Remember The Beach

A poem. I hope you'll indulge me.

Remember The Beach

Skins of sandy freckles and a coconut sheen;

The cold, energetic tide bounding back as we jump forward;

Yellow-blue above marrying grey-blue below as far as we can see;

Hills in the background; an impressive view mostly ignored.

We enjoy the feel of sand through our fingers and the sun on our backs;

We make wonky castles that are too dry and fall down;

The moat drinks buckets of water carefully collected again and again;

We give up and search for interesting stones instead:

Smooth green glass, worn white pebbles and pearly pink shells.

We gobble down ice creams, tongues curling round cones;

Licking drips, licking fingers clean; sickly sweet strawberry.

The light comes in lower now, painting our flushed faces;

A feeling of thankfulness, intransigence and simple pleasures,

Makes our hearts happy and unites us in our remembering.

France Holiday, Part 4: Beach days and the long journey home

Ok so this is a little late in coming, sorry! We arrived home on Sunday. Let me update you on the last bits of the holiday.

After travelling to Barcelona, we were keen to have some less busy days before we journeyed home. Thankfully the weather was beautiful on the Thursday and Friday (except when I offered to swim with Chloe for her early morning swimming lesson!), so we spent lots of time at the beach. The campsite had access to the beach (down a long, sandy path which was a bit of an effort with the buggy!). It was also really empty which meant that we could easily keep 'the poxy child' away from people.

The beach was perfect for all of us, as there was something go everyone. Livia became obsessed with the sand; she loved scooping it into the bucket with her hand and then tipping it all out. She also enjoyed when we buried Chloe! Chloe really loved the sea and playing in the waves. J's challenge was also burying Chloe and making sand castles even though it wasn't the best kind of sand for that. I liked sitting back in the sun and seeing everyone so happy!

The one excursion we made was to a place called Chateau Valmy; a large house (not open to the public) which had beautiful gardens you could wander about in. It was set into the hills overlooking Argeles and the sea so the view was gorgeous. We had a picnic and enjoyed exploring the slightly treacherous paths up the hill.

The journey home was not too awful. The first day went very smoothly - not a cry from either child and no traffic at all. We stayed in the same stop-over campsite but the weather was much better than before! We were so sweaty from being in the car that we all went for a dip in the pool (even Livia who was all scabbed over at this point, lovely).

The second day was longer and by the time we got to the ferry we were very fed up with travelling. We had a nice dinner on the sparkling new ferry but then got stuck for over an hour in a queue on the M25 once back in England. Sigh.

The post-holiday have started hitting me the last few days. It was such a nice experience, being just the four of us and having only the responsibility I deciding what to do each day. Our lives at home are so complicated, often with fun things or things we're passionate about, but it can feel like too much sometimes. Getting away was something we really needed and I'm so glad we went.

Thank you Lord for watching over us on holiday and blessing us with a really lovely time. Help us to remember this feeling of being united as a team as we go back to our normal day-to-day lives.

France Holiday, Part 3: Exploring and Sickness!

It's now Wednesday and much later than I planned on writing again. So much has been happening that I haven't had the energy to write any of it down.

We'll start with the good bits. In the last 4 days we have been doing lots of exploring the local area. We visited our local town Argeles first. To be honest it was a bit of a disappointment, feeling like a party town with lots of bars and touristy shops and not much else. The beach was lovely though and Chloe had a go on a fairground ride.

We then visited Collioure which was lovely. It's full of character and has a walled chateau from the 17th century. We paid to go inside and it was well worth it. Chloe loved exploring the tunnels which were only lit by lanterns. 

We also visited Perpignan, which seems good for shopping and has a nice area to eat next to a river. We were a bit worn out that day so I don't think we saw all there is to see in Perpignan and headed home quite quickly.

The biggest excursion we made was to Barcelona. It's only a 2 hour drive from where we are staying so we felt it was worth the trip if we could make it work. It was a beautiful city - so many interesting things to see down every street; I loved all the gorgeous balconies and shutters, especially in the gothic quarter. The Gaudi cathedral is also pretty amazing. However it was difficult to do it all in one day and with two worn out children. The journey back was not fun, especially as it was raining so hard I thought we might have to pull over!

The main downside to all of this is that Livia has gone down with chicken pox. Probably the worst thing she could get when you are staying on a crowded campsite! It means we can't take her to the pool or to the kids clubs. We have been on the day trips but kept her away from people and not taken her in cafés or restaurants or on public transport. It's very frustrating and I did get quite upset about when the spots first appeared; mainly for Livia, who loved both the pool and kids clubs the first few days. But we are all trying to keep the holiday as fun as possible. Thankfully Livia seems quite happy in herself, just very spotty!

