Girls hike 2023- Mournes, N.Ireland

 I often think about how blessed I am to have so many friends who love to walk or hike together. I started walking with this crew 15 yrs ago when we all had new borns in the same year and had all recently moved to Bishop’s Stortford. Back then we walked round National Trust Hatfield Forest in a sleep deprived daze with babies strapped to our chests. Since then our families have grown, our husbands jobs have taken us to different places to live but our friendship and love of walking had remained constant.

On Friday I drove to Belfast International airport to pick up Rebecca, Sarah and Talitha before heading west to the Mourne mountains. We stopped for lunch enroute at Rowallen Gardens, a National Trust property on the edge of Saintfield. The rain was continuous but we still managed lunch and a walk. We had booked an Airbnb in the small town of Dundrum for two nights.

On Saturday we walked from Dundrum, through National Trust Murlough and followed the beach to Newcastle. After a pit stop at the trendy Birch cafe we continued along the coast to the start of the Granite trail. The Granite trail is one of my favourite walks in the Mournes as it is circular, has a little height to climb, stunning views of Newcastle and beyond and follows the dramatic Glen river back into Newcastle. It is only a morning walk and suitable for all ages and abilities.

This was our misty view from the top.

Back in Newcastle we followed the road towards Dundrum and stopped off at Murlough National Trust cafe for another cup of tea! Then it was a nice final stretch along the Murlough track to Dundrum. Rebecca is our walking stats tracker and I believe said we  covered 18miles.

On Sunday the weather was predicted to be wet so rather than be exposed in the Mournes for the day we decided to head north towards Strangford Lough and stop at Castle Ward National Trust. The weather wasn’t as bad as we expected so we were able to take a good walk, have lunch, and explore the house and gardens. 

The girls returned to England on Sunday evening and I’ve been reminiscing and giggling to myself ever since! Thanks for coming to visit…let’s start planning next years adventure!

Autumn busyness

 This past few weeks we have been keeping busy...

 visiting friends while M helped them plant up their flower beds.

Picking the last apples off our trees...not a good year for apples...apparently!

Creating a number of personalised baby pictures.

Leading a crafting workshop for a group of teenage girls...more pics to follow I hope.

Celebrating my 39th birthday with my little English nieces. 

Getting out and about over half term. This was taken at the Ulster American Folk Park.

The weather has turned cold but dry, Calvin has had a bad breakout of Hand, foot and mouth and the kids have completed their first half term at school...Autumn is well underway!

Friends

It seems that in order for us to make new friends we need to stay out later in the evening. There was a hive of activity around the parks this evening. Mj and Lj had great fun playing 'tag' with some kids their age and plan to meet up tomorrow! 

Summer 2018, Bishop's Stortford

Our summer holidays started with a trip to Bishop's Stortford to stay with my sister and see our old friends.

Our first trip down memory lane was to visit Hatfield Forest.

Waiting for a train back to Bishop's Stortford after visiting our friends at our old church.

I used to take MJ to this spot in the river by Grange Paddocks swimming pool when he was just a toddler to play 'pooh sticks'. This time we enjoyed the cool water on our hot feet.

A game of 'Settlers in Catan' with Auntie Corrie and Uncle Jamie.

Photo taken by Ezra and the only one I have of our afternoon on our old street, hanging out with our neighbours.

This photo was taken on the sly as MJ caught up with his old friend, Joshua. It might be the first time in 4+ years that they have seen each other but they clicked straight away.

As usual we walked lots, stayed up too late, had lots of memories triggered, absorbed lots of vitamin D, caught up with lots of treasured friends and felt like we had never really left this special place.

Crafting again.

It's so good to be finding little pockets of free time now and again to get crafting again. This time for a friend who delivered a little boy this morning. I'm reminded of Psalm 139...'You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book...'

London with my bestie

Yesterday I had a lovely day out in London with one of my N.Irish buddies. We visited the Judith Kerr exhibition at the Jewish museum. It was a lovely exhibition and I'm longing to bring the kids along to it before it closes. We then visited Camden Market, where 16 yrs ago as adventurous teenagers we travelled by bus from N.Ireland to London to volunteer with Oasis Trust and discovered the sights and smells of Camden. After a browse around the stalls we walked along the canal to Central St Martins, had lunch and viewed the students exhibition before heading home from Kings Cross.

