Egg hunt

We spent Easter Monday with Mark's family in Derbyshire. Once again, we were lucky with the weather and the Podlings spent a lovely afternoon playing in the garden. I managed to put together a little egg hunt while Mark's mum distracted the Podlings. They quickly caught on to the aim of the game and had a great time hunting out the eggs. I had to persuade Tom that he didn't have to give every egg he found to Lily just because she asked for it...the sweet boy is generous to a fault! The hunt didn't last long, but the Podlings obviously really enjoyed it. They ended up with roughly the same number of eggs in the end, so I guess the result was a draw. Tom isn't really that bothered by chocolate (unless it is on a biscuit), so he just peeled the foil off his eggs and left them in the bag. Lily, on the other hand, is rather fond of chocolate and she clearly thought she'd hit the jackpot!

The game is afoot!

Found one!

Now if I could just remove this pesky foil!

For the Grandparents...

No set of holiday photos would be complete without dozens of pictures of your children! Here are a selection of some of the (many!) family shots we took over the weekend. Some of them need editing to sort out the light, but if I waited until I'd done that to post them , they'd never get on the blog!

Our Lake Break

Ennerdale Water

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We had a fabulous couple of days in the Lake District. The weather was glorious and a good time was had by all. Because it was a Bank Holiday weekend, Mark wisely steered us clear of the busy lakes and took us to quiet spots on other lakes. The Podlings had a wonderful time throwing stones into the water and picnicking by the shore. Tom called the lakes 'rock pools', which I suppose is logical on the grounds that he was throwing rocks into large pools of water. He might be disappointed next time he goes to the beach though!

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Me and my bump (27 weeks pregnant) by Coniston Water.

I still have three months to go...I'm going to be huge!

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Tom by Coniston water

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We stayed in a Premier Inn in Carlisle on Saturday night, which the Podlings thought was a grand adventure. They loved us all sharing a room and I had a bit of trouble stopping them from talking after we went to bed. Not as much trouble as I was expecting however and both children slept soundly all night. We had a hearty breakfast the following morning and then drove up to Gretna Green for a brief look around.

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The Old Blacksmith's shop at Gretna Green, where young couples from England would elope to be married.

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After leaving Scotland, we drove back down to the lakes and had a little walk down to Ennerdale water, where the Podlings spent a happy time hurling rocks into the lake. It was getting late by then, so we headed to 'civilisation' to try and find some food. We expected everything to be closed, what with it being Easter Sunday, so we thought we'd stand a better chance of finding an open corner shop in a larger town. This was our reasoning behind heading to Whitehaven. Had we known anything about Whitehaven, we would probably have saved ourselves the trouble! We found somewhere to buy picnic food, but Whitehaven is not, shall we say, the most picturesque spot for a picnic. In the end, we put some picnic blankets down in Tesco's car park and ate there. Yes, we do some odd things!

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Ennerdale water

Tesco car park - The best picnic spot in Whitehaven...seriously!

We finished up our visit with a lovely scenic drive through the lakes and had a late tea in Penrith. We didn't get home until eleven o'clock on Sunday night, so the Podlings slept in very late the following day. Tom didn't surface until about 10.20am on Monday morning!

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Easter break

The four of us are off to the Lake District for a short break. We'll be back late tomorrow night, so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Easter.

"He is risen; He is not here." Mark 16:6

'Cats Bells, The English Lake District' by Jason Friend

Excuses

Me: Lily, don't throw the blocks on the floor. If you don't want to play with them, put them back in their box.

Lily: How 'bout you put them in the box. I got a poorly leg.

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Social butterflies

The Podlings at their toddler group party

It was the last week of term this week, so the Podlings had two Easter parties to attend before the holidays (my children have a better social life than I do!) On Thursday morning we went to our toddler group Easter party, where all the children wore the hats they had decorated the previous week. There was plenty of party food for the children and we all had a lovely time.

Tom wore his bonnet just long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures. Can't blame him for taking it off really...putting a boy in a fancy Easter bonnet is a bit mean!

On Friday, the playgroup held its Easter party, so I dropped the Podlings off at nine and went back up at eleven to watch the children have their Easter bonnet parade. It was quite obvious that the two bonnets that won the Easter bonnet competition had been made by creative mums, with little or no help from their offspring! I took some lovely pictures, but they all have lots of other children in them. I have a personal policy not to post pictures of other people's children on the Internet, so I guess they'll be staying in the family album.

Lily dressed in her party clothes, ready for her playgroup party.

Lily had her face painted at the playgroup party and was quite proud of her chick

Easter bonnets

Tom's bonnet

The week before last saw the Podlings and I making Easter bonnets at the toddler group we go to. I spent a happy half an hour the night before cutting out felt shapes and bending pipe cleaners in preparation for the craft session the following morning. Lily, lover of all things crafty, had a great deal of input in the making of her bonnet. Tom glued on a chick and a few feathers and then left me to get on with the rest. It tickled me pink that the majority of the children at the group had very little involvement in the making of their bonnets, but the mothers and grandmothers were all having a fabulous time!

Lily's bonnet