The Longest Week?

(Slightly short, dull, incoherent post, sorry)

One week into the summer holidays, and with typical timing the weather has returned to its usual British unpredictability, somewhat scuppering my detailed plan for plenty of outdoor activities. It appears that I've managed to survive my first taste of the non-working-parent-summer-holiday-lifestyle relatively unscathed, other than it having caused a strong craving for gin on what should by rights be a non-drinking day. It has also only reinforced the idea that I'm too cowardly to do this full-time, and the search for a new job has taken tentative steps.

That is not to say that I have not enjoyed myself and I have loved seeing the way the children respond to being at home with me. We're getting to the stage where we are getting used to spending so much time on top of each other after an initial somewhat frantic pace where it appeared that they wanted as much of me as possible. I've also taken a step back from social media, which I think has helped my relaxation levels greatly, and I'm wondering if my love affair with Twitter may be permanently over.

Thank heavens for libraries and National Trust membership, as well as various free events specially designed for harassed parents, thanks to which the budget appears to be holding up.

Here's to week 2...

Walled garden, Avebury NT

Summer Holiday Resolutions

I will not be bored.

I will not spend loads of money.

Easy peasy.

There are many things that fill me with trepidation when I think about impending unemployment. You'll think of the obvious ones of course - the financial aspects, and the stress of finding a new job. Yet what is uppermost in my mind at the moment is the prospect of having to entertain my children over the summer holidays. 

The timing is fortuitous of course - I won't have to worry about arranging or the cost of childcare over the summer. But as a working parent, I've never spent this long with my children (day-in, day-out) since my maternity leave when they were tiny. Up until now there has never been any real difference to my routine in the school holidays, as they have simply spent all day in the holiday club run by their after-school club.

Thankfully, with a bit of research and help from the blogosphere, I feel fully prepared for the inevitable cries of "I'm bored" without spending vast amounts of money. 

I'm going to be checking out Chris's Summer holiday boredom busters, and I'm definitely printing off Jen's bored list!

I also resolve to explore all the free/cheap activities in the local area, and use our National Trust membership to its full potential. Who knows, maybe we'll even manage to cross a few more items off the 50 things to do before you're 11 3/4 list - although quite amazingly, we only have around 7 to do off this list (hooray for camping holidays!) I do fear that horse riding may elude us for a while though...

What could possibly go wrong?