You'll never guess what happened! I made two of my children come outside for fresh air with me! Astonishing. To be fair, this was a couple of weeks ago, and they haven't been out with me since. But it still happened – I didn't dream it! I took them to Halfmoon Bay, even though I'd just been there the day before, because I thought there was half a chance they'd quite like it and that it might stir up happy memories for them. The weather was crackalackin again, but it wasn't quite as busy with people as the previous day because most of the kids were back to homeschool – though not all, and not mine because I didn't feel like spending my day off doing fractions and analysing poems and trying to understand/explain homeostasis.
When we set off, I wasn't going to bother with photos, and therefore wasn't going to bother blogging this one. But there were nice things that were worth recording, so the old phone did come out of my pocket a few times. This was the tiny little cliff where Freya and I sat yesterday. It genuinely is tiny, because those green tufty things at the top are little shrubs, not big trees. If you imagine they're tall trees while you're gazing at the photo, it messes with your depth perception – try it, like a magic-eye picture!
Then there were no photos for ages because we were busy chatting (arguing), and I was trying to get James and Matthew to admit that they were happy to be outside because I could see that they were, but they were having none of it and made a concerted effort to act grumpy. I could see it was just habit though – a couple of times, I caught James accidentally smiling. It wasn't the view that caused this rare sign of happiness, no. I can't get them to admire a view at all. They think views are pointless and boring.
Boring! I ask you!
See, Matthew wasn't even looking at it. (That is a blue sheen you see in his hair – as soon as we realised they'd be off school for some weeks after Christmas, he asked for it to be blue, so I obliged.) But they came outside, walked around for nearly an hour and breathed in some fresh air, so I claim this as a win.
It was warm and dry enough to sit on the grass. I'm looking forward to sitting on the grass a lot over the next few months. My list of favourite things is really quite long, but sitting on the grass in the sun is on it, for sure.
After our sit, we started to head back to the car. But then I spotted this little mini-bay. It always brings me great joy to add in an extra loop when the boys think the walk is almost over – their groans of annoyance and despair are music to my ears, and I chuckle to myself in delight. 'Come on,' says I, joyfully, 'let's go down here and set Freya free for a few minutes!' That was a little easier said than done, with the path being no more than a gap in the rock, and Freya spotted the sea and the birds and nearly pulled to my death, despite her head collar. But we made it in the end, and James and Matthew trailed behind, also plotting my death, I think.
A few weeks ago, Freya wouldn't step in a puddle if I walked through one, and look at her now! Wahooooooooo! She absolutely loves the sea. She hasn't gone deep enough to swim yet, so that'll be fun when she does. She drinks quite a lot of seawater though, running along with her head down and her mouth open just under the surface. Gross. I think she had the best time of her life, ever, down here. She had the sea, she had her brothers, who she adores, and she had a tennis ball. All of her favourite things! She didn't know which of her favourite things to focus on – she spent a lot of energy running up the beach to James and Matthew, then back into the sea, then to me for the ball, and back into the sea. She said to me afterwards, 'Mum, that was brilliant, thanks so much! Can we come back another day?' Of course, I said that we could.
There she is, having just scrambled over those seaweed-covered rocks to reach her brothers and back again, and she's spotted the seagulls, which she's about to chase. Poor things.
Isn't it pretty here? I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wish this was my back garden.
A rare picture of James looking at Matthew without murder in his eyes. After throwing the ball into the sea for Freya a few times, they both admitted that they were having a nice time. They didn't admit it freely, I had to ask, but that's alright.
And then we had to climb back up out of this little bay, and, honestly, it was like that scene from
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where he's on that bridge and he
cuts the ropes, and then they're climbing up the cliff on the broken bridge, and there's that dude with the hotstones in his pockets. Crazy. But we survived.
Until tomorrow, hopefully, when I'll tell you about the walk I had with my dad last weekend.
Linda + James + Matthew + Freya
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