28th - 30th August 2010

A very very busy but totally wonderful bank holiday weekend.

Saturday morning we once again packed up the car and set off north to the town of Ascot, a little over an hour away from us near London. Sadly the M25 traffic hit us again and I thought Simon was going to burst the little vein in his temple it was pulsing so hard after we had once again spent more than an hour stationary on this our nemesis road.

Fortunately the drive and stress were all worth it as we were meeting Cayne, Linda and their girls at the home of Dave and Sarah Van Heerde for a bank holiday weekend braai. It was not long after our arrival that we were happy, relaxed and stress free enjoying the lovely weather out in their back garden, sipping wine and catching up.


We were joined in the late afternoon by William, Rachel and their family who were out visiting the UK for 3 weeks from South Africa - it was really interesting to chat with these frank and honest people about what life is like in SA now and I think they must have felt as if they were in the Spanish Inquisition at times so desperate were we all for news. So much laughter and friendship, a fantastic braai, wonderful dessert, a walk to the park and South Africa vs Australia on the telly - really what more can a person ask for.

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear and while our families relaxed a little (should be an advert for laptops), Lin encouraged (read dragged) me down to the laundromat to make a dent in my growing mound of washing as my washing machine has broken and I still had 7 days of holiday clothes to deal with. I kid you not when I say dragged, I tried to get out of it at least 4 times, but I am very glad she persisted, it was the easiest thing in the world and I am wondering how much washing I will actually be doing at home from now on.

The Mazoue and Viljoen families joined us for another braai on Sunday afternoon and again there were time when we all laughed till we cried. The children all got along well and I really feel like these "South African" weekends fill up my tank and help me to keep going.

Monday was the actual bank holiday and Rob and Kerry kindly hosted us at their home for a wonderful cream tea before Cayne and Linda started their journey home to Weston-Super-Mare and Simon and I came home to prepare for yet another braai.

Only this time it was a BBQ and was with my wonderful English friends to say an official farewell to the summer. Another stunning stunning afternoon and I found myself stopping at one point to look around and really just feeling so INCREDIBLY blessed to have had all these fabulous people in my life all weekend.

Such a high weekend - feel like it will carry me through just about anything for many many weeks to come.

20th - 27th August 2010

After a team effort house clean on Friday morning we were ready to head off for our long awaited summer holiday at Devon Cliffs in Exmouth (Devon). Finally a long 5.5 hour drive (yup traffic) later we arrived at the park, collected our keys and made our way down to our "home" for the next 7 days. I opened the door, stopped and stared - MAJOR sense of humour failure!

I could feel Simon and the kiddies tense behind me and although they made an effort to be excited at our "van" there was simply NO WAY I intended sleeping there for one night, let alone 7. Although it was generally very clean I felt I would need to put towels down on the couches before I sat on them they were so filthy and stained and mildew marked....this was DEFINITELY not the standard we have come to expect from Haven and I was horrified to put it mildly. Needless to say in my very "sweet" and Steve says "steely" manner, I soon advised management that for over £800 for the week this was so far beyond unacceptable it wasn't funny and we were moved to a much newer and frankly delightful van. Shew, the family breathed a sigh of relief and we were able to go about enjoying our time together.

Unfortunately the weather was dreadful and there was just one heavy weather warning after another hitting the South West Coast but once we changed our perspective from "SUMMER" to "ANNUAL" holiday it really wasn't bad and we grabbed the breaks in the weather whenever we could to enjoy the beach. In fact on the days we did get to the beach the lighting was so beautiful I had a BALL playing with my camera, so I definitely wasn't complaining.

Sandcastles were built and long family walks taken, we talked, we laughed, we fought and we spent times in silence - we made memories and that really is the most important thing. Nick Nick thought he had died and gone to heaven, he has never had his family like this before and he was honestly the happiest little boy in the world.

As my parents had sent the kiddies some "fun" money they were able to enjoy all the park had on offer and even took part in a fencing lesson which they both loved inspite of the fact that Megs managed to stab Phil in the hand despite all the protective gear ;0)

Exmouth is known as the Gateway to the Jurassic Coast and as Si has been dying to go fossil hunting since we arrived we took the opportunity on Thursday to head an hour East to Dorset and the GORGEOUS town of Lyme Regis to try our hand as fossil hunters.

A wonderful day and another FIRST for England. I instantly fell in love with this quaint village, which despite it's HUGE commercial and tourist pull has managed to remain quintessentially English and I can honestly say I would move there tomorrow.

The Robertson Family were VERY successful at fossil hunting and Megan was literally able to spot them lying in the sand, much to the frustration of both her father and brother. After a big haul of more than 10 fossils we decided that maybe we should head back and leave some for others....some families had been down the same length of time as us and not found one.

We ended our day with scones in probably the most wonderful coffee shop I have ever been into. On arrival you walk up to a huge washed wooden counter and simply help yourself to scones, danishes or croissants and then sit at long wooden benches with other families and share the gorgeous homemade butter and apricot jam with mugs of steaming hot tea. Such fun and such a unique idea - apparently in the evenings the counters are filled with fresh pizza between 5.30 and 8pm and you can all sit together and chat and listen to live music - I was totally enchanted and would LOVE to return one day.

Friday was check out day and we decided to get out early and stop at the famous Monkey World on our way home. The children were beside themselves to be at a place which has been featured on Discovery for so many years and got a real kick out of being able to identify the various monkeys and actually see them in "person".

Although I am not a big fan of animals in cages having read the stories of these poor tragic creatures I really commend what they are doing at Monkey World and it was lovely to see animals who hadn't seen daylight for the first years of their lives climbing around and enjoying the enormous enclosures.

A wonderful holiday away together despite the rain and I am once again so glad that we make an effort every year to spend at least 7 days away as a family.....precious times indeed.

Wednesday 18th August 2010

Met up with Amanda and her three children at Bedgebury National Pinetum today. The more time we spend with them the closer our friendship becomes and Si says he has NEVER met anyone more like me than Amanda. I think I actually said to her today that I thought we may have been separated at birth we are so similar in our thought patterns and the way we do and think about things.

We have never been to Bedgebury before but as the weather was lovely this morning we decided it was as good a time as any to make the 1 hour drive and go for a picnic in the wonderful parklands which the Mazoues have visited before.

We were not disappointed and had a stunning walk through these HUGE woodlands which are interspersed with jungle gyms and playgrounds the likes of which I have never seen before. A very lazy lunch down by a little pond where the children all played in a natural "house" created by a HUGE bush (literally able to fit 30 people under there) and spent time feeding the ducks.


We are very lucky in that all the children get along beautifully but they have a natural split of Megs and Taliza, Phil and Baylin and Myla and Nick Nick. While the little two spent the balance of the afternoon playing in an enormous sandpit near the entrance, the four older ones vanished into the wood for over an hour to build forts and conduct "wars" with other children also playing in the area.

We finally managed to break up the "party" a little after 5 pm and could only get the kids apart by promising them that they will see each other in a little over a week when the Mazoues join us for a braai while the Andrew family are down for our next bank holiday weekend get together.

Definitely a diamond of a day!