Holiday Part 2

St. Ives!
I totally love St. Ives. It's got everything I want from a holiday really. Beautiful sandy beaches, lots of them, some surfy and some swimmy, little shallow bits where children can paddle very safely, great crashy breaky wavy bits, cliffs, rocks and rock pools, bustling harbour, loads of restaurants and cafes, stunning views across the bay. There's even lots of arty stuff, which we didn't do this time round. And it has excellent rail and bus links, including the incredibly picturesque train ride from St. Erth into St. Ives.

Anyway, part 2:
We met J at Penzance on one of the few seriously wet days we had. He had spent 5 hours on the train from London and had to get straight back on with us to go to St. Ives. It was lovely to all be together again - F had missed her dad so much and I was really happy to see him too. Our arrival at St. Ives was wet and windy, climbing up steep lanes and steps with our rucksacks. The holiday flat was just gorgeous. Simple and bright and spacious with a balcony with views over the harbour and the beaches. Wonderful over the week to watch those views change as clouds flew over, tides did their thing and sunsets came and went. Really so relaxing to just look out at all that. I can't imagine ever tiring of such views.

On Saturday we had a lazy day, got in some supplies, explored a bit and went to the cinema and saw Kung Fu Panda, as F's choice. Went down on the beach in the late afternoon and J and F explored rock pools, I paddled in the surfy shallows, F adopted a particular rock which she then visited most days and played around, digging sand around it, constructing dams and other architectural engineeringy business. Think that was also the day I taught F a clapping rhyme:
When Susie was a baby, a baby Susie was,
and she went 'Wah! Wah!
Wah Wah Wah!'
When Susie was a schoolgirl, a schoolgirl Susie was,
and she went 'Miss! Miss!
I can't do this!'
When Susie was a teenager, a teenager Susie was,
and she went 'Oooh! Aaah!
I lost my bra!
I left my knickers in my boyfriend's car!'
We googled (yeah yeah, I know - J brought a laptop with him and we got mobile broadband!) and found some other versions and the later verses which have Susie variously knitting and/or baking as a 'mummy' and then becoming a skeleton or a ghost later. Source of much conversational speculation...

Sunday, F kicked off with a couple of hours of 'Why do we have to go out?', 'Who decides we need to all get dressed and go anywhere?' etc. In the end, J and I said 'OK we'll all go home tomorrow then, not much point coming here if we are just staying in, etc. etc. etc.' Eventually, she came round and we went out - can't remember where or what we did, probably beach and wanderings I think. Over the week, we spent a lot of time on the beaches, sometimes fitting in extra visits after trips or after dinner, paddling and jumping waves, exploring rocks and rock pools, making dams, channels, pools, islands, burying each other and Dozy Mog. I love those Cornish North Coast beaches, they're just perfect.

On Monday we caught the open-top bus (very very windy, great fun) over to Penzance and bought some DVDs and games - over the week we played Indiana Jones (F and J) and Big Brain Academy (all 3 of us) on DS and watched Indiana Jones films, Penelope and a couple of others on DVD in the evenings. J and I watched Cloverfield one evening too and both had a couple of books on the go.
F had blue 'bubblegum' flavour ice-cream in Penzance and we had lunch in a nice place. F mainly ate pizza wherever we went, sometimes with ham and pineapple, sometimes plain, but she did try a few new things, including chicken (she's never had it before! quite liked it I think), spaghetti bolognese and scampi, all of which seemed to go down quite well.

On Tuesday we spent a lot of time on the beach, first in morning sunshine, then F and I went down again in pouring rain at high tide, which was actually very exhilarating - we came back totally drenched and covered in sand - I ran a hot bubble bath for F and brought her hot chocolate while she soaked. Then we went to the cinema again and saw an early evening showing of Prince Caspian - F fell asleep halfway through! We quite enjoyed it though. When we came out, J went to get takeaway whilst F and I had another beach visit in evening sun. I kept an eye out for when he got back to the flat with the food - he waved from the balcony and I persuaded F off the beach to go eat back there.

Wednesday we got the train over to St. Austell and the shuttle bus from there to the Eden Project. Really enjoyed the rainforest biome, spent a lot of time going round it and liked the outdoor bit too. F liked it all, I think - I had thought she might not, but she was generally much more positive in attitude after the big Sunday hoo-ha. I read out the odd bit of info too her, where she seemed interested, although her favourite thing was definitely the mist being sprayed in places and the irrigation system used to get the water around the place LOL - she kept asking about the pipes!
J and I were seriously unimpressed by the food options for vegans there, though, and would have expected much better, given the whole sustainability ethos and info about staple foods in various countries, how crops and spices are used. Maybe they're so pro-plant that they'd rather you ate animals? I dunno...

Thursday was our last day before travelling. We walked at low tide round from the harbour to the next beach along, a lovely walk with lots to see and enjoy. F and I floated our crocs in a big shallow pool, watching them drift along like little boats. Made friends with a dog, splashed our way up onto the beach just before it started to get too deep and stayed on that beach for a couple of hours. We had pasty and chips and had to intimidate the seagulls after one got very cheeky and attempted a fly-by pasty abduction, luckily leaving me with my fingers and thumbs intact. F did some paddling and assisted floating with J and we dug a moat around her, lying down, as the tide came in.
Next we did a short cliff-top walk out to the west, and a bit of clambering on rocks. The sea and sky were at their very bluest, a glorious day. Looking back along the shoreline gave terrific views. After that we wandered back and had a last visit to the harbour area and a really good vegan burger from Blas Burgerworks - highly recommended and they do meat too. We then spent about £20 in the Amusement Arcade, pretending to be racing each other on horses, motorbikes, cars, etc. and J and F did that adventure one with the giant spiders together too.
In the evening we had an Indian meal (F had scampi and chips but she does like poppadoms and chutney - I'm sure the curry genes will get her in the end) and then went to the main beach at sunset for a while.

All in all, it was a really good holiday, despite the tricky times. I'm sure it did me good to be away from work for nearly 3 weeks and to be outside so much (when F would let me LOL). I think we will probably go back to St. Ives, we all loved it and there's still plenty to do from there as well as the great beaches - more walks, Land's End, the arty stuff we ignored, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Minack Theatre - yep, plenty!

Since coming back, we've been to soft play, where it was great to catch up with friends, and today my mum came over and F's birthday sort of started as she opened prezzies from her - very pleased with them - lots of Ponyville things! C from over the road came after school too and played a bit of Wii and we caught up with other neighbours briefly. Am nearly all caught up with the washing, etc. but still got lots of stuff to do for F's birthday bash on Saturday. And also am back to work, with loads being offered to me and having to turn down 2 jobs already. On we go, then...