Holidaying

What a perfectly lovely week!  Jude's Celebration began our time away perfectly, in the woods, with shared food and prayer and wildness and friends.






We visited the beach (an entirely necessary pilgrimage for me).  Some little people I know had nearly an ice cream a day while we were away.  AND got a donkey ride.  The donkeys were very happy and friendly, and the children adored them.




Here is Talia, in the sea, where I took a picture of my bloomingly gigantic bump in the late autumn last year.  Right Here, I told her, this is where I knew I could do it.  For the first time.  Knew I could birth you, mother you; peace settled on me Right Here.


Martin spent a fair amount of the week engrossed in The Hunger Games.  Mr I-Hate-Reading.  ;)


We went to a few National Trust properties (I keep a tally to justify the membership to myself, and we always seem to break even for the year in June - my membership runs from May).




Barrington Court was great fun to run around.





They had a big installation by Anthony Gormley in the basement, and outside has crafters in the old stables including a really beautiful woodworking shop (the owner of which kindly answered a long stream of questions from Jenna about how he makes his wares).  We came home with a gorgeous candle holder made from slice of branch with the bark still on.  (If you're interested in looking him up, meet Jozef Mesar.)


Oh, and we even went to some open air theatre at one property: The Brothers Grimm by the Pantaloons, which the children adored (us too).  And it was quite encouraging to go somewhere where my children looked like utter angels by comparison!



The girls painted a kite.


Yet more National Trust places to see...  Lytes Cary Manor.




It has this woodland play area that made me desperate for some big logs to put in my garden.








Oh, that smile...


And it also has awesome gardens.








We never did manage to fly the kite the children painted one morning.  We explored Yeovil Country Park, though.


And went swimming at an outdoor pool.  Talia looked very confused.  Here we are afterwards, as the grown ups drink takeaway mugs of tea to warm up!


In the flat we had a challenge to keep the children reasonably quiet; they all have thunder feet.  Lots of crafts were the order of the day week.




You can see why we didn't desperately want to come home, in spite of sharing a very teeny flat for nine days.  We all slept well in our own beds last night though.  And the memories, and the photographs, have given me a lot more smiles.  On what would otherwise feel like rather a bleak Monday afternoon.

:)