park | TheBoyandMe

24 hours is a variable time. I know that seems daft, but just think about it. 24 hours of labour seems to last forever; every second punctuated by yet another contraction. Yet 24 hours on a weekend absolutely flies by!

When Tara set the challenge of a theme of 24 Hours, it was going to take some careful planning otherwise we'd end up with some wasted hours of sleep (don't you think that sleep is a waste of time?). It had to be a day in your life: "Any day… share 24 hours of your life with us."

So my 24 hours spans from 6pm on Saturday evening to 7pm on Sunday evening. Yes I know that's 25 hours, but it's called artistic license and it's my blog! The start and end location is the same: my parents' house. In between we fit in a variety of activities, some will be obvious, some you'll have to work out. Either way, it was our weekend.

And we had, in the words of The Boy, fun.

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I'm trying to make more of a concerted effort to do things on the weekend. Yes it's a time for relaxation, but it's also such a precious time together as a family that I don't want to feel the weekend has passed and we haven't left the house or got any recollection of the time passed. It's tricky, especially as we take it in turns to have a lie-in on each morning; it means we only have the afternoon to do things in. However, I like a challenge!

Saturday:

Saturday saw us testing out the new Maclaren Techno XLR that they very kindly sent me to review (more on that later). We went to a local Country Park and Lakes which is stunning. I took my 365 photo, The Boy tried to chase the swans and ducks, and discovered the magic of splashing in puddles with his new wellies. He needs more practise though! There was loads of mud everywhere; my boots, hubby's boots, The Boy's boots, the wheels of the pushchair, the slide, the boot of the car, the upholstery! How much is a valet? Anyway he had fun, look at his little face:

Then we came home and made cornflake cakes. This was prompted by a twitter discussion between @Mammywoo, myself and a few others, who suggested using Mars bars in it. Yum is the result. Although are you supposed to mix something else into the melted chocolate aside from the cornflakes because they're really hard to eat! Golden syrup I think I missed out, suggestions please? The Boy did really well spooning out the cornflakes, although there were a few times that he only had one flake on the spoon by the time it got to the bowl, bless him. He loved spooning it into the cases, but he now thinks that the cases are called cakes. Don't ask, it's probably best not to!

Tricky work this cake-making business!

And yes, he does appear to be left-handed.

We then popped over to Ikea for tea. He sat beautifully and ate it all up, I was so proud of him. Then on his last mouthful of pear, it tickled his tonsils and he vomitted all over the table. Joy!

Sunday:

Party-time for The Boy's 5yr old girl cousin. My brother always does good parties, he's a chef and does enough 'proper' party food to feed the 5,000! Egg sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, scotch eggs (or party eggs as my brother-in-law calls them), crisps, chocolate fingers, tea-cakes, iced ring biscuits, cocktail sausages. Yum! My brother had hired an entertainer aswell; some of them can be way over the children's heads, but this one pitched at exactly the right level for 2-5yr olds; magic tricks, party games, balloon animals and circus tricks. Even The Boy managed to sit down for a few minutes and enjoy it.