The End of Leave

When personnel return from work away from home, they are given a little leave time to reintegrate with the peeps they left behind.
Unfortunately, most people don't understand that there is a lot of adjusting to be done, so during my husband's 14 "free" days, we were bombarded with other people's expectations.

This past weekend as we were fielding phone calls and demands on our time, we looked at each other and said, "Enough".
We loaded the car, contacted a hotel (not easy to find a place during school holidays-- everyone books months in advance) and set off.
* and I actually did receive one "wrist slapping" call on my mobile from someone who thought I neglected church duties by taking off with my family, but that's for another post--or not.

We headed here:


I wanted to call everyone I know to say, "Can you believe this?! I am standing at Stonehenge!" "I am standing at the place where Hardy's Tess is arrested for murdering her husband!" (Ok, NO ONE in my family would even get that. They actually did things with their lives rather than sit in trees and read books all day).
We checked into our room and were very pleased with how clean and comfortable they were, but the tummies were growling.

We had a wonderful meal in a pub called The Boot Inn -- a place that serves dishes too big for even super hungry people to finish.

Oh, and in case you're under the impression that England is the home of bland, tasteless food-- think again. Everything from Indian to Chinese (and more) can become "Take away" as well as the more traditional meals of Bangers and mash, Yorkshire puddings, and fish and chips.

This gargantuan dish was Miss Ky's child-size serving of Spaghetti Carbonara.

The next morning after a traditional English Breakfast,
(heart attack on a plate, most things are fried--I love this country)
we left with one goal in mind (and had hopes, but no concrete plans, of reaching a second destination):

BEACH.
And it was beautifully sunny.

Take note people, THIS day was our summer and if you were in the wrong part of the country, you missed it.

We caught a Punch and Judy Show...



that the Hubby enjoyed very much.



After a full day of swimming in the sea and trying to keep sand off of our blankets (I have no idea why I do that),
we jumped in the car to reach the second destination.

Lulworth Cove.

On the way, we saw a castle and were very tempted to stop for the jousting show, but I did have my heart set on taking a picture of Durdle Door.

Kiddos at Durdle Door

You have to work to get there...




but the views are worth it. I didn't feel so bad clutching my heart as I climbed the hill when kids were laying down all around me.

I'm sitting here smirking as realization hits,
I've just done the 2009 equivalent of inviting you over to suffer through our 1950's vacation slide show.

Yikes.

Yes, there's more (we're only into day two!), but I need to go into the kitchen to make us up some snacks if we're going to sit in front of the screen all day....but first,

I did touch this:

and if ANYONE can guess correctly what significance it holds in my photo library, there may be some chocolate in it for you...

"One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."

I love summer holiday.