Anyway, everything seemed perfect! We went to Fort William for the weekend of 24/25 May and stayed with my family. Anna (who my dad is engaged to) was there as well, so Abigail & Benjamin got to meet her for the first time, which was nice - and they liked her too! :) Then early on Monday (26 May) we headed south to England, where we stayed in Sowerby Bridge (Yorkshire). On Tuesday we decided to go to the National Railway Museum in York (great fun for Abigail especially!). Then on Wednesday we were planning to go see friends in Barnoldswick. We headed off in good time but only got as far as Halifax (the next town/city over) before we realised the car's speedometer wasn't working, and then the power steering failed briefly! We tried in vain to find a Fiat dealer (or authorised repairer) there locally but eventually located one in a town that was en route to Barnoldswick and they said they could look at it later that afternoon. So we went for lunch as planned with friends and then afterwards the children and I stayed at their house while Peter took the car to the dealer and got a hire car from Enterprise etc. He was gone for several hours and only got back barely in time to go to our other friends' house for dinner! We thought the car would be ready the next day (only needing a speed sensor and new battery), however it turned out the part didn't come in on Thursday and when we eventually went for it on Friday (the day we were leaving the area to go stay in a different town) we were told they hadn't a clue what the problem was - still not working after the new parts were installed! So Friday was spent (many hours sitting in the car, which was crammed with all our bags, etc!) waiting for the RAC (breakdown recovery) to come (after we'd taken our car from the dealer) and they eventually picked it up & towed it back to Scotland, and we had to continue our holiday with the hire car. It wouldn't be so bad except that I'm only a "learner" driver here in the UK and I can't drive a hire car - so all the driving was left to Peter! (In the end, after we got back this week - our local dealer was able to fix the car - only a broken wire - but took them 3 hours to locate it!) Anyway, after the car was sorted (late afternoon) we headed for our final destination - Reeth - a most beautiful place! :) And it's extra special since we stayed just outside of Reeth on our honeymoon! ;-) So it was nice to be back there again. The house was lovely & cosy - very welcoming - (a nice change from the previous place we were at, which really needed a face lift and some dusting!). We managed to get something to cook for dinner in the tiny local shop before they closed and so had a meal before it got too late! It is so nice & peaceful there (as you'll see in the photos to follow below). On Saturday we spent the first part of the day in Richmond though Peter started feeling unwell in the afternoon and ended up sleeping when we got back, but seemed to recover fairly by evening. We spent the Lord's day with the Mohons and were at church with them in Stockton. It was lovely and encouraging to see everyone again and enjoy their fellowship. Peter started feeling unwell again in the evening and was getting a bit of chills/fever etc. However, the next morning we headed off (tho he was in bed late & I had all the packing to do etc) - I knew it was going to be a difficult day since he had to do all the driving back to Scotland while he wasn't well. We got home at 11pm - a long day, though it seemed to go smoothly.
As I said in the beginning, we thought we could use a break after getting run down with colds/viruses. However, as it turns out, we all came home with something else! :( Abigail's had a tummy bug - vomitting several times (once at 2am in her bed, which was an awful mess and traumatic for her!). Benjamin is full of a cold (tho thankfully not as chesty as the one he had before we left which went to an infection). I've had a cold as well, though have been thankful I was well enough to look after everyone else! Especially as Peter was rather seriously ill - it turns out he obviously had some sort of urinary infection, though we thought it was just some sort of ordinary virus at first. He kept having fever, severe sweating, chills, and just being generally exhausted ever since we got home, and getting worse rather than better. He'd been in bed most of the time as well. By yesterday (Thursday) morning he was looking pretty bad - and it became even more clear when he fainted!! I managed to catch his head and hold him up until he came round again (about 90 sec prob). It was rather scary and I wasn't sure what to do should I need to run get water or something to make him wake up - especially as he was sitting on the edge of his computer chair without anything behind his back, and worse still, was inside a "baby cage" (the gate enclosure we have around his computer to keep Benjamin out of it!). Thankfully he woke up and cooled down. I took him to the doctors shortly there after and they've given him a course of antibiotics (yes, I think that's all doctors are good for!). However, they're obviously working and he's out of bed today and looking nearly normal again - so yay! :) Now I just hope the children are about recovered as well. Nearly 6 weeks of illnesses (with only a very few days of semi-wellness) is rather heavy going!
....Phew! Well done if you've managed to get through reading the above introduction/rambling about our holiday!
In Fort William before we headed further south - Benjamin learning to skateboard!!! He looked so natural on it - I don't think anyone told him what to do - he just did it!
Just arriving at the National Railway Museum in York - you can see excitement in Abigail's eyes as she points to trains! :) BTW, the museum is the largest of its kind in the world and is totally free!! It's huge and you could spend all day there and still not really see everything!
Benjamin also enjoying it - pointing to something interesting, obviously!
Trains
Taking big steps as he runs across the museum - I think he looks rather grown up for a mere 14 month old!
Me & the children (tho I look pretty awful in this photo - I think I was rather tired by this point)
The Wheel in York (by the museum) though we didn't go on it
Benjamin & Abigail waiting in the car when we first realised it had problems, while Peter went to try and find out where the Fiat dealer was
Wakefield Cathedral, dating from the 14th & 15th centuries, if I remember correctly
Wakefield Cathedral again
Benjamin & Abigail again - looking rather hot and tired - it was very warm the afternoon we walked round Wakefield
2 comments:
was so glad to see that you updated your blog. and i loved the photos. sounds like you all had a rather interesting holiday!!! i hope you're all getting better. i can't imagine everyone being ill for so long. would be terribly exhausting. :( love you lots, lee
Hey Rach! Hope y'all are all feeling better. I just wanted to say that Benjamin is growing up majorly. He's soo big compared to what he was when we saw him! (Even though he was big then too!)
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