Hot Wheels ramps, stone snakes and toasted marshmallows

The children had a bad night’s sleep so Stephen and I were both tired this morning, as were the kids. I let Stephen sleep as long as possible before waking him so I could go and do the food shop. Not the ideal start to our day. Yawn!

Currently the food shop involved a “click and collect” pick up from Sainsbury’s with a small pre-shop in the store for anything missing in the order and to buy for the food bank. It was so much busier today than the last three weeks and people’s social distancing was sometime nonexistent. I don’t think I’ll be rushing back as the whole thing was unnecessarily stressful.

I got home and sorted out the food shopping. I’m getting really good at fridge and freezer Tetris (i.e. squeezing in the assorted shaped blocks in the most optimal fashion). As I was doing this, Stephen got the Hot Wheels ramps out in the garden with James. Super fun, especially when the ramp starts at the top of the slide. Weeeeeee!

We had to make a big decision about Genevieve’s schooling today. Given how much the family has been impacted by Covid, we wanted to keep her at home as long as possible. However, in order for her to be placed in a bubble/group with her friends at school we are going to have to send her back after half term (in a couple of weeks). School will already be a wildly different experience for Genevieve and, on balance, we decided that maintaining the stability and familiarity of her friendship group outweighs keeping her at home for longer. It’s all so tricky! So, we’ll need to check that her uniform still fits and quickly order anything she needs. So much to do!

Lunch was a picnic in the garden in the tents. You can’t beat a picnic when the sun’s out.

After lunch, James and I went on a walk to add a painted rock in the Crofton school rock snake. It’s such a lovely idea – a long, snaking trail of children’s painted rocks just outside the school. Genevieve was in a funny mood and point-blank refused to come.

As it was just me and James, I made a special point of coming home via the train bridge. James still loves waving at the drivers! We also popped up to see the friendly neighbourhood monkey. Today he was stargazing.

Then it was Grandma Lindsey chat time followed by a BBQ dinner as Stephen felt up to cooking it today. What a treat! He’d even made homemade burgers following a Jamie Oliver recipe his friend Seb had suggested. It involved cream crackers which seemed odd, but they were epic burgers so I’m not arguing!

The BBQ was good, but the best bit, after the kids were in bed, was that Stephen had secretly transferred the coals to the fire pit so we could have a cuddle outside next to a fire. It was so lovely sitting around the fire pit just chatting, toasting marshmallows and enjoying a drink together. Bliss.