Visitors!

Well, our lovely visitors left today, and A has gone to stay with her grandparents for the night, so I am all alone. After such a hectic week I am going to really enjoy a night completely to myself.

Our friends arrived on Tuesday, and the girls immediately hit it off, leaving me and D to catch up and chat, which was great. On Wednesday we all went to a drama workshop with the local HE group, which the kids seemed to enjoy. We've only been to a couple of these group events, and being very introverted I do find it really difficult, but it turned out well as some of us had lunch together afterwards so I had a chat with a few of the other parents. They are a friendly bunch.

I do worry sometimes about my lack of sociability, not so much for me (I'm quite happy with my own company, and have enough close friends to know I'm not a complete freak!) but for the effects on A. She is naturally quite sociable and fairly confident once she gets over the initial shyness, so I will have to make sure she gets enough opportunities to mix and socialise, which means I will have to get 'out there' too. Don't know why I find this such a struggle - its not that difficult for most people surely? I waver between thinking 'its just my nature - the way I am' and 'what the hell is wrong with me?!'

Thursday we had a nice long walk, ending up by the sea (see above photo), and A was back on stage with 'Revolting Rhymes' in the evening. Then Friday we went to an event organised by the local council - part of their summer activites programme - 'mythical stories and beach sculpture'. The sand dragon that the kids all worked on was fantastic, and kept them occupied for a good couple of hours. Friday evening our visitors went to see the final performance of RR, which went down very well. They are now off on their travels again, and hopefully me and A will get down to visit them next year (they have inspired us to do a bit of travelling in the spring if I can save some money up).

Next week should be a bit quieter, we have another HE group event, and will maybe catch up with some friends. And I really ought to be working on my OU essay and project (!)

We have had quite a busy time over the past week: visits to the Cairngorm Mountain centre and on the funicular railway, the Highland Aviation Museum (see the picture on the right), and the Culloden Visitors centre. Also a little family get-together with a barbecue yesterday, where I got to have a cuddle with my cousin's 14 week old baby boy. No, I'm not feeling broody at all - honest! (Not that there's much I could do about it if I was!!)

So, one lot of visitors go home tomorrow (my brother and his family), and another lot arrive! I have to admit - I have struggled a little bit this past week. I love my brother and his partner, and my nephews of course, but we are on such different wavelengths about most things. I feel a bit sad that there's not more of a connection between us, but I suppose life would be very boring if we all thought the same way.

Anyway, our new visitors are an old family friend I haven't seen since we were children, and her two daughters aged 10 and 12. A is very excited about sharing her room with two new friends, and I can't wait to catch up with their Mum - should be very interesting!

I love summer!!

Even though the weather hasn't been as good as it was last week, we were at the beach today with my brother and his family who arrived yesterday. We sat in the rain with towels over our heads for a while (the adults that is - the kids were oblivious to the weather and having lots of fun), and at one point we thought we heard thunder and were preparing to make a run for it, but it was worth it. The rain stopped and the sun eventually broke through, and I went swimming with A in the sea - fantastic!!

The flat is very quiet just now, as A insists on staying at Granny's while her cousins are there. They have such a lovely relationship, they only see each other twice a year usually, but when they are together they become completely emersed in their own little world.

It is just occuring to me that I have a very busy few weeks ahead of me, the day my brother leaves, some more visitors arrive to stay with me until the 16th, and I have an essay (which I haven't even started) for my OU course due on the 15th, not sure how thats going to work!?! A also has a few activities booked and a couple of overnight stays with her grandparents promised during that time, so its going to be a bit manic, but I'm sure it will all work out. Maybe I should be more concerned, but I just cant get stressed at the moment - its summer!!