Well, after all the joy and wonderfulness of last week's post, this one will mostly involve moaning! We set out last Saturday with grand plans for visiting my mum, a school fete, LEGOLAND, Bekonscot Model Village and more. Instead, we ended up with sunburn, sunstroke and misery!
Yes, on one of the hottest days of June, we broke down on the M25, waited behind the barrier in the searing heat and blinding sun for three hours, and ended up with sunburn, sunstroke and utter misery. A traffic cop came by and gave us a couple of foil blankets for the girls to sit on. I'd managed to stop by a gantry which shaded us for a while, but as the sun moved round I held the foil blankets up to give the girls some much needed shade, and ended up with horrific sunburn and sunstroke.
To cut a long story short, we eventually ended up at my mum's, the car finally got taken the other way to our garage at Chichester, and we made the most of a couple of days of me indoors feeling truly awful and bemoaning my lot. I so wish I'd thought to grab another layer for myself or something, but our sole priority was keeping the girls safe as they were in danger of getting very ill indeed. Thank goodness we always carry a lot of water with us and some snacks, so at least we kept them hydrated and fed, as well as shaded, even if I did pay the price.
It turns out sunstroke is pretty nasty, kind of like a bad 'flu where you feel really drained and sort of out of it, so I just sat about for a couple of days and rested as much as I could. Thankfully, my mum had a pool and toys out in the garden for the girls, lots of craft materials and a couple of cake making kits, so there was plenty for them to do.
Their cousin Johnny came round to play and make cakes which was a welcome distraction. He and Sophia particularly got on well, and were as thick as rather cheeky little thieves!
With the car finally on its way to Chichester for repairs, we had to go through London to get home, so stopped off at Madame Tussaud's with our Merlin passes. It was really busy, absolutely packed with tourists, but a welcome respite from the heat for a couple of hours. The highlight for Sophia was getting to stand alongside one of her heroes, Vincent Van Gogh, whilst Lara loved all the superheroes and Star Wars characters. They all want to go back in the autumn when it's quieter though for a better look round.
Getting back from Victoria was another ordeal with Southern's current troubles meaning no driver for one train, then a fire somewhere on the line for another delay. Lara coped remarkably well and only had a couple of major meltdowns. I may have - ahem - given short shrift to some ignorant people on the train tutting and commenting on her 'behaviour'. Where's an 'autie not naughty' t-shirt when you need one, eh?!
When we finally got home, the girls gleefully jumped in a bath with one of the LUSH bath bombs they had bought at the station, and have taken a few days to relax back into normal life. We baked lime shortbread and Nutella crumblies, made pizzas and spent a lot of time just chilling out. They found breaking down on the motorway quite scary (as did I!), so we have been processing that a lot.
We finally got the car - and the laptop - back on Friday and I managed to get a bit of long-neglected work done, whilst the girls did some crafts and lots of LEGO and made up long, complicated games which lasted into today. We finally ventured out again yesterday and today, to enjoy the breeze on the beach, and blow some cobwebs away, and flew kites and played outdoors.
Tatiana made this flag yesterday to go with Sophia's sun catcher in the window:
We have watched a few documentaries: Turner, otters, Ancient Egypt; and a few gardening programmes, which have led into conversations and further research/discovery, but other than that not much! In conventional terms, we haven't done a great deal (!!) this week, but it's all kept us busy - and stressed! - enough. Let's hope the week to come is a lot less eventful, and a lot more enjoyable... Lx
Yes, on one of the hottest days of June, we broke down on the M25, waited behind the barrier in the searing heat and blinding sun for three hours, and ended up with sunburn, sunstroke and utter misery. A traffic cop came by and gave us a couple of foil blankets for the girls to sit on. I'd managed to stop by a gantry which shaded us for a while, but as the sun moved round I held the foil blankets up to give the girls some much needed shade, and ended up with horrific sunburn and sunstroke.
To cut a long story short, we eventually ended up at my mum's, the car finally got taken the other way to our garage at Chichester, and we made the most of a couple of days of me indoors feeling truly awful and bemoaning my lot. I so wish I'd thought to grab another layer for myself or something, but our sole priority was keeping the girls safe as they were in danger of getting very ill indeed. Thank goodness we always carry a lot of water with us and some snacks, so at least we kept them hydrated and fed, as well as shaded, even if I did pay the price.
It turns out sunstroke is pretty nasty, kind of like a bad 'flu where you feel really drained and sort of out of it, so I just sat about for a couple of days and rested as much as I could. Thankfully, my mum had a pool and toys out in the garden for the girls, lots of craft materials and a couple of cake making kits, so there was plenty for them to do.
Their cousin Johnny came round to play and make cakes which was a welcome distraction. He and Sophia particularly got on well, and were as thick as rather cheeky little thieves!
With the car finally on its way to Chichester for repairs, we had to go through London to get home, so stopped off at Madame Tussaud's with our Merlin passes. It was really busy, absolutely packed with tourists, but a welcome respite from the heat for a couple of hours. The highlight for Sophia was getting to stand alongside one of her heroes, Vincent Van Gogh, whilst Lara loved all the superheroes and Star Wars characters. They all want to go back in the autumn when it's quieter though for a better look round.
Getting back from Victoria was another ordeal with Southern's current troubles meaning no driver for one train, then a fire somewhere on the line for another delay. Lara coped remarkably well and only had a couple of major meltdowns. I may have - ahem - given short shrift to some ignorant people on the train tutting and commenting on her 'behaviour'. Where's an 'autie not naughty' t-shirt when you need one, eh?!
When we finally got home, the girls gleefully jumped in a bath with one of the LUSH bath bombs they had bought at the station, and have taken a few days to relax back into normal life. We baked lime shortbread and Nutella crumblies, made pizzas and spent a lot of time just chilling out. They found breaking down on the motorway quite scary (as did I!), so we have been processing that a lot.
We finally got the car - and the laptop - back on Friday and I managed to get a bit of long-neglected work done, whilst the girls did some crafts and lots of LEGO and made up long, complicated games which lasted into today. We finally ventured out again yesterday and today, to enjoy the breeze on the beach, and blow some cobwebs away, and flew kites and played outdoors.
Tatiana made this flag yesterday to go with Sophia's sun catcher in the window:
We have watched a few documentaries: Turner, otters, Ancient Egypt; and a few gardening programmes, which have led into conversations and further research/discovery, but other than that not much! In conventional terms, we haven't done a great deal (!!) this week, but it's all kept us busy - and stressed! - enough. Let's hope the week to come is a lot less eventful, and a lot more enjoyable... Lx