Down to Margate.

The school holidays are drawing to a close. At about this time I feel desperate to cram in as much with the kids as I possibly can. For some, the school hols are too long. I can understand this. Childcare issues, expense, trying to keep them entertained. For my family, the holidays are a chance to get to know each other again. To live life at a different pace for a while. We get up later, get dressed later. I intended to invite some of the kids school friends over, but somehow, so far, we haven't. Honor has spent the last five weeks mostly playing with her younger brother and sister. I'm sure their relationship with each other has benefited. Yes, there have been plenty of squabbles, but 2 days ago we were driving along in the car. Honor was chatting to me and casually referred to Henry as her best friend.

Today, I didn't really plan what we were going to do. I just bundled them in the car with a bag full of food and drink and headed down to Margate. Henry and Honor had a little bit of pocket money saved and so I thought we'd start at Primark. They enjoyed doing their own shopping there. HM bought herself a t-shirt and Henry was going to buy a packet of pants. Well, he had picked up a packet aged 9-10 yrs (he is 5!) so I showed him how to select the right size. But there were none in his size so he left without anything. (Thank goodness- he really doesn't need any more pants!)

After shopping, we spent an hour on the beach. Little Hope loved the sand and the seagulls. Then we got back in the car and drove further up the seafront. On passing a lovely play area with a Viking longboat (we had been there before) the kids wanted to stop and play there for a while. After that, they wanted to do more shopping (!) so I headed for a nearby shopping centre. On the way, the kids saw a sign for Manston and asked to go to the museum there. "Of course!" said I. So we had another look around there before doing more shopping.

We were all a bit tired by the time we got to the shopping centre. We had a bit of fun in The Body Shop, trying on make-up and perfume. And we bought some Dr Who books in Waterstones. But it was definitely time to go home. Luckily, for me, Hubby had already started on the dinner, roast pork. I made some apple sauce and some red cabbage in cream with some chinese 5 spice. Nobody liked that except me. It had a lovely anniseed taste. Oh well.