Running, ruins, and rhythm.

My goodness, where do I start?! We have had a fantastically busy week or two :)

Sam spent the Jubilee bank holiday with his dad which left me free to avoid all red-white-and-blue festivities, yay. Instead I saw a friend on Sunday, went to Skegness on Monday, out for dinner Monday night, shift on Tuesday and then ice cream in the Bail (don't tell Sam...!). On Wednesday I collected Sam from his dad's, went for lunch with my parents and then left him again :( Felt like a very bad Mummy, but it was just unfortunate timing as I was due at a fundraising quiz that evening. Quiz was good - I even got a sports question right which had stumped the rest of my team, which I still can't quite believe :) Thursday was a trip to Lis and Alan's, then off to the beach at Gibraltar Point with them, Sam, and my nephew William. Lovely walk (actually, it was mainly running, owing to two under-ten boys!) then lunch, after which we went to Bolingbroke Castle for a game of hide and seek.

Whereas this would normally have been a highlight of our week (and without detracting from our enjoyment of the day), it was overshadowed by the events of the weekend. Sam's first music festival!

We set off for Wychwood with a car loaded to the roof, collecting my dad and his partner on the way.  After a McDonald's lunch break we reached our apartment for the weekend, having decided not to introduce Sam to festivalling and camping in the same weekend. On entering, the only word was 'wow':

After settling in it was over to the festival village, full of apprehension about how Sam would cope. I needn't have worried - we'd watched Mr. Tumble's festival episode time and again, and it had done the trick:

We spent the whole weekend dancing, singing, laughing and smiling. I honestly don't think I've ever seen such a twinkle in Sam's eyes. There was one moment of panic when Sam slipped and hit his lip on the trolley, I was concerned he had bitten all the way through and dragged him off to the first aid tent - much to his irritation! He stood up, cried for a minute but then wiped his face and said "I'm okay Mummy. More music bands". What a brave soldier! Turns out that he had bitten the inside twice and cut the outside, but they were separate injuries and would therefore heal without any need for further intervention. Phew :)

Sam had his guitar with him, of course, and impressed us all with his feel for the music. He knew when to applaud, he knew when it was a quite lull rather than the end of the track, and he certainly knew when there was an awesome guitar solo to be enjoyed:

We had so many people come over and say how wonderful he was, and people were frequently found watching him rather than watching the stage! According to one of the official organisers, "He has got the best smile in the whole festival" :) Yep, I'm inclined to agree.

Further photos can be found here (I hope), I'm too shattered to upload them all onto here! But we had a truly fantastic weekend, despite the weather throwing all it could at us - trench foot with sunburnt face, anyone?!  Sam did not want to leave, we're looking forward to next year.

S xx