Wednesday Fun

When I got up the promise of the beautiful sunset the night before had materialised into a lovely sunny morning, however given the temperature I can imagine that the first frost will be upon us soon. It the same it was so nice to see the sun in the morning. I know it is one thing whatever the time of year that sight warms my heart and makes me start the day with a smile and I was so glad the sun was shinning this morning.

I was first up again this morning and I headed to Emily and Catherine's room to make sure they were awake. Millie was coming round again and I didn't want them to still be sleeping when she arrived. Then I headed into Lucy's room to wake her from her slumbers. She looked so beautiful laying in bed cuddling her toy dog as she slept. It seemed a shame to have to wake her, but as I did I was greeted by a lovely smile and when I opened the blinds and let in the sunshine the smile just got bigger and bigger. Quickly she gathered her things and went downstairs and head to the family room and the sofa. There she found Catherine snuggled up, who got downstairs just before her, watching, yes you have guessed it, "The Sarah Jane Adventures".

As they woke up I made a coffee and sat down and read the news on the BBC website before making Catherine and Lucy some breakfast. It was little after breakfast when Millie arrived bringing with her some more cakes that she had made herself. As Emily was upstairs laying in her bed I sent her up to see her and Lucy followed up a few minutes later to see what was going on. When I went to check they were alright they were all laying on top of Emily in her bed giggling and chatting. Mean while Catherine was still downstairs watching, yep you guessed it again "The Sarah Jane Adventures". According to the expert, Catherine, they are showing all the episodes ever made during the school holidays.

Eventually the three girls came downstairs and once again Emily had to wrestle the television from Catharine so she could play on the X-Box with Millie. Thankfully there wasn't a real fight and after the episode that Catherine was watching ended she went on the computer to play the sims and Lucy settled down on the mac mini to play on the Cbeebies website until she got bored and came in to see me and give me a cuddle. I love the way Lucy shares and on the way back to the family room she asked for some apples and delivered them all the girls in the family room as a mid morning snack. It was really sweet when she informed Millie that if she ate all apple she could have the last apple. A real honour, Lucy really likes her.

Just when we were ready to go to the shops the sun left us but it didn't stop us taking Lucy to the pirate park on the way to the supermarket. It seemed a shame not make the most of the trip and pop to a park for Lucy to let off some steam. She loves the boat there and we had great fun playing on it again today. While crossing the island I pretended to fall off the bridge and into the shark infested sea to squeals of delight and laughter from Lucy. Today she also seemed fascinated by the making rain machine and had loads of fun watching the ball bearings fall and working out how it worked. In the end with the sun gone behind the clouds the cold beat us and we decided to continue with our journey.

As we were walking up to the entrance of supermarket we came across the Tescos cat. Some people think that the cat lives around the store and has no owner, while others say it just knows where it bread is buttered and it knows people will fuss it and feed it and it has a home. Whatever the story you believe there is no getting away from the fact the cat is very friendly and after showing Lucy how to get it to come to her it came and sat on my lap and let it Lucy stroke it.  When I gently stood up again Lucy went to stroke the cat again on her own, putting her hand out first for the cat to smell her and the cat came to her. Soon the cat was pushing into her hand as she stroke it. Lucy loved it and so did the cat. After getting the shopping, which was fun as always, we headed back home and with some of the change I had in my pocket Lucy went on the Postman Pat ride.

When we got back home I got on with cooking pizza for everyone for lunch. It was something quick and  I didn't want to spend all my time in the kitchen when I could spend it better with everyone else. All the girls ate in the family room together chatting away and giggling now and again while watching television. After we all finished, and the girls had taken their plates through, I made the most of the time that was left with Lucy, as did the girls, for the rest of the time we had at home together. It was with Millie going home that we knew were coming to the end of the afternoon at home.

With time catching up on us I packed all the the things I had washed into Lucy's bag and all her other bits and bobs and added a small toy I had got her and a couple of bags of sweets. One for Lucy and another for her sister. I also put into the bag her the washed clothes she had came in so we could get her changed just before she went back to her mummy's so that she didn't ruin her lovely clothes while she was playing. Soon after I had a quick shave we were heading out to the treat before Lucy before she went back to her mummy's house.

