Day 8 - Broadstairs

A lovely day out in Broadstairs today.  Fish and chips for lunch as soon as we got there. Boys chasing the seagulls along the beach. Testing the new wetsuits. Blue lips. Digging holes and building castle reinforcements. A wedding in the beach bar in the corner, which provided the soundtrack to the end of the day. When the tide went out we did a bit of rock pooling (whilst the eldest stayed with the bags to chase seagulls and try and make friends with the boys with the better whistling-ball) and mostly found dead starfish - which the youngest said we were mean to point out their deadness as it wasn't their fault cos they didn't know the tide was going to go out. He was mollified by the boys who yesterday had caught 409 live starfish and 3 crabs in their bucket from the sea-pool on the edge of the beach.

It goes without saying that a fleece was more appropriate attire than a swimsuit. Sadly only one of us had planned ahead enough to bring one, but he was very willing to share. (Not that I took my swimsuit either I hasten to add.)

Day 7 - chores

We cleaned the car today. I wish I always had a clean car. It would be a start I think towards feeling like a proper grown up with proper grown up things, rather than an imposter who is always somehow lagging behind and not quite getting it.

And looking at this photo it's easy to spot that even my clean car isn't actually that clean at all. Doh!

Day 6

A morning spent in the pool and jacuzzi (already at 8 and 5 the boys appreciate the benefits of that rather than the opportunity to exercise after their enormous inclusive breakfast!) at the Holiday Inn, lunch with an old friend we finally headed home and straight to Bromley Town FC play Charlton in pre-season friendly. Sadly Bromley lost 0-3 and the youngest was fading fast by half time.

Day 5 Legoland

It took a fair amount of persuasion to get us to Legoland, the number one (but not the only) stumbling block being the price of the whole experience.  But once we'd come to terms with the new currency concept (somewhere in the back of my mind I think I will now always be thinking in Legolands - his new bike helmet for example cost a tenth of a Legoland. The new blender I want - which I'm not buying even though my old one is actually broken and not just slightly "lumpy style wise" - costs 0.16 Legolands etc), it was a great holidayette and I'm really glad we did. I'm pleased that it was this year too - the eldest was probably at the top end of the age range, able to enjoy it without it being lame, and the youngest one was tall enough for all the rides and will remember the whole day. Meaning we never have to go again! 

But all in all, a grand day out, as they say. Really chuffed with our picnic planning skills and v. pleased that we'd booked to stay in a nearby holiday inn instead of driving nearly two hours home after a tiring day.

p.s.  Once you're that far into the credit card, adding the Q-Bot is well worth it. 

... continued

Day 3
I went to work at the garden centre while the others went down to the coast. Work always makes me come home and look at my garden with a critical eye but this week a couple of things stood their ground nicely.

Day 4

Today was a day to do some odd jobs and start tackling the mammoth of house jobs we made at the beginning of the summer.  I attempted some craft with the boys. Of course in my head, after I got the idea from a perfect life blog, I imagined a beautiful day spent creating something magical and inspiring my children. The reality was slightly shorter and in burst of about 2 minutes, with stretches in between for them to have a sulk when their picture didn't turn out right first time, I asked them to do more than one idea, or their brother got to go first.  We got there eventually though. And the shed has a shiny new waterproof roof at last.

The Summer Holidays Survival Camp - week one

Clearly I meant to post something every day in a proper diary style, but we all know that was never going to happen in real life so here we are one week down already.  It's been pretty cool so far. Amazing how thinking about finding one image to capture a day in makes you think about the good bits of the day more than the mundane and irritating bits. Hard to take a photo of the irritating, almost constant noise the boys make from the moment they wake up; or the mess that they leave in their wake; or the one-man-ship involved in being brothers. I could have taken a picture of the clock that said 05:30 when the eldest woke up the day after we'd been to Legoland for a full seven hours but I'd rather not revisit any of those moments and will probably always be able to remember them without the aid of photographic evidence!

Day one
We started slooooowly, after a proper 'King's Breakfast' as this was christened a few years ago on a camping holiday. I told the boys they were allowed to watch as much telly and go on the computer as much as they liked today.  They took me at my word god lov'em.  It allowed me to get some kind of order going in the house too.

 

Day 2

J's third birthday party.  It wasn't meant to be this way, but once we'd organised a trip to the Southbank Centre free-running show, complete with sleepover, and the last minute friends round after school on the actual day of his birthday, the family party, two weeks after his birthday, ended up being the third time we made a cake and sang Happy Birthday.  It was a lovely day though, we all ate way too much bbq but it has to be done.