I won't go on, but also add to that Chloe going down with her usual post-swimming ear infection with runny nose, sickness and temperature. And J also getting a cold and temperature. Tuesday night was a bad night with all four of us awake most of the time! But Chloe and J are on the mend now so our last few days should be good ones. The weather is looking nice too :)

France holiday, part two: Settling in

It's now Sunday, our second day in Argeles. Our time so far has been spent on site and getting supplies from the local supermarche. There's so much to enjoy that it's nice to have a few days away from the car!

The campsite is great for the children. The pool complex is what sold the site to us and has definitely been worth it. It is heated so can be used even when the weather isn't hot. It has a large deep pool for adults, a toddler pool, a children's pool and a series of slides/flumes. 

We also chose this park for the kids' clubs. Chloe and Livia can both go to the Mini Fun Station which has organised activities based on a theme. For examples yesterday was pirates and they designed a map and went on a treasure hunt. The kids' workers are so enthusiastic and friendly. As the children are young, we don't leave them unattended, so we are still having time as a family but they are entertained too. They also have swimming and cycling lessons free of charge. Chloe swam for the first time without arm bands this morning! I sound a little like a Eurocamp rep ha! But this is a definite plus of holidaying this way.

The not-so-great things have been really chilly evenings. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny, today is quite cloudy. At night the tent gets very cold so we have been bundling the girls up in lots of layers and blankets. 

The campsite is also showing some signs of wear, except for the pool complex which is new. It's mainly the toilet blocks which could do with some updating - they're clean but don't have soap dispensers or dryers (which others normally do!). But the water is hot and they have hair dryers plug in points so I'm mostly happy!

We're finding it a little challenging keeping a track of Livia near the tent. Chloe will wander round our plot and play her own imaginary games quite happily. But Livia's mission seems to be to escape us by walking off down the road. 

So far we are having a lovely time as a family. I wouldn't describe it as relaxing but then I'm not sure that is a possibility with two young children! I'm looking forward to them both being confident swimmers and being able to allow them more freedom in the pool whilst we sit and watch.

I will post again in a few days time :)

France Holiday, part one - Travelling

So my last post said that I wouldn't be posting much because we were going on holiday to France. I decided just before we left that I would try and blog throughout the holiday, as it may be fun to share how we coped with our first holiday as a family of four and also as a memory for us :)

To give you an idea of what we are up to, we decided to go on a Eurocamp holiday. If you're not familiar with this company or holidays like it, you book into a tent or mobile home on a campsite which usually has great facilities (pools, kids' clubs, wash blocks, washer-dryers, shop, restaurant etc). You also have proper beds, a fridge, electrics, a hob and all kitchen utensils. It's a nice way to do a family holiday on a budget but not quite as basic as 'proper camping'. 

We decided we wanted to go to the south of France, mainly because it's an area we haven't been to as a couple and we were wanting to maximise the chances of some sun. So we decided on a campsite in Argeles near the border with Spain, with an overnight stop near Dijon. A lot of driving when you have a three year old and a one year old in the car!

So far we are on our second day of travelling after our overnight stop. The campsite we stopped at was lovely; set in the grounds of a traditional chateau with a lake and lots of trees all around. It was not at all crowded and mostly peaceful (until the birds/animals around the lake all started waking up after it got dark!). We went for a quick swim in the indoor pool when we got there, as a reward for the children surviving the journey so far. A funny story was when Chloe got to the pool, she was so excited she ran straight up to the gate at the entrance, not realising that there was a foot wash by the entrance. Her trainers are now very soggy!

For the journey, we made good use of a portable DVD player, colouring pencils, snacks and library books to get us there! The girls both enjoyed the ferry journey - a little too much perhaps! They were both super excited (over-tired!) after the 5am start.

We are now heading down to Argeles and Livia is not too pleased to be in the car again. I think a two day journey is pushing it a bit but i'm hoping they will both decide to get some sleep soon! 

I will update you on how the holiday has continued when I can :)

Excitement (stress?!)

I'm sorry I've been a bit quiet recently. We are preparing to go on holiday to the south of France on Thursday. We are all getting very excited - lots of jumping up and down (and that's just J!). However to get to the holiday bit, we have to go through the endless lists/packing bags/emergency shopping trips bit. I feel very much like a headless chicken.

We're getting there. Some bags are ready to go, some are half ready and then there are those annoying things which can only be packed last minute. This is very unhelpful considering I'm working tomorrow and Wednesday and we leave at 5.30am on Thursday. Eek!

I will probably not post again until after the holiday because I don't want to pay for data whilst we're out there and we want a family holiday away from mobile devices! I hope you're all having a good start to the week and I look forward to sharing all about our first holiday as a family of four :)

Sleep

Thank you Father that you are the God who created rest. I thank you for sleep and that feeling of shutting off and letting go. Thank you Lord that for the next 6-8 hours I can lie back and let my body relax and recharge. I love that feeling of sinking into bed and snuggling into the duvet. Thank you that you understand that need and you invite me to 'lie down in green pastures'. I trust you with all my worries and cares. I know that you will be faithful in helping me with all of them and I don't need to think about them now. All I need to do is sleep. Amen.