Countdown to Easter

I don’t remember Easter being such a big deal when I was growing up – but it seems the Alex and Sophie are enjoying an amazing range of Spring and Easter activities in the run up to the holiday! My shelves are filling up with homemade Easter rabbits, baskets and egg pictures (almost all of which I should add are not due to some sudden artistic inspiration on my part, but rather the fabulous variety of activities they get up to with their childminder, Jacqui!).

I don’t often write much about what the children get up to during the week, as I’m obviously not there to witness it, but I’ve received so many brilliant pictures recently, here’s a snapshot of what they’ve been doing whilst I’ve been slaving away at my desk (thanks to Jacqui and her daughter Alex for all the pics!)…

They’ve made Easter baskets and painted paper eggs:

They’ve been on an Easter egg hunt (and judging by Sophie’s chocolate smeared face and empty basket, were highly successful):

They’ve visited baby animals at the brilliant Surrey Docks Farm:

They’ve made and painted cardboard robots (Sophie perhaps helping her brother a little too keenly with the paints!):

And they’ve generally had a completely brilliant time!

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see so much of what my pair get up to when I’m at work – my poor work colleagues have to politely admire every photo as it arrives in my inbox!!

But back to my camera, just a few snaps to share from last weekend when we stayed very local and quiet after a series of busy trips and playdates.

Last Saturday, I took Sophie to a local music class in East Dulwich while the boys got the car serviced down in Wimbledon (and partook of a nice walk along the river there and some playground fun). We spent the afternoon together enjoying the sunshine in the Brockwell Park adventure playground. We were there at the right time as Alex immediately found his friend Isabella (who he plays with on most days with his childminder) and then we found our NCT friend Jonathan and his son Arlo.

We walked home with Jonathan and Arlo, and as they crossed the park, Alex and Arlo played a very surreal game where they repeatedly attempted to fall off their scooters. Perhaps they will be stunt men. They found it hilarious:

On Sunday, after a fun swim in Brixton and a Mexican lunch in the market, we travelled up to central London to watch a bit of the marathon. We nearly didn’t make it, as we found a fun little glass sculpture which Alex completely loved – and he and Matt spent quite some time making shadows and silly shapes at each other.

But we did eventually reach the race and found a good spot to watch the runners for a while. I always get quite choked up watching everyone run past, and since we were at mile 26, we were so close to the end that it was really emotional! But Alex soon had us giggling by pointing out all the fancy dress costumes! He laughed for ages at seeing a runner dressed as a banana!

We didn’t last very long and instead headed up to Green Park for an ice cream and run around. We spent some time at the beautiful Canadian war memorial there. A really accessible water feature, it was great watching the children splashing around and enjoying the space.

We ended the day back in brilliant Brockwell Park, making the most of the fine weather and the excellent sand pits!