After our busy Christmas, we’ve had a peaceful couple of weeks getting back into our normal routine. Sophie is starting to drop her nap (for me anyway), so it’s been nice not to be following too rigid a routine anymore.

We made the most to this during a day trip up to South Kensington for a weekend museum blitz. We started at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We had hoped the children would be interested in the amazing pictures of creatures and landscapes, but it wasn’t really their cup of tea, so it was a bit of whistle stop tour for Matt and I. Our troublesome duo perked up a bit in the dinosaur and bug galleries, and Sophie followed Alex around exploring the exhibits.

We soon headed next door to the Science Museum (or rather the “Rocket Museum”) for a picnic and play. I took the children to see a bubble show which they loved, although Alex was disappointed not to be picked to go inside a big bubble!

We spent our final hour up in the launchpad space and the kids were soon engrossed in all the interactives. Alex loved the dry ice demonstration, tracing the swirling trails around as it fizzed and bubbled:

And Sophie and Alex experimented with the optics demo, making each other appear upside down. Here they are hard at work – you can just about see Alex at the other end.

Most of the time, we’ve been having fun at home – having playdates with friends and visiting the local parks.  Alex even sat still long enough to start his new dot-to-dot book!  We’ve also finished Alex’s primary school applications – can’t believe he starts school this year!

This weekend, things started off rather messily.  We left the children in the playroom for about 5 minutes while we tidied up after breakfast, only to find that they had taken every single puzzle and jigsaw we own and emptied them on the floor.  They were very proud of themselves, although were less than thrilled when we made them help us put them all away again!

Once the house was tidy, we headed over to the Horniman for the first of, what I imagine, will be many trips in 2015.  I enjoyed being able to go round with out a buggy and changing bag for the first time – life is so much simpler now Sophie is happy walking everywhere and they don’t need so much stuff!

We had fun in the little aquarium spotting fish, lobster and frogs.

And even more fun in the gardens – Sophie loved doing some drumming with her daddy.

Today, we got back into our usual Sunday morning activity – swimming in Brixton.  Alex seemed to do well at his swimming lesson, actually listening to his teacher for most of the lesson!  And, our water baby, Sophie spent 30 minutes swimming around happily in her swim fin, leaving Matt and I the chance to take it in turns swimming lengths in the main pool.

Had to snap these pics of Sophie after I’d dried her hair – it’s getting so long, light and wavy.  Just love it.

On the way home, we stopped in at the Stockwell Skate Park (not really on the way home, but Matt was keen to try our pair out on their scooters!). Thankfully it was empty, so the children had a tentative explore.  Such an urban pair!