As the kids have finally broken up for summer it’s actually dawned on me that we’ve got six long weeks ahead of us. The weather still doesn’t seem to have realised it’s summer yet and we’ve started off strong with a sickness bug in the house already. Anyway last summer holiday we felt a bit battered on all fronts- Henry worked a lot so I was running solo a lot, we had a trip at each end of the holidays so the middle bit was a bit cash strapped and the weather was shit. So, basically I had to go back to basics and thought I’d record what we actually did so I could go back for ideas if need be on future summer holidays. So here’s 6 weeks of simple, varied ideas that got us through the last holibobs:

Baking. Even just a banana loaf can keep them occupied, or those little box sets from the shop.

Get them involved with any holiday prep- testing air beds, chairs, wagon etc. We spent a whole afternoon with the air beds set up in the living room pretending to camp before actually going camping!

Tie dye t-shirt. Polly still loves wearing hers.

Movie day-great for a rainy/sick day, let them take it in turns picking and spend a day curled up on the sofa together.

Throwing rocks in river. We did this a lot!

Lego.

Park.

Meet up with friends.

Connect 4- this was our favourite game last summer and Clara got pretty good.

Rainbow science lab experiments- it was a set Polly had for her birthday, it had so many different bits that we came back to it several days over.

Brio trains- see who can make the biggest track right round the room.

Indoor picnic.

Crafting- I know this can be hell at times but the older they’ve got the easier it’s got as they need less help with the actual making, the tidying up they haven’t fully figured out yet!

Floor is lava- one of Clara’s favourites, she’ll play it with cushions, blankets, books, anything she can get her hands on.

Impromptu beach play.

Ice creams- either a proper Mr Whippy with a flake or just a box of mini milks from Lidl, it’s all a treat to the kids.

Little cafe lunch- even just a sausage roll and a milkshake.

Free local events- we’re lucky in our little town to have a folk festival which provides a full week of activities & entertainment, most of it free.

Watch a game show and join in- Polly started to get right into catchphrase last year and now all 3 of them love watching it.

Hot choc and marshmallows- the way the weather is going this will definitely be one we do a lot again this year.

Make a den.

Barbies dress up- put on a show, act a story out or just leave them to their own devices.

Outdoor chalk on patio.

Walk before bed/after tea, burns off some energy before the bedtime routine kicks in. River play- in and around, given the chance for mine it’ll always be ‘in.’

Polly set up a restaurant many times last year.

Read a chapter book together- Harry Potter was our choice last summer, right now we’re several stories into ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ with Polly reading big chunks to us all at bedtime.

Colouring books- I actually did a stock check last week and found about 20 so I’ll be pushing these a lot this summer.

Pretend tea party.

Bracelet making.

Impromptu evening walk in the woods.

Blackberry picking.

Library- look for activities, events. Summer reading challenge.

Take some books, a picnic blanket and go to the local gardens or park.

Dress up- the girls love putting on 6 different outfits and putting on concerts for us.

Beauty salon, paint nails etc.

Catch the bus- look out for deals like £2 stagecoach deal.

Museum- again check out the free activities.

And my favourite one- let them get bored. It’s amazing to see what they come up with when left to their own devices plus it gives us 10 minutes peace!

So, here’s to six crazy weeks of endless snacking, probably some fighting, but hopefully a lot of fun again…

The last weeks of the school year seem to be flying past, but the next 3 weeks are absolutely rammed and my brain is like mush so I thought I’d do a post now as I’m likely to not get another chance till the kids actually break up.

There is so much to juggle in the next couple of weeks and this might be why so many mums right now look ready to collapse. Our last weeks include: (technically) 3x sport’s days (the big 2’s is split across a whole day with various different timings to remember), 2x school trips, a summer fun day, a folk festival afternoon, a family picnic, a teddy bear picnic, a water play afternoon, a home visit from Clara’s new teacher, new class day, a non-uniform day (with tombola prizes to bring in), 2x dentist appointments, dance classes, Brownies, toddler groups (these are the last ones which as per my last post are going to be a bit emotional), work, half a text book to read and somewhere in all that I’ve got an essay to write. I honestly think if I get 1 more email from the school I might just run off into the hills and not come back.

Talking about emails from the school, Monday was the day we found out what new classes the kids will actually be in come September- always a tense moment. This meant that whilst driving home from work my phone went so mental I thought someone had died- I had about 40 notifications from various group chats as well as the half a dozen emails from the school. When I got home and then joined in on these conversations my brain struggled to keep up- 11, I actually counted 11 conversations on the go at the same time as well as trying to work out what classes mine were actually going to be in (I think I can put this on my CV as another example of the extreme multi-tasking skills parenting has given us!). The good news is mine seem happy with the choices and the new class day they had a couple of days later was met with general positivity. Seb did have a bit of a meltdown when he realised he would be leaving some of his friend’s behind to go up to the bigger site, but he’s been reassured knowing that they’ll all be together again next year anyway and some of his friends went up last year so he’ll see them in the meantime.

I had another successful big walk with the kids last week. I’m trying to get them a bit more resilient so I’ve been taking them on some bigger walks up the various hills that surround our little town. On Saturday we went out adventuring for about 3 hours and they were absolute troopers- Clara only needed a little 5 minute piggy back. We did have a bit of a drama when we got home though. We knew there had been ticks about as we’d had to brush them off us a few times whilst walking through the woods, so when we got home we did a full strip and found we’d bought 3 little fuckers home with us. Polly offered to get the one out my back, which I politely declined and told her I’d wait till Henry got home! Clara had 2 on her, the one on her back came out fairly easily but the one in her armpit proved to be a rascal like her. I tickled her by accident with the tweezers whilst trying to get it out and she flinched so only half of it came out. We took a little trip down to the chemist who said not to worry too much as it should work its way out, but luckily after a second attempt an hour later the little sod’s head came out and she seems absolutely fine.

We’ve carried on our thing of watching some more different films, they loved watching The Parent Trap and laughed so much at Dr Dolittle. We’ve also worked our way through most of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. This did trigger a hilarious conversation between Seb and Polly when watching the third one. They watched in pure horror at the last scene where Will and Elizabeth are finally enjoying a raunchy night on a desert island and Will kisses her leg and we got treated to comments such as- “Eeeewwww he’s kissing her leg!” “Urgh why does she like that?!” Eww would you like someone to kiss your leg like that?!” Henry and I had to look away from each other as we were both howling with silent laughter- please tell me this hilarious innocence lasts for a few more years!

Anyway time to sign off as I’m meant to be doing the washing up whilst Polly ‘teaches’ Seb to play chess and Clara watches the new episodes of Unicorn Academy for the 16th time. This chess game definitely needs loosely supervising though as I can see the board being tipped over monopoly style as she is blatantly screwing him over.