Finally... some sunshine!!!

After a long looong winter, the sun finally made an appearance here in Maidenhead and we just spent a lovely long weekend in the sunshine. Unfortunately Lindsay had to do quite a bit of work, so we couldn't go away on a trip in the camper-van. But he managed to get out on his bike a couple of times and I did some day trips with the kids.

On Friday after school, I took the girls to Cliveden, our local National Trust site. We only had about an hour there, but we enjoyed the sunshine, an ice cream and the play ground. Yana took Cheeky Monkey along, who she got to spend the weekend with as a reward from her school teacher.

 

On Saturday we took the girls to their gymnastics classes, Anya in the morning and Yana in the afternoon. In between we did some gardening. The plants Lindsay grew from seeds are making great progress and the strawberries I planted are already flowering. Again, Cheeky Monkey was there to help out.

On Sunday I took the kids back to Cliveden to spend most of the day there. Lindsay biked out there to join us for a picnic lunch. We had a great time. The kids continued building the den that someone had started, we went through the maze and spent a long time on the playground. I managed to get quite a bit of reading done, which was lovely.

In the evening we went for a bike ride to a nearby pub. Anya was on the back of Lindsay's bike and Yana managed to bike the 2km there and 2km back again. We sat in the beer garden and had dinner there.

On Monday, while Lindsay went for a huge bike ride to Wallingford, I took the kids to another National Trust site called Waddesdon Manor. It was a great place, with a lovely manor house and gardens, and an adventure playground that the kids loved. The weather was amazing.

We had a picnic by the playground, went for a walk through the gardens, sunbathed in front of the manor house and had an ice cream. We also saw a light show exhibition by Bruce Munro and some videos showing other light displays he had done. The kids were fascinated by them and didn't want to leave.

Delayed Easter holiday

When we finally got over our colds we decided to pack up the campervan and go for a delayed Easter holiday down to the New Forest. It all started with excited faces...

... but as soon as we got to Lyndhurst and visited the New Forest Information Centre for ideas on walks and cycle routes, it started to snow and didn't stop all day. The snow didn't settle, but it was very cold and breezy. We went for a bike ride, which did not last very long. The kids needed a lot of persuading to even bike the short distance we managed to get them to bike. We spent the rest of the day in the campervan playing Risk.

We did manage to see some of the wild ponies that roam around the New Forest National Park.

The second day was without snow, but still with a chilly wind, so we spent most of it at IKEA in Southampton. The kids had fun at Smaland and Lindsay and I had time to discuss which desk would best fit into his office space.

On the third day we were finally woken up by sunshine. I went for a run along the numerous bike tracks running through the forest, while Lindsay took the kids to the playground. Once I got back we took the kids for a slightly longer bike ride through the forest. They had a great time and we didn't even have to bribe them with the Easter eggs that we had taken along. 

To finish our trip off, we went to a beach near Bournemouth, where the kids threw stones into the water and built dams until they got cold enough to want to go back into the campervan to warm up.

A few degrees warmer would have been great, but overall it was still good to get away and to discover what a great place the New Forest is. We will definitely be back.