermarket, apparently he told mum that she was packing the trolley all wrong - that sounds very familiar! He was trying hard to get back in her good books but he could have saved himself a lot of grief by keeping his thoughts to himself in the first place!