Resting and Recharging

A week or so ago we had a bank holiday weekend here in the UK.  What that means is that we get to have Daddy at home for an extra day.  Now I don't know about you but often I get to the weekend and I want/need a rest and time to catch up with all the jobs around the house that I don't have time for during the week.  Saturdays start with gymnastics in our local town which seems to make the morning disappear in a flash, the afternoon seems to end before it has started and before you know it is Sunday night, my list of jobs is done and we are on the cusp of a new week.  Whilst I need weekends like that to keep on top of things it is good to occasionally to put the chores aside and do something completely different.

I know that everyone will have their own idea about what they would do to have a rest and recharge but for me it has to involve the whole family, be outside and away from our house.  It is all to easy when you are at home to be distracted by the wafting dust, the ironing pile or the sewing lurking on a chair, all things that I need and (sometimes) love to do but not all the time!  Doing something completely different is a good change.  When we saw that the bank holiday weekend was forecast to hot, sunny and dry we knew that we had to go bivving somewhere. The children, when asked, opted to canoe rather than walk, so canoeing it was.  The weather forecast was right it was wall to wall sunshine and the winds were light making canoeing a dream.  Despite the busy car parks once on the lake it was much quieter, there are a few hot spots where people congregate, but we mostly had the lake to ourselves.  This is somewhere we have camped over night before, so after pootling up and down the lake we went to our favourite spot to set up camp.

Life is pared back to the simple.  Gathering wood for a fire, collecting water for cooking and drinking, cooking and eating simple food.  There is time to stop, to watch and soak up what is going on around you.  Each time I went up stream to get water I paused to watch and listen to the birds, mostly listening as the leaves provide the perfect cover.  On one occasion I went back to 'camp' for our binoculars and Cameron as I could see a bird flitting about but couldn't be sure what it was.  We woke to sunshine streaming into the shelter and the soft slap of an early morning swimmer, despite the early hour we got up to soak up the beautiful morning, Alice and my husband took a dip whilst I cooked date porridge and sipped my cup of tea.

Arriving home later we all had a skip in our step and finished the three day weekend with lots of jobs completed and feeling happy and most definitely recharged.  What is your favourite thing to do to put the bounce back in your step?