Our hearts swell with pride......

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all well out there and enjoying this good spell of weather.

Following on from our recent Part II of the blog update, thank you for joining us in this Part III Blog and phew there is lots to tell you about.

After having a wonderful weekend at The Rhodestock Gathering in Chepstow, we took the opportunity to head further down south and spend some time on the coast. Our dear friends Rob, Jo, Jack & Amy Sproston were staying in Devon so we decided to visit and share a couple of days of the holiday with them and have a good catch up. As well as having amazing weather, we enjoyed a great time travelling around and visiting lots of different places and meeting new friends too.

There are so many stunning places in the south and why would you go anywhere else when you have such amazing views and locations around the UK...when the weather is superb we have it made!!

During the week, we particularly enjoyed Salcombe where Phoebe enthusiastically began her hobby of crabbing with Jack and Amy. Here is Rob 'shownd'in' us how to get started!! That was it, they were quite literally hooked and Ade began to recall all of his younger days on holidays in Cricceth. Aaaah just to 'stop' for a while and sit on the harbour watching the boats come in and leave, periodically checking the net, tucking into our fish and chips in the early evening sunshine, it was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday, couldn't have wished for anything more!!







We stayed at a great site called www.parkersfarm.co.uk and can highly recommend it...just waking up to stunning views...oh and a lovely clean toilet block helps!!! Oh eck...did I just say that!! The Sprostons stayed at www.riverdart.co.uk - with so much to do on site for the kids you could stay there and not leave all week. Phoebe and I had a go on the Zip line, which was a little more scary than I last remember it, particularly taking that step off when you are a good 12ft up with Phoebe balancing on my knee...eeek!!....and of course Phoebe didn't care at all which made me feel more embarrassed!!!

Around our location of Ashburton, we found lots of quaint villages unspoilt by the mammoth sized retail parks popping up everywhere. It was a delight to see the community going about their business and seeing the locals popping into the shops and discussing local issues and folk. We came away wanting to see more of this and have more villages and towns regain their status as 'The Hub' of the community instead of having shops boarded up...however, we took the time to visit the shops, stopping for a little lunch, cappuccino's a plenty whilst Phoebe tucked into her delicious devon ice-cream.

Totnes was a particular favourite and worth a visit as well as Blackpool Sands being good for surfing and crabbing. On our tour of Devon we visited Teignmouth and took a drive down to Dartmouth, spending a relaxing afternoon in the harbour and meeting some lovely folk, ironically from Stoke...which never surprises us we're everywhere, along with another family who now live in Devon following their dream and relocating from Nottingham.

Phoebe is really confident mixing with new children and quite happily made friends and played by the harbour whilst Ade impressed the passing folk talking of his change of bait and crabbing prowess!!







As we spent the day with some locals they recommended us to visit a restaurant in town called Kendricks. (Apologies for image, unable to change direction for some reason!)
What a great restaurant, we called in early with the drive back to Ashburton and were thrilled, a superb choice of food on the menu along with a list to tempt you from the Special's board, reasonably priced and the staff couldn't do enough for us, can definitely recommend to go although advise to book in advance seeing the restaurant is regularly fully booked.

In our last update we talked about Phoebe starting school and I have to say she has done incredibly well, although I think the novelty has slightly worn off with the realisation of getting up early every other day and spending this time away from us.

Phoebe is really enjoying the plentiful activities and making new friends, she has settled in really well and we continue for the moment on three days as her second week in proved to be a little more tiring for her. She was awarded 'Star of the Week' and wore the little badge with great pride, making sure I had pinned it on right each day.

We were invited to stay for her school assembly this week and both Ade and I felt overwhelmed that we have actually got to this stage to see our girl stand up in front of the school with the head teacher. It left us speechless and knowing Ade and I that says something I guess!! After Phoebe's appearance in the Sentinel, Mrs Rouse asked Phoebe to stand at the front whilst she explained about Blood Donors. Phoebe was full of smiles and promptly smiled and began waving as she noticed us sitting at the back feeling tearful and incredibly proud, one of the many endearing moments we enjoy with Phoebe. As Mrs Rouse concludes and everyone begins to applaud, Phoebe takes a little bow as we can hear the echo's of 'aaah' around the hall!! Bless!!

So we start Phoebe's school life with much to look forward to and over the weekend enjoyed the first of Phoebe's School Summer Fayre's. We helped out in the morning setting stalls out whilst my dear friend Helen was putting the final touches to Macie and Phoebe's fancy dress of 'Doulton meets Bridgewater - Tea for Two', bless them, they won a prize and came second...superb!

All the children looked amazing and had a wonderful day bobbing about on the bouncy castle and slide, playing the game Hook the Ducks and having their faces painted whilst we mooched about buying and bringing home more than we had donated!!

This weekend had been the biggest wake-up call for Ade and I as we have come to realise how even more precious our weekends will become now that Phoebe has started school. So taking the opportunity to head off in the caravan again soon to see friends and look forward to enjoying some time with Phoebe in the summer holidays.

There have been lots of 'firsts' we call them recently and Phoebe finished this lovely weekend with her first sleep over. Macie came to stay and they had a great time...even their late nightime sleepover treat!! (milk and a biscuit!!). As you can imagine, our hearts are ready to burst with love and pride watching Phoebe enjoy life, there is nothing quite like it!!

So we end this update with a huge 'Thank You' to all our friends especially the Sprostons and Helen Latham and all our friends who have made us feel so welcome at school, it is very much appreciated xx

So...what's next.... Woohoo....The School Sports Day!!! Stay tuned!!

All our love, rest easy folks Lynn, Ade, Phoebe and Spirit Eleanor.