Lovely Bank Holiday Weekend With Family

Morning all, I hope you've enjoyed a lovely bank holiday weekend where I think the weather was pretty good considering it was a bank holiday and they can be a total wash-out.

Beautiful sunshine on Overstrand Beach, Norfolk

We loaded up the car on Friday afternoon and set off to North Norfolk to spend the weekend with my parents, brother and his partner. Usually the car journey from home to Overstrand is around four hours, but it took us well over five hours due to the volume of bank holiday traffic on the roads. I think Jack (who was driving) was rather frustrated with the constant crawling towards the end, but we did eventually reach Cromer where we picked up fish and chips for everyone from Mary Jane's (best fish and chip shop ever!) and took it back to Mum and Dad's where we ate it alongside champagne (we're not posh people, I think Mum and Dad were just very pleased to have their 'babies' home so it called for a celebration!). My brother Simon and his partner Jenna had arrived prior to us so it was lovely to catch up with them too and hear all their good news about the house they're in the process of buying. They are first time buyers so all the stress and excitement is new to them, but so far the buying process seems to be going smoothly.


We spent Friday evening having a good catch up and then we helped my parents with various jobs on Saturday to help them get ready for the garden party they had planned for Sunday. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was amazing and we can't believe how lucky we were! We all had pink faces by the end of Saturday where we'd caught the sun and it was so nice to feel warmth instead of an icy breeze. My parent's garden is so pretty at the moment; full of bluebells, tulips, blossoms, Camellias and Rhododendrons too. Jenna and I took Barry for a walk on the beach in the afternoon and it was beautiful down there and great to see lots of people enjoying the beach and sunshine. We spent Saturday evening having competitions with the Shuffleboard. I'm not sure if any of you will have heard of it, but we're all rather addicted to it now and it's great fun to play! It's a wooden table game where you push wooden discs down it and the aim is to get them through the different holes at the end of the board. I'm not too good at it but then I'm not very good at many games (I'm a sore loser!)

Sunbathing Barry - his fur is growing back slowly but surely

Shuffleboard in the sunshine

Beautiful colours in Mum and Dad's garden

The weather on Sunday was even better than Saturday and it made the party extra special for my parents. They had invited a big group of friends to come for a bbq for the afternoon and I think they all had a great time. I helped Mum with the food and we put on quite a spread. Mum's lovely friends Annie and Jenny made amazing desserts too which went down very well along with Dad's home brewed beer. Their close friend Hugh even played a few songs on his guitar including one he used to sing to me when I was very little called "The baby went down the plug'ole", look it up, very funny (lyrics here, but there are different versions and no-one is sure of who wrote it originally)! I'm glad that Mum and Dad had such a nice time with their friends and that the weather was kind to us all too. Barry was such a good boy around all the people at the party and he was very popular.

It clouded over and got a bit chilly as 6pm approached

Jack and I got up nice and early on Monday morning to take Barry for a final walk along the beach. It was low tide so you can get around the ends of the groynes rather than having to climb over them nearer the back of the beach. A fairly deep pool is always left at the end of the groyne though and Barry completely mis-judged this and ended up disappearing right under the water much to his surprise! Luckily he loves water and is a good swimmer and shook himself off before setting off again down the beach at 100mph! We then said our goodbyes to my parents, Simon and Jenna and endured another 5+ hour journey home (this time I gave Jack a rest and I drove). We eventually made it home all very weary. Sadly Jack had to go into work for a few hours so I just snoozed on the sofa in between putting on a few washes. We have a very tired pooch after all the playing, beach exploring and attention this weekend and Barry looked mighty pleased last night when we said good night and went to bed, I think Barry was asleep before we even reached the top of the stairs!

We've got a busy week ahead of us in terms of jobs to do around the house; I emptied the loft of nearly all of its contents the other weekend in order to sort through everything, throw things, bag things up for charity shops and sell other things on EBay. I've kept it all in the guest bedroom and slowly been sorting through it but now my parents are coming to stay with us this weekend I had better get a move on and finish sorting it. We've laid more loft boards in the loft so you can now walk around more easily up there and as I'm slightly obsessed with being organised, I don't want anything to just be thrown back up there and instead want to know what is in each box. My parents are coming to stay this weekend for a few days as my Dad is kindly tiling our kitchen splash back area and also tiling the conservatory floor. So he'll have plenty to do but have Jack's help too. The weather looks good this week so I'll be able to move my plants out of the conservatory too, more space again!


Finally, just a photo of my two very happy tortoises on waking up this morning to find a whole windowsill box full of home grown lettuce for them to devour! I've tried to leave it growing as long as possible and had better get some more planted ready - I'd quite like to enjoy some too, but it is a lovely treat for Squirt and Lola!

Have a good week everyone!


