A little camping break

 I am so pleased that we managed to get away this year, and with my sisters too. It was a really nice break which involved lots of laughter, walking and eating together.

We went to the Peak District and stayed on a dairy farm in Pomeroy. There was a little shop onsite, a petting zoo with goats and from the part of the field we were pitched in we got to see the dairy cows go out every morning and back in again in the evening. The children were fascinated by this as the cows just wandered through to the correct field.

We had a real mixed bag of weather whilst we were there but still managed some exploring. 

This pub was found wandering along the High Peak trail straight out of the campsite.

This was at a park in Buxton, Pup was most confused by this statue HAHA. Think he thought it was real, he stood staring for a while.

This is walking along the river in Bakewell.

View from the top of the hill at Cavedale in Castleton. I love the rainbow across the water.

It was so nice to go as a group as it meant; company for me, company for teengirl as her cousins of a similar age were there, and the younger cousins had each other too. This meant so few tantrums/silks from all invovled. It was a very relaxing week. I stuck within the budget I had set for the week, and even came home with big change!

Teengirl and I had planned to see if we could stay on for a couple of extra nights as we were enjoying it so much. However, we went out on the Friday for lunch with my sister and her family and when we got back the tent had broken. Several sections of three of the long poles had shattered. It was a very windy week and the poor tent just couldn't stand up anymore.

So instead of a few extra days we ended up driving home that evening and having two less days than we had planned. I was a little disappointed then I realised that actually given the current situation around with Covid-19 we were very lucky to have managed to get away at all. So turned that round and have concentrated on how much fun we have had instead.

Now to start saving for next year as we all want to go again. I also need to find out where I can get my tent poles repaired...

Camping

Stephanie, Smudge and I are off camping for a week on Sunday. Dylan and his girlfriend are staying home to look after the house and the rabbit. This is a week away on a budget. I have saved for the last couple of months for this, as it has been planned for a while. My sisters and their families are coming with us. We have a stay in the Peak District booked, I can't wait. I planned out the meals and things we will be eating today, based on what is easy to cook on a camping cooker and what we have int he cupboards already.

 This is what I have come up with:

The main items on this list are in my cupboard and just needed packing. The BBQ food will be taken from my freezer and pack in the cool box with ice packs to keep it fresh as will take us 4 hours or so to get there. We then will need to unpack the car, put up the tent etc etc before we eat. BBQs on the first night are always fun, especially when you meet others there as they are fun social meals allowing us time to catch up as we share.

Excuse the dog's nose- food is around so he's not far away! HAHA

I shopped through the cupboards for the meals on the plan. Then headed to the fridge:

This bits are fruit and veg that we can use for either snacks, or to enhance our meals. Not enough for the week, but once we are settled we will head to local shops/farms to buy the bits we need as we go. we won't have a fridge whilst we camp so we will buy fresh bit as needed.

This is how I keep costs down when we go away.What things do you do to keep the costs down?

Wow!

Ok. so I am on a slightly different journey these days. I was thinking about beginning a blog to show our current life and to help me face the new challenges I have. I was googling around to see what blog websites are current as it's been a while since I started one- 10 years it seems! What do I find, that this one is still live. I had no idea!

What has changed- well I now have a full-time job and am no longer a student. I have been in my job for 9 years. The eldest (boychild) is now 21, studying, working part-time and has a serious girlfriend. The Girlchild is now in secondary and is a dreaded teenager- although currently she's not so bad!
Oh and we have pets now. One rabbit and a Cocker spaniel pup. Life is very different now with all of these changes but it's our life and I love it. Peaceful, calm and comfortable. An old friend recently got in touched and asked how life is going. When I gave that description they asked is that a good or bad thing. It's definitely a good thing. I'm happy.

I think instead of a new blog I will resurrect this one. It shows our journey, and thanks to some daft mistakes over the years some of my old habits are about to become refreshed for this new decade. Watch this space to find out more!

For now have a picture of our pup- this was a couple of months ago, he's grown a bit, as have the rest of us. I'll update some more once I've had a mooch around and reminded myself of all the fun we used to have in this little corner of the web.

Welcome back!

One thing to say to you...

This is a show off post but I really feel the need. Today my gorgeous boy Dylan got his GCSE results. He got
1 a*
4 a
3 b
2 c

I am so immensely proud of him. All this work is his own he deserves this. We went to collect his results this morning. I then took him out for lunch. He came home chatted to his friends on the computer, had a nap. He then went to his dad's for dinner and to celebrate with him too.

He has well and truly earned his place in the 6th form to complete his a levels.

One proud momma here.

We had a change of plan.