The destination, before we took Lucy back, was a soft play area called gokidsgo.  What we didn't realise that we would end up driving through the city centre to get there. To be honest I have hardly ever been into Leicester mainly because of the impression I had about the place from what I was told about it before I moved to Rutland. It is why I prefer going to Peterborough or Nottingham for that matter. I know I find the road system around Leicester confusing. It doesn't always seem clearly signed, but that is same in other city's I have lived in like Leeds. Finding the place we were going to took forever and when we did get there we had lost a chuck of the time we had planned to play through traffic and bad signage.

Thankfully all the pain of getting to gokidsgo was worth it. As soon as all three girls saw it their face light up like lights on a Christmas tree.  It seemed that Lucy had been before because when she was standing at the gate waiting to go in she was pointing things out to Emily and Catherine. Once inside they were off into the soft play area and soon they were out of sight climbing to the top of the structure to reach the slides and all coming down together holding hands. At one point I found them all playing hide and seek in the maze of blocks that made up the soft play area. They all seemed to be having a great time and that is what I wanted from them.

The highlight for me was when Lucy came bounding up to me with her shoes on. Initially I asked why she had her shoes on and all she did was take my hand and lead me to the bumper cars, Then it all made sense when I read the sign. As we were waiting our turn Emily and Catherine spotted us and joined waiting our turn. Soon we were all in a cars, Lucy and myself, Catherine and  Emily. It was great fun. Catherine didn't want to go near the edges and being in the middle presented an ideal target to ram again and again. Every so often Emily would appear in our sights and received the same treatment. It was great fun all round.

Once we had finished with the bumper cars the girls ran off to the soft play area's again. All I could see of them from the table I was sitting at was brief glimpses of them and they were gone. At one point I watch Lucy with the plastic ball cannons giggling her little head off. I juts love watching them have fun. Eventually time caught up on us, but just before we went Emily and Catherine climbed the two big trees they had being eyeing up near the table as I got Lucy from the soft play area and got on her shoes. It was a wonderful way to spend some time.

I couldn't really take pictures in there which was a shame. It was just to busy being the school holidays and you couldn't take pictures without get other peoples children in the shot, but I did get one of them all just before we were leaving.

We had to rush back through the rush hour traffic to get back to Lucy's mummy's on time with the satellite navigation system getting us predictably lost and telling us to do U turns all the time. Eventually after battling though all the traffic it got us on the right housing estate which Lucy confirmed and we arrived at her mummy's house.

When the girls have been with me in the past they have always stayed in the car, but today they wanted to take her to the door and so they came with me. It was a second or so after leaving the car that we realised that we had lost Lucy's coat. We had left it in gokidsgo just before we left. We had no choice but to take Lucy back and just after Emily and Catherine had given her a cuddle her mummy appeared and I explained about the coat. She said not to bother with the coat but I had to go back and get it. How could I leave our daughters coat behind. So I had to go and get it, and I didn't want Lucy to be upset that it was lost.

It meant rushing through the traffic again and into the city. Thankfully we got there just as gokidsgo just as it was closing. The place itself was empty but someone had found it and it was in the office near the door. As soon as I told them we had lost a coat they went and got it and we headed back to Lucy's mummy. Unfortunately the battery in the satellite navigation system gave up and we were lost with in minutes. Seemed like ages before we picked up a sign to get us on to a major road and then to Lucy's mummy's house to deliver the coat. I said "I couldn't  let be without her coat", it was taken without a word and the door closed.

By the time we got back to Rutland there wasn't time to cook a dinner as such and so when we got the supermarket we just pick connivance food we could do in the mircowave. Not something I really approve of but we didn't have much choice and we were all hungry.

Emily and Catherine had said earlier they wanted to watch a film when the got home and although I knew it would take them past their bedtime I agreed. I didn't want anything to spoil there plans for the end of there day with Lucy and it would be a nice distraction for them. I know they miss her as much as I do and it was something they had planned and were looking forward to. When the film ended they went up to bed and I gave them a good night kiss before they went to bed. I had to do a double take on checking Lucy, she wasn't there, and I went down to watch Big Brother before I retired for the day.

It turned out to be a lovely a day with all the girls. I loved every minute of it while they were together. The idea of going somewhere special worked a dream for them and that made it easier for me in some ways. It all just seemed strange end to Lucy's time with us that seemed full of projected negative feelings. I just don't understand why it has to be this way all we need to do is talk and be honest. The hate isn't required. I won't give up.  I'm really not the monster under the bed that I feel I'm being painted. I'm just me and I love the people that matter to me.