Summer holidays

We headed to France for our camping this year to avoid the floods and pestilence which have followed us to Cornwall for the past few years. Our aim was to have a significantly warmer, drier and less stressful time and to that end to choose a campsite whose location reduced the amount of schlepping about in cars to go to shops/beaches/attractions etc.

I can proudly announce that such a place exists and to prove it, we did not have to fill the car up with petrol for 2 weeks! For those who want to have an equally relaxing time may I point you to http://www.camping-indigo.com/vendee_campsite_indigo_noirmoutier.html our pitch was just after the big tree on the left - about as close to the beach as you could want to be. It did however make for a sleepless first night, as I worried about the kids sleepwalking onto the beach! I had given the boys strict instructions not to leave the tent (they were in a pup tent next to us) until we were up. I heard noises from their tent at 7.30 or so and went to tell them they could get up. I unzipped their door and Raff's first words were "morning mummy, where's Stan?". Mild panic, obviously, before I found him wandering around the back of our tent trying to find the way in!

The kids soon settled into the rythmn of late-ish rising, toddling down to the bread van for "une baguette et une traditionelle" (a wonderful sourdough baguette which became my favourite at lunch) and sometimes "cinq Croissants". They always left together, but Stan would run the whole way back and beat the other two by a long way!

After breakfast we would head all 50 yards to the beach. We soon became aware that in the mornings the locals didn't relax on the beach at all, rather they would head across the sand as the tide receded to gather their lunch. We could see the oyster and mussel beds which were exposed at low tide, but closer to shore people hunched over the beach, rakes in hand.

Our curiosity led us to go and see what they were up to, and so began our latest passion - cockling. To be precise it's 'clamming' because what they were merrily harvesting by the kilo were Palourdes a kind of clam. It's totally addictive! The kids joined in and soon we had enough for supper - free supper, the best kind!

Lunch was pretty much always bread, cheese, salami, ham pate, salad vert, tomatoes.......etc wonderful long meals with the kids eating all sorts and Raff discovering that he likes hard Chevre cheeses, like Brebis - but only if we called it 'Zebra cheese' - he misheard us say Chevre in our best french accents!

It was a little inclement at the beginning of the first week, but soon the decision to head to France paid off as the sun shone, the wine flowed and Georgia even made friends with some French children. A huge bonus was camping on the beach. We rarely went further afield, except for provisions from the pretty town of Noirmoutier with it's thrice weekly market. In fact we didn't fill the car up once in two weeks - and had we had bikes it would have been even better since the island is almost completely flat.....next time.

One day we had a mini excursion to he next bay along which we reached on a free bus that ran around the north of the island - we could have walked sans enfants, but they loved the bus and it saved on the whining! The beach had similar geography, but a whole different social strata. The bay, backed by pine forests full of gorgeous, huge houses was full of beautiful yachts and the was peopled by the beautiful and stylish. There was a wonderful wooden pier/jetty stretching out form the forest which Stan insisted on running along at breakneck speed - totally terrifying as it wasn't exactly Health and Safety Exec approved!

One truly sad site, a result of the previous nights' incredible wind, which had Michael up checking guy ropes at midnight - was a wrecked yacht, 40ft, thrown up onto the rocks just below an lighthouse ironically. Everyone in the bay was making the trip to see it and it felt almost cruel to take a picture.


After a frolic beneath the pier we headed up to a wonderful huge white building above the beach which housed a great, relaxed restaurant - like Pont de la Tour only far more laid back. The kids menu offered moules frites which the kids tucked into with gusto and we had a wonderful prix fixe.

Other particular highlights of the holiday which I have to get down before they are forgotten

Moustachio nuts - Stan's new word. The boys had a little boys only drinks session one evening, sitting on the rocks, drinking beer (or similar) and eating their way through a huge amount of "moustachio nuts"

Candelabra - home made. Michael cannot sit still on holiday and likes to make things, so one evening he mad a candelabra out of foil ramekins, long candles and our clothes small whirlygig clothes drier

Backgammon - Himslef spent nearly the whole two weeks collecting pebble of a certain size, colour and shape before letting on what they were for. Then he attacked a large cardboard carton for beer wit his Leatherman and some very precises measuring. And lo, a fold up, poratble backgammon set. We did try to have a whisky fuelled backgammon rows - as per Kenya - but were saved by the fact that he kept beating me and I'm not such a bad loser (or something!)


Broom - he also made a broom, like a shamba broom out of branches from our neighbouring tree - camping by the beach has one setback - very sandy tent - but it beats mud!

