Showing posts with label surprise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surprise. Show all posts

6.6.12

Day 196 - Perfect surprise


I love that burst of instant, unbridled enthusiasm you get from kids when you tell them something exciting is about to happen. But (and it's a big but) timing is everything, isn't it. Tell them the surprise too early and you will pay. Their relentless enthusiasm can be like a kind of chinese torture - a drip, drip, drip of (the same) questions about what exactly is happening - and how many days, hours, minutes are there until it does. And you know you've brought it on yourself.
Lots of stuff falls into the 'exciting thing' category - playmates, sleepovers, holidays, a trip to Legoland...I'm sure you know what I mean.  My husband isn't that great at keeping a secret from the kids (you'd think he'd be better, considering what he does)  He has on a few occasions merrily let the cat out of the bag - then gone back to work, leaving me with a child about to spontaneously combust.

I've got a lot better at not spilling the beans, and I've had a big secret. A whopper.  
The kids knew they were going to Northern Ireland for half-term: what they didn't know was their dad was going to join us. 
It's all been very last minute - he was given a few days of compassionate leave because his mum hasn't been well. Thankfully she's much better.
Now my plan was to get through the journey to Belfast before I told them. But I couldn't help myself, I was itching to say something. 
I felt this huge wave of relief when I finally managed to pin them all in the car. And it just came out.
OH it was so wonderful to see their faces light up - SUCH a brilliant bit of news to be able to tell them.
A very, very special moment.
But I still had seven hours of travelling to go.
With hindsight I should have held off - but honestly, I was as excited as them.
We did have more than a day longer to wait than I'd thought - army transport can be pretty unpredictable. They were bouncing off the walls by the time he turned up.

Such an unexpected treat to be together again, and his mum was over the moon to see him. 
It felt 'normal' unbelievably quickly. I think that's because we know we've only got a few days and we're away from home and the routine. There is an advantage in meeting up somewhere neutral, although we have to shift around a lot here because both our families live in Northern Ireland.
I know it'll be ok when he goes, because we've not had the usual weeks and weeks of build up - and this time together is a bonus. That's the way I'm looking at it. 
We've had long enough to whip up the youngest into a state of hyper-excitement by promising her a trip to the beach.....and then we went out for a meal, leaving her to plague my mum.
'When  are we going Granny? Look at my swimming costume! I want to go paddling with you Granny! (lucky Granny) What colour are your buckets and spades Granny?Can we have a picnic?....

It was cold, damp and grey, but there was no way we were going to get out of it. And amazingly the sun shone....briefly. We had such a lovely time. Something for her dad to smile about on the long, long trip back.
And we're over halfway through now.

11.5.12

Day 170 - Pushing my luck?

My husband found this in the garage when he got back from his last 6 month tour of Afghanistan...

"SURPRISE!" I said. And he was.
You see my husband had never shown the slightest flicker of interest in owning a camper. But I'd managed to convince myself that he just didn't know he wanted one. And as he stood there, struggling for words, I knew it was going to be ok: the cards were stacked in my favour - I had just looked after the children for 6 months; he was hardly going to turn round and say, 'take it back'.
Anyway I couldn't, because I'd bought it on ebay.
All things considered, he took the news pretty well.

Looking back on it, it was a bit mad - but coming up to the end of a tour, you experience such an overwhelming mixture of relief, tiredness and elation: it's a giddy combination.....
So an absolutely perfect time to do something rash.
And in my head I had this lovely romantic picture of family camping trips, based I'm sure on childhood memories. We always had a camper. I'd learnt to drive in an orange and white VW.

I did check out the old VW's first, but they were very expensive, even in poor condition. When I saw our Toyota camper-to-be, she had a VW look without the price tag, AND she slept five. So I packed the kids into the car and we headed off to Mold in Cheshire to take a look.
It was a lot further away than I thought.
She did look lovely though, but as her owner ran through the essentials, I felt a wave of panic, because it suddenly struck me just how little I knew about campers (or anything with an engine) and I wasn't sure what to ask or what to look for.
Obviously this sensible moment of doubt had vanished by the time we got home, so based on some rather sketchy advice from my mum's partner ('She's a steal! Toyota's go forever!') I placed my bid, waited nervously, and won.

I did some tinkering before my husband saw her. New curtains - the first and only ones I've ever made, and I recovered the tatty old seats with A LOT of help from a friend.


We have been lucky with Betty, as she came to be called. It could have been a disaster. If I was ever to do anything like this again, I'd take someone with me who knew what they were talking about.

She is over thirty years old and needs to be handled with care. Flat, straight roads are fine - sometimes we reach heady speeds of around 50mph - but Betty hates hills.
Unfortunately we live at the top of a very steep one. She usually screeches up it in second gear with everyone shouting and willing her on (and praying there isn't anything coming the other way)
So it probably won't come as much of a surprise to hear we don't stray far in Betty. Having said that, we live right on the south Wales border, and there's no shortage of beautiful places to explore.

My husband has learnt to love her. I think. And we both like the way the pace of life seems to slow down as we trundle along. Sometimes you need to go slow to appreciate what you've got.

We have had a good laugh about the Betty-buying-episode over the last two years.
And now, here we are again.
Except this time he's gone away for TWELVE months....and I've got a few ideas....