Crazy Times

Although not much has actually happened, the last couple of weeks have been crazy for us...

Chloe has settled well back into school, passed her stage 2 swimming and thrown herself into her dance classes with all her might, and after nearly two years Oliver has suddenly started enjoying nursery, and we've booked another break to Disneyland Paris with some of our closest friends (eeek!). 

On the other hand someone helped themselves to the lead roofing from our bay window, which we only realised during a downpour when it started raining in the window too!

I know this is a petty crime in the grand scheme of things but it still has ramifications for us, we now have to spend the best part of £300 to re-roof the window and spend the weekend knowing that a large storm is due to hit with the anxiety that the only thing keeping the rain out of our living room is some tarpaulin (kindly lent to us by one of Darrell's friends).

I have been through a range of emotions on this, mostly anger that anyone can think it OK to come onto someones property and help themselves to part of it, but also fear as to what could have happened if it was a day when me and Oliver were at home, or if we hadn't been in when the first downpour happened.

Fingers crossed we survive Storm Brian!

London

Before we decided that camping was the thing to try this summer (see previous post) we booked a trip down to London in the middle of the summer holidays break up the school holidays, take in the sights and visit family.

We spent three nights at the Premier Inn in Sidcup, so we were close enough to see family but also close to all the transport links to get into the sights easily.

The first day was spent travelling down, and we stopped off in Stamford to show Chloe and Oliver some more of where I grew up (I like to try and show them as many of my childhood places as possible as I sometimes feel quite disconnected from my family living so far from 'home'). Strangely Chloe really enjoyed Stamford market and was reluctant when we told her we had to carry on the journey to London.

The second day was spent taking in as many of the sights as possible, and we walked Chloe until her little legs couldn't walk anymore, finishing the day on the London Eye. 

The real Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

The highlights of the sights were Buckingham Palace (the Queen was in residence - this completely blew Chloe's mind and we're pretty sure the Queen saw her through the window), Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament (Chloe was very disappointed that Big Ben was covered in scaffolding) and Trafalgar Square where we met a floating Yoda.

The London Eye

The following day we went to the Science Museum where Oliver was turned into a duck and Chloe did some very cool experiments in the Wonderlab.

A very proud little duck

Learning about clouds

We then ventured onto Hamleys and Chloe and Oliver both got to meet some Lego figures and were faced with  the very difficult and painful decision of what to spend their pocket money on (this may have been a little cruel in such a big shop).

Lego soldier

Meeting the Queen

Camping

This summer we decided we wanted to keep within a tighter budget, and so we thought we would test the waters with camping, fully expecting one of us to not enjoy it.

We kitted ourselves out with an Urban Escape Vis a Vis 6 man tent, and some air beds and took ourselves off an hour down the road to a campsite in the peak district for one night.

All set up on our first camping trip

Needless to say once the stress of getting the tent up without looking like idiots or losing the kids, we settled into our first camping trip and immediately wished we'd booked for longer.

On returning home we began our research into other campsites, and booked into another site this time on the coast near Filey for a longer break. 

Pitched up in Filey

Once again we all loved our camping break, and there are now talks of more trips next year.

Now we're trying to settle back into the school routine, but the one thing we can take away from this summer is a renewed love of the outdoors, oh and a cellar full of camping equipment!

Introduction

This is my first foray into the world of blogging, so excuse me if it takes me some time to find my tone.

So a little about me.....

First and foremost I'm lucky enough to be a mummy of two amazing children Chloe (6) and Oliver (2.5), and wife to the very patient Darrell. I also work part-time as a senior applications developer.

I'm hoping that with this blog I find a way to reflect on some of the experiences I encounter in everyday life, and maybe share some useful advice for others along the way.