AUGUST 2007
So, the big job for this month is decorating Callum’s bedroom.
We let Callum choose his own theme for his bedroom. He chose ‘Disney Cars’. It was a real family effort. My Dad stripped the walls and got them ready for papering. My Mum and Shaun wallpapered; I did the border and the all important shopping to get everything (I get all the hard jobs! Heehee). Shaun and I built the furniture. We got it just about finished by the time we went to Wales, which was good timing as we will be able to move Callum in to his new room as soon as we get back from Wales.
Callum enjoyed watching Grandma pasting the wallpaper, in fact, he enjoyed it a little too much. I went upstairs to see if my Mum needed any help or a cuppa. As I got to the upstairs landing, I could smell something really nice but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. I went in to talk to my Mum and was surprised to see that Callum was not with her, my Mum was equally surprised to hear that Callum had not been downstairs with me. At that moment I recognised the smell on the landing…. Baby lotion. I went into our bedroom to find Callum busily ‘pasting’ his mattress with the contents of a large bottle of Johnson’s Baby Lotion!!! It smelt lovely, but the large pink stain on his mattress wasn’t quite so pleasing! We couldn’t be angry though, it’s not like him to be so destructive, plus he thought he was just being like Grandma.
Callum is kind of settling in, but he does keep asking why we had to move. We try telling him we needed more space, and we point out how his new bedroom will be big enough for two beds, but he is pining for the familiarity of our old house.
We kept Callum’s spirits high though by talking about his ‘Lightening McQueen/Cars’ bedroom and also by taking about how we will be at the cottage in Wales again soon. Buying him his first ‘real’ bike helped too!
So, eventually the day came where we set off on our hols. This year we were all at Glyntawel again as Annis and David kindly let us have use of their ‘annex’ property again, just like they did the first year we went. This time it was be me, Shaun and Callum in the annex while Andrew, Luke and my Mum and Dad went in the main Cottage.
Straight away the kids settled in. They really love the place. The sad fact though is that I think we are all getting to the stage where, as much as we love the place, we know that there are more places to experience. I don’t think we will be here next year… so I’m extra glad that we chose to come for two full weeks rather than the usual one.
With more time to explore our surroundings, we travelled further a field this time, with trips out to Tenby and other places. We still visited some of the kid’s favourites though… like the two farms.
Callum had been really looking forward to going back to Shires farm to ride Duke, the Shire horse he had been allowed to ride last year. The young lad in charge of the horse rides was a little dubious about letting Callum on with him only being 3, but we explained that he had ridden Duke the previous year and that the owner of the farm had said it was ok as long as one of us walked at the side to take responsibility should he slip. Callum was so proud to be up on Duke again… to be honest though, it was Max, not Duke, but they both look so similar. It wasn’t worth breaking his heart by letting him know Duke wasn’t doing the rides that day, so we have left him believing that he rode Duke again… sometime little white lies are ok!
With having the extra time this year we managed to make some time for fishing on their lake. It was wonderfully relaxing! Callum showed a small amount of interest, but Luke got quite into it. It was lovely having some time with just me, Shaun and Luke. We had a good laugh as I proved (for one day only!) that I could catch fish better than Shaun!
I secretly planned a treasure hunt around the gardens/land belonging to Annis and David. A letter was left for Luke and Callum to find… telling them to get their Dads and follow the clues. I had bought gifts for Luke and Callum and hidden them at the end of the trail. The hunt took them all around the land (apart from around the lake) and there were about 7 or 8 clues. I didn’t want to make it too long in case we only got chance to do it at the end of a long day.
As it turns out though, we had a day playing rounder’s on the field so I took the opportunity of running round secretly placing the clues. Everyone loved it! I wish it had been longer now. Luke and Callum wanted me to do another one, but, unfortunately, it turned out that we never got chance.
As the month ended we only had a couple of days left of our hols.
‘Til next time,
Amanda xXx
