Weekending

This week has been one of busyness and spending time with friends. We started the week with a quiet day at home as it was a bank holiday and we could not do our shopping and library trip as usual.  We headed out the following morning to do that but had to be back home by lunchtime as we had friends joining us for the afternoon.  Our Tuesday families met at our house this week for a noisy and enjoyable play.  It was just warm enough to spend some time outside although almost every child needed a pair of gloves which I managed to provide.

On Wednesday we joined up with friends for a canoe on a local lake.  It was a beautiful sunny day and out of the biting wind was warm.  We were pushing through thin ice in shaded places which the children thought was great fun.  Despite all the snow we have had recently the lake was really low and many if the small islands at one end which are fun to canoe between had all joined up.  The wind was strong enough for us to get our sail out to whizz back to the car.  We headed to our friends for tea and the children to play before heading home tired and happy.

We whizzed around the house in the morning getting reading for friends who were coming to stay for a few days.  They joined us for lunch and we spent a lovely afternoon catching up.  The next day we were joined by another family, of mutual friends, who live locally, the men went for a walk in the hills whilst the rest of us headed to a local town for a visit to a museum, a cold picnic in the park and  warming cup of tea in a cafe before heading home via a craft shop.  I cooked tea for thirteen and we all managed to (just) squeeze into our small dining room to eat.

In the morning we all met up again for a canoe on another lake, again it was a beautiful sunny day.  We found a great lunch spot on a sunny beach, got the Kelly Kettles going for cups of tea, explored the bay and collected wood for a fire later on.  We headed further down the lake for an ice cream, before canoeing back to another bay for afternoon tea!  We got off the water and all headed back to our friends house for tea.  They had bought a fantastic fire bowl which we got going with the wood we collected during the day and we enjoyed an evening outside by the fire.

We headed back home after breakfast to once more get the house ready for my parents who have travelled up to stay with us for the week.  We fell into bed exhausted!