We were back to TVAP on Monday, after a long break for the school holiday.  The kids joined in an egg drop challenge, all their eggs surviving the fall.

Tuesday we waited in for the heating engineer, as the boiler isn't working.  It looks like it's going to be a very expensive fix, ugh.  Luckily we have an immersion heater so we can have hot water for now.

Meanwhile, Betsy made English muffins.  I helped a tiny bit - clarification of the recipe, a minute of kneading - but basically she did it herself.  They were delicious, and were eaten very quickly!

No puncture this week so we made it to the pool for swimming and diving.

Meg brings her ipad, as she's only in the pool for 30 of the 90 minutes we're there.

Parkour and knitting in the afternoon.

On Thursday we went to Mum's for a walk in her local woods.  We do this every year when the bluebells are out (2015 visit).  They were particularly spectacular this year, lots more than usual.

That evening Mum and I went to see the National Theatre production of Jane Eyre.  It was wonderful.  It's touring the UK, and I'm very tempted to see it again.

On Friday my beautiful friend Amanda visited, with Caden and Miles.  We haven't seen them in a long time (they moved to France), and it was so so good to catch up.  We're going to stay on their farm in the summer.  Can't wait!

I had some parcels to pick up in the afternoon, including a suitcase in a huge box.  Who doesn't like a box to play in..?

I worked on Saturday morning - started at 5am, so took a photo of the dawn sky.

Meg helped Rob with the food shopping, Fred played online, Betsy played at Erin's.

We watched a couple of films in the afternoon.

We did a charity 5km on Sunday, called Bubble Rush.  The course takes you through 8 bubble stations.  It was excellent!  We raised £150 for a local hospice, and had great fun doing it.

It's been the school holidays, meaning we've seen the more of the kid's local friends, but avoided the usual places that we go to.  Too many people!

The girls started the week with their shop, selling bits and bobs.

We got the kayak out again, this time joined by our neighbour who also has one.  Fred and Betsy were able to kayak together, which they really enjoyed.

We popped round to my brother's to feed their rabbits.

Betsy watched some youtube videos about drawing, and was so happy with the eyes she drew.

On Tuesday Betsy made some videos of drawing, sped them up and put them on her channel.

We went to the cinema in the afternoon, to see Boss Baby.  It was excellent, funny and actually quite emotional.

On Wednesday the kids went to a friend's Ninja pizza birthday party.  Lots of fun, with various challenges to complete and a huge tub of Haribo sweets that I Could Not Stop Eating.

Writing their names with their feet.

Poo emoji pinata!

On Thursday we had a woodland session with Zoe and other home edders.  It was lovely.  Fred played a long and involved game with the other kids, the girls mooched about doing their own thing.

Meg spotted a camouflaged shield bug.

This low flying balloon was over our house that evening.

On Friday the girls and I went to The Works, to spend the money they'd made at their shop earlier in the week.  Meg bought herself a sweet necklace from the sweet shop, and was so so so happy with it.

I bought a couple of things.  We put the body together when we got home.  The paper aeroplane birds are gorgeous.  It's the kind of thing I like to pack when we go on holiday, for those not-sure-what-to-do-now moments.

That afternoon we watched Moana.

In the evening Rob and I went out to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary.  

On Saturday we went Iceland clothes shopping!  It's getting close now, I'm excited and nervous and excited and scared.

Decathalon is amazing value.  We bought walking boots, fleeces, trousers, jackets, hats, gloves and more for £218.

I worked Sunday as usual.  The kids had friends over.  Fred did some live streaming.

Rob brought the first rhubarb back from the allotment.  So delicious.

Monday - windscreen repair guy came (chipped windscreen), the girls made Easter cards for grandparents, Jarvis and his dad came over for the afternoon, and Betsy drew these 100% adorable pictures.

I made rhubarb flapjacks.  Yum.

Tuesday - happy cat sleeping, loads of laughter playing Roblox, waiting and waiting for the Overwatch update, gorgeous sky on the way to work in the evening.

Wednesday - we headed to Mead open Farm for their Easter event.  I knew it would be busy, but we'd managed during October half term and the Christmas holiday.  This time though, the car park was rammed, and the queue to get in was huge.  We took one look, and decided to turn around and go home!  We stopped at the supermarket and bought chocolate milkshake and Lindt bunnies.  Much better than fighting the crowds.

Thursday - hand luggage bags arrived.  Everyone is very happy with them!  Another day of playing with friends, both online and irl.

Good Friday - I worked a super early shift (5am start, ouch) but I was finished at 11am so the rest of the day was free.  We picked mum up in the afternoon and went to some woods near Rickmansworth.  It's a Woodland Trust site, and it has a family trail with fairies you can see if you have the app.  Annoyingly I couldn't get the flipping app to work, but the woods were so gorgeous that no one was bothered.

Today we went to the zoo with Rob.  It was busy, but it's so big that it just absorbs people so doesn't feel too crowded.