The day started with an easy yet exciting breakfast – dippy eggs and soldiers. What a treat! I’ve still yet to master the “perfectly runny yolk yet firm white” boiled egg, bit it was good enough and the kids gobbled it all up (by which I mean demanded extra eggs and toast but then left a lot uneaten – it’s still a success though).
The main excitement for the day revolved around Genevieve’s new bike (kindly bought for her by Grandma Lindsey and Grandpa Lawrie). But before she could ride the bike I had to unpack and assemble it. Now I’ve never been good at cars but I’ve always understood bikes. I’m a bit rusty but all of the parts came together quickly. After tinkering with the brakes and adjusting the saddle the bike was ready for its maiden voyage.
We have a carpark behind our garden that proved to be the perfect place for both kids to have their first adventure on a bike. There was some confusion about what “push the pedals” meant and, I have to admit, quite a lot of swearing under my breath and I cajoled Genevieve to “push, push, push” rather than trying to ring her damn bell. But, after three journeys to the end of the carpark and back, both kids had grasped what they needed to do and were actively propelling their bikes forward. Watch this space – they’ll be popping wheelies before you know it!
Today was meant to be James birthday party and, come hell, high-water or Corona-virus, we were still going to throw him a party. Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie joined us via FaceTime for a teddy bear birthday picnic. There was cake, singing and crumbs everywhere, but James had a great time.
After the party I engaged the children with some menial labour. We had to do something to burn off all the cake! Our back garden is a bit patchy and moss-ridden – while we’re on lockdown I tasked myself to make it look a bit prettier. I’ve already dealt with the moss but there are now patches of ugly, barren dirt with no grass. The kids did an excellent job of spreading grass seed evenly and thoroughly around the garden (which is a massive lie – they either dumped big piles in one spot or let the wind whisk handfuls away to other people’s gardens, but at least they tried).
While the children were getting their fingers nice and green, I uncovered our BBQ in readiness for the first BBQ of the season. To say I was excited is a significant understatement – I ruddy love a BBQ! It needed a bit of a scrub but was soon ready to go. Megan had bought some delicious pork and leek sausages and also made some burgers (her speciality). It was only a small BBQ in the end but that’s not the point – it was still great fun to cook.
While I was settling the children down, a virtual bingo game had started in the Hollingdale family video chat. I came down the stairs to much merriment and, to be frank, confusion. No-one could hear Grandad Stephen reading the numbers, Megan couldn’t work out how to change the person selected, and some people were playing a whole card’s worth of five games whereas others were only playing one game. To add confusion to the mix, Graham and Henry then started ringing Grandad Stephen on his house phone to antagonise him. Great fun to watch but not the ideal set-up for bingo. We will try again though!
After an exceedingly long week, both Megan and I were less than thrilled to remember that the clocks were going forward overnight. We were to lose an hour of sleep when we were both already running on fairly empty tanks sleep-wise. Oh well – wish us luck!
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