A little time out

We all went to a party on Saturday.  Not the Pre-Children kind of party, but the sort where you arrive at 3pm and are at home on the sofa with a cup of cocoa by 9 o'clock.  About halfway through the boys needed a little air.  You know how it is; they start climbing on the furniture and bouncing off the walls.  They try and they try, but they just can't help shoving each other a little and starting a bit of a wrestle.  So we wandered down the road to a little pebble beach to look at the sea.  Well, the Bristol Channel anyway.

I love the colours of the waterside in winter.  All those pale steel blues and greys and browns.  I always think I'll make a quilt with those colours one day.

We scrambled around a bit and picked up some sea glass.  It was pretty quiet down there.  Just us and a few birds and one or two other wanderers.

We worked off some of the madness before we returned to the party.  There's nothing like fresh air to improve moods.

The clocks went back, but it meant nothing in our house.  I was woken up at 5.30am when the eldest was stood apparition-like at the end of the bed saying, "I'm just looking for the binoculars mummy, I need to see the nebula".  Well of course you do.

I spent Sunday morning watching the him playing football.  The rain was horizontal for a while and really heavy.  The score was something like 17-1 to our team.  I don't like matches like that, I really feel for the losing team.  It must be very dispiriting to the boys that lose, to turn up every time and get beaten so thoroughly.  And for the coach who tries so hard to help them.  A lesson in being gracious in victory for the eldest.  There's no merit to be had in gloating over an easy win.

The weather didn't improve during the afternoon.  We drove to a nearby town and looked in a bookshop and a library, and restocked our reading piles for the half term.  The drive home looked something like this.

But whatever half term throws at us, we're ready.  And I'm just happy to have the little people at home for the week.  If it's a week of being inside with books and drawing and games and baking and a little wrestling that's fine.  I just like being here.