I almost feel like this post is a predictable one following Ethan starting school this week, but it is one I want to write anyway. On Wednesday we packed a picnic and the kids into the car and enjoyed our last midweek family day out to Fountains Abbey before Ethan started “big School”…
It is ran by the National trust and so very family friendly, easy paths, lots to explore and was one of the biggest monasteries in mediaeval England. I found it such a fascinating place to be, bursting with history as far back as the 11 hundreds and set in the most gorgeous parts of North Yorkshire..it was peaceful, exciting and just lovely to be there together and less than hour from home. How lucky we are to live in England with so much history and loveliness.
We saw the whole Abbey, played in the park and the woods, had a quick look around a portion of the manor house, the old mill and had a picnic lunch. There was so much more to see but we were just exhausted so we didn’t see the deer park or lake walks.
As we explored, climbed, relaxed, laughed and learn’t together, I noticed I kept saying things like “I do this all the time with the kids” or “The kids normally get an ice cream at this point” haha not to be a “know it all” wife, but this is, or rather was my Ordinary. Whilst I knew we had planned this day out to make the most of our last day in the pre-school chapter, it really hit me that this was the end of an era! Having Megan and Ethan at home together all the time, doing what we please, going on adventures and exploring the world has been our Ordinary for 3 years since Megsie made her arrival, it is all Ethan has really known and it has been the focus and priority of my life…I have being a regular stay at home mum, and love it, whilst this meant some days have been terribly hard, frustrating and draining, it has also been absolutely amazing, and gone way too fast! I know we have weekends and school holidays and I very much look forward to the adventures we will have on those days, but Wednesday was such a special day as I soaked up and was thankful for what my Ordinary has been for these few years and how from then on it would be no more.
I know we will have more children and we will have similar adventures ahead of us, but in the future our Ordinary means adventures which are bound to school runs, it means adventures where Ethan and by next year Megan too, will no longer play a part in (other than hols and weekends), but we went out with a bang, had one last midweek frolic all together and are ready for a different dynamic to life. We have so many changes with Ethan starting school and Nathan back to his final uni year, and It will be far less mad with just Me and Megs at home 3 days and we plan to do some things which are easier with just one kid too (like baking)!
Wednesday was a beautiful day out, just an Ordinary moment made extra special because it was the end of an era, one I will miss, but a new Ordinary chapter ahead that I am ready to create.
Linking up with Katie @ mummydaddyme for The Ordinary Moments
This sounds like utter perfection Mary! I’ve never been to Fountains Abbey, but I would love to go! I love the second to last picture. Ethan looks so grown up. I hope he loves it! xx