Our Best Days

 

We weren’t meant to be going on holiday this week. It wasn’t ‘the plan’. I was meant to be cleaning our bedroom carpet and bulk cooking meals for the freezer. But I’m not. This is the main reason why our house always has a few more piles of ‘Lily Dust’ than is probably acceptable and the windows have a lovely display of nose, tongue and hand prints that vary in their days, weeks, months of vintage. And I wouldn’t change that at all. I never stare at my ironing pile and think “Boy, I can’t wait to tackle that bad boy this weekend”, or look at my bathroom with an intense sense of excitement upon seeing the dusty bleach bottle. But I look at our beautiful girl and try to think of a way that we can squeeze a few more minutes of adventure into our day or a way that I can push bed time back just fifteen minutes so that we can look out of the window watching stars a little longer.

I spotted a bargain break in a beautiful cottage in St Ives a couple of weeks ago with the company we usually use to book our Cornish getaways and it was too good to pass up. The house is beautiful and had room to spare so we’ve had a couple of different groups of add-ons this week too which has made it even more special.

A rainy wander on the harbour

Double snuggles before bed

Nath’s brother Jord and his fiancée(!) Abbey joined us for the night on Saturday, very much last minute, and we’re so glad that they did. Darcey absolutely adores ‘Dawd’ and ‘Ab-bey’ and she was totally besotted having them both there to spoil her with their time throughout their short stay. When they left, she kept climbing the stairs and banging on their door shouting their names. None of us mind the weather being bad so we spent a lot of time walking in the rain with Lily and enjoying warm drinks and books back in the cottage. With such beautiful surroundings there’s very little need to spend any money and we really tried to make the most of our time with Darcey’s brilliant Godparents.

We also had a couple of days on our own in the middle which allowed us to take advantage of the crazily changing weather down here and get caught in wind like we’ve never seen, rain, hail, and brilliant sunshine. We know St. Ives like the back of our hands but there is always a hidden cobbled street waiting to be discovered and we’ve had great fun trying to get lost in these old alleys and beautiful surroundings.

As the weather has cleared, my Mum and youngest sister Meg arrived, much to Darcey’s delight! We’ve put her Scamp Suit through its’ paces multiple times a day and nothing gets a bigger smile out of her than collecting ‘Beach Treasure’, as we’ve affectionately named it. Nana has now ensured that she has a growing collection of shells, seaweed and feathers that we’re going to put in a little treasure chest for her to take in to show the ladies at nursery, along with an album of our Cornish adventures.

It’s not a secret that we are quietly biding our time before we can move down here permanently and, truth be told, it’s only a matter of the right situations occurring together at the right time before we go. And the reason is simple. These are our best days. Always. We’ve not moved the car for five days; we are surrounded by the most idyllic views you could imagine; we’ve spent completely quality time with our most favourite of people, with no TV, very little technology and just a cup of tea; Lily is never happier than leaping into the surf and Darcey has had our absolute undivided attention whilst exploring this beautiful county for the entire week. Our floors are a little sandier, our hair is far more windswept, and our hearts are as happy as they are ever going to be. We are home and this is where our footprints are staying.