2014 Week 32 Day 4 – Three days ago, two of the children spent the night throwing up but recovered relatively quickly. Then, a day ago, Barnaby suddenly felt unwell when we were in the library getting more books for our holidays and threw up into the empty popcorn bag I quickly retrieved from the pram. The bag didn’t hold up too well though. Luckily, we won’t be going there again for a few weeks, so hopefully they will have forgotten that incident by then.

I started to feel a bit ropey myself and went to bed really early, rather than finish packing for our holiday as I had intended wanting to be ready for an early departure. In the morning, for a while, I felt a bit better and carried on organising, but then I had to go and lie down and wonder how I was going to manage 4 little children on my own on a 6 hour drive. Presently I got up again as I decided that perhaps it was easier having them belted up and secure in the van when I felt rough, than having to deal with them and their fighting on my own at home, in the holidays.

Where is Paul with all this going on I hear you ask? Well, though present, he was not really with us, as tomorrow he competes in an iron man for which he has been in training for months. An Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.

So, I was technically on my own and against Paul’s advice, I roused myself and got the van packed, the kids in their seats and set off up to the beautiful lake District. Once we arrived, Willow and I decided it had been worth it and I felt much better upon seeing the view from our balcony!

Willow decided to grab my phone to try to take a picture of her own
cheeky!We then made it out for a walk down to the village which, when you have such steep steps as these, actually only takes a few minutes (going down! Coming up took a tad longer with 10 tired legs) Later on, after a fish and chip supper, I admired the scenery again from my bedroom and I was pleased to see the children captivated by the view too.!!! Simply gorgeous.