Sylva Fae

…and seas of blue

It seems like barely any time has past since we spent a mini holiday at the seaside and we’re already planning the next. It was freezing. The rain poured down, yet every day my girls begged to go swimming in the sea. I managed to distract them with indoor activities, and promised they could go padding if the weather changed. As we were leaving, the rain finally cleared and the sun briefly peeped out from behind a cloud. It was still chilly and breezy but at least we could have a walk down the beach without getting drenched.

Three excited girls bounced in the car all the way there.
“Mummy, mummy can we go in the sea?”
“No, it’s too cold.”
“Mummy, mummy pleeeese. We won’t be cold.”
“No, it’s too cold.”
“Mummy, mummy can we just go in up to our knees?”
“No because one of you will fall in, get wet and it’s too cold.
“We promise not to fall in. PLEEEEESE!”
“No, I know you too well.”
“OK, can we just paddle our toes in the water?”

By this point I was completely worn down and outnumbered. I predicted the sequence of events in my mind: Number Three would hang back sensibly just dipping her toes in the surf, Number One would dash into the waves taunting her sister and rush out just before getting drenched, and Number Two would run after her sister and fall over. Seeing Two now soaked, One and Three would join her, I’d sigh and have to deal with three soaked and freezing girls with a five hour car journey ahead. Then I thought, maybe I should trust them and let them have fun. They left a trail of socks and shoes as they ran giggling to the sea.

By the time I reached them, I discovered my powers of prediction were spot on. The three were lying in the surf squealing as each wave rushed over them. It was too late to stop them getting wet, they couldn’t possibly get any wetter so I left them having fun. As I laughed at their antics I predicted the whining as the cold set in and they had to walk back across a windy beach in wet clothes. Sure enough, my predictions were spot on again. Luckily we had spare clothes handy and it wasn’t long before they were snuggled in the back of the car wearing fleecy onesies. Their visions of swimming in seas of blue didn’t quite fit with the blustery Welsh coastline.

Thankfully the rain has cleared and the sun has finally decided to make an appearance. We headed off to the woodland and were greeted with our own seas of blue. Dainty bluebells had dotted the hedgerows on our drive down but nothing compared to the violet carpet that stretched from the ferny bank down to the fields.