Half Term Fun

It's half term at the moment so we have a whole free week stretching out in front of us. This morning we met up with my 'old' school friend Abi, her bloke, Marc, and their daughter Sylvie. Beth has been bugging us to go to Beacon Hill again for ages - we haven't been since September. The weather didn't look fab but we figured that with wellies, raincoats, flasks of coffee and chocolate cake we'd have fun anyway!

Beth was very excited to meet Sylvie as the last time they met was in the summer of 2007, well out of reach of her memory. She immediately loved the sound of her name and when we arrived, all three kids happily disappeared off to play together. They charged around the rhododendron labyrinth with us adults struggling to catch up, slipping and sliding on the wet wood - no idea why none of the kids seemed to be slowed down by it. I think their fearlessness meant they walked/ran normally where I certainly tiptoed in an attempt to stay upright, resulting in slipping far more than I probably would have otherwise.

Obviously the only way to gather them all in one place long enough for us to catch our breathe was the offer of gooey chocolate cake and juice. :) After another explore we decided to come out of the labyrinth and walk round the rest of the park. The sun was trying to come out and it was a really pleasant wander. The kids hid behind trees, balanced on tuffits (minus the spiders) and generally careered around having fun.

It was a really fab way to spend the morning yet despite being fun-filled, there was a layer of sadness with thoughts of a missing friend. Two weeks ago Sylvie's 7-year-old twin sister, Charis, passed away. For her mum and dad I can't begin to imagine the heartbreak at revisiting past 'playgrounds' without Charis but I hope we created some good new memories today.