I woke up with a violently red face and neck as yesterday was the first sunshine I’d had all year. I was going to need a lot of after sun lotion to get through the day. I also had a very sore shoulder after all the stone throwing on the beach. I’m clearly getting old!
After breakfast we finally relented and let the kids play with their new Nerf guns. James was so thrilled but was utterly useless at shooting it. He couldn’t work out that you have to let the motor speed up before pulling the trigger, and he also didn’t understand for ages that it fired six bullet rather than just one. He then spent the rest of the day trying to surreptitiously sneak the gun out of our room to play with. It’s two foot long and bright orange – you can’t sneak it anywhere (but he still tired).
Despite Friday’s glorious sunshine, today was more overcast and slightly damp. In fact as we left the villa it started to rain so everyone quickly changed into their waterproofs.
We headed to the nearby Golden Fort which comprised of some woodland surrounding a disused fort. There was also a Winnie the Pooh themed Geocaching trail which was perfect for the kids. Getting these proved problematic as there was some confusion about the exact road to take (for which I take full blame as the driver – it just wasn’t obvious) but we got there in the end.
Having parked up we initially set off to do a quick loop around the fort. We got to the highest point around the back of the fort and started to rummage for the first cache. It was at this point we received a call from Uncle Chris – his exhaust pipe had fallen off. Oh no! We found, signed and returned the cache while Grandad Lawrie spoke to Uncle Chris.
With the loop around the fort complete we had to choose a proper route to follow. There was much excitement in the group about following the “red squirrel” trail but didn’t see more than a pigeon the whole way round. However, the lack of excitement was more than compensated for by the abundance of blackberries. These proved to be a constant source of bribery and bartering for good behaviour. It kept Megan entertained too – she simply loves picking blackberries and was often trailing far behind the rest of us while foraging for more.
We walked past lots of dogs on the way round. Usually both kids would have stroked them all (having asked politely first) but they were more restrained this time. A sad side effect of these strange times, but they were still very friendly with everyone we walked past.
We ended up waking just over two miles and found five Geocaches before I began to flag. At this point we made a beeline for the car park. It wasn’t just me who was struggling – James also started to moan about being tired, so I made up a song to cheer him up:
Bum bum, willy, poo,
I like waking with you two,
Bum bum, willy poo,
Mum and James and Daddy, too.
Sadly this didn’t cheers James up. I thought it would be a sure-fire hit! Oh well. At least it made me giggle.
In the meantime Genevieve was singing “The Ants Came Marching” with Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie. She was audibly straining not to say the rude verses she’d clearly heard somewhere (not from us!) so she stumbled over some of the lines as she struggled to think of an alternative ending. Bless!
We headed back home for lunch and as we arrived the heavens opened. At least we managed to stay dry for the walk! Grandad Lawrie and I both went for a sleep – it had been a tiring morning.
As the rain continued, the early afternoon was spent cuddling while watching a film followed by a bout of creativity in the kids’ sticker and colouring books. By then we were going a bit stir crazy and there was a tiny break in the weather so we headed out to Freshwater Bay. This proved to be a big mistake as the rain returned as soon as we left the villa, and it was twice as bad as before the brief spell of sunshine. But we were committed to the trip so off we went.
On the journey we discovered a massive Co-op on the other side of Freshwater. It was just passed the much smaller Co-Op and the Sainsbury’s I’d visited in town yesterday (and it would have definitely had after sun lotion – if only I’d known!). It categorically wasn’t here the last time we visited this side of the Isle of Wight (which admittedly was well over ten years ago). Who says that nothing changes on the island!
When we got to the beach and we were almost the only people there. The only other occupants of the car park were a random couple who suddenly exited their car in swimming costumes (bearing in mind it has hammering it down and very windy) and sprinted over to the sea for a quick dip in the rapidly rising wind and waves. The utter lunatics!
James was initially unsure about the wind, rain and raging sea. I can’t blame the little chap – it wasn’t pleasant at all. Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie were snuggly wrapped up in their knee-length waterproof coats, whereas my not-at-all-waterproof coat offered little protection from the elements and I was quickly soaked all over. Perhaps it’s time I invest in a better coat!
Despite the weather, James was soon totally enamoured by the sea and waves. He was constantly smiling but wouldn’t let go of Megan’s hand as it was still a little bit scary.
Genevieve found a giant stone to paint so was also a happy camper. I foolishly volunteered to take it back to the car without realising quite how heavy it was. And it was only when we got it back to the cottage that I discovered it was mostly chalk so would be utterly useless for painting. She was happy though which is the main thing.
Grandad Lawrie had a field day on the beach as it was littered with cuttlefish bones. He was ecstatic having collected fifteen giant cuttlebones (and his birds in the aviary at home will be pleased, too).
We headed over to watch the waves crashing up over the barriers. We got too close and Grandma Lindsey ended up with wet feet. Genevieve and Megan waved their bums at the sea – I thought it was a tad risky taunting the sea like that!
And of course we posed for a couple of selfies – we couldn’t help ourselves (in spite of the weather)!
We piled back into the car for a very damp drive home… and as we pulled into the cottage car park the sky cleared and the sun came out. Bloody typical! But it was an adventure being by the sea in the rain so we didn’t mind really.
It was a bit of a team effort to figure out how the central heating worked, but we soon had the cottage nice and warm with our clothes spread out over every single radiator.
It was at this point that my watch vibrated to say I’d done over 10,000 steps. It was the first time time in months that I’d managed that (fairly pedestrian) feat so I was elated.
The children played with pirate Lego/Mega Bloks while Grandad Lawrie cooked jacket potatoes for dinner. Grandad Lawrie insisted that he was in charge but did ask what we liked with our potatoes. He was frankly shocked when we suggested that he should chop three whole onions for caramelising, but he diligently followed our instructions regardless (including the need to ensure he added love to the onions – it’s the only way to make them extra specially yummy). The results were tip top and he’s now a caramelised onion convert!
Although the kids were in bed, they were very unsettled while we ate so we ended up separating them with Grandma Lindsey moving into their room and Genevieve moving in to sleep with Grandad Lawrie. Not ideal and not how we wanted them to spend the week, but needs must and at least this way they would get a decent night’s sleep.
With the children finally asleep with played a few rounds of Set followed by OK Play. Grandma Lindsey really didn’t understand the rules of Set (although she persevered regardless and asked lots of questions to try to get to grips with the game), but she ended up comprehensively winning OK Play which more than made up for it.
It was finally time for bed. We checked on James before turning in only to discover that he had fallen asleep with his hand in one of his socks. What a weird child!
It has been a very wet and tiring but hugely entertaining day. And Grandad Lawrie had a sizeable haul of cuttlefish bones to take home so he was a very happy camper indeed.
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