Thursday photo #145

We toyed with the idea of going away this half term but in the end, we decided against it. There were a few uncertainties with my husband’s work commitments. Lia’s nursery and the girls’ dance classes were still on as their half term is next week and it all just got a bit complicated. So we stayed here, and do you know what? It was the right decision.

Local adventures

A few weeks ago, we took part in a staycation challenge. This made me realise that we rarely take the opportunity to be tourists in our local area. Last week I published my 58 family friendly days out in the West Midlands and realised how much is available in the area. So off we went to explore. Our first stop was Coombe Abbey, to use a voucher for afternoon tea that was about to expire. It’s a beautiful place and I was heartened to see some sunshine and signs of spring.

Old favourites

Next, some friends joined us as we headed to Croome, our favourite National Trust property. It was wonderful to spend the whole day outside with the girls. They were running around, playing hide and seek and generally enjoying the fresh air. The sunshine had gone but it was no less beautiful.

Today, we decided to take the girls to the Black Country Living Museum. My husband and I went there on our first day out together nine years ago but we’d never taken the girls. I was delighted to see how responsive the girls were to learning about history. We rode on a double decker bus and a boat, played traditional games and explored the village. The girls spent ages in the school writing on slate and Libby grabbed some props and made a rather good Victorian lady.

We’ll be rounding off our grand tour with a trip to the National Sea Life Centre. It’s somewhere we love to visit anyway but they also have a Snail and the Whale theme for half term. Both girls absolutely love that book, so it will be the perfect day out.

Our Thursday photo #145

I took this week’s photo at Coombe Abbey. The girls have been lovely together this week with notably fewer fights than usual. We’ve got to a point where they’d rather be together than with us, which is both sad and sweet in equal measure. But Libby is quite an assertive big sister. So when I tell them to smile for a photo, she thinks she has to force Lia to smile rather than smiling herself. I think Lia looks like a ventriloquist’s dummy in this one.