Another couple of weeks have absolutely flown by, with plenty more “good stuff” going on, so here are the highlights:
- G and B had a fabulous 11 days in France with their exchange family. They were looked after well, had great experiences of French life and had lots of fun doing different activities with the family, so it was a very successful trip. But it was also absolutely lovely to get them back home again on Monday night!
- One thing that has made this school holiday such a joy has been that G and B have been getting on so well together, which makes for lovely, calm days – better for everyone!
- A couple of weeks ago (already?!?!), D and I had our annual trip to CarFest – but this time without the children which did feel very strange. It was our first time at CarFest North, having visited CarFest South for the past four years, and the venue – Bolesworth Castle – was absolutely beautiful. As this is an equestrian eventing venue, they put on some show jumping displays, which were a very welcome addition to the daytime events, and were great to watch. The weather was very kind to us, and, on the whole, the music was good (“Faithless” though?? Really? What was that – apart from being very painful on the ears! Just awful!!), especially on the Sunday night, when the atmosphere was at its best.
4. I had a very successful – and also pretty speedy – trip to Ikea last week, managing to find exactly what I wanted without being distracted and coming away with far more than I had planned!5. I had an extremely productive week whilst the children were away, making the most of the opportunity to tidy, sort and organise various areas of the house and garden that had been neglected a little of late. I completely sorted out B’s room, which is only a very small space, but it now looks lovely, and added some finishing touches to our bedroom, re-covering the cushions on the bedding box and adding some word artwork, amongst other things, so I was very pleased.
6. D and I had a lovely lunch at Barton Marina on Saturday, as a reward for sorting out the garage, dumping lots of rubbish at the tip and (hopefully!) selecting the “shed” we are going to use as a gym/summer house in the garden. It was a beautiful day, so it was lovely to sit outside in the sun by the marina.
7. We followed this with a fabulous day out in the Peak District on Sunday. Again, the weather favoured us – it was beautifully sunny but with a breeze, which was great for walking, so we had a picnic, a circular walk which included sections by the river and then up and down some hills, ending with tea and cake at the tearooms – a perfect trip out!
8. Wednesday saw us heading off on a shopping trip to get the annual “school shopping” done. This was very successful – we managed to get all stationery and uniform requirements (I think!) so I now just need to start sewing labels on again!9. We were very thrilled, and extremely proud, to find out this week that G has been awarded an academic prize again for her school work this year. These are highly coveted prizes, as they do not give out many of them, but she definitely deserves it for all her hard work this year.
10. We had a lovely day yesterday, visiting one of my university friends, Abi, and her boys. It was great to have a proper catch up, and fantastic to see the boys all getting on so well and playing cricket together. I love the summer holidays for being able to meet up with friends!
So that’s been about it for the past couple of weeks – apart from D and I also celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary! Where did those years go? Crazy – but all good.
Have a great weekend everyone!