This morning we got up ready to begin the 269+ mile journey to my sister's house. I gave Stephanie her antibiotics she is on for a chest infection and jumped in the shower before starting to load the car. Whilst I was loading the car Stephanie came to me and was nearly in tears mummy I'm so itchy and look at my legs and arms. I take a peek and look what I see;

Hmm they look like hives I think. I start rummaging for the piriton on the cupboard. I emerge with none! and more spots are coming up by the second. So I give Stephanie a hayfever tablet and shoot straight to the chemist. The doctors are shut on a Saturday and we live quite a drive from the out of hours etc, The chemist takes one look and ask what she has had/touched this morning. All she had had at this point was the antibiotic which I had taken to the chemist, along with the hayfever tablets I had given her. Stephanie had only been in her room so couldn't have touched any plants etc to have caused the reaction. The chemist advised me to stop the antibiotics and cover her in calamine lotion to help relieve the itching. I also bought a new bottle of piriton whilst there for when the hayfever tablet wears off.

So we have not gone 'oop norf' as I need to keep a close eye that the reaction doesn't get any worse and we also need to visit her doctor first thing on Monday for advice re antibiotics. Cue a little lady hugging me and sobbing "I've been poorly for weeks why can't I just be better"
Still at least the hives are going down now just got to watch and make sure her chest doesn't get any worse before Monday or emergency doctors it is!

Family

So tonight I was going to post about other things but then I got a message from my niece. And her baby was born at 6:08pm, a gorgeous little boy. He lives 260 miles away so I will be going visiting in a fortnight once school breaks up. I now have  6 nieces,  7 nephews and 2 great nephews (and another great niece/nephew on the way!)


What a blessing my huge family are, I'm a lucky girly.

weekending.

Just a quick post today, I'm tired after a full on weekend.

I went shopping yesterday as the freezer was nearly empty, the cupboards rather bare. I bulk buy in the butchers to fill the freezer. They know me well in there now, I go in and spend about £100 each time. If I went in and bought a little of what I needed each week I would get half the meat for my money. I now have a completely full freezer. I then went to the supermarket to get the tins and things I needed for the cupboards. We now have more than enough food for this month, I'm hoping the food in the freezer will last up until Christmas. The cupboard food should last well into November. So all the food I need to buy will be fresh goods- fruit, milk etc. throughout this month.

My aunt's dog has come for a visit again, as my aunt has another holiday. So I have been for an hour and a half walk this morning. I really enjoy walking her.

Then family came round for a BBQ, I invited my sister and her family for dinner thinking I would do a roast but they requested a BBQ. They live in a flat with no garden so they love to come over and spend the whole time in our garden. It's a good job I like being outside :-)

I made a cake for dessert

My eldest niece testing out the Diddicar

All the children put on princess dresses.

 

Playful Zara.

 

 

 

 

Now looking forward to another busy week at work. We are toying with different ideas of what we need to be able to cycle as a family more. Think I am going to start looking out cycling equipment on gumtree etc.

New additions

Once again a busy week at work, I managed to have Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and today a no spend days. Not quite the 5 I was aiming for but I do have a gorgeous new nephew, and that is my excuse. I had to buy a present for my sister and the big brother and sister! LOL


This is me having my second cuddle with him this afternoon.

My sister and her partner haven't settled on a name yet, so he is known as Baby at the moment.


Dylan cuddling Baby the day he was born.

beach day

Today is another beautiful summers day so we headed down to the beach again. As I mentioned yesterday we really enjoyed driving around the motorways rather than on them yesterday so we planned to do some 'off motorway' driving today. Unfortunately there was a nasty accident early this morning so lots of people had to do 'off motorway' driving. I hope no-one was seriously hurt.

We drove through lost of villages on route to the beach. We stopped at a couple of roadside stands on the way and picked up a punnet of cherries for £2.50 and 2 punnets of strawberries for £1 each. Lovely fresh local produce! We ate some on the way and the rest will be used in my morning smoothies and as snacks over the weekend.

When we got to the beach, a different one to the one I had intended to drive to (let's gloss over my sense of direction!) we found a carpark and for a beach front location it was v. cheap- I paid £4.00 and I could have stayed there until 11.30 this evening. Stephanie was disgusted that we didn't stay until then. LOL

We haven't spent a penny after that. We have had lots of outdoor, free fun;

Elaine,see what I mean by the similar attire! Maybe they are going through a cocoon phase! LOL

Spashing

swimming

burying each other. Dylan asked if he could have some of our popcorn, so Stephanie gave it to him. Think that makes up for some of the teasing she has received.

payback.

 

We drove home and unlike yesterday I didn't stop in a restaurant for dinner, I cooked when we got in. When I went out to water the garden I found a visitor

 

Meet Cherry, she lives next door but one, she is usually found sunning herself on top of my water butt.

 

Cinema

We went to the cinema today, we went today as it is cheap Tuesday so cost considerably less for us to go. We saw Monsters University something I promised several months ago. Going on a Tuesday means that it cost £21.70 for the 3 of us as opposed to £25.90. Also as I keep the 3d glasses and take them this saves an additional £3 buying new on the occasions we do go to the cinema.
We also saved ££'s as we took our food with us. I had made chicken pasties for lunch, as we were at the 11.45 showing they were wrapped in foil to keep them warm and we ate those in there. I made squash to drink in our reused bottles and popped my own corn and put into portion sized bags before I left. I also packed 3 Freddo bars but they are still in my bag.
So although it is an expensive treat to go to the cinema I saved a lot by going on Tuesday and taking all our own nibbles. I could have saved another £5 by watching in 2d rather than 3d.

