Rained off, rained on and scared....

Saturday we'd arranged for me to go with Daughter to Cambridge for the Festival of Ideas. Daughter was a participant with the Tudor musicians and dancers. R and E were being Tudors too and M had said he would have O at home as he would have D as well, however, he then had to work so I said I'd go with and while the Tudors were entertaining for 2 hours in the afternoon I'd hopefully find enough to entertain O and D. We woke that morning to yukky weather, rainy, cold and grey and as the morning progressed it got worse and we even saw some hail. So after a few text and phone calls between Daughter and I we decided that she will go (she won't let people down) and I'd childcare at home in the warm and dry. Hubby was out for the day and not surprisingly the girls wanted to stay here too so it was me and four children. At the last moment it turns out M wasn't working so he came too. I had thought of a few fun things to entertain but it seemed that all the 3 older children wanted to do was be on the computers upstairs with M on his too. O was downstairs with me but I couldn't get him off daddy's ipad playing his games. So I did little more than catering and waiting in case they wanted something.

Saturday ended with some conflict and upset and E asked to sleep over so her and I could do something on Sunday together. So after we were up, washed, dressed and had breakfast we headed out. Unfortunately we were restricted on time as I had a supermarket delivery booked for early afternoon. I had found online that there was a small craft market on for a few hours and it was right near the huge new Next store that E was keen to have a look around. But first we needed to blow some cobwebs away by an outside walk and we decided on the prom at Felixstowe (anywhere that was woods or fields would be far too muddy after all yesterday's rain). We set off with it a bit chilly and a breeze and a little sunshine too.....sunshine didn't even last the 20 minute journey and we parked with the wipers going! We decided to still get out and have a walk and got back to the car just over half an hour later quite chilly and soggy, but rosy cheeked and glad we had. Then to the craft market of only about 8 or 9 stalls and very few customers so we felt sorry for them and spent some money with two of the sellers. Then into Next where E took the lead and inspected everything (she really loves shopping) while I followed. We confirmed how much clothing allowance she had left and she chose four items to try on and bought two of them. I love that this 10 year old knows her own mind, knows what she likes and what suits her, can budget and even considers value for money <proud grandma moment>! We got home and finished our late lunch just in time as my shopping arrived, so together we put it all away. When Daughter and R arrived on their way home from R's dancing competition we were told that R had done really well and with a new partner. They had done about 6 different dances and reached 5th in one dance and 6th in another (I think) <another proud grandma moment>.

Monday Daughter, R, E, O and I went to Hollow Tree Farm and met Daughter's friend and her little boy there too. Every year they decorate up the farm and lay on some extra activities all Halloween based. It's a lot of fun and a great day with the bonus of sunshine keeping us warm. The girls wanted to move a lot faster than the little boys so I went ahead with them and as the farm isn't huge we all met up various times. The girls and I did our final lap and decided we'd finished so out of the gate across the car park and then I text Daughter to say we were waiting for them in the cafe....that's when she rang me to say they had lost O so the three of us got permission to go back in and join the search. We knew he couldn't be far and the whole place was full of parents with young children so if he was crying and alone someone would intervene but it's sooooo scary to not have sight of your three year old and we were all relieved when he was found right the other side of the farm and mother and sobbing son were reunited. Turns out he wasn't sobbing because he'd been lost as he knew exactly where he was and were he was going...he was sobbing because he'd been found and brought back as he'd wanted to catch up with grandma!!!!
.