Once again, it’s an age since I last blogged. Sorry folks! But I’m off work at the minute on a few days’ holiday so I’ve no excuse. Looks like we’ve inadvertently picked some great days to be off – the weather has been great here in Newcastle and looks like it’s here to stay for a few days at least. Yippee!
Trying to entertain one (and sometimes two) kids on a pre-holiday budget isn’t easy but today we’ve gone back to basics and what a great day it’s been. We headed to the beach armed with a bucket, spade, towels, sun cream and a football. It literally kept both kids entertained for hours. Even I got my feet wet in the North Sea!!
I love the sea – it reminds me of the halcyon days of my childhood. My parents, sister and I would head off to Devon almost every summer, to a sleepy seaside town called Seaton. Seaton was a picture-perfect seaside resort, with tacky tourist shops, country pubs, a tram and, of course, a beach. We loved it there (although I do recall the journeys being v long and probably v stressful for my parents, irrespective of whether we went by train or in the car!). Just the smell of the sea is so powerful. As I lay on Tynemouth beach today, it triggered great memories for me of collecting whelks, going for long walks, digging holes in the sand, playing in a dinghy, snorkelling, building sandcastles, eating fish and chips, sending postcards to EVERYONE I knew and just enjoying the simple things in life. These should be the fundamentals of any childhood.
Seaton – the beach
Our day of simple pleasures continued with my hubby heading off to play golf, so Jake and I sat out in the garden. He literally played at “cleaning his car” for ages, diligently washing his toy car with a cloth, wiping it down and cleaning the wheels. Just watching him being so peaceful (for a change!) and immersed in concentration was lovely (and admittedly did give me 20 mins or so to soak up the rays!).
Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of that yellow thing in the sky going forward – our holiday is only 3 weeks away!!! Yey! It’s fair to say the diet isn’t going quite as well as I’d planned but am aiming for a last minute burst of motivation! I’m just pleased that the new summer gear I bought months ago is finally getting an airing – especially as most of it went in the sale while it was still in the bags. Grrrrr – the great British weather eh?
On another note – although I’ve not watched much of the Olympics I have really enjoyed what I have seen. I’m hoping the closing ceremony is as spectacular as the opening ceremony (which we watched whilst out in a chinese restaurant! Classy!). Even my dad has been SO into the whole thing, getting dead emotional as the medal tally keeps on rising. Bless him. It’s made me wish I had a true talent – these athletes who have put their all into training, sacrificing so much for their goal, put most of us to shame. It even motivated me to walk to meet my pal for a coffee yesterday! It took a whole 45 minutes when the car would have got me there in 5. No gold medals for me, but I did feel much better for it…
…and treated myself to a skinny muffin as a reward!
