Monday 28 February 2011

A WEEK CAN BE 7 DAYS OR A LIFETIME, WHEN IT’S HALF TERM WEEK

I am glad to report that 7 days it is here as we come to the end of the half term holiday. Started off well and continued along that route with a few diverted dead ends along the way.  Nothing which a packet of Percy Pigs and Lego mini figures couldn’t put back on course so how did we survive?
Monday looked promising with a meet with Hilary, Avril and children at The Castle grounds.  A tank, an army man, two action men and an army quad vehicle joined us, in miniature form I might add. There is a wonderful huge hill ( I know it as Teletubbie Hill) where the children send the vehicles and said army and action men flying to their demise and can spend anything up to 2 hours roaming the hill. Meanwhile Hil, Ave and myself get to grips with the latest news and put the world to rights around various topics whilst enjoying a wonderful coffee and biscotti from The Castle Restaurant – perfick.

Tuesday involved swimming and roller skating – yes all in one day!! Supported beforehand by a mass intrusion on Filter Through coffee shop in Holsworthy, there were 5 adults and 6 children. We went with my mum, sister, brother in law, Karen ( sister’s friend) and our range of children – oldest 9 years, youngest 2 years. Swimming is very much a given to our children, since the day they were born ( well almost) my boys have shared a wonderful Sunday morning ritual with their cousins. Sunday is our morning where we all congregate in the local pool, my mum and Mike included. Mike has been an integral part of my boys swimming achievements. Not only has he infinite amounts of patience ( of which I don’t possess when it comes to my children) but he is an extremely strong swimmer. He has been instrumental in both the boys being so confident in the water. Thanks Mike x
Roller skating was great, JT started off very wobbly and spent most of the first 15 minutes on the floor or making his way there from standing. After the 2 hour session he was creating some funky moves whilst moving along on the skates and made me want to burst with pride for him.

Wednesday was a very memorable day for JT. Jamie ( his best friend) , Hayley, or Mrs Ayres as those who have read Birthday Bonanza post will know her as, myself and JT all went to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal to watch an evening performance of Goodnight Mr Tom. What a wonderful afternoon / evening. Took the boys to have a pre theatre meal before enjoying a very emotional and thought provoking play. Hayley and I were in tears at various points throughout and JT seemed to grasp the story well and was moved by it. The best part from his point of view was spending time with his best friend and being “ a grown up” Love him x  http://www.goodnightmistertom.co.uk/

Thursday saw Mr T taking a day off work to spend time with the boys and we had a fairly lazy morning at home where pens and paper were exhausted and the cardboard TV came into use again. Geocaching was the name of the game in the afternoon, we decided to start close to home at Kilkhampton Castle but unfortunately found no cache, boys loved it though and I must admit to liking the fact that it gave the walk some added purpose ( calling it a treasure hunt got the boy’s interest also!). http://www.geocaching.com/   Don't you think the tree looks like a face??

Friday was the day earmarked for Geocaching with friends, Avril, Jane, Toshi and Suzanne were there at the ready with GPS phones and in total 12 children were present. We decided to head to Holsworthy Woods as there were 4 caches and a bonus one to find, thought we would work our way round and see how far we got. Well, we missed cache 1, I believe that was due to the mum’s chatting too much to notice, whilst cache 2 proved too much. Who would have thought that the determined nature of us mum’s enabled us to continue searching for up to 45 minutes whilst the children played wolves, cowboys and whatever else they needed to do to keep themselves amused while we could not and would not give up! Rain stopped play after about 2 hours of being there, the boys were head to toe covered in clay/mud and we felt it was time to call it quits at that point. The children loved just running wild in the woods with each other and at points it was very reminiscent of the wild rumpus that ensues in Where The Wild Things Are.
I’m sure that’s why I chose to watch that DVD in the afternoon, we were all warm and dry now and all 3 of us snuggled under a blanket and watched Max and his very own wild rumpus. JT and I were in tears at the end when he left on the boat but I love a good cry – don’t you?
That in a nutshell was a wonderful half term, spent with friends and family, enjoying each other’s company and feeling like I get to know JT again. School seems to distance him slightly from us, it doesn’t take long for the wonderful, inquisitive, engaging boy to return and I so enjoy the time we have together. Both boys fill me with love and pride.

2 comments:

  1. Goodnight Mr T (Tom, not Trewin),the van journey(s) and meal was as special for us 2 as it was for you. The time the boys spent together was for me as thought provoking in lots of ways as the theatre performance. Long live great friendships xx

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  2. What a lovely sentiment Hayley, right back at ya lady x

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