...And for lunch I will be having a nice big bowl of my own words!

Well it was in black and white published print, so I can't exactly deny what I said about our camping trip this summer in my last blog....

“as a grand finale we are feeling brave enough to attempt a four night family camping trip. I might be eating my words, but the site has an indoor swimming pool and there is a load to do in the local area and so even if the weather isn’t kind to us I think it’s going to be great.”

Excuse me while I roll around on my kitchen floor laughing for a few minutes!.... 

Here’s what ACTUALLY happened....

Things started really well, we sat on a beach near Bournemouth on a beautiful Sunday, blazing hot and watched the planes in the Bournemouth air show. Fantastic. I’m not a plane geek or fan in anyway, but even I muttered the word ‘awesome’ at one point!

We set off for the camp site the following morning, and parked at our pitch as the drizzle started coming down. Not to be put off, we got on with it, and as the tent took its form, the drizzle stopped.... 1-0 to us.

So smugly sat in our camping chairs, the kids riding around on their bikes and scooters, with a nice British cup of tea we were not to be beaten.

Now, it might be worth pointing out at this point that the campsite we chose was called ‘highlands end’. Call me naive, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that ‘highland’ was a clue to the fact that it was right on a cliff top; a beautiful cliff top in Dorset with views of the beach and the rolling countryside, but a cliff top nevertheless.

As Monday went on the winds starting getting up a bit and so we had a rather blustery but reasonable successful night where we all managed to get some sleep despite a bit of musical airbeds here and there.

The winds got even more excitable on the Tuesday, at which point my husband grasped the opportunity with both hands (literally) and got his kite out. It was an interesting hour watching him (well more accurately hiding my eyes and peaking through my fingers every now and then) stand a bit too near a cliff top flying this thing that really took on a life of its own. I was very glad that his Dad was stood behind him to anchor him to the ground when necessary. I breathed a big sigh of relief when they decided enough was enough and stopped.

And then on to our second night...

The series of events went like this:
1) All went to bed reasonably normally
2) Me and husband lay in bed awake wondering when the wind was going to blow our tent down, and not being entirely comfortable with the kids being in the own separate bedroom compartments at the other end of the tent (only 10ft away or so, but at this point that was WAY too much, and it’s not often I welcome them near me at night time!!)
3) Repeat 2) for several hours!
4) 2 year old wakes up and cries, and I’ve never jumped out of bed so quick, I think I was in her bed with her between ‘Mu..’ and ‘Mmy’! Phew, now at kids end of tent so feeling more in control!
5) 4 year old wakes up. ‘Mummy I’ve wet the bed’.... bless him, that NEVER EVER happens, he has generally inherited my bladder that can go on forever before needing a wee!
6) 4 year old then takes my place in the master bedroom!
7) I look down and realise that 6yr olds bed is empty and for a few (very long) seconds we don’t know where he is. Rational thought thankfully comes back after those long few seconds and I realise he IS in there, just has turned himself round and is sleeping horizontally across both airbeds at the other end. Phew.
8) Husband decides to reinforce tent pegs (this is now about 3am). I stay inside to protect the children... really nothing to do with me not wanting to go out in the wind and rain, honest!
9) Husband decides to pack up our bags so we are ready to bail at short notice.  
10) Eventually, tent poles start snapping at about 6.30am and we bail out of the tent in to parents-in-laws caravan on the pitch next door!

After searching the local camping shops for replacement tent poles and not being able to find any, we eventually call it a day and head for home taking in a happy meal for tea on the way!

That’ll teach me for being so flaming cheery and optimistic!

But, true to form in finding the up-side I must confess that I was ecstatically happy to be back in my own bed on Wednesday night, and I also remember a camping holiday gone wrong when I was a kid that I just look back on as a great adventure. I have no doubts that we’ve made a similar memory for our kids too. Oh, and I also consoled myself with a great big glass of red wine. Mmmmmm.

Anyone else have any holiday adventures this summer?

Summer holidays... am I surviving??! (she says whilst frisking herself to make sure she is still all intact!)

I took a very big deep breath at the beginning of the school holidays as with three children all 6 and under, I knew I needed to pool all the energy and patience that I could muster for the next 6 weeks. And at the beginning of the summer 6 weeks felt like a looooooooooooooong time!

But my goodness – here we are almost at the end of the hols and I am still alive... still (vaguely) sane, and still managing to sit here and write a blog. Woohoo!

I always find it amazing how being a mum changes every step of the way. Last summer with a five, three and one year old was tricky. I remember enjoying it (sort of), but the weather was rubbish and so finding rainy day stuff to do all the time was quite trying and I kind of collapsed over the finishing line in September happily packing the older two back off to school and playgroup with a BIG smile!

This year though has been so different. The lazy starts (the oldest two are old enough to enjoy a bit of TV in the mornings so I can get a lie-in), the days on the beach (two year olds don’t seem to want to eat sand which is progress), even the occasional rainy day (a good film, or even the occasional emptying of the recycling bin to do some making) have on the whole been great J
And next week as a grand finale we are feeling brave enough to attempt a four night family camping trip. I might be eating my words, but the site has an indoor swimming pool and there is a load to do in the local area and so even if the weather isn’t kind to us I think it’s going to be great.

Wow, and then it will be over. And I kind of need to remind myself of the bits about the normal routine that I can look forward to, because at the moment, getting everybody up and to school for 9am is not feeling like a benefit!

So here I go, my personal top ten things to look forward to as I say goodbye to the summer holidays....

1) Time alone with my 2 year old. This is a first really, with number 2 starting school it will just be me and my girl at home during the day. Excited about doing stuff with her that I’ve not done so far.

2) Exciting phase of my business. Haven’t done as much as I would like over the summer so will be nice to give my fourth baby a bit more attention too.

3) Training for my 10k race in October. I’ve got lots of free vouchers for using various gyms so am looking forward to putting those to good use too (or is it the steam room after that I’m looking forward to?!)

4) Cleaning the house (Might make me sound like a weirdo but summer hols don’t go well with housework, so just need one big fix of getting it back in order and I will be happy!)

5) Lunch with my husband with only 1 child with us... we might actually get to have a conversation over lunch... Wooohoo

6) Seeing all the mums again that I haven’t managed to catch up with over the summer.

7) Getting some of my income back... with number 2 starting school less nursery fees = more cash to have fun with :-)

8) Picking them up from school. I will miss them so will be refreshed and ready for after school fun.

9) That Friday feeling! Not complaining obviously, but Friday’s don’t feel the same in the summer hols.

10) O yeah.... and all the funny looks I get when I scoot my son’s scooter back home from school. It so makes me feel like a kid again :-)

So, I’m going to put this list on my bedside table, and make sure I look at it on that first day back to make sure I don’t wallow too much... onwards and upwards (but secretly really looking forward to half term... and Christmas... and Easter!)

What are you looking forward to?