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

Weekend away

Sam has been in Norfolk with Lis and Alan this weekend, whilst I went on a jolly to Leeds with Lilly. We went to an outdoor gig with performances from Sway, Wretch32, and headlined by Example. It rained on and off the whole way there and as we shopped in the afternoon, but thankfully it stayed dry all evening, although it was somewhat colder than we anticipated May being when we booked in December! Great gig, and great weekend away with Lilly :)

It sounds like Sam has been having a great time with Nanny and Grandad, and I'm sure Lis will blog about it later!  But I just had to share this text I received from Lis, which brought a tear to my eye - I swear my little boy is a real life angel, sent to bring joy to this world:

- - OMG a random man in the cafe (not a regular) just bothered to come and say 

how watching and listening to Sam over lunch had made his day and 

how he would never forget it and how wonderful he is. - -

S xx

Expensive day

I got a text from Sam's dad last night, saying he had hurt his back so couldn't drive to bring Sam back to me. I agreed to go over to Boston to fetch him, but on pulling up outside his house I somehow managed to burst my front tyre, and dent the wheel. No spare. Crap! Not a lot of mobile wheel replacers around on a Sunday evening :( Ultimately decided that the only option was to phone Lis and Alan, Lis was in the bath but Al, being the wonderful man he is, drove down to fetch Sam and myself. We spent the night with them - Sam slept like an angel, while I spent the time stressing about a) leaving my poor Beattie in the roughest part of town (see here) and b) how I was going to contact the educational psychologist who was due to make a home visit first thing this morning.

This morning saw an early start, and Al got us down to Bush Tyres for 8am, meaning the manager could send the mobile recovery van out to me before it started on the day's tasks. Excellent :) Things were starting to look up. Meeting the fitter at the car, he reckoned that although I would clearly need a new tyre, the actual wheel was only minimally damaged and could probably be hammered back into shape. He duly fixed the wheel and changed the tyre, during which time I received a phone call from the Ed Psych's secretary, saying she's ill and would have to rearrange the appointment. With no rush to return to Lincoln, we went back to Lis and Alan's.

Lis was due at the doctor's so we all went up there, and I suggested that while we were there we could nip into the travel agents. Just to look, of course.... We left above an hour later, with a holiday booked! Turkey, in June - I can't wait. Last year I fulfilled my dream of visiting Vesuvius and Pompeii, this year it will be Troy and Ephesus!!!

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden, and today ended on a much more positive note than yesterday. But my poor bank account won't know what's hit it, what with a holiday and new tyre...oops!

Here's hoping that the rest of this week is rather calmer. Lilly and I are off to Leeds at the weekend, to see Example, supported by Wretch 32. This year is a social whirl :)

S xx

A brief but brilliant break

How was everybody's Easter? Ours turned out to be really good, when it could have been very different :)

Months ago, I booked the weekend at Lis's Bach so that Sam, Rick and I could go down. Since then Rick and I have split up, but rather than cancelling our weekend away I asked our friend Lilly if she would like to come - we've been talking about going to the Bach for years, but she spends most of her life at work (or abroad) so it's not been easy to find time. Looking at the bank holidays, we discovered that although she was working Saturday morning, we could leave at lunchtime and have two nights away before being back Monday night. So we did, and it was great!

We headed down via Cromer, where we nipped into Morrisons for some shopping (mainly chocolate, it being Easter and all!), then down to the Bach in time to get Chinese takeaway for dinner. Sam went to bed, and Lilly and I got huddled up to watch a film. Sunday morning saw a drizzly start but we decided to brave it and head to Pettitts - we passed through rain on the way there, but it held off for most of the day. We had a great day with lots of laughs (and an injury, Lil bruised her coccyx which was painful for her but hilarious for me! Sorry Lilly, love you!).

Sam finally got the chocolate cake that he had been requesting all week - thank you Nanny Janny :) (Lilly's mummy treated us to some Easter cakes)

 ...and very much enjoyed burying himself in the sand. He was at it for ages, even asking other people to help. All the adults around found it hilarious!

 Mummy decided she had to be brave, as Sam wanted to go on the slide. Much screaming, from me....

 ...but eventually it became fun, and Sam and I went time and time again.

