…I wanted to do something for me and mine….so excuse this post and it’s length …..skip it if you like… I won’t mind

you see .. there are things that happen in your life that need marking… need remembering… noted in some way to be savoured for their specialness

this is one of those things

it will mean nothing to most… and everything to some

“For My Family”

Every May… the excitement builds as we all pack and prepare for THE event of the year … OUR family Bank Holiday weekend in Wales

Bags are crammed into boots… kids are squeezed in between dogs… Car doors slam… engines start and then the race is on the get there as fast as we are allowed

14 plus of us … all rammed to the rafters in a huge house right on the biggest most deserted beach around… our very own private heaven…

This has been a tradition for as long as I have been a part of this amazing group of people I am blessed enough to call my family…

it has grown over the years… our little list of things we do

egg rolling every Easter… Sunday Lunch EVERY week at Grandad’s house …

the Friday night kid sleep-overs so that parents get a night off to be kids in their own right again

Church on Christmas Eve without fail … I could go on

It’s all these little traditions that my lovely sis-in-law Jane guards so valiantly that made me fall in love with this family in the first place… it was watching my husband

play with his nieces and nephews that made me realise what a fabulous Dad he was going to be (and is x)… its the traditions that show me that Scott, Dan, Betty, Joe, Sam,

Matty, Jase, Jim, Jess and now our gorgeous Esmae are part of a warm and loving family … so Jane… keep guarding, persuading and cajoling…

keep booking our amazing May Bank Holiday family break…

lets keep on organising the Santa Express every Christmas (its SO god damn awful why do we do that one??)

…we drink… we dance… we sing…

we fly kites ( the pure absolute joy etched on the kids faces as they fight to control the tiny triangle as it snaps and blusters in the wind will stay with me forever )…

we play frittles … swim… walk…

we light bonfires and watch the sunset… we wait and wait  for dolphins … we sleep … we read… we relax

we bond… we laugh… we love… we fight…. we love harder

these little anchors… we  scatter throughout the year secure us … linking us tight and pulling our lives together …

it’s these simple things that remind us of who we are and also that we are loved

I love every single one of these crazy loons to the moon and back

 these little traditions are our family glue .. they bind us tight

I hope they stick forever

love Andrea x