Solstice celebrations too

Next day (Sun 21st), we greeted the sun, opened presents, and went to the harbour. Cara & Sam took bamboo sticks and made fishing rods (with no intention of catching anything of course), while Sean & Ronan got wet again.

Cara & Sam found some dead fish, and we saw a big octopus moving around under a boat in the harbour (yeeeeucchh!) before hunger drove us home for a Solstice Feast, enhanced by Sam's napkin-on-fire stunt.

We finished the day off with a chocolates treasure hunt in the dark followed by a movie, where we almost managed to eat all the chocolates!

Solstice celebrations

A beach fire seemed like a great way to mark the Winter Solstice this year, so off we went with a box full of snacks to toast on the flames.

We scrambled over quite a lot of rocks to get to this deserted little spot, where we watched the sunset and got very sticky with scorched, gooey marshmallows as our fire danced against the rocks.

No moon meant that by the time we left at 6.30, it was very dark! Hmmm... faced with the choice of 100m of clambering over all those rocks again with picnic box, 2 fishing rods and 3 children or going up the short, steep ascent to the track above, we decided to take the latter option. Sean & I took the stuff up top first, leaving the kids on the beach, clinging together for safety from the giant monster squid that was sure to slither out of the sea and grab them!

We did go back for them, and they did brilliantly well scrambling up the slope, feeling their way on hands and feet. At the top, it was declared that this evening (the first part of our Solstice celebrations) had been a Grand Adventure!