The weekend

It is late to start writing, but I'd better do it before I forget more. My apologies for any typos or unclarities.

Bob had off Friday, so we had another adventure. This one is titled "All Roads Lead to Bury." We were trying to go to the garden center we'd been to once before (with the Lumpy Bumpy Pie), to get a wind chime. Traffic was bumper to bumper all the way from the base to Brandon. Then we turned off the main road to hit the A11, and moved for a few minutes before going bumper to bumper (stopped) again. When we finally got to the A11 (over an hour later), it was blocked off. So our option was to turn back toward Mildenhall or to go on toward Bury. We went on.
When we lived in Cheveley, we kind of appreciated the fact that any back road would end up taking us to Bury. We got adventurous and even tried to get lost, but we'd always end up in Bury St Edmunds. But we hadn't been down this particular road before. We stopped in Fornham St Martin at a playground to run off some of the steam we'd built up in traffic that long time. Then we went on into Bury and got some burgers at McDonald's and played at the Abbey gardens a while.

Saturday we finally did it; we got away. :-) We'd been wanting to go to the beach, but the weather hasn't been very nice. It looked like it might be clearing off, so we went for it. Stepped out the door and decided to bring jackets (Yes, in June!). We headed north towards King's Lynn. Halfway there I saw a sign for Norfolk Lavender, which I remembered had free admission, so we stopped in there for a break. The free admission part is not entirely true, as you can get into the shop for free, but have to pay to see the pretty gardens and the rare breed animals. Anyway, the lavender wasn't really blooming yet (though it is on base). We checked out the shops, the toilets, and the playground.
Leaving there, we went to the nearest beach, paid to park, and had lunch in the bus as it was so windy. Then we went out onto the sand. We did plan ahead and brought sandals for everyone (thank you, Bob! Brilliant idea.) so no sandy shoes. The children built a sand castle and collected shells while I held a fussy Elijah and Bob took pictures. We only stayed there a short while, as it was part of "The Wash" and not the actual ocean. (Tide was way out, beach nearly deserted.)
Farther north, we stopped at Hunstanton, but it was a loud flashy place with carnival rides and such, which we weren't in the mood for, so went on a bit more. Bob needed a toilet, and I saw on the map a nature reserve thingy (RSBP?). There is one near here; free entry, guest facilities... So we made for it. 4GBP to park, but there were toilets, a friendly park ranger kinda girl, and a paved path past the fresh water marshes to the ocean. Sounded good.
The path was over 1000 yards, but with the stroller it wasn't hard going. We hurried down, as the guide mentioned some ruins on the beach visible at low tide. Sure enough, there was a WW2 bunker of some sort, and some tree trunks out there on the beach. We played for awhile, watched the tide come in, and all but William and Elijah waded out into the North Sea. It was warmer than I expected.

When we were done there, we drove a little farther and started looking for food. Bob had been warned to avoid pubs that night, as it was the USA vs England at the World Cup, but it was still early so we figured we were safe. We went down to another beach, thinking there was a restaurant there (it was a golf club), and the parking lot attendant recommended a pub on up the road a mile or so. It was nice enough; big table; children's menu; no tv. The food came really quickly, but no one was impressed with it. A couple of the children had grilled cheese sandwiches, but they were covered in some tomato/onion chutney. But we got fed, and then headed home.

Bob;s supposed to have off this Friday, too, but we are planning to stay home and do some sorting.