Week 1

On Monday morning, the kids didn't want to do anything other than lie in front of the TV, but we made them go to Kilmore to visit Granny G.  By 3 pm they were done with Granny G and ready to go, desperate for Dawson and Alex to come home from school.  Carys doped up on Benadryl and set off to play with Alex and her cat.  Dawson and Cole picked up where they'd left off ~ computer games and PlayStation. 

About 30 minutes passed peacefully; then Carys arrived at the door shouting that her eyes were puffy.  Puffy was an understatement.  I gave her more Benadryl and put her in the shower.  Welts and hives were starting to appear on her neck so we took her in to the doctor's. 

She was feeling pretty sorry for herself, but finally the Benadryl kicked in, the hives went away and she could breath OK.  No more cats for Carys. 

On Tuesday, we picked up Granny G (my grandmother), went to Hillsborough for lunch and then onto Marks & Spencer.   Granny G drives a motorized scooter around M&S and Carys was her assistant.  We left Granny G back to Kilmore and the kids spent the evening playing outside.

On Wednesday, we picked up Nanny Emma and went for ice-cream, then spent a few hours driving around the country, more to get Nanny out for a run than anything else.  We had a sing-a-long in the car that went over well.  Nice that when Nanny Emma asked them what they could sing, they did a rendition of "The Gambler".  (rolls eyes).  We also walked over the hill at the Spa to visit Snip the horse.

By Thursday, they were sick of outings with relatives and Cole and Carys were both sick of the fact that Alex and Dawson are still in school.  We went into Ballynahinch and visited the market, but Cole and Carys had plans to go to the Spa Primary School's sports day, so we spent the afternoon at the rugby club, watching a whole bunch of kids that we don't know run races.  In the end, we left Carys with Alex's mum, and Chloe and Cole and I escaped. 

We got to go and see Auntie Joy, Uncle Ken and Neil on Thursday night for a BBQ at their house, and arranged to meet them for a BBQ on Sunday in Tullymore.  The girls went horse riding on Saturday morning with Alex's dad and I kept the boys here.  Our BBQ on Sunday was held in the pouring down rain, but you have to eat, so we made the most of it.