Dodging the showers

Five years ago the first week of the six weeks holiday would have mainly been made up of lie-ins in bed and generally relaxing. With two kids, 7am is a lie-in nowadays and this doesn’t change with the school holidays! In fact, holiday isn’t the right word to use as my days are usually more full-on and challenging than they would be at work.

The weather forecast wasn’t great for the week, and I didn’t want to have a day out somewhere to have to spend some of it sheltering from showers, so we stayed close to home. This doesn’t mean that we didn’t get out or have fun, we just stayed close to home. The girls love going to the park, and we have two within toddler walking distance (although she did spend quite a bit of time to and from the parks on my shoulders!). The girls are much more independent and will happily play with each other and amuse themselves without needing much input from myself.

Of course, there are times when I am needed – the big swing won’t push itself will it?

It is the same situation in the garden now. The girls will happily play with each other (although occasionally I have to referee if we have sharing issues) and will entertain themselves. Although they have plenty of toys, one of the current favourites are some cheap beanbags that I picked up from a supermarket. They are great for being thrown around (and they don’t hurt if you “accidentally” hit your sister with them) and then retrieved as quickly as possible.

Whilst this was going on, I was able to watch some lovely bumblebees buzzing around the garden and collecting pollen from some beautiful yellow flowers (which are actually weeds). Emily gave them a few waves and a “Hello bees!” and the quickly returned to her game.

These six weeks may be far less relaxing than they used to be but I wouldn’t have it any other way.