The Busiest Weekend Ever?

Written by Gerard on Sunday 22 March 2009

Despite spending the whole weekend at home, it might have been one of the busiest on record for us. We had Mother's Day, dance classes and birthday parties and Lisa's teenage brother staying.

Saturday

Saturday started things off properly. I knew it was going to be a struggle to keep everybody busy, so a bit of forward planning was necessary. I got up a little bit earlier with the kids and got them fed and cleaned, then made a spot of breakfast for Lisa when she got up.

Once I'd done that, I took Heid (my nickname for Lisa's brother) up the street on the bikes to pick up some goodies from the bakery. We stopped off en route for a coffee and chatted for a while. It was all very leisurely, I must say. We did the bakery visit and then cycled around the outskirts of town back to the house.

After a short mid morning snack, we went outside and did a bit more work to the Trail-gator we were installing on the bike for Daniel. This finally proved successful, and Daniel stopped falling off the bike, making it a more pleasant experience for everyone concerned. At the same time, Heid was badgering me to do some elaborate cooking for dinner, so we decided on omelettes for Saturday and a home-made pizza for Sunday. This was a good excuse to race out to Sainsbury's and pick up the ingredients and get a few Mother's Day bits for Lisa. So, we picked up a bunch of flowers, a couple of cards and some treats for a mini-party that night for us and the kids. (All of this was aided by an excellent 2 for £2 offer, thanks Sainsburys).

So, back at the ranch, I busily threw together my first ever omelette, which was well received by me and the boys. Lisa and Rachel have a deep aversion to egg-based eating, so they had something else. Heid, being a sheltered child and not used to pushing his culinary experience, rejected his omelette after a mouthful, and the rest was rabidly scoffed by my team of starving boys.

After dinner, team boy cycled up to the school where there's a big football pitch and we had a kick around for a little while. And as the sun set behind the goalposts, we had our first bits of friction - Jake's pal wasn't a fan of sharing the ball, and Daniel threw a strop virtually every time the ball moved in a direction that wasn't toward him. Still, we persevered, had a good time and cycled home for Coke and treats.

When the kids went to bed, I finally got the first chance of the day to sit on my ass. Watched a couple of TV shows and went to bed.

Sunday

Not so pressured today. Did a cooked breakfast for Mother's Day, then went out for a newspaper and a cycle around the same route as yesterday. The cycling's getting easier with perseverance, I can actually feel my legs getting stronger each time I go out on the bike.

Took about an hour to make a pizza this afternoon (getting better at those, although the base is still too doughy), but had a break in the middle where we went out into the country on the bikes. I was hoping to get totally lost in those little country roads, but my couch potato companion was clearly getting jittery about the distance, so we turned back. But it was a great ride - the air whizzing past my face, and the sun breaking through the clouds and casting a silver light off Lough Neagh were amazing.

So, there ya go. Perhaps the busiest weekend of pure fun and frivolity I've had in a long time. Got no real work done, but I'm thoroughly chilled out now, looking forward to the week ahead.