Dear Diary - The Easter Holidays, family and friends.

I do breath a sigh of relief when the holidays arrive. A chance for the children to chill out, stay in their pj’s till late, catch up with friends and family and leave the clubs and homework behind for a while. For us the holidays are about recharging the batteries and having a change of routine. The term time is so dictated by school, homework and a myriad of evening clubs for each of my children that I hardly feel I have any quality time with them. Some nights we have 4 different activities on the go and coordinating them all and dinner whilst running a business is far from easy.



Theo's Riding lessons 



Surf Club: Ally, Felix, Theo



Jed & Guy at Beevers:
A trip to Coombe Mill!



 

Clio tap dancing







 In fact I think evenings are the only time when I would swap living at Coombe Mill for living in the middle of Wadebridge where the children could take themselves to all their different activities. Never mind, only 4 more years till the eldest one can help driving the others around! In fact he could do the school run.......but there goes another parenting dilemma, do I let him  in charge of the bus and his 5 siblings each day or would the worry of his driving be worse than doing it myself? Humm,4 years to think on that one.

Back to the Easter Holidays: now is when living at Coombe Mill is so amazing. Our children are having just the best time picking up old friendships with regular guests and making new ones. Our house is like an open invitation for anyone staying to come in with our children. I love the fact that they are so comfortable bringing others round and that parents staying soon discover one of  the joys of Coombe Mill is not having to know where their children are all the time, but knowing they are safe.



Felix and his new best friend Monica in our house



Dinner times can be frustrating trying to locate everyone, they conveniently forget how to read a watch at such times, but its a small price for their freedom and enjoyment.

While they play inside and out I am able to continue working in the office, restocking the freezer with scrummy meals and cakes and taking the all important bookings.



Banana Cakes





Pork and Honey casserole
cooling for the freezer



I do like to make sure we have some family time out too. This holiday we have been up to Devon for the day visiting our old neighbours.  The 9 children together are great friends and we had a lovely day in the garden and down at their beech.



Lunch in the garden together



Ice cream at the beach shack





Beach fun

They were quite exhausted by the end of the day and half were fast asleep by the time we arrived back at Coombe Mill!

Next week I am taking the children to see their Grandparents in Buckinghamshire for a few days and catching up with more old friends. From there we are off to East Sussex where Nick will fly up and join us to see Yia  Yia (thier Greek Grandma) for a big Greek Easter party with all their cousins, back just in time for the new term to begin.

It’s all go for me but the children are having a ball so I wouldn’t have it any other way!



Happy holidays to all of you and I hope you are enjoying your Easter holidays too where ever you are!