Summer 2014: Day 0 – School’s out for summer!

Well that’s it. Final school run done. Book bag assigned to the cupboard. School uniform all in the laundry basket Cute teddy bear gift from her teacher (another example of just how much I love this school!) cuddled up in bed with her as she’s drifted off to sleep. Little Miss C’s first year at our local infant school and her time as a pre-schooler is finished.

Whist in a way I did feel a bit sad dropping her off for the last time this morning to the pre-school class room I also shared the excitement that she felt for what is to come. A summer “playing with my toys” and “lots of sleep and films” is what LMC seems excited about – along with a trip to sleep on a farm (we’re visiting Coombe Mill next month too). I had been dreading the holiday somewhat, but now it’s here I’m really hoping to turn things around and use our time together to have fun and make some memories.

Now I’m one of those people who when asked on a Monday morning what we got up to over the weekend really has to stop and think. And on one occasion even consult my diary as I was sure we hadn’t just stayed at home all weekend, but I was damned if I could actually remember what we’d done or where we’d been. I’m determined not to let this happen this summer, so I’m planning to document our whole summer. What we’ve been up to, the games we’ve played, the crafts we’ve done and the places we’ve been.

It seems somewhat appropriate that the day that’s kicked off the holidays is also the one on which we took Master C to the hospital to see the paediatrician about all the problems we’ve been having with him. As expected, there was no magic answer, but her views did align very clearly with my own, especially after everything I’ve learnt from talking to fellow blogger Joy and reading her amazing blog The Sensory Seeker. It’s likely to be a long journey with blood tests, more appointments and I’m sure plenty of frustrations, but at least I now feel like it’s not all in my head and hopefully we’re now in a system to get some of the help and support that I think we need.

It’s not just been a day of hospital visits though. LMC finished school at 1pm and we then headed down to the local splash park where the pair of them ran around with LMC’s school friends and their siblings. They both had an absolute ball and it was so lovely seeing Master C enjoying his first visit there and being so so confident despite all the much older children running around too. It was also wonderful to see LMC spending time with the friends that she has made at school over this last year. She’s grown so much in confidence in that time and even just this last week again seems to have come on in leaps and bounds.

I’m yet to really plan our summer, but a couple of things have fallen into the calendar over the next week or so that the kids are looking forward to, and we’ve able been fortunate in that I’ve just teamed up with the wonderful Craft Merrily to be one of their crafting social media champions over the summer. Craft Merrily is where we buy all our Hama bead kits and boards and we’re all really excited to be working with them – wonderful customer service, great range, competitive prices, fair postage costs and speedy dispatch and delivery. And I would have happily said all that last week too. Today the postman brought us a wonderful box of goodies to play with and share on social media and not only did it contain some of our beloved Hama beads, but also some Fimo (which is completely new to us), loom bands, a Melissa and Doug stamp kit and some Staedtler gel crayons which look perfect for Master C. LMC is beyond excited.

So that’s the kids entertained, but luckily a bit later another delivery driver turned up with something to make Mr C happy – 16 litres of Westons Wyld Wood organic cider to review. Bingo! I’m sat here with my first glass right now and I’m pretty impressed. Watch out for a full review later in the summer – probably not immediately after we’ve drunk it all!

Day 0 complete then and just 41 days to go before the alarm will wake us and the uniform goes back on. In a way it seems like an eternity, but at the same time I’m sure it will fly by. Lots to do, lots we want to do, and lots of adventures to have. I hope you’ll join us for the ride.