The kids were kindly picked up from school by friends and had a lovely afternoon playing. Lj gave me this note and picture when I returned. 'I love you. To Mummy. I hope you have a wonderful time with Anita in London.'

As we consider moving home to N.Ireland it has been lovely to dream about the future with Anita but it has also made me very nostalgic about my times spent in London. I have so many great memories of family day trips, working there and taking MJ and Lj in their buggies around the city.

Final week of Summer holidays 2015

Having been tipped off that it was a good time to visit Alton Towers following the accident earlier in the Summer we decided to take two days there.

 MJ could have spent all day with his water canon soaking people on the pirate ships and being equally soaked in return.

After Alton Towers we headed further North and spent a lovely few days with M's parents, Sister and her family.

The ice cream farm has expanded and is a wonderful place to spend time with lots for the kids to do. I think it is where my current obsession with hexagons began...see the windows in the picture below.

Summer Holidays 2015 Week 2

After a busy weekend celebrating M's cousins wedding in Bromsgrove and catching up with the kids great grandparents we had a week of SLOW. With Mum friends and their two kids each we set up camp at National Trusts Houghton Mill, Cambridgeshire. The children spent hours each day climbing and sitting in a huge tree perfectly positioned behind our triangular arrangement of tents. On two afternoons we enjoyed the kids activities in Houghton Mill at the entrance to the camp site. In the village there was a nice play park, local pub which did takeaway chips and an inspiring little art gallery, where I discovered artists Catherine Green and Helen Hallows.

Summer holidays Day 1

 Monday. Our first official day of Summer holidays. What a day it turned out to be! We met our friends at 10am to play tennis and walked along the canal tow path to the town tennis courts. From there we had a cold dip in the splash pool, well the kids did, Jen and I sat on the side lines and watched! Then we had a picnic lunch in the park where the kids ran around and played for 2 hours without stopping. After this we headed home for a cup of tea and some Lego play before grabbing a quick tea and heading back to the canal for a spot of early evening fishing. MJ asked his Dad before bed time if he had a book on 'How to catch a fish?' With an unsuccessful fishing trip, I think we will be going to the library to do a little reading in preparation for our next trip.

Over the holidays I'm encouraging the children to do a 'doodle a day'. As imagined Lj is totally up for the challenge and MJ less so but I'm really hoping that as he tries it out each day he will find some pleasure in it.

Procrastination

There is no other word so appropriate for this blog entry as 'Procrastination'. I'm lacking motivation to get on with what I really should be doing so I'm hoping a little creative outlet in the form of my blog might get me up and running.

Here's a run down of some of the things we have been up to since the start of July!

 Celebrating my little sister's birthday with a picnic tea in the park...the simple things are always the best!!!

 Lj dressed up for an 'under the sea' party at school.

 School reports came out. It is always nice when a teacher summarises your child's personality in a similar way to how you would! As always there are things to work on but I'm so thankful to God for children who are happy at school. I mean Lj is a little extreme as she would rather be at school than at home!!! At least MJ would rather be at home with his Mum!

Mike's parents came to stay and brought Barney the dog. The children and all their friends on the street loved having him as entertainment and MJ has mentioned a number of times on the walk back from school that he wished Barney would be at home when he got there. That boy needs a dog to love!!!

 MJ and I have loved watching Wimbledon the past two weeks and it has inspired us to get out and play more. On Saturday Mike ran into town while MJ cycled beside him, while Lj and I went in the car with our rackets. We met and played tennis while Lj played in the new splash pool. It was such a beautiful morning I felt like I could have been on holiday. I quite honestly could not have been happier seeing MJ play tennis with his Dad and Lj splash around in the water...that was until MJ fell over and cut his elbow, hands and leg!!!

 MJ practising hurdling in the garden. He had his own little sports days after missing the real one due to illness.

 I gave the kids a pack of lollipop sticks, rubber bands and masking tape. 2 hours and alot of masking tape later they were still constructing castles, catapults and a trebuchet!

Although my knee is still not quite right I managed 10K in the rain with this fun bunch this morning.

Now that I have all that off my chest perhaps I can settle myself to get some work done...I think I will just make myself a coffee first!!!