Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Baileys_Babe

Your weekend sounds lovely. 

I can relate to at least one person being ill for an entire term, the eldest's cough and cold is now on week 3 but has improved greatly, 2nd born has been ill with various things for the last 3 weeks including the cough and cold and now has an infection, they are on a heavy course of antibiotics, they have eaten very little and slept the best part of last week, they are slowly getting better. OH also caught the cough & cold but managed to shake it off first, which is unusual due to his offer health issues. I appear to escaped.

Sending healing vibes to Monkey and I hope he makes a swift recovery.

On Wednesday or Thursday could you go out for a walk and do a nature treasure hunt? You could tailor it to their age/knowledge. Then home for hot chocolate and board games or drawing pictures inspired by something we found or heard.

Bluegreen143

Pretty sure Monkey has had Covid now actually as one of his wee friends from class has apparently been ill with it for a week and they play together every day at school. Not sure there’s any point testing him now he’s a week in. I didn’t think it was initially as none of the rest of us was anywhere near as ill last week as he’s been. 

He seemed a bit better today but still not quite his usual self, he’s getting tired quickly. And he’s not eaten very well for a week now and both Red and I noticed tonight he is looking noticeably skinnier (he’s a very slim child so has no spare weight to lose…). Gave him (well both of them obviously!) an ice cream after dinner to coax some extra calories in. 

Done with work now for the holidays. Will most likely have a quiet day tomorrow and hoping Monkey is well enough for an outdoor adventure on Thursday (and that it stays dry). I had a list of ideas for the October holidays but typical that we’ve not been able to do it due to illness! 

I think our joint account switch will happen tomorrow 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 and then we can do the personal switches after. Looking forward to getting those switching bonuses! 

beanielou

Hate to tell you that the forecast for Thursday is not the best. 

Bluegreen143

Thanks @beanielou! We’ve had a lovely day in the end, though you are quite right that the weather is rubbish 😂

We decided to test out all the new autumn/winter outdoors clothes I’ve bought recently AND try to get the most out of our National Trust membership. 

1. Went to a NT stately home. Even though I go to the surrounding (free) country park loads, I’ve never done the tour of the house. Was fun to go round! I got the kids lunch in the cafe after (£7 as they shared an adult soup & sandwich deal). I did buy Red an overpriced hand soap with my own money (£12!!!!! I didn’t realise the price til at the till 🙈) as he loves fancy hand soap and it was handmade from a small business. £5 on parking too as I never knew this car park allowed you to park for free if you’re an NT member (it’s the car park for the park, not the house, and I park there often and have just never realised 😂 at least I know now!). 

2. When we do visit this park, we never do the formal gardens etc round the home. So this time we didn’t do the bits we usually do, and instead had a really fun walk round the gardens, finding fun kids’ stuff we didn’t know was there. Monkey loved sitting next to the river for a while too, watching birds. Free! 

3. We then got in the car and headed to another NT home about 20 minutes away, again which we’ve never been to. Got a personal guided tour as no-one else happened to be there! Then had cake (for me) and ice lollies (for the kids) in the cafe (I wouldn’t normally do so many cafe trips, but it was VERY wet today!). Another £7. 

4. We then went for a river walk nearby and the kids found a place to paddle and play in the water for a while 😍 Free! 



All our waterproof stuff is SO worth it. We spent more on better-quality stuff and it’s paid off. 

The kids were warm and uncomplaining even though we spent two hours in total outdoors in pouring rain, including puddle jumping and river wading. (It was raining in the picture above, they had for some reason decided to remove their hats and hoods 😂).

When I stripped off their waterproofs they were 100% dry under them - the cheap ones I usually buy always leak at least a bit. I also have my own waterproof trousers for the first time and it was a revelation to be able to sit down on logs etc without getting wet! 

We went to the library yesterday so will be cosying up after dinner with all our new reading materials 🥰 dinner is going to be salmon tonight, probably done in the air fryer with rice and veg. 

Time outdoors, fun with my kids, good food, a stack of library books… a good time for not too much £ spent. If it was summer and dry I’d have taken a picnic rather than going to the cafe but I’m pretty happy with £20 spent on taking the kids out. 

angela110660

Sounds like loads of fun. Could you share the brand of the waterproof clothing for the kiddos as wanting to purchase something for my grand daughter soon. Thanks

Baileys_Babe

I had a lot of use out of my waterproof trousers when the children were young. Perfect for sitting on damo surfaces in the rain whilst the children played. Even better on days when I took my hot tea in my thermal travel mug 😃

I also had ski trousers for playing in the snow, sledging and sitting around cold and wet parks & woods in the depths of winter, they meant I was happy to go and stay until they were ready to come away.

The ski trousers were from L!dl or Ald! and now my dd uses them sometimes for now play/sledging and other times when ice skating.

Bluegreen143

@Baileys_Babe I was considering getting ski trousers for myself and the kids - definitely worth it for me but the kids outgrow after one season - maybe better to get long thermal under trouser things for them instead. 

@angela110660 the trousers were from Wet Wednesdays, their insulated ones (these only go up to age 8 but the non insulated go into the teens). And the wellies were neoprene ones from Spotty Otter. I also bought Heat Holder socks to go under the wellies. 

Bluegreen143

Should say, I’ve always bought the Lidl waterproof trousers before. They do tend to leak a little but if it’s just for occasional use/walking rather than paddling in rivers 😂 they are ok and much cheaper…

beanielou

Glad that you had a good day.

Baileys_Babe

Yes, to the thermals for you and the children. I always bought gender neutral so I could pass them down 😉