The boys are back

On arriving back from the airport with Sharon yesterday evening, we had a wonderful reception at the front door. In the half hour I'd been away to collect Sharon after her conference in Birmingham, the boys had arrived home with Nana and Papa after "their best holiday ever". Angus was standing on the front step, already in his favourite fleecy sleepsuit despite the heat (he saw it on return and just had to put it on) and beaming from ear to ear as we pulled into the drive.

Sean wasn't far behind, launching into a big hug, while Rowan and Finn were a tangle of limbs around Sharon at the foot of the stairs. It was nearly a week since Sharon left Ireland and almost a fortnight since I bade them farewell in New Ross and suddenly the peace was shattered and the house was alive once more with shrill, excited voices.

Calming them down a little with showers and pizza (even though it was half past nine), we were regaled with tales of swimming in Lough Rea with Tricia's kids (Sean being re-united with Diarmuid with whom he used to play when just a toddler and Tricia and Barry lived in Edinburgh), making their own wooden "Skog people" with Adrian (Finn has even made his own V-shaped thumb and nostril "plug" to try and wean himself off the thumb-sucking!), boogie-boarding down at Fenit and just generally having a great time with their aunts and uncle. Nana and Papa weren't getting much of a look-in other than putting food on the table and getting them off to bed. Having been imploring Sharon not to leave last week, Angus had been saying he didn't want to leave Ireland but "wanted to go and stay in someone else's house". He was crying for his cousin Barry going to bed.

The boys travelled all round Ireland, made new friends, spent time with family, enjoyed fantastic weather, ate enough "ice pops" to cool a small village and just had a wonderful three weeks' holiday! It's only when I got up this morning and saw them all together in Sean and Finn's room that I realised how many children we have!