In my ‘committed spinster with a cat and (slightly out of control) crochet habit’ days my weekends consisted of…well, crochet; usually with the company of Norman cat, late night TV or Radio 4, lunch at Mum and Dad’s with my sisters on Sundays, and in the latter years the occasionally epic bike ride.

It turns out that when you have a cat, a (more in control) crochet habit, a puppy (2.5 years old, but he has the energy of a pup), two step sons , and a husband who likes an adventure, weekends become entirely different creatures.

Since I last posted we have attempted and loved campervan-ing (an attempt to get me loving adventuring while recognising that I’d rather eat my own eyeballs than go camping in a tent again).  We (Me, Mr R and Percy) used the first May bank holiday to hire a van to explore Norfolk and it turned out that I can manage a whole night without a wee when the option is traipsing across a field in the dark to the toilets, and that when you can close actual doors so you don’t turn into an icicle as soon as the sun goes down, I really rather enjoy it.

And then we had the next bank holiday where in order to fulfil my auntie sleepover duties and get enough space in the house for Little Pea and Little Wisp, I sent Mr R and the two smaller R’s off on a camping trip in the tent that I wont ever set foot in again.

It turns out that you can do all sorts with small people – we had a coronation party with food of their choice, we did making-ness, played on the gym equipment in the garage, went to the playground many times, did a snail hunt and we even went to the circus…it turns out you can do all the things but the thing they loved the most was hunting for newts in the pond.  Obviously. So much so they decided to adopt one each (leaving them in my pond but retaining parental rights), and created certificates to prove it.

We did have a terrible few minutes when one newt was picked out the pond by a crow, dropped and discovered dead.  There were a few tears over the sadness of the situation and then Destiny (posthumously named entirely inappropriately) was given a water burial and promptly forgotten about.

So that was two out of three May bank holidays well spent.  We got a taste for using them to their full potential so thought we’d go away this next one too.  Only we’ve not been as organised with hiring a van, so folks, it seems I might be snacking on my eyeballs in two weeks…in a tent.  Oh yay.

:o)