Spider girl

She's up there somewhere.

Last month I asked Tess what she wanted for her birthday and she said "Something to do." So we bought her "something to do" at a climbing centre in Exeter, and a little bit of her birthday came 5 days early today.

We took 2 friends with us because 1. that's all we could fit in the car, and 2. that's all we could afford. We're doing something else on her actual birthday anyway.

It was an interesting day out: 1 friend was carsick and we had to drive slowly and keep stopping - so we were a bit too late to have a decent lunch before the climbing session (it was a swift half of baguette each in the end), and then the other friend suddenly confessed a fear of heights and backed out of climbing after her first attempt saying she now felt sick. It also turned out that parents were expected to wear bright orange jackets and be "clippers" and help clip and unclip kids in between each climb. I let Richard do that because I was in charge of the camera. Handy excuse.

To our surprise, the children's school headteacher was at the climbing centre and he cheered everyone up by reminding them they have school tomorrow.

Once the session was over we were supposed to drive home before the next lot of crap weather hit us, but everyone was hungry, so we hunted down one of the only nearby cafés still open on a cold, rainy January Sunday afternoon and bought their last 3 chocolate brownies - which we had to take outside because all their 5 tables were taken.

We finally drove home - via the motorway this time and no one complained feeling sick. The next lot of weather was creeping in, along with lightning and fog, but it wasn't too bad.

It was genuinely a fun day though and Tess had a great time. The unexpected distractions and hiccups only added to the fun. Tess loves climbing and is very good at it. Despite having legs like skinny sticks she's really strong and energetic. And so brave. (Or is that nuts?)

Oh: and upon getting home, we found the dog - who had been cared for and walked by the teenagers all day, was very spritely and energetic... almost as if he needed a walk... Curious...


Christmas/Christmas holiday: Done.