Easter holiday in the sun

The Spiderman watch

After the rain and hale of the first school Easter holiday week, which I spent mainly in Italy, the second week has been a swim in a glorious sunshine. Every other morning has been foggy or rainy, but by the time of the elevensies the skies have cleared and the sun has been out. Some days have been warm, some colder, but it has been an Easter of garden meals and a trip to the garden centre. All would be lovely, if there wasn't the bad news of the last night. A sad loss in the family and the time to tell Number One Son about the loss. "I am now a bit sad", was the answer.

However, it has been a time of recovery for me (overwork is not good for anyone) and I begin to be now ready to face the e-mail boxes, applications and editing again. As always, the fanciful ideas of the trips to London or at least to Nottingham have floated away and made room to play in the park, a play date and family lunches. It is a holiday after all, not a performance test. Anyway, Number One Son's holiday homework - a non-fictional book with a list of contents and an index - has kept me busy. It is difficult to work on this project, since Number One Son is not developed enough to figure out what an index really is and his writing is wobbly at its best, but the chosen topic - the cats - keeps him focused. His drawing of our pet cat is actually pretty accurate image of a slim, long young black cat and his cat mummies are fabulous.

Holly in Haymarket

After the Easter Saturday spent shopping and the bank holidays cooking, I and Number One Son did our normal treat: a bus trip to the Leicester city centre. Nothing is better than a lunch at McDonald's with a toy and a pop to the toy shop. I must blushingly admit that I bought a Frozen watch to myself - and I am wearing it! Number One Son now owns a Spiderman watch, which became handy in the Finnish Saturday School where he was the only child with a watch. On the day of the trip the watch was more important than Jewry Wall, but the bus ride still has its magic.

The first popcorn

The highlight of the week was Number One Son's first trip to the movies. I had chosen the Big Hero 6, since it seemed the only one I dared to watch myself, but I must admit that it was a bit above Number One Son. I think nine- or twelve-year-olds are the correct target audience, but for Number One Son the most important thing was to get his popcorn. He said he did not like the show, but we made it to the end. The computer graphics were fabulous and there was emotional depth to the story, which was relatively dark. Nonightmares, though.

Now the Cat book is almost ready and we have to decide what to do on the last Sunday of the holidays. Number One Son will definitely not want to see a castle, so I think we try to go to a park farther away and replace his petal collection that had wilted in the car.