Podding & Walking

Night sky over Meadow Falls

We have been looking forward to Friday night for a while as we were due to go podding - sleepover night in the Pods at Meadow Falls campsite - the campsite run by the Holman's (their daughter, Annabel is in Tom's class).  It didn't start well as Tom was sick in bed on Wednesday, meaning he had to take Thursday and Friday off.   Luckily he wasn't ill with it - I think he drank too much water in the swimming pool!  Anyway, he wasn't quite himself on Thursday - mainly because he was missing school and feeling sorry for himself, but he was fine on Friday and went on a trainspotting adventure with Matt for the day.

I stayed behind, finished off some cake stuff and then packed for our night of podding.  You would think we were going away for a week, the amount of stuff we had, but I guess when you have to include bedding etc, it is always bulky.

The girlies

We arrived at the campsite first, (well we didn't need to pick Tom up from school) and got settled in the pod - they provide a futon, fridge, kettle, curtains and heater and there are electric points, meaning that really it is very comfortable.  Once sorted, Tom hooked up with Annabel and Owen (her older brother) and they were gone playing.  About an hour later everyone else turned up (The Ellershaws, Cronshaws and Dawsons), that was it - all the children were playing, so the adults went to the Holman's very comfortable cabin and cracked open the fizz, wine, beer etc.   It was a very very sociable night.

Lovely clear evening

Children eating on the deck

The kids played and played and played until their tea was ready (hot dogs followed by smores) and then went off playing again whilst we had our tea (curry, chilli, rice, jacket potatoes followed by banoffee pie) All the food was amazing and I ate for England - more than I have ate since before the op.  Once we had finished up, the smaller children were getting tired, so we headed down to the pods, lit a fire pit  and drank and continued eating whilst the smaller children went to bed and the older ones continued playing (they were mining and finding fossils by torchlight!).

Autumn colours in Barbon

Unfortunately at this point my tummy went into overdrive!  I felt more and more unwell, until in the end I went to the toilet block to try to do something about it.  Nothing happened, but I knew I was going to be ill, so I went back to the fire pit and told Matt about my predicament.  We decided it would be better for me to go home than to stay, so I headed back.  I didn't make it in time and ended up leaving a little present just outside Rob's yard!  Oh well, better out than in.  I think it was a case of too much rich food: the curry was full of cream, the banoffee pie full of caramel and it overloaded my system which is used to lots of veggies and small amounts of protein!  Oh well, I got home and had a very restless night tossing and turning in bed.


Matt and Tom, however, had a great night in the pod, the kids slept until 8am, had breakfast and then packed up and came home.  Tom then, of course, had Craven Wanderers.  Considering he was down on sleep he did really really well.  We didn't have much planned for the rest of the day, assuming we would all be down on sleep, so stayed in and watched a video.  Tom, of course, didn't show any signs of tiredness, however, both Matt and I were glad of a quiet afternoon.

Anyway, excepting my tummy we had a ball, we have all agreed to do it again when it is warmer - but pay next time - Liz provided everything free of charge.

With the Bickerstaffs

Sunday, we didn't have much planned.  The morning was foul: grey and rainy so Tom and I sat down to do a Cauliflower Card design.  Believe it or not we managed it without too much stress and it looked ok - a result as doing craft with Tom normally ends with me loosing patience with him!  After lunch in Country Harvest (yes we are middle aged!) we headed out to Barbon Beck with the Bickerstaffs for the walk past the magic chocolate tree back to Barbon village - a pint in the pub and back again.  It was a lovely afternoon, the kids were all good, it was nice to spend some time with them all.  Seth immediately concluded that it was Matt that loaded the magic chocolate tree with chocolate (he's the youngest of the three!), Tom and Jack didn't think about it, they were just happy to get some chocolate.    Anyway, it was a lovely autumn walk in the woods with lovely people.