Em x

New Years Weekend in Cambridgeshire & Norfolk

Finally managed to find a spare five minutes to write a proper blog post and include a few photos of our New Years break with family.

I headed back to Cambridgeshire back on the 30th to attend my best friend's Mum's funeral which was incredibly sad but also a beautiful service and so good to see just how many people turned up. Jess was incredibly brave and I know she's really struggling now that the funeral has passed and the reality of being without her mum is really sinking in. She has lots of family and friends that love her to bits though and are there when she needs us, so keep your chin up Jess xx

The beautiful Cattells Mill, windmill at Jack's Parents'

I stayed with Jack's parents on the night of the 30th without Jack as he still had to work on NYE, so Barry was my bed companion and incredibly smug about the fact he got to sleep on the bed (which he doesn't get to do at our house!). I say on the bed...  woke up the next morning to find he'd got under the covers and was snuggled up in a little ball right beneath my chin, very cute I must admit! Barry and I went for a nice walk around the Fens on NYE and it was nice to spend time in the countryside I grew up in, though it really is very flat!

The Fens

 

We had a great time on NYE with Jack's family and friends; there was quite a few of us and Barry loved all the attention he got. He was completely worn out though before midnight and not happy about me jumping up to chink glasses at midnight (he was quite snug on my lap!). Then on New Years Day we drove onto Overstrand, Norfolk where my parents live to spend a couple of days with them, my brother Simon and his girlfriend, Jenna. We managed a quick walk along the beach when we arrived while the tide was out and before it got dark and Barry seemed very happy to be at the seaside.

 

A quick walk along the beach in the last hour of daylight

 

We had a good laugh that evening playing the game Heads Up, have you heard of it? It's a guessing game you can download on your phone or ipad; one person holds it up on their head and the others have to give you clues in order to guess the name of the person/object/action on the screen - kind of like the game we used to play with post-it notes! "Act it out" was my favourite round and us girls beat the boys hands down in the 'guess the animal' rounds. Very funny indeed! Jenna and Simon headed off on Saturday morning, so Jack and I headed out for a walk with Mum and Dad. We eventually did a full circle and left Mum and Dad to head home while Jack and I continued along the beach to Cromer.

 

 

This is where we bumped into a wild Grey Seal! I wasn't expecting to see one on Overstrand or Cromer's beach at all, but know they're a few miles further around the coastline at Horsey (I think that's the name of the beach!), where they're currently raising their pups. Given that this little seal was all alone on a beach where lots of dogs are walked, I was quite concerned that a dog would hurt it and so rang the Seal Rescue. Having described the seal to them they said it sounded like it was just exhausted and having a good rest and at that the seal yawned, stretched and had a scratch! By this time Barry was crying at Jack's feet to go and give the seal a friendly lick to see if it wanted to play! It was lovely to see it anyway and hopefully it made it safely back into the sea unharmed by humans or dogs.

 

Having a scratch, or laughing at us?

 

Hello!

 

Happy Dog!

 

We eventually carried on our walk to Cromer before turning around and heading home again; it's a nice walk - about 5 miles in total so a good stretch of the legs and I think we've completely worn Barry out with walks recently! We're now giving him a little bit of a break and back to just two/three short walks a day as he was a tad stiff on his [previously broken] leg when we got back - not that you'd know with the way he throws himself around playing with all his new toys! It was nice to spend time with Mum and Dad too and I'm very proud to tell you that Mum has taken up loom knitting and is a complete natural! She often wonders where I get my organisation and creativity skills from but she's just trying to hide hers ;-) I'm just waiting for Mum to make me a bobble hat now. I might have to give it a go at some point as it looks like you can create scarves, hats etc. very quickly. I still love my crochet though!

 

On Sunday morning Barry and I headed to the beach alone for our last walk; it was nice to get some fresh air and have some thinking space and Barry enjoyed fetching his tennis ball as we walked along. I can't wait to go back to Overstrand again soon and my parents are very pleased that they have multiple bookings already, so will be heading out to France Easter-time. If anyone is interested in staying at my parent's place here is a link to the holiday letting agency; it's a great little property and is very near to everything you need. Norfolk really is a pretty place and there's lots to do and see along the coast.

 

Mariners Rest, Overstrand

 

We're now back into our normal routines and I've written out my New Years resolutions; apparently only 8% of people stick to their New Years resolutions... I won't say anymore than that! It's good to make a list of things you aspire to in the year ahead anyway. One thing I saw on Pinterest I thought was a fab idea was getting a large empty jar and filling it with happy memories throughout the year and then reading back through them again on the next NYE, I'm going to try and do this, though I tend to write things down in my journal anyway!

 

 

 

 

 

I hope all of your resolutions, plans and aspirations are coming along nicely in these early days of 2016 and throughout the year!

 

Em x