The kids were out of school last week for half term break so we drove down to Cornwall and stayed in a cottage in Saltash near Plymouth. We were kind of centrally located to explore parts of Devon and Cornwall. Only one day was rainy, the rest were nice and sunny. Friday and Saturday were even warm enough to wear a t shirt with no jacket. We got lots of exercise out hiking around and exploring various places. The coast is pretty here, just wish it were hot enough to get in the water. The kids were pretty good but they are kids and aggravate each other and that can get annoying listening to it, it mostly occurred in the car. Sometimes I would really like a big van with a sound proof wall behind my seat. They also had a hard time getting to bed at a decent hour. At home they are in a room by themselves but on vacation they share and either play or bother one another instead of going to sleep. They seemed to enjoy the trip though. They liked exploring nature and climbing rocks and looking in tide pools and catching crabs etc. They loved the pool and water slide. Avery even did it several times and loved it. We went twice. We were pretty busy and pooped by the end of each day. We also saw two movies, Epic and All Stars. The kids liked them both very much. I thought they were fine, you know for kid movies.
Now I will have to go through my gazillion pictures and decide which ones to put on the blog. They are all on facebook. I still have not caught up on all my pictures from Germany. I better get to it before I feel way too behind.
We got home Saturday afternoon. Traffic was not great. England really should get better roads. It's seriously such a waste of time, takes you twice as long as it should to get anywhere. On our way there and back it was bad around Bristol. It seems like there is always construction or an accident or just too many cars on the road. We had a nice rest yesterday and now the kids are back in school and I am trying to clean, do laundry, cook, shopping, paperwork etc. So exciting huh?
I was actually excited today that my cricut cartridges I ordered over a month ago finally came in the mail. I've been into using the cricut lately to make things like cards and stuff. I also ordered some books for the kids and they are happy to have them. Lidia especially has been waiting for Cornelia Funke's latest book Fearless.
Usually packages come within two weeks or so but something went wrong with this one. I hope Tristan's birthday present comes on time. I just realized it's coming soon and ordered something today. I can't believe he is turning 11 this month. That means next year he will turn 12 and be a deacon passing the sacrament at church. Unbelievable! I've got to buy him new school uniforms this summer for him to wear to senior school next year. My little ones aren't so little anymore.
Lidia is doing better with her riding lessons. She is learning to be more assertive. Her teacher is a bit rough around the edges I guess you could say. She says just what she thinks, nice or not. However, she knows her stuff and is trying to teach proper riding. Some of my most strict teachers were the best. I hope that's how this works out. It makes me think that the people in the states were not doing a good job though.
Lidia and Aiden have end of year exams next week. Here they call studying revision. She had lots of revision to do so she brought her school bag in the car on our trip. I guess May half term is supposed to be a study time for older kids. I didn't know that. You can't exactly cram everything in the week before exams anyway. It should just be review. I hope they do all right. Tristan already had his testing. He has improved a great deal this year but is still behind the other kids his age. He will have to get tutoring next year like Lidia instead of taking French. Because of his entrance exam scores they are requiring me to have him tested to see if he has any learning disabilities and to see what his strengths and weaknesses are so they can better help him next year. I tell ya, I don't get an easy go round with any of my kids and their schooling. I try not to stress about it. What will be will be. I know they are smart, maybe just not totally interested in some things schools want them to know. Tristan's teacher says he has made twice the progress of an average student this year and that she sees he is very bright but he was just very behind. She also gave me some helpful insight as to what methods she has found to be successful when working with him. She said he is particularly good in science, above average. I think Tristan also doesn't test well. He rushes through things. There have been several times that I have sat down with him and made him retake a test slowly and carefully and his score more than doubled. I think he has gotten better about that this year but I don't really know because they don't send home papers here like they do in the US.
I took my car to have it valeted today. It was so dirty from the trip. I love that I can have it completely cleaned inside and out for 16 pounds. Well worth it. Too bad washing it doesn't remove all the scratches on the side of my car from scrubbing up against bushes on narrow roads in Dartmoor. Cory drove over into the bushes trying to let someone pass. We should have let her move. There wasn't a wide spot behind us but after she passed we saw that there was a wide spot she could have easily backed up into to let us pass and then our car would not have gotten all scratched up. grrr
