Today has gone down in my history books as the first time I ran a sub-30 minute 5km. I say first time as I am totally going to do it again. Just maybe not this week. Ha ha!
James had woken me up early and so I was tired when I had to usher the kids downstairs to let Stephen sleep. He was still broken from Monday/Tuesday so wasn’t feeling great. But, once he’d woken up and had taken the kids to the grandparents for a distanced play date, I went for a run.
I started the run as I usually did, but when Strava announced that my first kilometre had taken bang on six minutes, I knew I had to try for the elusive sub-30 minute time. It was hard but I actually did it. I’m proud to say that when the robotic voice of Strava said the wonderful words of “5 kilometres, time 29 minutes…” I shouted “Yeeesss!“ and threw my arms in the air like I’d just won a race! Shame no one was around to see me.
My Strava soon started pinging with congratulatory Kudos alerts from my fellow running mummies. I love my running group!
As I cooled down I went to see what the friendly neighbourhood monkey was doing. Learning to drive, apparently! I’m sure that’s not legal.
This section was written by Grandad Lawrie.
The day started with a hunt for feathers in the garden but, when none were in evidence, Genevieve spotted rose petals on the ground and decided that they needed collecting. This was followed by a discussion about ‘dead-heading’ roses and the need to collect only those petals that had fallen to the floor of their own volition!
James was keen to go on a ‘bug hunt’ to look for more snail shells and bees; but he became fascinated by a large spider and, although he did not want to touch it, he was determined to see it run away from him at speed when prompted to do so!
Painting was the general on-going theme for the morning, with both Genevieve and James producing work that many artists would be delighted with. Their colour palette was somewhat limited, but their use of it was something to behold, and they both went home after lunch clutching their prized paintings with a great deal of pride and a sense of achievement.
The essential mid-morning cup of hot chocolate proved to be a hit once more and declared by the children to be perfect but, with James preferring to use a spoon instead of drinking it straight from the cup, a good fifteen minutes was added to proceedings!
After lunch Genevieve and James went for a quick whizz around the garden on their scooters.
This was swiftly followed by James insisting that Grandad Lawrie took part in a very energetic, but most enjoyable, game of statues.
Whilst the kids were out, I had time to shower before taking the cat to the vet for his boosters and check up; and then collecting the food order I’d done at Waitrose in Bromley. I managed a brief 20 minute sit down before I had to go and collect the children. It was brief but totally worth it.
As I’d had an active morning, I opted for a chilled afternoon and got out some sticker books for the kids to complete. Genevieve is really into some lovely Usbourne dolly ones. She is super careful in how she removes and sticks down the stickers. She gets very engrossed!
James was extremely excited to show off his artwork he’d competed with Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie. He was particularly pleased with his painting of a bee (even though he still runs a mile if a real one comes near him). He was proud of his dot-to-dot work too.
But the art appreciation was short-lived and James moved on to playing with his toy gun. He loves playing with it (despite Stephen and I doing very little to promote such play), but I guess that boys will be boys. He will need to work on his stance though if he wants to be more like Dirty Harry.
As the children had been so well behaved and it had been an exciting week for Genevieve being back at school, we dispatched Stephen to head to the Golden Arches for a special dinner-time treat. I enjoyed some cuddles with James while we waited.
Stephen kept me updated as he waited to order the kids’ McDonalds. Apparently the whole carpark has been turned into a massive drive-through queue but he was slowly making progress. After nearly an hour he arrived home triumphant with dinner clutched in hand. The children’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads – the treat was very welcomed and the kids wolfed it down.
After dinner, I attended my first ever gender reveal party on Zoom. I hadn’t realised that my friends didn’t know what they were having either. They had got the sex written on a piece of paper at their scan, and had passed that paper to their neighbour who filled a giant gender reveal balloon with appropriate coloured tissue. It was joyous to see their faces as it popped!
Then it was time for the kids to go to bed, for us to have some dinner, and for me to have a Zoom chat with my friends. It’s so good to see them and I actually think that I’m speaking to some of my friends more in lockdown that I would normally. Love it.
The Smiths Family Blog 
A fun filled day and well done for the run Megan
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