Out with the old

In with the new....I'll let you decided what's what!

Monday: our usual routine? No! Today bean finally gave up his gymnastics class for real. No more talking about it and then changing his mind. Today we went to the class and he told his teacher that he wasn't doing it anymore. I'm not sure what has finally pushed him to committing to not doing it but the deed is done. So, we spent an extra long time playing in the park where we met up with people who are familiar faces to us but we haven't had the opportunity to get to know them better before today. The sun is finally shining and we had a great time in the sand pit, which is an unusual play spot for us.

Tuesday: family outing.
I had this plan to take the boys to Leed's castle today and then Bodium castle tomorrow. Almost topic based learning inspired! But it wasn't to work out that way. We went out to Bedgebury Pinetum with grandma and pops and FA#2 to celebrate pop's birthday. 69 years old and still climbing on the trim trail! We all had a go and a more than a few laughs especially as pumpkin described fa#2 as old (she is one of the youngest in our immediate family relations) We had family dinner at fa#1 and stayed the night. Plum has had a temp since Sunday evening and after struggling to keep it down and it peaking at 39.6 degrees we gave her meds but she had an incredibly unsettled night. And then bean wet in the middle of the night and I had only bought one set of bedding and clothes with me so he ended up wearing the previous days shorts and t-shirts and sleeping under a bath towel!

Wednesday:a trip to Bodium Castle.
The national trust don't specialise in castles but this one was left to them. I remember it well from childhood school trips and today there were plenty of those around. It was good though. There were people in character and the staff were really helpful and knowledgable and both boys asked some really amazing questions. Bean wanted to know what the silk merchants wife did and pumpkin was intrigued where the stones had gone.
It was a long journey home and all three smalls fell asleep in the car which is unusual these days.

Thursday: the new gymnastics day!
The boys have started a new gymnastics class in a new venue that they can take together. This suits them just fine. A few people have mentioned that the boys might like to do things separate but it just doesn't sit we'll with them and who am I to cause deliberate discord between siblings? After this we went and picnicked in the nearby park, tilgate, with several home ed families. We enjoyed meeting new people and the boys played amazingly in a group of boys all of similar ages. They played their own version of Star Wars for hours. It's the first time I've seen both the boys really involved in a group game. Some families left as the afternoon progressed but we stayed for four hours and just caught the ice cream man at 5pm before he left. It was such a beautiful day. Plum was clearly a lot better but being outside has really helped her.

Friday: a well earned rest.
We planned a day at home and preparations for our trip to nana and grandad's tomorrow to celebrate daddy's birthday. I spent time in the garden and doing chores and the boys played indoor hockey with their umbrellas and a ball and then devised a crazy golf course in the garden.
In the afternoon we went strawberry picking. Bean declared that he wanted to pick strawberries when he's older and pumpkin spent the whole time bounding around the field  shouting "this is the best ever!"

Saturday: we took a trip to see daddy's family and spent a beautiful day with BBQ in the back garden.

The mood has changed some what since the sun came out and we are all happy and relaxed. It's forecast to last a while too, just before school term ends, yippee.