Second week of Summer Holidays & beautiful realisations

It is the second week of the summer holidays and I am joining in for my second week of Donna’s Living Arrows. 

The project originally took its name from a poem by Kahlil Gibran, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth” and every Monday we share a moment from our week and invite others to do the same as part of this linky.

We’ve had another lovely week of the summer holidays. We visited a canal we live near and had a long walk around it and into town. It was a new route and we’d never walked there before so it was lovely to explore somewhere new. In town the kids had fun at soft play and then a little cafe lunch. And then the long walk back to the car and a play at the park. It was a lovely simple day. 

I’m enjoying these summer holidays so much. It’s so lovely for the kids the good weather and days out and even days at home are equally lovely. We’ve had a nice mix so far of all different kind of days and I think those are the best summers. Ones where you have home days and as much days out as you can too. I think the key is to try have a nice balance and just enjoy the slower pace and everything else the summer may bring. 

This week of the summer holidays just gone we’ve seen some friends and family, we’ve been to the park and a nearby lake. We’ve taken the bikes out and we are making a trip to Cheshire Bewilderwood which we are all really excited for. We’ve only been to the Norfolk one before so it will be lovely to go to the Cheshire one. I think the children will have a really lovely time. 

Its genuinely been so lovely to have some family time the five of us over the weekend, even though this weekend just gone it was only for Sunday as Dan worked Saturday, so Sunday was extra lovely and luckily the day felt like it lasted so long and we did so much. A day trip, a tip run, sorted some bits at home, and out for lunch.

Over the summer holidays some our friends have booked a week here in Wales so it’s been so extra lovely to see them and their children. 

We also have some of our other friends coming to visit in a weeks time. It really means so much to us those friends of ours who come up and stay and spend time with us. It really means a lot. I’m always so grateful that we are only just 4 hours away from our old home and friendships because it’s easy enough to make that journey for a quick visit. It really softens the move so much just knowing we can visit or they can visit if we want. The relationships we have in life are really so truly valuable and ones I do treasure. 

It’s early 6am on a Thursday and I have my bedroom windows open it’s so bright outside I love these summer mornings when the light streams in your windows. These moments I am so grateful for. To wake up and to have another day. 

I always try to cultivate gratefulness into all of my life it makes everyday and moment worth so much more. Life is beautiful if we make it so. 

Everything is a choice and I promised myself that I would give the children a really lovely summer and enjoy it myself too. I went to my first Pilates class the other night. I’ve wanted to start the gym or some regular classes since we moved here a year ago but I was building up my confidence and getting to know the area. Not knowing anyone is always a little daunting but I’m definitely growing to love where we live more and more. The more I get to know the local roads and what I have around me the more comfortable and confident I feel. The people here are just so friendly and so open it’s really lovely and not something I’m used to coming from Kent people tend to keep to themselves a lot more. I’m getting used to the cashier making conversations with me and the gentlemen at the post office asking about my life as I hand my letters over. It’s funny isn’t it getting used to a new way of life, giving up everything you know, your comfort blanket your safety net and just making a go of something new. 

I would love to say it’s been easy and a breeze but it hasn’t. Growing into a new life and leaving a former life behind has its challenges and for me they were emotional ones. I struggled this last year throughout, many times. There is something so empowering about newness about doing something completely different in your life. It’s given me a deeper inner strength I don’t think I had before. It’s taught me so much about myself. I’ve got to know me and rely on me a lot more then I ever have had to over this last year. Just learning to be there for yourself through moments of sadness and hurt is really something powerful. And at the same time telling yourself it’s okay to feel, it’s okay to find this hard. And the reminder that hard times always pass. Life is never ever stagnant. 

I think the key is to embrace hold onto and enjoy every moment when you are feeling at your best. 

I wasn’t expecting to tell you about this last year I’ve had but in short that’s how it’s been. Ups and downs. I think it goes hand in hand. I don’t want to paint a perfect picture. Yes I love sharing all the beautiful parts of my life and yes moving has been the absolute best decision we have made for our family. But it doesn’t mean that it all goes perfectly. Along the way there are things to deal with and emotions to feel. And this is perfectly normal and okay and part of life. 

So I will absolutely always celebrate my joy with my family and hold a grateful heart because being here where we are today has not come with a click of the fingers… there has been life that has existed in the process. It truly is the trials you are faced with that show your strength and give you resilience to whatever it is life brings your way. 

Genuinely looking forward to the rest of the summer holidays nearly onto week four come next week and I cannot believe how quickly it is going. Soon we will be off to buy all their school bits, uniforms and stationary. I’m in shock that it will be Arthur’s last year of preschool this September. Thinking about it slightly breaks my heart. My littlest and last baby off to big school next year, I really can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s even begun to sink in yet. But we embrace and we move he’s absolutely thriving at his news preschool here and I couldn’t be happier. 

I hope you all have a beautiful week. I leave you with lots of positive vibes, until next week when I join in with Donna’s linky again.