A Weekend with Visitors

by Alan Cole · Monday, February 24th, 2014

Our weekend pretty much began on Thursday afternoon when I finished work at my new job in the Sports & Exercise Department at the Univeristy and headed home. My parents were on their way up from Gloucestershire and were collecting Morgan from school so I was able to get home a little earlier than usual, do some chores and start cooking a delicious ‘Hungarian Paprikas Chicken’ for dinner.

My parents arrived soon after, along with Morgan and Anna wasn’t far behind either. Dinner went down well, the fire was lit and we all chilled for the evening.

Anna was working on Friday, but it was an inset day at school so Morgan was at home to help entertain the family. I started the day with a bike ride around the Borth loop followed by hilly run in Borth whilst the others had breakfast and played at home. We then wandered over to the beach in a bracing and very cold wind to see how it was looking after the recent storms. Things have settled down over there now and the car park is no longer a lake. There are still a few puddles there, but that is nothing unusual.

Puddles in the Car Park

I then did a core workout at home whilst the others snoozed and relaxed in the living room watching the Winter Olympics. It was then time to start cooking up a yummy biryani for dinner which seemed to go down well with everyone. Morgan then headed off to archery with the cubs whilst Anna and I got ready to take the Scouts out on a night hike. We took them on the walk that we had checked out last weekend and they all seemed to enjoy it, even if it was quite wet by the end.

It was now the weekend proper, but because of my new job I’ve rearranged my training schedule a little which means that Saturday is no longer a rest day. I therefore had an early start with a swim in Aberystwyth, followed by a session in the gym. Everyone else then drove into Aberystwyth as well and we met on the seafront for a stroll to inspect the damage inflicted by the recent storms. The clear up is still underway and there is still lots of sand and shingle on the prom, but other than that, a few bits of missing railing and of course the fact that the Victorian Shelter has gone you wouldn’t really notice much else in the way of damage.

: Aberystwyth Prom

: Aberystwyth

We kicked the bar, had a picnic lunch and then headed into town for a milkshake, some shopping and a little wander around. We had hoped to take a look around the new apartments at Plas Tanybwlch. I used to work there and apparently the ceiling that I helped to create in the dome over the stairs has been retained. It would be interesting to see what else they have done to the mansion that I knew so well. Unfortunately the estate agents were unable to show us the apartments so we didn’t even drive out to take a look around the outside. Instead we headed back home for a relaxing afternoon, dinner and a chilled evening.

Sunday was much the same really. An early morning run and swim for me followed by my usual coffee and bacon sandwich in Machynlleth. The others then met me in Machynlleth where Morgan had a circuit training session and we all had more coffee and cakes. After circuits we did a little more shopping and then headed back home.

The main reason for my parents visit was due to the fact that it will be Morgan’s 9th birthday on Tuesday. They won’t be here for his actual birthday, nor his party, but as they were here it seemed only fair to let them give him his present a few days early. It was a Scalextrix Velodrome, so we soon set that up and had various races whilst Anna started work on a lovely spinach and squash cannelloni for dinner.

Velodrome

Dinner was followed by a yummy crumble that I had made and then we once again relaxed at home. Other than that, we played cards a few times over the weekend, chatted, watched TV and managed to drag Morgan away from Minecraft on the odd occasion! My parents left on Monday morning after a fairly relaxed weekend that hopefully they enjoyed, even if most of the time they only saw the back of Morgan’s head whilst he was glued to his computer.

It’s half-term now though so I’ll be at home with him a few days this week. Anna will be at home with him on his birthday and he’ll be off to holiday club one day as well. I already have the day after Morgan’s birthday pencilled in as ‘play with birthday presents’ on his schedule – but then again I know what he’s got, so I’m quite looking forward to that! We have a few other activities planned as well. Hopefully playing with his remote control car and geocaching today, and then a few other activities later in the week. As per usual fitting it all in, along with work and training is going to be difficult.