Our long weekend happy – Park fun, bike riding, swimming, and pond dipping! – Mummascribbles

The other half was heading out for the day but we were all taking Zach to his swimming lesson so that it was easier for me, and I could drop him at the train station on the way home. The boys actually laid in for once, Zach waking just after 7 and Oscar 7.15 (yes, those are lay-ins in this house!), so it was a bit of a rush to get us all ready and out of the house, but we made it!

Zach proudly showed his swimming skills off to Daddy and Oscar, and then while I was getting him all dried and dressed, the other half and Oscar popped to the cafe to grab some food (snacks for the boys, bacon sarnie for him), and then we went to the car and drove to the train station just down the road. Unfortunately, Oscar decided to have an epic meltdown because he wasn’t going on the train with Daddy, and he continued to cry until we reached the house!

Once I had got them both indoors, they had some tablet time while I made breakfast, and then we pottered around until it was time to go to performing arts. Usually while Zach is in class, I sit and do some work, but today I had Oscar with me, so I took him to the park just up the road for a play. He had fun on the swings and slide and was hugely interested in watching one of the local youth football teams having their training session!

It was soon time to head back to get Zach and when he came out we went straight home. He was a bit disappointed because he missed out on park fun, but because Oscar hadn’t napped, I didn’t want to knacker him out too much when I was solo parenting!

When we arrived home they immediately wanted lunch, so I made them a bite to eat and we all sat in the garden. And that’s where we stayed for the whole afternoon! The boys spent most of it playing with our next door neighbour across the fence, Zach popped to Tesco with him at one point, and then while I was cooking dinner, they continued to play with him until Oscar was too tired and came in to watch some TV.

As I walked in with dinner, he had just started nodding off, but luckily he perked up with food and I managed to get him to eat! It was then very much time for bed for the pair of them, and by 7.30 they were both fast asleep! I went straight downstairs, made myself a cuppa, grabbed the laptop and sat working in front of Britain’s Got Talent, before I finally went to bed!

Sunday 26th May

I was up early with the boys, the cat had puked all over the hallway (although it was easy to clean up – I won’t go into detail!), and we set off downstairs leaving the other half in bed as he’d got in late.

Zach decided that first he wanted to listen to the Little Mix CD that I have, and then he wanted to make some characters from the art magazines that we have had lying around for an age, and Oscar wanted to join in too when he discovered what we were doing! They both did an amazing job – Zach doing his completely by himself, and Oscar doing a really good job with a little help from moi!

Once they were done with that, it was time to listen to The Greatest Showman on my phone, which I then started playing on their keyboard. Then they wanted breakfast and while they were sitting eating, Daddy appeared! We then all got ready and while I took Oscar to football, they got ready to head to the park with Zach’s bike, to see if they could finally get him riding without his stabilisers (we have made a few attempts now).

Oscar had a so-so lesson. He did do really well, but he was pretty tired and so at times, wasn’t exactly his best. He still scored loads of goals though which made him happy. Once class was over, we went to the car and drove to the park to meet the other two. And they were there by the car park waiting for us with the news that Zach could ride his bike…YES!

The other half informed me that it hadn’t exactly been an easy task and he may have been a bit of a meanie, but we both knew that Zach could do it – he just needed to realise it himself.

He showed me his new skills a few times and then we popped the bike in the car and grabbed the scooters out. We went off to the animals to have a look around there, and the boys got to stroke the tortoise, and then we went to the cafe for lunch. I had an omelette, the other half had a BLT, and the boys had massive hotdogs that pretty much all got eaten.

Once they were finished, we went over to the mound for them to have some fun, and I was being a monster!

Then after that had knackered them out, we bribed them with ice cream. Only as we were walking towards the cafe, we figured it was about to rain, so I managed to persuade them to get in the car with the promise of me grabbing them an ice cream later.

We got home and they both had a chill out. Oscar watching Daddy’s phone and Zach watching the two magic tricks on the previous nights BGT (he loves magic). Then he and I popped round to Tesco to grab the promised ice cream which they devoured very quickly. The other half had snuck out into the garden to try and sort the little ‘pond’ area that he is creating while the boys played with the play-doh, and then they realised and came to help.

They then started to play with the neighbours again, I had a cuppa and put dinner on, and then after a while they both came inside to chill out for a bit before dinner was ready.

We ate a yummy roast (despite Zach’s protests that he hates them), and then once again, because Oscar hadn’t napped, it was time for bed and they were asleep nice and early.

I sat and wrote this post (up to the end of Sunday) and did some photo editing for it, and the other half played computer games to keep him awake, with Jumanji on in the background (the new one). He then watched the end of a film he had started the night before while eating his kebab, and then when it all got too much, we went to bed too!

Monday 27th May

Despite Oscar initially waking up at 5.15, and then again at 6.15 – I managed to keep him in bed until 7 and we all got up together. We had planned on a swimming trip for the morning so we breakfasted, got ready and went on up to the pool. They have a fun toy swim on a Monday morning so it’s a nice way to spend a bank holiday! Oscar absolutely loves being in the pool and is so confident in the water, and Zach is all just about going under the water and swimming now. It is so lovely! I had a little swim too, and after an hour or so, we decided it was time to get out, showered and dried – which is always the nightmare bit isn’t it?

Once we had finally got them all ready, the other half took them out to the cafe while I dried my hair and then we went out to the park for a little while. Well, they did. I ran next door to Tesco because we had stupidly not taken Oscar’s bag with us so had no nappies other than the spare swimming nappy – which clearly wasn’t very good because he peed and it leaked all over him! So I had to buy an emergency pack of nappies along with lunch! He was waiting very patiently in the park so we let him have a little bit of fun in his fresh nappy (we had no spare clothes either).

We managed to drag them away from the park and drive home, and then the other half took Oscar out for a walk to let him have a nap. It was the first time in four days that he had one but we knew after swimming he wouldn’t stay awake the whole day!

I made lunch while they were out, and then we sat in the garden for a while before the other half mowed the lawn with the help of a very keen Zach, before Zach and I popped over to the shops just as Oscar was waking up (thanks to the wind blowing the kitchen door shut).

Once we were home, Oscar was eating and then we all enjoyed the donuts that I had bought us. And then we got shoes on, and went over to the Country Park for a spot of pond dipping. The boys had loads of fun, we got a bit stressed with Oscar who kept darting too fast towards the water, but we did manage to get a few finds which we popped in a jar and added to our new little pond area in the garden once we were home.

It was time to do dinner as it was a lasagne and it takes a while. So I was in the kitchen cooking and the boys were playing out in the garden until it was time to come in and eat. And then it was time for bed. Oscar had napped so we knew it would be a later bedtime, but they were asleep by 8 and it was time for Britain’s Got Talent and the writing up of the rest of this post!

We had such a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. The kids were a joy, the weather was pretty lush, and we packed in a lot of fun! Now for half term to begin!