I made use of the sunny weather yesterday to have a pain au chocolat and coffee and read in the garden 🙂 I needed some time to gather my thoughts before the Easter holidays were unleashed upon me 🙂 I never really developed a taste for pains au chocolat, so it’s strange I have now that I’m no longer living near a French bakery 🙂 I started reading a book about Poly Styrene and flipped between that and The Simple Things 🙂 I had the idea of going to the sea in my head. Usually when I get ideas like that, I have to make them reality right away, so it felt serendipitous the first article I opened the magazine at was about the benefits of spending time at the sea 🙂
After the girls got out of school, we went to the beach and had a picnic on the sand 🙂 The tide was very far out and the girls were happy to have so many rocks to play on. The natural paddling pool was exposed and they were asking me if they could get into it for a swim 🙂 I’m hoping the days for that aren’t too far away. We walked along the shore and went to the pirate ship playground. There was a bitter wind but I decided that returning from the beach windswept makes the experience stay with you for longer 🙂 It’s funny how you notice the smallest things when you haven’t had a change of scenery is so long, like this property owner getting carried away with the no parking signs, or seagulls claiming a picnic table before anyone else arrives 🙂
When we got home, the girls opened their magazines. I love kids’ magazines for easy activities when everyone is tired. My daughter painted the little Anna and Elsa figures that came with hers and it saved us a few of the usual arguments over what they wanted to watch on TV 🙂
On Saturday, I decided to do an Easter craft with the girls that a friend sent me the link to 🙂 It was a nature egg craft and was so easy to put together. I had some flowers that had wilted, so I rescued the last of the living ones to use for our project. I happened to have an egg-shaped cookie cutter so I drew around it on cardboard, cut them out and gave them to the girls for decoration 🙂 We just used PVA glue and a mixture of leaves and flowers. I made one too and found it very therapeutic 🙂 I always love crafts that give life to something that otherwise would have ended up in the bin, even if it’s just for another few days 🙂
My daughter opened a stained glass butterfly kit that my mum got her for her birthday. It was great for practising symmetry and precise sticking 🙂 She worked on that while I did some writing. I used to love doing creative projects side by side with her dad, so it felt a bit like that 🙂 She has adorned our front window with her completed masterpiece 🙂 I love having craft packs around the house for quiet days 🙂 We finished our day with a pizza treat from Little Wing. I’m glad to see they are doing deliveries now and I miss going in for our little blues-backed pizza dates, so it was nice to recreate it at home 🙂
Today, we went for a walk in a little wood that had recently been fixed up. Since our last visit, better paths have been laid and they have added fairy houses to the trees for the kids to find 🙂 We always seem to have a run in with at least one dog there that the girls don’t take to, but I guess that’s just part of the forest walk experience 🙂 My daughter was happy to finally have an excuse to use her umbrella and there were plenty of pre-built dens for them to play in 🙂 My daughter took me on a fungi tour with her umbrella and pretended to be an expert on it 🙂 We had a little picnic before the rain came on again and then listened to the Jackson Five in the car 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 