Fun and Parks

It was lovely to see the sun out when I woke up. We have had a real run of cloudy and wet days and it just the weather we needed so they could all have some fun. Thankfully although it clouded over later in the day it did remain dry all the time Lucy was with us.

Taking you back a few entries, when Lucy's mummy was poorly last week, I think I told you, I gave up my weekend and Friday with her, but I did ask to see her Today so she could see Emily and Catherine before they go on holiday tomorrow. I'm so glad she agreed I didn't want the them all to miss out of seeing each other. I picked her at ten and had her through to five. Enough time to have some fun although it not as long as I would normally have her for a day.

Both Lucy and I got into the house I had picked her a couple of blackberries from down the lane, she loved them. As soon we got in Catherine was ready to surprise her and extracted an excited laugh and a big hug from her. After some excited chatter mainly from Lucy she decided that she wanted to do some drawing and she sat down with Catherine at the table. Catherine had her drawing faces of the people she knows while she did her own drawing.

It wasn't long before she wanted some more blackberries, so with the drawing at the tale done we set off outside with a small pot to pick some more. Soon we had enough to keep a little tummy happy until dinner. As I tended to the cooking for a minute, Lucy was off on her tricycle making stops to eat her blackberries, between petrol fill ups and air for the tyres. It wasn't very long before Catherine came out to join us and finished her drawing in the morning sunshine.

After all the blackberries had gone Lucy wanted to water the garden so it was out with the hose and she was soon watering the runner beans. To be honest the runner beans aren't doing well, something has been eating them and their growth has been stunted but there is still some growing time left. Lucy loves watering them, she planted them with me, and now has an idea of how long to do it for. She was telling me when she was finished and she got the time about right. 

It was about eleven by now and Charlie, a friend of Emily, Catherine and Lucy came round mainly to play with Emily. Soon they were upstairs and the volume level in the house increased dramatically. Charlie is anything but a quiet child on the best of days and today she was particularly noisy. Although I had to tell them to keep the volume down they seemed to be having great fun playing imaginative games. Charlie has a soft spot for Lucy, as she does for other sister Mary, and in their games always seems to be looking after her.

As they played I finished preparing Sunday Lunch for them all. Today we had roast chicken, potato wedges with parsley dressing, carrots, runner beans, savoy cabbage, parsnips and stuffing with lashings of gravy. I must say it was really yummy, although Emily and Catherine were not so sure about the potato's. Personally I thought they made a nice change from normal roast potatoes, but that is children for you. 

After lunch we got Lucy changed into some clean clothes and they all played nicely in the family room until it was time to head out for the afternoon. Today we headed north to Melton Mowbray and the parks there.

The first stop was a park we had spotted from the side of the road on the way to the country park. It is always nice to find something new to do and explore. It wasn't in the greatest of condition and it could do with a lick of paint but everything was working and could be played with safely. It had all the usual things you would expect to find in a park including swings, climbing frames, slides, and bouncy toys etc.

The thing that was unusual was a large metal barrel with two bars to hang on to. Not something that Lucy could do but something Emily and Catherine really enjoyed the challenge of. Emily in particular wouldn't stop playing on it until she got the measure of it. They all had a great time there.

After a while we had really used up the possibilities of the small park and we headed off down the road to the country park. A now firm favourite of them all. Being thirsty as well as needing the toilet we headed off to the visitor centre for drinks and the toilets before we headed out to the play area's. 

Emily and Catherine set off for the climbing park and Lucy for the smaller children's play area. She must have played there for a good 30 minutes on everything before she wanted to go and find Emily and Catherine. When we got to them they were sharing the aerial runway with two other girls. Lucy headed off to the tree houses and was soon playing a "it is raining game" and getting me to join her. When some boys came and took over the runway Emily and Catherine came to join us and they all played together before Emily managed to get the boys to let them play on the runway too. At that point Lucy went back to the smaller play area and we played there until it was time to head home. You could tell she was starting get tired when she asked for her dummy. Something she doesn't notice she hasn't got until she starts run out of steam. It was shortly after this point that we returned how to get Lucy ready to go back to her mummies.

We were so rushed getting out the house when it came time to take Lucy home that I forgot her sweets. I didn't notice until it was too late and we were outside her mummies house. All she did when she got in was tell her mummy how I forgot the sweets. I couldn't disappoint her and as I had to pop to the conner shop anyway I brought some sweets and posted them through the door on the way home. I just hope her mummy got to them before she did and they didn't spoil her dinner.

After Lucy had gone it was time to finish off the cleaning. The main room to do was the family room. It needed tidying, sweeping, hovering and finally the floor needed washing. Thankfully it went a lot better than the bedroom and it wasn't long before Catherine was tidying and Emily was hovering and mopping the floor. It really looked nice when they had finished and all of Lucy's toys were arranged nicely and smaller ones put into boxes. All that is left to do is for me workout how to rearrange the storage units and make them look as tidy as the rest of the room, but that can wait until the middle of next week when the house is quiet.

After all the cleaning a big dinner was required to make up for all the energy used so we had pork chops, sausages, baked beans and potatoes. There wasn't much left on the plates at the end and there was lots of chat and laughter. There was just enough time after dinner for Emily and Catherine to watch a little TV before bedtime. Just a nice way to relax and end a fun filled day that I know they have both enjoyed.

Bedtime tonight was rather exciting for the girls with a holiday tomorrow. There was last minute packing to do and excited plans to be make. I do wonder what time they will wake in the morning. I can see it being early.