This morning James called Genevieve his best friend as they came down the stairs together. What an adorable start to the day!
Today I did something I’ve been aiming to achieve for some time. I completed my first ever 10km run. In fact, I overachieved and ran an extra two thirds of a kilometre as my route planner under estimated the distance. I’m so happy!
BC (before COVID) I had entered a local 10km run with a friend to fund-raise for James’s preschool. It was one of my life goals this year to run a “proper run” and it was a great cause to raise money for, too. However, as you can probably guess, the race was cancelled. But that was not going to stop me. I entered a virtual run instead – an awesome sounding “I Love The 90s” event organised by the Roy Castle Foundation. I didn’t get sponsorship for this one, but I’ll definitely be continuing the fund-raising later in the year so watch this space!
As well as running the distance, I also completed a challenge for my mummy running group. I had to find street names starting with T, M and R to represent “This Mum Runs”. And as if they wasn’t enough, I’d also arranged for the friendly neighbourhood monkey to be dressed as a runner today showing his support for This Mum Runs. Brilliant!
Stephen had also provided the monkey’s owner with some kit from his running club (Bad Boy Running). The monkey’s friend, pink bunny, was wearing this… but was holding such a big This Mum Runs sign that you couldn’t see it. Oh dear!
I left Stephen resting at home and took the kids out for a distanced play date with Erin, one of Genevieve’s friends from school, and her younger sister Sadie. They all had lots of fun running around on the grass, chasing (but not catching) each other, and generally messing about. I had a lovely time chatting to their mum. It’s so nice to see other adults again.
As part of the play date we took them to see the friendly neighbourhood monkey. It’s clear that there’s a difference in attitude between the two sets of siblings. You can’t take our two anywhere!
In the afternoon I started to make pizza dough for dinner. Genevieve came in to the kitchen to see what was going on, at which point she farted loudly and before making a swift exit. Stephen and I tried to chastise her for this antisocial and unpleasant behaviour, but we’re both such children that we started giggling instead. Apparently I said “all the fart molecules will get in to the pizza” to Genevieve. Stephen made me write that down as it made him chuckle so much. Brilliant.
Despite the smelly start, the rest of the pizza making went well. Both Genevieve and James were really keen to help, although both were pretty useless when it came to the kneading. They need to build up their muscles!
Before dinner, Stephen took the kids for a walk as he wanted to get some light exercise. He also wanted to try and get a photo with the Bad Boy Running bunny (without the TMR sign), but the running duo had moved indoors because of the rain. Oh well.
During their walk Genevieve became obsessed with picking up sticks, but she soon got bored of carrying them so demanded that Stephen do it. Apparently he flatly refused – what a grump!
Despite the bad weather, both kids seemed to have an enjoyable time with their daddy.
Stephen said that they particularly enjoyed the puddles (no surprise there), although James instantly got water in his wellies and started complaining. He needs to learn how to splash properly.
And, of course, they’d just got to the furthest point from the house when both children announced that they needed a wee and “were bursting”. Clearly it was time to head home, which worked out nicely as their pizzas were just coming out of the oven.
The kids wolfed down their dinner quickly. They really enjoy the homemade pizzas! After dinner Genevieve did some problem-solving puzzle sheets as part of a Beaver challenge.
Once the children were in bed, it was pizza time for me and Stephen, then cuddles, TV and bed, too. I was relieved to get to bed as my ankles and legs were very tired after all the running and walking today. I hope they’re not too bad tomorrow!
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