Happy Easter

Hello again, nice to be home, how soon we slip back into old routines;-)

The picture above is the view from Bamburgh Castle on Sunday last week.A glorious sunny day,although very windy and cold we had a great walk around and marvelled at the courage of the surfers!!!

We travelled over on the Saturday and broke the journey by stopping off at The Roman Museum near Vindolanda.Milly is interested in the Romans but obviously not in a museum setting!!! Went round it at break neck speed stopping briefly to get a closer look at the one or two things that interested her.She is most definitely a whole picture kind of gal and doesn't need to investigate the minutia....I am making a joke but it did irritate me at the time and I had to take lot's of deep breaths and stop making comparisons and accept that she just isn't into a museum setting.It is no real surprise, she has always raced around places, Aquariums,Zoo's whatever, that is her way.

The caravan was lovely and warm and clean and the site provided Alan and Emily with lot's of area's to explore.We have been to the site a few times but have not had the time or weather to go adventuring but on this occasion most day's were bright and dry.They found a rocky outcrop Emily named Pets Peak and we had to salute every time we passed in the car. We spent the first night with me and Em in the double and Al in the single room but then we decided to move the mattresses into the living room on a night and watched a DVD and then all snuggled down to sleep.

Sunday afternoon saw us at Bamburgh Castle.Milly enjoyed the outside even though she said she was scared of heights but the interior was another whistle stop tour,except the gift shop obviously!!!











Monday we went to Seahouses.We had hoped to go on a boat trip but alas the weather was very much against us.It was still a great afternoon out and a lovely fish and chip lunch rounded things off nicely....









On a cold but bright Tuesday we visited Beamish outdoor Museum and after a shaky start(Milly tired and not really interested and wanting to go back to the caravan) we got into it and had a great time.Each section had a guide in costume and some of them told great stories about life in the 1800's and that made all the difference.We especially enjoyed the mining village.Amongst other things we went down a mine shaft,we only went a couple of hundred yards down but had to bend over double down a dark cold tunnel which was dripping water and then when we got to the "coal face" I was able to sit on a seat near the guide and Emily was able to sit on my knee, Alan had to hunch down, the guy had been a miner for 21 years and he was a great guide and told us about his time in the mines.I had to control my feeling of claustrophobia and was glad to get back out,Emily enjoyed it and would have quite gladly stayed down longer..We also spent a lot of time in the school, sitting at the desks and Emily enjoyed looking at the posters they had up which included a detailed drawing of the scabies mite,obviously of great importance as her best friend had recently had them.We travelled around the site on a tram, a bus, and had a ride on a steam engine.
These pictures were all taken in the farm area.

Flat Stanley had come away with us and this horse took quite a liking to him.



This is not a very good shot but this pig loved having it's ears rubbed and barked like a dog!!!I do love pigs I think I could enjoy raising some one day...


Milly took this one.


Milly found things really hard and missed her pets and home dreadfully,she mentioned it time and time again from the minute we set off from home and we were understanding and caring and listened to her express how she felt and tried to take her mind off things.After 4 day's I am afraid I lost the ability to empathise.We got back from the day out and all she could do was moan and go on and on about how soon we would be going home, I tried to take her mind of it and asked her to play a game with us but she wasn't interested in any of the things I had taken.I explained that we understood and we wanted her to be able to tell us how she felt but that she was being selfish in her attitude and was making our break away very unpleasant by moaning all the time. I regretted it the minute the words were out of my mouth, what good was it going to do to make her feel guilty? I was so fed up and at the end of my tether.We talked it through and I think the reason she was finding things even harder than on other holidays was because she was still very much under the weather and hadn't really had time to shake off the bug she had before coming away. We had kept our outings short so as not to overtire her but today had been a full day due to the travelling.Knowing the likely cause didn't make it any easier to bear.....

Onto Alnwick Gardens on the Wednesday after a look around Alnwick and a nice pub lunch.We go each time we visit the area and it never disappoints.The Tree house was great fun and we have vowed to go back in the summer to see the gardens in full bloom as we have only ever been in spring or autumn.

It was hard to deal with Emily's negativity and it was not the easiest or most relaxing break we have ever had but all in all we had a good time.We were lucky with the weather and it only rained on the journey there and back or overnight. Although Emily's homesickness was quite extreme now she is home she has forgotten all that and has been saying she wished she was back in Northumberland in the caravan, as it is snowing over that side!!!!