Despite the weather we had a lovely week in the New Forest with Amanda and the boys. We managed to get away with no major arguments (kids or us!), and saw enough ponies and donkeys to last everyone for a little while. We played on the beach in both sunshine and rain, investigated with enthusiasm a dead barrel jellyfish (sticks were used until the risk of being stung appeared minimal), swam, cycled, walked and lounged. We had fish and chips on the pier (we all agreed the idea was better than the reality) and on our last night a lovely meal in The Ship pub on Lymington Quay. The highlight for all of us was probably hiring bikes and doing a 13 mile ride around the forest tracks from Brockenhurst to lyndhurst and back again. Apparently 1 in 50 hire bikes have a puncture. We had 3! Needless to say we got pretty slick at both changing tyres and mending punctures - I haven't had to use a puncture repair kit in years! Funnily enough one of the reasons the kids enjoyed the riding so much was the fact that it rained for a good part of the day and so there were loads of puddles to ride through. I suspect the fact that we let them ride through rivers given they were so wet helped - they had a ball!
As ever when you try something new you learn. This time I was reminded that Abi is at her best in very small groups where she has had input into the planning of what's happening. She found it more difficult to go with the flow and I found myself having to create some space for her to breathe, unlike Izzy who was perfectly happy crammed into a relatively small space with lots of other people. Abi and I disappeared off together for a few hours on one of the mornings and I could visibly see her blossoming as we headed away. She was all smiles and chatter and the Abi I love so dearly, not the one I'd been battling the previous 24 hours. The following morning she woke up and looked at me (we were sharing as normal) and said "you're the best Mummy in the world" - she breaks my heart sometimes, but she's just like her Dad so I shouldn't be surprised.
This lesson has been helpful. I've been talking with a friend about taking the girls to Lapland at Christmas and Abi has been completely uninterested. This last week made me face up to the fact that if she doesn't want to do something then it's not the end of the world, they don't both have to do the same thing. So I suggested she and I go on a little riding holiday instead at Easter - amazing how different a reaction I got to this! So that's the plan - Izzy and I are off to Lapland and Abi and I get to go riding - lucky me to have some quality time with both of them individually.
This means Izzy and I spent this morning while it tipped down outside snuggled together planning snowy activities and trips to see Father Christmas in Santa Park. While the latter might not be my ideal way to spend a day, I love the fact that Izzy is at the perfect age to still get caught up in the magic of snow and Santa, while hopefully being odd enough to remember it. We are staying in a great hotel and going snowmobiling, reindeer trekking, on a husky Safari and hopefully manage to fit in a trip to the Ice Hotel - it should be a trip to remember.
So this week is admin week in the run up to starting at their new school, as well as admin week for me in terms of sorting mortgage renewal, bank accounts etc etc - all very mundane but necessary stuff that I need the odd week out here and there to catch up on. Mortgage renewal means we've been here almost 2 years - how fast has that gone?! We've settled in so well, I can't imagine being anywhere else now. Every so often I get a bit of house envy when I see a feature or two in another house, but mostly it's something we considered and agreed wouldn't work or wasn't needed for us. The nice thing is that we plan to be here for the long term. Just because we chose not to do something this time round, doesn't mean it's not possible in the future - that's a great feeling.
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