Fostering Alice Blog
Friday
Today we are heading home. Although we had originally planned to come here fore a week, we were offered a last minute respite weekend. No amount of sun and sea could stop us having a couple of nights break. The holiday has been mainly relaxing, with only a handful of tears and tantrums from our foster daughter. It is inevitable when the routine is disrupted that we are in for more boundary pushing. We see this every holiday, particularly when we go somewhere new. Although we try to keep to the routines as much as we can, there are many times when things will be different just because we are not at home.
Despite some of the more difficult moments of the week, we have managed to pack in some lovely activities – a visit to a caste, trip on a steam train, fish and chips by the sea, as well as walks along the promenade – Charlie and the older girls walked along the beach – jumping the waves as they go. They were sensible enough to bring their wellies, so even though the temperatures were nearing zero on some days, they were still able to enjoy being by the sea. It’s not easy to get the wheelchair on the sand, so I stay on the paved promenade with Alice.
One thing we all missed was visiting one of our favourite coves. We haven’t been there since fostering Alice – for the simple reason it is totally inaccessible, It is a long walk from where we can leave the car – the little cove is only accessible by clambering over some rough terrain and craggy rocks, and finally climbing down a very steep hill. We used to bring the girls when they were little. I’m not even sure they really remember it now, or whether their memories come from the many photo’s we took over the years, but Charlie and I still miss going there.
Once we gave the house a good clean and packed up the car, we were soon on our way. We had arranged to drop Alice off at our friend who does her respite care, on the way home. A weekend to ourselves could not come soon enough, and we would soon be recharging our batteries before the beginning of the next half term.
It is a very short half term and the next break from school is already in sight. But for now my mind turned to the weekend ahead, we had absolutely no plans, just two lazy days to ourselves, we would probably go out for a meal and take the girls to the cinema, whatever we end up doing we will not be rushing about, we will try to be as relaxed as possible until Alice returns on Sunday and the chaos of life resumes.
A Less Ordinary Fostering Family Blog.
