Our Easter weekend happy – Paradise, two BBQ's, and lots of family time! – Mummascribbles

The start of the long bank holiday weekend, and we kicked it off with a visit to Paradise Wildlife Park. The morning period of us all getting ready was a bit of a nightmare, but once we had set off with two excited kids, it got a lot better!

When we arrived, it was already pretty busy and had only been open for half an hour! It didn’t take us long to get in though, and once the boys (and I) had had a go down the digger slide and had a cuddle with the Easter Bunny (them not me), we went straight to the dinosaurs to have a look at the new additions. We spotted the first straight away, the flying Pterodactyls – and then we meandered a bit further round to discover the Indorapter. Of course this dinosaur comes straight out of Jurassic World, but it’s pretty impressive and the boys loved it. And I was super happy to have our photo taken with the Jurassic Park jeep replica!

We then saw the rest of the dinos for the hundredth time, and then we went on into the animal area where the boys had a quick play in the playground.

Zach usually gets a bit bored when it comes to looking round the animals, but this time he enjoyed it a lot more because they had an Easter egg hunt to follow!

Of course it meant that after finding one, he would want to go straight to find the next, so we didn’t really spend too much time looking at the animals! However after the first few finds I had worked out what the secret words were, so that eased him off a bit!

We had some lunch and then once we were done with the animals, we went over to the outdoor play area where the boys had some fun, and then when Zach and I popped over to the loos, we discovered there was a meet with Blue the dinosaur. So we went to meet her and then ran to grab Oscar because we knew that he would want to meet her too! Which he did.

We then didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves, so we sat and watched the Safari Sam show which Zach absolutely loved and spent the whole time dancing away like a loon.

And then we took the pair of them into the soft play area for a while before deciding that both of them were worn out enough, so we made our way to the car park and drove home, with Oscar falling asleep very briefly on the way!

When we got home, the boys watched a bit of TV and then the other half and Zach went to the chippy. Only Oscar wanted to go too and to save a tired meltdown, I shoved him in the buggy and followed them down there.

Once we got back, we ate and then got them to bed as quickly as we could! And then we put the new Ant Man film on and I fell asleep on the sofa because I was blooming exhausted!

Saturday 20th April

We had swimming first thing, so Zach and I went while the other half stayed home with Oscar. After another great lesson from Zach, we drove straight down to Homebase to grab some bits and then went back home. The other half jumped in the shower, I had brekkie and a wipe over of the kitchen, and then I nipped down to the shops to grab some bits we needed.

When I got back, the other half’s Mum and Dad had arrived with our two Nieces and Nephew. From then on in, the afternoon was a mix of the kids running round like loons, a BBQ, lots of chatting from us, chocolate cake, wine, some more child chaos (from the chocolate, not the wine!), and then at around 6pm they left and we slowly got the boys ready for much needed bed.

Sunday 21st April

The boys actually had a very mini lay in, but we were still up relatively early and they were raring to go for their Easter hunt. I always do a hunt in the garden if the weather is nice, and it’s never just a hunt for chocolate. I always fill loads of plastic eggs with fun things and a couple of chocolatey treats. So once I had positioned them round the garden, they went out there and found them all and then came straight back indoors to discover what they had. They loved it and were chuffed with their bits. Oscar went straight into eating his chocolate!

We all then slowly got ready and we decided to head up to the park to wear Oscar out a bit so that he’d have a nap. We went straight to the mound where they had a run around, and then Oscar decided it was nap time and he fell asleep pretty easily.

We went home and grabbed some lunch, hung some washing out, let it dry, and then Oscar woke up, had a bite to eat, and we then got in the car and drove to my Sister’s house where we were due to spend the afternoon.

The boys had a fab time playing with our Nephew, his girlfriend, and the rest of us!

My Mum was there too and we had another BBQ, some Pimms, and overall it was a lovely afternoon, which led into the evening.

It got to 7pm and we got the boys ready for bed and then left at half past. Oscar just didn’t manage to stay awake in the car because we had to go around the houses due to an accident! But they both went to bed easily when we got in, and we spent the evening on the sofa watching TV!

Monday 22nd April

Our last day of the long weekend and we didn’t have any plans. Oscar woke up and I took him downstairs, and just as I started boiling the kettle, the other half messaged me asking if I wanted to go back up to bed. And yes I did! So we swapped and I went back to sleep for another couple of hours.

When I got up, I went downstairs but the boys were both upset as they had wanted to come and wake me. So we did it over again!

When I was finally downstairs properly, I made that cup of tea I had started earlier, made everyone breakfast, and then I got in the shower which started the process for us all getting ready.

I’d decided that I was going to take Zach shopping with me, while the other half was going to take Oscar for a nap and pop to the local shops. So off we all went, Zach and I popping down to Pets At Home, and popping into TK Maxx while we were there – where I bought myself some new sunnies, and Zach some too, along with a new cap.

Once we were done, we were supposed to drive up to Tesco’s but it was late and we were both hungry so we just drove straight home.

We beat the other half back as he had meandered around Homebase for a while, and then when he came home Oscar was awake, so it was straight out into the garden for them while we made lunch.

From then on, the afternoon consisted of the boys playing outside, the other half making a start at sorting out the broken step, and me cleaning the rabbit out, doing some washing, and finding five mins for a cuppa!

We then popped half a leg of lamb in the oven, realised we had no mint sauce, so Zach and I popped to the shops, and then when we got home, we chilled on the sofa while the other half finished dinner off. Then we ate it, showered the boys, got them off to bed and then we watched Game of Thrones before I sat and finished this post.

We had such a lovely long weekend. It was so fab having the other half home for a couple of extra days to a normal weekend and the boys had loads of fun. And of course, it helped that the weather was glorious!