In the fog

It was Rob's birthday yesterday.  He went to Stoke On Trent for the day, and went to see Port Vale play Plymouth Argyle with his dad.  Port Vale frequently lose when Rob goes to the match, but yesterday they won 4-0, and he had a brilliant time.  He brought back some Christmas presents from his sister for the kids.  They had all sorts of goodies, including a kite for Freddie.  Fred wanted to fly it today, so we decided to head to one of the big hills nearby. We live in the Chilterns, which has hills all over the place.
It was pretty misty when we set off, and I laughed as we drove higher and higher.  It was foggy!  I thought there would be no way we could fly a kite - if it was foggy surely there was no wind, or the fog would blow away?
The walk from the car park to the open land goes through some woods.  It was beautiful.  Murky, but with flashes of bright green moss on tree trunks and fallen branches.  We spotted a beautiful cobweb with beaded with droplets.

We walked to the viewing point.  Not much to see today!

To my surprise, we were high enough that there was a slight breeze, enough for the kite to stay in the air if the kids ran with the string.  I'm so pleased I was wrong, as we had such a lovely morning, in the fog with a kite.

Meg had a go at kite flying, her first time.  She loved it!  She's getting so big.  If I call her the baby, she corrects me and says 'I not the baby, I Meg!'.  She's right, of course.  But as our last child, she'll always be my baby.

Rob took the Christmas tree down today, the house is back to normal.  The kids and I played outside with all the other kids from our row of houses, scooting and cycling.  Meg helped me to make some brownies for Rob's birthday cake.

Happiness is flying a kite

Freddie found a kite in the toy room this morning. We've had it for years but never used it. This morning was bright and sunny, and windy. Perfect kite flying weather!

We went to one of the many hills that surrounds Aylesbury, called Whitecross Hill. It does have a white cross on it, supposedly covering a pagan symbol. There's an ancient barrow up there too.

The sunlight coming through the trees was beautiful.

Freddie and Betsy loved tramping through the leaves, and throwing them up into the air to make leafy fireworks.

As soon as we reached the hillside we were buffeted by a really strong wind. Meg did not enjoy the wind at all, so she and I sat in a sheltered spot next to the barrow, while the other 3 flew the kite. It was so wonderful, sitting on the grass snuggling Meg and listening to the delighted laughing of Rob, Fred and Betsy. I've rarely felt happier.

And look at their faces! So happy. A very special morning.