Harry Potter - we foolishly left England he day before the final Harry Potter was published!! Georgia noted that our camp neighbours were reading it - in English and would hover wistfully next to the lady as she read it. After the first week, said lady asked me if I thought Georgia might like to borrow it (!!) and did I think she would finish it before we left - 6 days later? I said yes and yes and then we lost Georgia to it for the 2 days it took her to read it!

Race for Life - I DID IT!

Thanks to all of you wonderful people who sponsored me - I did it and raised over £500! I ran all the way which felt great. It was such an incredibly emotional day and many tears were shed! The 'back signs' that everyone wears made me cry buckets before we had even started. It's an opportunity to say why you are running and emphasised how many people are touched by cancer and how many survive too! The course wasn't too hard and we came past Michael, Sasha and all of the kids a few times who gave us encouraging shouts and cheers. Polly and I were particularly chuffed to sprint the last 50 metres - unfortunately our cheering party thought we would be another 10 mins (ahem, oh ye of little faith!) so didn't witness our euphoria, but I think the adrenaline high lasted for most of the rest of the day!

And then there were 6!

We had a fabulous time last weekend visiting Katy and Kev in their new house and celebrating the arrival of the 6th Wilcox cousin, Elizabeth Charlotte Whelan.

Katy and I undertook the not small task of escorting this merry band of hooligans (plus the dog!) to the park - a journey from just north of the Uxbridge Road to Ravenscourt Park and that's when it really hit us, what a tribe we have between us! There's a wonderful symmetry with our family being girl boy boy and the Whelan's being boy girl girl and I hope that they stay as close and loving a gang as they are now for a long time.

The oldest and the youngest

Fishin'

A while back Michael fulfilled an ambition to get a simple rod and see what could be caught from the end of the garden - we have seen a seal in the creek, so figure there must be some life there. A few Sundays ago the boys put on their wellies and set off into the marsh. I can report that ....... you have to be patient to be a fisherman, and it doesn't help if the tide is going out, but all you Nagden Life 'addicts' will be the first to know if a big one gets away!



It does make for a pretty lovely photo-op though!

Race for life

Huge thanks to all of those who have sponsored me so far, as you can see I am nearly at my target....any one else want to help me get all the way there? A great friend lost her father to cancer this morning and I will be running for her as much for all of us.

more cake pics

I realise that the previous picture didn't show Michael's magnificent sails off very well, so here are some more pics of the wonderful galleon!

Pirate Party 2!!

Gluttons for punishment, we have just had our second Pirate party. This time for Raff's 6th birthday and with a more complicated cake and entertainment plan! I was in charge with the former (with help from M) and he was in charge of keeping 8 six year old boys occupied.
Firts of all he needed to get into character - which you will agree he did very well!

Next he and Georgia went out and laid a fiendish treasure hunt - or so they thought at the time.

The boys set off at a tremendous speed and I soon realised I was going to have run back to the house to collect the picnic (which was their reward) if I was going to make it to the rendezvous in time! And I only just made it, I had spread out the rugs when the scary mob appeared. Most were thrilled to see me, but there was nearly a mutiny when they realised that the food was their treasure and that I wasn't actually going to dish out gold bullion!

All of the boys had made a great effort to get into character and when Jo turned up half way through the feast she was attacked by the vicious blaggards! An innocent bystander was very nearly attacked too, but he beat a hasty retreat!


After a suitable amount of charging around we ran back across the field to play a quick round of pass the parcel before cake time, singing, ravaging of wenches and ransacking. Then they all disappeared leaving us in relative tranquillity with a bottle of Prosecco - a pretty perfect afternoon really!

Running running running...

I am feeling rather proud of myself as yesterday I did my first attempt of the full 5K and didn't die!!! Only 6 weeks or so to go and I can actually say that I quite enjoy running now! I remember David Coke telling me about how he would manage to tune out and almost meditate when running and whilst I got that from swimming I couldn't see it with running which I had always found such a struggle. Anyhow, I get it now - and perhaps because it's self imposed and because the solitude is so welcome, but I find my time plodding around the fields really good for the soul!
So, for all those of you who haven't sponsored me yet, please do, I'm over my half way mark and I will make it round the course! Thankyou!

Stan is 3!

