I haven't been around for the past couple of weeks because I have been busy planning and recovering from my husband's 40 th birthday party. 24 of us (12 adults and 10 children) went away together to a youth hostel in the Peak District. Luckily we had the whole building to ourselves as we are a noisy bunch!
On Friday night, we had some amazing home made curries and beer. There were 4 children sleeping in our room (eventually, after much leaping around and late night chatting), but unfortunately, the little one woke everyone up at 6am, so we were all a bit frazzled!
Eventually, we rounded everyone up and made our way to the Treak Cliff Cavern, where we saw how they mine BlueJohn stone and thousands of stalactites. The man who did the guided tour was very funny and a wee bit bonkers, so that was certainly an experience. Then my husband took the kids mountain biking whilst I had a little rest in the pub and a nose around Castleton Village.
Image:tripadvisor.co.uk
On the Saturday night, we had a meal at the YHA, which was very cheap but sadly not the greatest meal I've eaten. We finished it off with an amazing chocolate Chewbacca cake. He was absolutely awesome, the top bit was a giant chocolate rice crispie cake. It was made by my friend Jess, who runs a cake business called piccolina cakes.
Then we went back to the hostel, changed the kids into their pyjamas, gave them a glowstick each, put the disco ball on and then had a party. The kids learned how to DJ on our decks and made a runway/ stage out of all the benches in the kitchen.
On Sunday morning, we made breakfast together and a packed lunch, ate the Chewbacca cake with lots of cups of tea and finished off our weekend with a walk up Mam Tor. We used to do lots of hillwalking as a couple and it felt wonderful to share this with the kids. Our eldest really enjoyed herself and is proving to be quite an adventurer. Her idol is Helen Skelton from Blue Peter, "because she faces her fears".
Image:geograph.org.uk
See that bit at the top? We were up there!
I've to to say though, since we've come home I have been so shattered and cried most days out of exhaustion. I am so not able to party into the night as I used to, I wonder if I will ever be able to stay up late, or if it's just having young children?
So apart from a few hours of work on Saturday morning, I planned on doing absolutely nothing this weekend!
It didnt quite work out that way though, with more mountain biking, lots of saucepan drumming, high pitched screeching, kitchen dancing and general craziness going on.
We did manage to sit down last night to watch "Castle in the sky" by Studio Ghibli. It was aimed at a slightly older audience than the other films we have watched. I have to say, I prefer the cuter ones...
Hope you had a good weekend. I am just about to go and finish off a large bowl of apple and blackberry crumble before doing the school run...
