My one wish for Mother’s Day was to watch the sunset on the beach with the kids. We had the usual Mother’s Day morning- a chaotic breakfast and lost Mother’s Day cards (it was Izzy’s turn to lose hers this time). Then Dave went into work while I caught up on the weekend’s laundry (we had been away Friday night) and school chores with the kids. It was then time to visit family, first Dave’s mum, Granny and then Great Granny. My mum was away but we had a lovely meal with her Friday night and will go on a nice day out together soon.
At Granny’s, as well as us treating Granny, Grampy and the kids also presented me with a bunch of daffodils from the garden, which was very thoughtful. At Great Granny’s, Izzy kept bringing in fallen petals from the garden (as well as empty snail shells and pennysows (sorry woodlice) as kids often do!). Great Granny arranged these into a flower. Pleased with their natural craft work, they took a photo of the finished flowers. Izzy then wrote “Granny” in stones in the garden which was also photographed to keep.
We had such fun with family that by the time we left and started driving west, the sky already had the orange sunset glow. Thinking we would completely miss it, I very nearly just drove home but we decided to go for the drive anyway. Although we live “up the hill” from the beach, our local beach faces South, so we headed to West Dale to get a better view. Realising the beach could well be be in darkness by the time we arrived, I decided to appreciate the beautiful fiery sky and magical light as we made our way to Dale.
We arrived and the sun was already hidden behind the rocks but we decided to make the most of the last light of the day and headed down towards the beach reminding the kids that it would be dark by the time we made our way back up.
As we walked to the sea, we passed cows in the field and bats flew above our heads, brushing past us on occasion.
We sat on the bench for a while watching them fly in and out of their caves.
By some miracle (and a lot of persistence on my part) I managed to get a photo of me and the kids all together on Mother’s Day.
The kids then sat on the rocks and watched the bats again, as the day quickly disappeared into night.
My (unsuccessful attempts) at capturing photographs of the bats. They were too fast for me but they did make it into the video below.
The bats all seemed to come and say goodbye as we made our way carefully up the steps in the dark (thank goodness for mobile phones!).
As we began our drive home I reminded the kids to keep an eye out for wildlife as we often see rabbits, mice, foxes and pheasants on these county roads. Just as I finished my sentence, lo and behold, a badger came across the road (no time for a photo sorry!). It made my day!
We went back home for a takeaway for all and bubbly for the adults. Isabelle’s lost Mother’s Day card was found. The day hadn’t turned out exactly as planned but seemed a great analogy for my experience of motherhood so far.
Since having kids I’m always late for everything, there’s always an uphill struggle, I often feel like I’m trying to find my way in the dark, things never turn out exactly as I plan them in my head but there’s always beauty to be found in the journey and unexpected surprises along the way and overall I love the experience…
Amazing photos and great way to spend time with the family