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Back to school!

Back to school and back to normal, phew! Funnily enough it's like they've never left - they ran into school, worked out where they should be and that was it - gone. Izzy didn't even say goodbye. I guess I should be pleased - I'm certainly not worried that they aren't clinging to our legs, crying their eyes out.


They spent half the week cooking up a sleepover at Mia's on Friday night, what's new?! When push came to shove and I was heading home from Claire's Abi had a wobble and decided actually she was too tired to stay. So Izzy and Mia (who's in Abi's year but doesn't seem to matter) headed off giggling to the bath together and Abi headed home with us. Good job we hadn't managed to get a table booked at our local for dinner then. Abi was shattered after the week so went to bed early and we got up together on a very rainy Saturday morning to walk the dogs. By the time we got back Glenn had left for his track day and so with nothing else pressing given the weather, Abi and I snuggled up on the sofa together, me reading my book and her flipping from her Kindle to her game and back again. We had over an hour in peace and quite, occasionally chatting about something and just relaxing - lovely. Its so rare that I do that, and certainly not when I have both of them with me - too much fighting over exactly who's got the most comfortable / most important part of me or whatever - NOT relaxing!


Today the weather was much improved and was a mini-triathlon of exercise for me - long walk this morning in the sunshine with the dogs, watching the moisture steam off the grass, followed by a 22 mile bike ride and then a swim this afternoon with the girls. We decided to use the outdoor pool at the gym and had it all to ourselves until Izzy's friend Satari turned up and so immediately a game of mermaid catch ensued (don't ask - didn't understand the rules!). I do love the fact that we are now completely rooted here and everywhere we go we know people.


The other conversation this week, which mainly I'm having with myself at the moment, is school options for Year 7 and beyond. Do we remain wedded to the private system, with all the cost that entails, or explore other options? This has arisen for a number of reasons (mostly back to school discussions) but also because we have an excellent state secondary school on our doorstep which delivers academic results as good as the local independent option as well as a hugely varied set of extra curricular options and a pretty amazing learning environment. It would be mad not to seriously consider whether this would be a good option for the girls, not least the cost of secondary / 6th form private schooling for 2 is approx. £250k out of taxed income!! As Mum says, we'll never know whether we've made the right decision, but we should at least explore. I've asked the kids and their response is simple - "we want the one with boys". Hmm - maybe I'll not bother asking next time!






 'Back to School' photo #1!!

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