This weekend has been a bit, how can I put it? Rubbish. Noah has been a bit poorly for a few days (as in constant calpol and really not his usual fun self) and the OH also seems to have a milder version of what Noah has. We also had a situation with the car which has now been resolved. We had lots of plans for this weekend which included a big family get together at our house and seeing loads of friends that have had to be cancelled. So today I decided that there was no reason why Isla and I couldn't get out and have some fun, so we headed over to my parents first for a bit of lunch, a few puzzles for Isla with Nanny and car advice for me from my Dad and then we went to National Trust Polesden Lacey for a Cadbury Easter Egg Trail. It was great. We've done one for the past 2 years and the weather has been blazing, so this year was a slight let down on that front but no less fun as the lure of a chocolate egg had Isla running round the whole trail. It was great to see her really running and balancing on logs, collecting sticks and having a go at climbing trees. She also loved the binoculars that you can borrow:
The idea with the trail isn't that you collect eggs all the way round (as obviously there would be none left within an hour of the trail opening!), instead you spot letters of the alphabet on your way round, note them down, then unravel them to make a word and collect a Cadbury's egg at the end. What I liked this year was that the letters were on papier mache eggs that were hanging in the trees and if I read rightly the eggs were made by local school children (couldn't stop to read it properly as Isla was already running off to find the next one! Previously it was just a letter pinned on a tree or a clue.
Isla literally ran the whole way round. I mostly had this view:
There is a cool little woodland playground in the middle of the trail which she loved:
We noted down all the letters, great alphabet practise for her and then we climbed a couple of trees:
After that we collected our egg and queued up for the face painting. And I think that was my only gripe. We waited half and hour for face painting. She was really good at waiting but it did feel like a long time. It is included in the price of the trail though (£2.50) so I wouldn't complain at all. There were 3 face painters and think if this had been doubled it would have been better but the queue did became outraged when an adult emerged from the tent with his face painted as it was felt that he had taken up time that could have been given to one of the kids and I can't help agreeing really. However - that is a really small thing and Isla loved the result of her face painting:
All in all, we really needed that time in the fresh air today and when we got home it seemed that Noah and Daddy were on the road to recovery, far less Calpol and Nurofen had been administered today and more food had been eaten. So here's hoping that everyone is on the road to recovery!