 Auntie Lilly wasn't keen to go on the train, but Sam insisted - and she survived :)

 I had planned to stop for an ice cream on the way home, but it looked like rain was going to stop play for us. However just as we reached Mundesley, the rain stopped :) Obligatory trip to the beach...

 ...and eating of ice cream. Bubblegum flavour for Lilly...

 ...strawberry for Sam...

 ...and fudge for Mummy.

 On returning to the Bach, I left Lilly and Sam in the car for a few minutes whilst I set up the Easter Egg Treasure Hunt. Here they are deciphering a clue...








...and here's everything they found! Space hoppers, perfume, and lots of chocolate!

Phew, that was a busy day! Night night :)













Yesterday the weather gave up on us, and rained all day. So rather than going to the park as planned, we just headed home very slowly, along the coast road, stopping in Hunstanton briefly for lunch.

It was a fantastic break, and we're looking forward to going back for a bit longer, with hopefully better weather :)

S xx

Feeling like a proper Mummy again

Well, that's half term over. It has been a wreck of a week! We had all sorts of plans, but then we both came down with a feverish germ, Sam at the start of the week and me at the end. Thankfully we only lost one day to it, but it was the busiest one and I was sorry to have to cancel plans with Sam's friend Isabella, we haven't seen her and her family for a long time.  Over the weekend I missed out on a few more things, specifically going to see my lovely brother and sister-in-law-to-be, as my grandparents were going too and I didn't want to share my germs with my rather frail Grandad. Anyway, a quiet weekend let me recover somewhat.

We spent yesterday catching up with chores - Sam was not impressed! I dragged him to the GP surgery, then the pharmacy, back to GP, back to pharmacy, then to the GP in the neighbouring village, then home for a bite of lunch before heading to Tesco. NOT a popular Mummy! I did remedy things a bit by taking him to dinner with his Grandad, but I think he was glad to be back at school this morning (although his inner teenager was in full flow this morning: 'No Mummy, I'll stay in bed. Go back to bed Mummy. Night night!' and so on).

Whilst lying in bed last night I convinced myself that I could and would spring clean the front room and bathroom while Sam was at school today, but no sooner had he gone than I was sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee, and flicking through the TV channels...oops! One hot cross bun later, I forced myself to get up and on with something. By the time I next sat down the front room was done, and the bathroom - and Sam's room, the hallway, the living room, and the kitchen. Plus I've cleaned the windows, inside and out (my Gram would be proud, I even washed the shed window!!). Phew!! After a brief cuppa, I got on with making a batch of pancakes, it being Shrove Tuesday and all.


It felt great to meet Sam from school knowing that most of the house is tidy (of course I have left my study and bedroom, the two awful rooms, for a later date!), and dinner ready to eat after a quick zap in the microwave. Plus a check of Sam's lunchbox showed that I'd been pretty successful with the pack-up today :) so now I'm thinking about what to give him for tomorrow. Real Mummy stuff, I feel like such a grown-up!

Sounds like he's had a great day at school, so I think we deserve our current state on the sofa watching television.  Mr Tumble is on a boat on the Broads, and there's an icecream boat!! I'm full of excitement for trips to the Bach in the summer months - we agreed last year that we would get a boat one day this season, and Sam seems very excited about the prospect. I'm also looking forward to Bewilderwood, and Norwich, and steam trains, and nature reserves, and trips to the beach, and..........*fades out into private reveries*.  February is nearly over, and March is the start of Spring :) Bring on those golden rays!

S xx

Naples

Wow, what a fantastic but exhausting week we have had in Italy. We've done Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, Ravello, Positano, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Naples Museum, Herculaneum, not to mention aeroplanes, boats, trains, buses, coaches.... and all in temperatures pushing 40C. Definitely want to go back, but maybe at a cooler time of year :)

Anyway, I know Lis has been posting some updates here so I won't repeat her (plus I've come home ill and am not really up to writing much) but for anyone interested in seeing more photos, this link should allow you to see my Facebook album. Let me know if it does or doesn't work, please!

Hope everyone's had a great week, I'm off to refill my hot water bottle and hope to be back to proper blogging soon :)

S x