How We Spent May Half Term

For the last half term I don’t think I was prepared enough. I hadn’t planned on doing much and I think both Erin and I got on each other’s nerves a bit. Now that she is usually at nursery for 4 days a week we don’t spend as much time together as we used to so I was really looking forward to having some adventures together. This is what we got up to over this May half term.

Bank Holiday Weekend

John had the whole of the bank holiday weekend off work. This usually doesn’t happen as he works a lot of Saturdays as overtime but there wasn’t any this weekend. This meant that we were able to spend some real quality time together.

On the Saturday we got the train to Sheringham and had such a fun day. We explored, played on the pebble beach and ate chips and ice-cream. Erin had woken up at 4am that morning but somehow managed to keep going until nearly 1pm. It was nice to go somewhere just for fun, not have to think about anything else and just enjoy being together as a family.

The Sunday saw John and Erin go swimming as they usually would but I headed into Norwich to do some work with intu Chapelfield for Father’s Day. John and Erin were able to spend some time together while I got some much needed time to myself as well as a McDonald’s in peace.

On the Monday John took Erin to her swimming lesson in the morning. After lunch John’s brother and his girlfriend, along with Erin’s cousins, came over to play. We’re not the closest with this side of the family but recently I decided that we need to make more of an effort so that Erin can get to know her cousins. Ollie is 2 and Jack is 1 and they all had a blast playing together. Erin sometimes gets lonely as an only child and wants other children to play with so this was a win/ win for us.

Midweek

After such a busy weekend being outdoors a lot we decided to have a bit more of a relaxed day on the Tuesday. Of course, the weather wasn’t on our side either and it chucked it down all morning so we were kind of stuck indoors anyway. After the rain finally stopped we had a quick trip to the library and then to a local cafe for some cake and chips. It’s one of my favourite things to do with Erin because we don’t have to go far and it’s cheap as well.

On Wednesday Erin and I headed off to Amazona Zoo in Cromer, which is about 20 minutes away by bus. An annual pass for me was only £27 (basic entry is £11) and Erin is still free so I figured we could go back loads over the summer. We got there just after opening time and managed to see a couple of animals and then it started raining. We quickly headed to the indoor soft play area which got busy within minutes. Erin doesn’t really go to soft play so she had a lot of fun. Then, we headed off to see some more animals and to play on the outdoor equipment for a while. Unfortunately, the weather really wasn’t on our side and the rain didn’t stop so Erin declared that she wanted to go home at 12pm. I didn’t mind too much though as now that I have an annual pass we can just go back another day.

On Thursday we were supposed to meet a friend and her Mum from nursery to go to the park but sadly they couldn’t make it in the end. The weather was lovely though so Erin and I decided to go anyway and it helped her to use up some energy. After a good play it was starting to get too hot so was did a bit of shopping then headed home for a nap. Erin had her pre-school nurses appointment at 4pm so that took up some time later on in the day.

On Friday we headed into Norwich in the morning to meet up with my sister. She had the day off work so we took Erin to the library and then out for lunch at Bill’s. Erin was so full of energy the whole day and was just really excited to spend some time with her Auntie doing something fun. Usually we have visits at our house or we go out for the day in my sister’s boyfriend’s car so this was quite a different day for Erin. When we got home I think it was clear that we were both exhausted and needed a bit of a rest over the weekend!

I had hoped for a beach day on Saturday but we had a much needed day at home with John. The weekend was spent playing in the garden, having fun together as a family and just having a rest when we wanted to. It was great fun to be so busy during the week but it’s important to realise when you need some down time. I’ll have to remember to space out our activities over the summer holidays otherwise we’ll be rundown after a week or two!

This half term was much easier and a lot less stressful than I had imagined and I think that was largely down to having money to spend on some days out. I had planned and saved for this May half term in advance so I was a lot better prepared. Now it’s time to try and do the same ready for summer.

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