Visiting family, jobs and a trip to Gibside

It's been a lovely Easter weekend here. We haven't been doing any school work, although Harry has been reading himself, playing Shut the Box and writing notes with his cousins. I think he has enjoyed the break and has been very busy with other things. I am going to start planning for starting back properly next week.

We spent two nights with Stuart's family near Lancaster on Thursday and Friday. The boys had a great time playing with their bigger cousins on the beach and at the park and flying kites. The weather was lovely and we had a barbecue and visited all four great-grandparents.

We spent yesterday very busy with a variety of jobs. Harry and Peter love helping and I think it's very important that they get involved to learn life skills and understand what is needed to run a home. We spent a couple of hours at the allotment, where we planted peas, watered and weeded. I also hid some chocolate eggs around the site for them, which they loved! We cut the grass at home and planted some summer flower seeds in the garden. We also washed the car, inside and out - Peter couldn't resist getting in the bucket, and hung up several loads of washing.

Harry had a friend over today from our NCT group and we all went to Gibside to do the National Trust Easter egg trail, with a chocolate egg treat at the end. We were there for almost 6 hours and my feet are aching tonight! The boys all had a great time and it was so sunny - I really need to buy sun cream next time I am shopping! We took paper bags to collect nature treasures in, which was really popular.