Out and about.

Things were a bit different the following Monday, we had the children for the day. Our Daughter is now doing a job share, so she had to liaise with the person sharing. It was a nice day, so we had the new paddling pool out. The children played quite happily in it, although they do tend to try and fish out odd bits of grass which they have accidentally taken in on their feet.
The Tuesday was a slow day, mainly just a trip into town to sort out the transfer of money from one account to another. We had been watching the weather forecast carefully as it was going to be our Daughter's Birthday on the Wednesday. Her husband couldn't have the day off, so she roped in Mum and Dad. The forecast changed over a couple of days from absolutely awful and wet all day, to, well yes, it will brighten up a bit later.
She wanted a trip to the seaside, and not Walton or Clacton, but somewhere new. So she chose Leigh on Sea. We arrived at her home at the prearranged time, but were a little bit late setting off, as the children had been dawdling. Once on our way however, we had a fairly decent run along the M25, husband stopping once for petrol, and Daughter to chastise Lydia and reinsert her arms into her babyseat belt.
We found Leigh on Sea and somewhere to park. At first look it all seemed to be mudflats, with a view of the power station on Grain Island.  The tide was nowhere to be seen.
In our quest for lunch we pottered along a quaint little old High Street,and soon found a little tea garden which did excellent lunches. We had given our drinks orders when we realised it was cash only. We discovered later that a whip round would have raised enough cash, but Daughter had gone off to the cash machine in the local pub, where she had to pay for the privilege of withdrawing her own money. That does make me cross.
Lunch over and we continued our pottering, including a interesting arty crafty shop, which actually has a Southend Pier Tram carriage in the middle of the floor. Eventually the road petered out, and we came across a small beach, lovely yellow sand, and a barrier between two groynes, which created a natural sea washed paddling pool. There was a shower to wash off the sand, and the mud which most of the older children around seemed to get covered in the minute that they explored further afield. There were also public toilets. We found a seat, which turned out to be a real suntrap as the clouds cleared and we had a reminder of the heatwave. Southend pier could be seen in the distance.
The children played in the sand, and paddled, and I was pleased to notice that the small beach had a seaside award. It really felt hot as we sat there, and we watched container ships in the  channel in the estuary, going in and out of Tilbury. Eventually Daughter decided to move on, so we bought ice creams and enjoyed those, then crossed the bridge over the railway line. We found the main shopping area,and had a good browse.

Very aware of the rush hour traffic, we decided to leave, but not in convoy. We nipped home and picked up a couple of items, the drove up to our daughter's home for a Birthday tea. Her husband had bought her a princess castle cake, and we had the traditional singing and candle blowing out. The children were being coaxed upstairs for their bedtime routine, so we didn't stay too long.
The Thursday was spent catching up and sorting, and a little bit of packing, then on the Friday we headed off for Cheshire to our Son's home. We hadn't seen them since the 90th Birthday celebrations. Unfortunately we didn't start early enough,and crawled through congestion after congestion. The fastest bit of the journey was the M6 toll, then we crawled some more.
We arrived at around 5.30 pm, before our Son got home, and started getting to know Ethan again. He is very wary of us at first, still needs Mum and Dad above all others. Tom was pleased to see us too. Our Son arrived home, and got stuck into preparing dinner, and told us how the training was going. After dinner, we chatted for a while, then retired for the night. They go to bed rather early, but as Ethan isn't too keen on sleep, they need to get as much as they can when they can. An early night didn't do us a lot of harm anyway.
On the Saturday I went or with Daughter in law and the dog to a cash machine and to buy the paper. Later we debated where to go and decided on Tatton park.  I hadn't been there for years. My last visit was as part of an outreach team helping a friend with his Mustard Seed tent. He was a horticulturalist, and had the idea of giving away packets of mustard seed with verses from the bible on it; Matthew 13 v 31-32. It was the occasion of the Cheshire show, there was also a video playing of the testimonies of various church members, along with tracts,  booklets and bibles.
 This time we had lunch sitting in the courtyard as Tom was with us, I was pleased to find that they did a reasonably priced crab salad, but then spoilt it all by having a triple chocolate dessert. We made up for it after by going for along walk in the Park. We will have to go back some time, as we would like to see the hall. Apparently it still has the servant's quarters, husband had been reading books on what life was like for below stairs staff, ever since Downton first aired. There is a parking charge at Tatton, even for N T members. Tom didn't show any interest in the many deer, or even the sheep, which probably explains why he wasn't too good as a sheepdog. He ran for his ball, and even swam in the lake  to retrieve it a few times.
After quite along walk we visited then shops and then had an ice cream. Back at their home we had a meal, then  daughter in law put Ethan to bed, and relaxed upstairs, husband and son watched a film which they both describe as dreadful, and I put my headphones on and watched something live, but on my laptop. they have a TV licence,so I was legit.
On the Sunday morning we went with them to their church, but sadly didn't sing much, as we didn't know the modern songs, then they had a lovely hymn to a new tune which we didn't know. Their newish pastor preached a good sermon, and we knew the last hymn, and the tune, so sang with gusto. Unfortunately they have an over head projector, but the person in front of me was taller, so I spent a lot of time trying to peer round her to read words. Give me a hymnbook anyday.
After a lovely lunch it was time to pack up and say our goodbyes, Ethan had begun to get used to us and now it was time to leave. We used the M6 toll road, and had a reasonable journey home.