I am joining in with Elaine in decluttering. Elaine is running a link up where you delcutter your home in 10 days. From Elaine's blog the aim is to;

" rules of engagement are -

 

Bronze Medal – for tossing 100 bits of crappy crap crap out over the next ten days.

Silver Medal – for making 100 bits of “stuff” leave the building.

Gold medal – for making 100 carrier bags (or size equivalent) out the door in ten days."

So far I have put 10 items into the boot-fair pile, I need to boot-fair this weekend as it is taking over my bedroom bow the attic is pretty much full! I have given a binbag full of old clothes to a neighbour (that's 2 carrier bags right?) 1 carrier bag of toot for recycling from Stephanie's room and 1 carrier bag of recycling from my bedroom. So I am pleased that the house will get less cluttered and I get enthused by a challenge. Well done Elaine for hosting this much needed challenge.

I am very impressed as whilst I was sorting I have found lots of things I forgot were there. My favourite so far are these;

 

They are scrap books from before they started school. Dylan's was made by me when I was child-minding. I used it as a way to show parents what we do each day. Stephanie's was her record from day nursery so has a lot of photos, observations of her play and pictures she made in it. I knew I  had them in the house somewhere it was lovely to look through and reminisce. Juts look at them both;

 

My babies have got so grown up!

 

 

 

 

Medway mile

Last night was the yearly Olympic countdown for our area. It began as a countdown to the London Olympics several years ago, it has proved such a popular event it has been continued to countdown to the Brazil Olympics.

It is a family event, lots of free things happening before the races. Then there are short children's races grouped in age groups. Then the competitive/elite race for adults who can run the mile in less than 7 minutes, then the mass family race for those who just want to get around it.

Here are some before pictures

Stephanie is very into Harry Potter at the moment. She loved the high fives she got from teenagers who thought it was great she had a Harry scar!

 

The 'screeching slide'

Since she last climbed this wall she has developed fear, and didn't get much above this. Bless her

Army assault course

Making a smoothie

Hula hooping

 

Then it was time for the race. I am so proud of my little runner, she completed the mile in 11 minutes.

 

A friend took this picture of us at the finish line.

 

At the end there was this fantastic band, you could completely loose yourself in the beat of the music. In fact we did we lay on the grass just listening for several minutes while we recovered.

Then we were off to do some more of the activities. Back on the bouncy slides, the smoothie bike, hula hoops and a game of Frisbee.

Fruit shy!

 

Whilst we were doing all this there were various dancers on stage in brazillian style, colourful costumes. All very good but I didn't get zany pictures as battery was running low by then.

Finished with the amazing fireworks.

 

Another fantastic event, can't wait for next years :-D

 

 

friday

I have to keep reminding myself it is Friday not Saturday. My first day not in work and I'm confused already. My body clock is still in work mode too so I'm waking a couple of hours before Stephanie which is actually quite nice. I get up shower, then sit and knit.

Mums baby blanket finished for my sister.

I have cast on a little something for me

Then qhenwhen Stephanie gets up we run errands and have fun. Let's hope rest of holiday is so perfect :-)

Another after work adventure

Today Stephanie and I went in to do some more sorting and organising in my classroom. That's it now until September I am not going in anymore. The cleaners need to get in next week to do their big clean and then school closes until September so I am done!

After work today Stephanie and I walked along the road to the beach next to the school.

A little paddle as tide was in, there were some of the children from school also paddling, they were very amused to see me in the holidays!

As it is a coastal park we also walked along some of the footpaths and walk ways that have been created. As we walked along Stephanie recognised the sounds of the crickets so we stopped to see what we could spott.

a teeny tiny snail

You may need to click this picture to spot the critter in this one, he's right in the centre;

Climbing a mound, apparently this is better with bare feet

 

Now we are chilling I have been organising bills as it is payday. My car insurance is cheaper on the new car which is a bonus :-)

 

Tomorrow we have a busy afternoon/evening planned its the local annual Olympics celebrations so we will be joining in with that.

house guests

We have a house guest this week, she is with us until next Thursday. She is a much loved and eagerly anticipated house guest;

She is one of the riendliest soppiest dogs I know. The children love having her here. She has stayed several times before and she is always welcome.

She doesn't bark when people come to the door, not even the postman. She walks wonderfully, she doesn't pull at all. I am quite confident letting Stephanie hold the lead to walk her she is so well behaved.

The only thing she is being a devil with is her bandage! My Uncle has been medically retired and so since the accident with her leg she has not been left alone much so the bandage hasn't been a problem. However as I have to work she is left on her own at my house during the day. And the little devil chews at her bandage despite having toys/ food etc with her. So everynight when I get in I have to redress her leg. It is looking lots better than it was, but we still need it covered to stop her getting at it. Still at least she is good and will let me do the bandages for her.

Now if only all house guests would arrive this well trained....