It's the night before the big return to school, for Charlotte at least. Jamie goes back for a bit on Wednesday in advance of his first full day on Thursday.
Charlotte is still mildly hesitant about the prospect, but will hopefully settle in well. Meanwhile, her big brother got up early this morning for a "practice walk" before returning to try on his uniform for the first time in more than five months.
Leeds schools are amongst the last in the country to go back, which has only served to increase anticipation levels.
But, with time to spare last week whilst other kids crept back into their classrooms, we headed to Northumberland. Thankfully our tent stayed locked in the shed with a nice caravan our living receptacle of choice.
I do love Northumberland. My three years as a student in Newcastle in the early 1990s left me with a huge love and admiration for the people of the North-East. I was also fortunate to be chosen to represent Northumberland in the 1990 rugby union county championship, pulling on the famous green, red and yellow jersey five times. That gave me the chance to meet fellow teammates from other parts of the county and to visit different places for training and games.
The Yorkshire Dales are fab, as is the Lake District which we visited last month. But most tourists are well aware of them.
In contrast, I regard Northumberland as a well-kept secret. It obviously varies from place to place but, in general, Northumberland is not as crowded as some destinations a little further south and therefore feels a little more relaxed.
The natives also have a wonderfully laid back but self-assured attitude to life and, of course, there is no shortage of wondrous sights.
We stayed in Cresswell with its golden sands...
...breaking waves...
...and spectacular sunsets.
We visited Warkworth Castle...
...and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.
We conquered the stepping stones at Druridge Country Park...
...went to Alnmouth to celebrate National Fish and Chip Day...
...and popped into Ashington because I've never met anyone from that famous town who doesn't have an interesting story to tell.
Us being the Whites, we obviously didn't completely miss the rain which fell hardest in Amble.
We hoped to go on a Puffin Cruise...
...but Dave was forced to disappoint.
To stay dry, the kids bought some snazzy clothes from Amble's array of charity shops.
Jamie looked the part.
And Charlotte did too. It was only later that Vanessa mentioned her "crop top and hairband set" was actually a toddler's dress and belt.
And with that, summer 2020 was officially done.
Good luck to all kids, mums, dads and teachers for the big return tomorrow.
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