Keeping my cool

Keeping my cool took on new meaning this week.

Not only did this week take scorchio, turn up the gas a bit and then add a dash of sizzle but I discovered I am going to have to be Supermum this summer holiday as I waved toodle pip to my super hard working Mr for the next 42 days. *gulp*

I'm used to him being away for a week or so, even two weeks, but this is 6 weeks, or to put it another way, 1008 hours of no lie-ins, no cups of tea in bed, no me-time during daylight hours, no snogs, no neck rubs, no 'I'll do their baths while you have a sit down', no idle chat over dinner, no popping out for a drink, no one to curtail my biscuit cravings, no snoring, no duvet wrestling, no sharing my chocolate bar, no lost sections of the Sunday paper. Okay, so there are some upsides but I'd rather his foibles than not.

As much as I am already feeling lonely, it is the children that I am thinking of and how much they are going to miss Daddy. I am also thinking of how quickly 6 weeks can pass if you are distracted by lovely summer activities so more than ever I need to tackle the Summer Holiday Bucket list and adapt it for single parenting of three children and for maximum entertainment. I feel another blog post coming on ;-)

But this week, Daddy was around and we had some fun in the sun.

Ice and a slice

Trike tipping

Just sun

Seeking shade at the play center

Re-purposing the sledge as a water play table

Alfresco darling

How long does it take to eat an ice cream? Depends how many photos you take of it on Instagram.

I look forward to telling you how I survive the first week of the holidays x

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And with the new linky on the block from Make Do And Push - The week that was Instagrammed!

Summer Bucket List

The children are compiling their Summer Bucket List. It is quite short but hideously expensive. I am informed that this is what will make their summer. Deep joy.

Children's Summer Bucket List:

• Go to the Cinema
• Visit Alton Towers
• Go to a 'real' Zoo (with elephants and giraffes)
• Get wet at the Garden of Surprises
• Go to the Cinema (again). (Different film presumably)
• Visit Abigail and Sam in Spain
• Go camping (not in the garden).
• Go on holiday (somewhere other than Spain or camping)
• Go to the Park (contribution from The Wee One)
• Go swimming.
• Go to Euro Disney.
• Eat sweets.

There are a couple of things on the Children's list that would be on my own - Result. There are more things that would not. For very good reasons I may add. Primarily cost. Secondly, the Mr has only a scant few days off through the summer and therefore major trips anywhere are more than this Mummy can cope with flying solo. Although I did find myself considering taking the children camping on my own for a brief moment or two, right after I'd poured a third glass of wine. This was after I discovered a parent at school was taking her two children on a road trip round Spain and France on her own for SIX weeks. Now that's a lot of gin. Anyway, we don't have a big enough tent so it's all hypothetical.

Seriously though, I have six weeks of nothingness on the family calendar and it needs to filled, or at least punctuated with activity that will entertain the children but preferably not by watching me drown under a sea of crafting supplies. I feel an overwhelming pressure to get planning which feels unnatural, but if I don't, six weeks will have flown by, the kids won't have anything except McDonald's receipts in their holiday scrapbooks and I will be entirely grey.

I've had a mooch about on Pinterest and have found some lovely looking bucket lists designed, imagined and knitted by Mums with way to much time on their hands. Listen to me, all bitter. I'm just jealous that they've got themselves organised and in such a creative, pretty and fun way.

So have I left planning my family Summer Bucket List too late or can I still salvage a shred of Mummy credibility even at this late stage?