Carrots, swings and jam

To kick off their summer holidays, the kids spent a few days at Grandma and Granddad's house without me! Hubby and I enjoyed the break, our evenings were spent building our new kitchen units and browsing online for light fittings, nothing very exciting. But at least we could eat when and where we wanted, and actually woke up with our radio-alarms each morning. I went to work one day, hence the alarm, and had a busy schedule the other days, so no lie-in. But it was nice to see our alarms still work, because I'm pretty sure we've only had to use them a handful of times in the last 4.5 years! Kids can save you money when they wake up by 7am EVERY morning!

I digress...

This is the first time I haven't really worried about how they would cope without me, they see Grandma and Granddad so often these days that there are no problems leaving them there. Even Max who is being very clingy with me at the moment was fine, apparently only a couple of "I want a mummy" and one "I want my bed"!!

When I got there on Wednesday, Laila gave me a quick kiss and then proceeded to tell me everything she had done and how she'd helped Grandma look after Max too!

Then she gave me a tour of the garden, starting with the new swing!
She showed me how she can now climb trees, and made sure I knew Granddad taught her! He thought I'd be cross but I'm not, its part of growing up and I know Laila would never attempt to climb it if she wasn't 100% confident she could do it properly!

She showed me where the raspberries were growing, and described how her and Grandma had made raspberry jam!

She showed me where the carrots were and how to pick the one with the tallest leaves.

When Max woke from his nap (which by the way is no problem when Grandma puts him down) he clung to me for about an hour, then wanted to show me the swing, the raspberries and the carrots and the maize growing in the field for the cows. Although I think he told me that cows were growing in the field for the maize!

Then he wanted to play hide and seek, they have a very big garden with lots of fantastic hiding places, although he always chooses the same one!

And finally, he insisted I take him for a wheelbarrow ride, and I was instructed to do it fast like Granddad!

So all in all, they had so much fun. They were really lucky to have good enough weather to play outside most of the time, and they learned so many new things. I needed the break to remember how much I love them, and would miss them if they weren't around. This might sound bad to some people, but I'm sure others will understand. Sometimes you get tired and lazy and forget to appreciate what you have, this break helped me remember how lucky I am to have such beautiful, clever and loving children!