It’s day 4862 of the summer holiday and I honestly think I lost my brain on day 4 so I’m not really sure what is happening at present. The first day seemed crazy enough but since then we’ve thrown in a trip to the minor injury unit, had plenty more tantrums, an oat explosion, an endless cycle of washing (I’ve given up with the cleaning) and I joined the COVID party.

We did have a blast during the town’s annual folk week festival last week though. There was a slightly different vibe this year as the kid’s area had changed completely (sadly not for the better) but we made the most of the sun, dancing opportunities and the food on offer. The kids all enjoyed the dancing and loved watching the different performances along the seafront. They had their own take on the different styles and were blown away by the ‘cutlery dancing’- they were dancing with some sort of ceremonial swords not knives and forks, but still.

The maypole dancing was a particular hit as they were fully involved and loved dancing with their friends, plus there was only a small meltdown from Seb compared to another couple of experiences. He refused to join in unless he could hold a red ribbon with meant I had to react pretty quick when one did become available. The biggest meltdown came from Polly on the one evening that we went down all together. We’d had a great evening, we caught a show in the gardens that had us all laughing, we’d eaten some good food and then we had the amazing experience of seeing dolphins whilst walking along the seafront. Polly was one of the first to clock them when she shouted “Mummy look, a shark, there’s a shark out there!” I was half away through my sarcastic reply when I saw she was sought of right- there were in fact several dolphins just off the shore. We watched them for about 15 minutes as they made their way back and forth along the beach. It really was an amazing experience and it was even more special that all five of us were there to witness them. Perhaps it was the fact that this was fairly hard to top, but the evening went downhill about ten minutes later. We were along the seafront to catch one of the festival’s highlights- the samba band called Street Heat- which Polly had been counting down the hours to all day, but it all got a bit much and she had a full scale Polly meltdown so we had to make a swift exit.

She did use her Polly energy for good the next day though. We’ve spent a lot of the time at the park recently and most of it as been good- Clara did get taken out by a swing the other day when I was too busy chatting in a scene that would have looked good on ‘You’ve been framed’ (she was fine after a cuddle and a snack by the way!). Anyway, Polly has found that having younger siblings who need a bit more supervision round the park (cough Clara round the swings), means that she is having to figure some of the more ‘big kid’ activities out by herself. The other week she used the bottom of the climbing frame tunnel to practise the monkey bars at a lower level as I wasn’t by her side to lift her up to the big ones and after 20 minutes she had almost mastered them. Then last week she wanted to do the zip line, up till now she’s found a friend or two and they help pass the seat up to each other but this day she was the only one near it. She asked for my help whilst I was pushing the other two on the swing, I asked her to give it a go herself, she huffed for only a moment then did so and within five minutes she was whizzing back and forth by herself on the zipline- very proud of herself and rightly so.

I had a slightly proud of myself moment too actually. As a few of you know I’ve really struggled with my confidence in driving since having the kids. It took a hell of a lot to build up the confidence to be happy with my commute to work and apart from that I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve driven in the last five years. Cue Seb injuring his hand on a Sunday afternoon while Daddy was working, cue an hour long crying fit, a call to 111 for some advice and the next thing I realise is I’m packing all three kids into the car with some snacks and toys on our way to the minor injuries unit in the next town. It was an eventful three hour wait that thankfully ended with stickers and not a plaster cast (he’d sprained his thumb) as he made a very sudden recovery once in the room with the smiley nurse- typical kids! But it meant I had to drive and it’s really helped with my confidence. I’m not saying I’m a good driver (not sure I ever was) but it did mean that a few days later when I took Polly to a birthday party I was a lot more chilled and even drove more than I needed to, to take the little two for an IKEA run around.

Folk week did also give me a night out, always a slightly crazy affair. I can’t say that I remember much of the night itself- there was vodka and there was definitely music and a heart to heart chat on the seafront. There was a lot of laughing and the abrupt return to normality at around 7AM when a bin lorry came past my friend’s house where I had crashed for the night. The walk home actually helped freshen me up a bit but not more than the shock at walking in the door to find the whole house still asleep! Of all the mornings the little rascals sleep in! Can’t complain too much though as at least Henry was about to entertain the kids while I felt sorry for myself on the sofa, he even popped to the shop to get me a Rustler’s burger (perfect hangover cure).

On that mention of food I should probably go and make some food for us actually. I’m feeling a bit more human at the moment so I should probably make the most of it- either that or the sweating is actually my fever breaking and I’m about to go delirious! On a side note this dose of COVID has been a bit shit. The symptoms have been slightly different to before- mainly felt incredibly lethargic with a headache and to be honest wouldn’t have even clocked it was COVID if I hadn’t been asked to do a test, really hoping it’s a quick dose as I’m going slightly mental in the house- never thought I’d be jealous of Henry leaving to go to to work! Let’s just say the new series of Bluey hit Disney at the perfect time and we may be on our fourth rewatch but hey it is hilarious.

Anyway, bring on day 4863… hopefully it’ll bring a negative test and a break to this delightful heat and maybe the hoover won’t have to come out for it’s daily visit round the living room- hahahaha who am I kidding!