Holiday!

This week was a rarity as both Gareth and I had the week off.  Due to the nature of Gareth's job, we don't often get time off together, so an entire week was brilliant!  It was Gareth's birthday too, and I was so glad that he was able to have the whole week off for it, since he works crazy hours and deserved the break.

 We visited my sister early in the week.  We don't see my sister's family nearly enough, so it was nice catching up with them.  Unfortunately, my brother-in-law was at work, and my nephew and one of my nieces were at school, so we only saw my sister and youngest niece.  I'm glad we were able to see them before LP was born, as I wanted to show off my bump to my sister!  However, LP (who is usually very active) was being boring and wasn't moving about very much, so my sister didn't get to feel the baby move.  I'm hoping we get to meet up again soon when LP isn't in such a contrary mood.  My sister also kindly lent me a lot of baby stuff.  With all the baby things around the house now, reality is definitely sinking in.

Mid-week we took the dogs to Weston-Super-Mare.  It's been about 3 years since we'd been to the beach, and Tangent in particular was very happy about the change of scene.  We were somewhat spoilt when we lived in Aberdeen, as our flat was just a 10 minute walk away from the beach.  Luckily, it was out of season so the dogs had free reign of the whole beach.  We strolled about for a couple of hours and shared a portion of fish and chips.  Gareth went off to explore the peer whilst I played with the dogs along the water edge, and promptly lost the frisbee to the sea as neither dogs were keen on wading beyond their knees to get it.  Wusses. 

 The peer

Gareth looking pensive.  Originally

Tangent was sat by his feet looking 

out to sea too, but he moved out of 

frame when I took the photo   

J'accuse!

 I didn't realise how much I missed 

the beach.  I took it for granted how

close we lived to one in Scotland

 

Willow waiting for the frisbee to be thrown. 

However, by this time said frisbee was slowly being

dragged out to sea

 

Tangent amongst an array of lugworm burrows

 

 

Gareth and I went to the Lido to round off the week.  We opted for a package that included lunch (with a glass of champagne for Gareth), full use of the facilities (outdoor heated pool, sauna and hot tub) and a spa treatment.  I currently can't use saunas and hot tubs as the excess heat isn't good for foetuses - essentially turning your body into a boil-in-the-bag baby unit.  Unfortunately I couldn't use the pool either as I have expanded out of my swimsuit beyond social decency.  It stretches around my bump, but I think people would object to the amount of side-boob action going on.  I wasn't about to pay out for a maternity swimsuit for the sake of one day either (my local pool is an hour away by two buses, so swimming isn't a realistic pregnancy exercise option either).  However, I thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing read by the pool whilst Gareth went for a swim etc.

Our spa treatments were completely opposing, with Gareth opting for a rigorous Hawaiian Lomi lomi, and me a pregnancy massage.  There was a bit of confusion at first as they initially had Gareth signed up for the pregnancy massage!

We also had several lazy days interspersed in our week, so all in all an excellent break!