What a fabulous day! We celebrated Stan's 3rd birthday today - some of us a 'leetle' bit tired from celebrating Nick's 40th last night! (Let's just say that going to bed at 3 and being woken at 6 is not ideal when planning for a houseful of 3 year old pirates!) But thanks to some great help from Aunty Jo we were ready for the invasion at 3pm of 5 small boys and a few other siblings to have a pirate tea party ( or if you are Stan that is a "poyrit" tea party - the East Kent accent is as strong as ever).
We had a very sedate present opening session after breakfast and he got some wonderful things

G gave him a new JCB lawnmower, he got the most amazing wooden truck from Pakistan, from Mum and Brian (pic to follow), which I had to put away when the hoardes came in-case it was over loved! Plus 2 new diggers from Raff. As each present was put before him he would say "wow, it's going to be a new Tonka Toy truck" - even if it was book shaped. He has a wonderful red tonka toy truck which he loves and so I asked him after the nth time of exclaiming "...it's going to be be a TT truck" why he wanted another and he replied " so that Raff can have one". If that doesn't bring a tear to your eye then nothing will!

Later in the afternoon as the tide came up boats started to come past and each one was met by a barrage of "AAAGh", "load the canons", " give us your treasure" etc which was hilarious! We must be getting to be quite famous in the local boating community - last year it was Raff and his superhero party terrorising the boats.

Towards the end of the afternoon Michael had a Jackanory moment and had all of the children captivated as he read to them, aah!

Here are more pics!

Easter

A few of the usual Easter scenes. We had a relaxed weekend with Yvon and Gerhild and a lovely Sunday lunch with a large part of the Creek clan, and of the course the children received their body weight in eggs!





One event at the weekend of particular note was Stan's marathon cycle ride all the way into the centre of Faversham and back again on his little wooden bike, quite awesome!

Race for Life

Please see the link on the right. I have embarked on a mad idea that I can run 5K on a hot Sunday in July to raise money for Cancer Research and get fit in the meantime. The training is going okay so I thought I should start telling people and more importantly asking you all for money. In light of what a total heroine Mum is and to honour her I hope everyone will help to make a huge contribution.
Thankyou.

Kenya

For those who don't yet know that Mum needs to be cannonised or given a knighthood (as it were) she has now truly surpassed herself. When life really all became too much for me earlier this year she announced that what we needed was a week in the sun, sans enfants and pretty much set out to ensure that we couldn't say no. So hats off, raise your glasses and three cheers for the absolutely best Mum in the world!

Michael and I got back just over a week ago from a week in the wonderful house in Diani where she has been going for a few years now. Right on the beach and with amazing weather we sunned ourselves, read loads, ate even more, snorkled, wandered along the beach and generally speaking had some real R&R

.

A different seat for each hour of the day - and that's only half of the terrace!

Meanwhile back on the farm, Stan got a feverish bug, Mum looked after them all and as if that wasn't enough of a challenge painted a wall in our dining room which has been unfinished for over 2 years, painted the bathroom ceiling and cleaned all the windows (plus much more). Brian when he arrived set to in the garden, replacing fence panels and sweeping up all the winter debris - there's more I am sure, but suffice to say that when we arrived home in the dark we could see that a transformation had taken place - it was like Ground Force without the irritating presenters and obligatory water feature.

February

I am put to shame by the wonderful blogs of Archie and Louis, they write so often and so engagingly, and I can't believe how long it is since I last posted. I had wanted to write about the fact that we had our first outside lunch of the year this year on the 3rd February!! How mad is that, a few days later it snowed and it has been unspeakably cold and miserable ever since. I am not sure whether I managed to get a picture even!

Other notable events this month include the chopping down - at last - of the dreadful leylandii which ran down the edge of the patio outside the kitchen.

The difference it has made to the light both inside and outside is fabulous. I have been busy digging up various plants from around the garden to create a mixed hedge to replace them, which will be kept at the height of the existing fence.
I was reviewing my postings from this time last year in which I promised Georgia more growing space and am proud to say I spent a long afternoon recently removing a huge shrub and loads of weeds from a bed at the bottom of the garden - I get there, eventually!!

Half term highlights centred around Penny coming to stay to help with the childcare - the kids had a ball with her and we loved spending time together - Georgia finally finished the wooden dragon which she started at Christmas - a project only made possible by the amazing patience of a wonderful Granny in the face of some pretty concerted bossing! Her royal loveliness also finally had a haircut - and doesn't she look beautiful!

Since our trip to Bodiam castle Raff has developed a passion for all things Knights/Castles so I whipped up a tabard, shield and sword which he loved. He made a wonderful castle out of Lego yesterday which has been archived - Michael's new project to record some of the wonderful things Raff creates.

This weekend Nick and the boys, followed by Clare, Richard, Ben and Dexter came down so it was fun filled and action packed. We managed to get out for a walk at Seasalter on Sunday which was lovely if a little cold and bleak - roll on summer!

Michael and I have a VERY exciting treat coming up to raise the spirits! We are off to Kenya to Diani for a week, courtesy of a lovely fairy grandmother, for a holiday without the sprogs! The pictures will I am sure be somewhat brighter than these beach scenes!