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Monday, June 22, 2009

The final Countdown

Is it really only twelve more sleeps until I have to summon the courage to brave Gatwick airport with three littlies and what may well be a grumpy Mr T? Now the reality and enormity of the actual getting there is starting to dawn on me!

It isn't as if we have a relaxing lead in to the holiday, this week alone is Matthew's final week of pre-school and then we have parent's evening tomorrow, sports day on Thursday and a dance performance today as well the usual toddler groups to attend. Next week is even worse there are haircuts to be had, a day out for me at Wimbledon (v.v.v.v. excited about that one!!) and a three foot festival filled with children and entertainers to wade through as well! Not to mention getting Matthew sorted out with shoes and trying on his outfit for my friends rapidly approaching wedding!

I have optimistically pencilled in times to pack and do the washing and ironing, but who knows? This weekend I took care of all the school related things that needed seeing to, the teachers have presents and cards ready to go, I have handed in my CRB form so that I can help out at the school next September and the forms for the poetry collection and extra curricula activities have been delivered to the right places.

I have to admit I nearly cried with relief when a friend told me we would be able to retain the buggy until we got to the gate, and that we might even be able to be reunited with it as we leave the plane at the other end. That will save my back and my patience no end. I have to be honest though I do not really like flying, I am a control freak it has to be said. I will stubbornly insist on driving the entire six hours plus to my Mum's in Cumbria just because I don't trust anyone else to do it, and so eight hours on a plane over which I have no control is not a great prospect for me. Added to that is the anxiety of not having flown with any of the children and having no idea if they are going to scream 'I want to get off as soon as we start to taxi!' (if they do it may mean less queueing on holiday I guess!)

I have prepared for the flight, each child will have a goody bag and I will have enough snacks to feed a small army so as soon as the moaning starts I can bribe them with food, very bad I know but I expect the other 200 people on board will be grateful, Matthew alone is piercing enough to scale kettles and when you add Lucy in to the mix I think everyone would have a headache by the time we were an hour in!

Then when we do get there, we have to locate the car hire place, drive on the right side of the road and then try to contain the hundreds of questions that will be coming our way as we try to navigate to the hotel and check in! Still once we are there I can start to relax, let the kids enjoy themselves until it is time to come back again!

One sad little story, over the weekend we found what appeared to be a birds egg which Heather immediately christened EggBert! She wanted to take it to bed which we refused and this morning she wanted to say Hello, and you've guessed it EggBert turned to yolk all over the floor and Heather dissolved into tears all over me. We have managed to convince her that she hasn't murdered a baby bird as we are fairly sure there was not much in there this late in the season and at the bottom of the tree.

Lucy is not a toddler and it seems an expert climber, stair gates have had to be put in place to keep her safe as she climbs ever upwards unchecked!

5 comments:

Maria said...

No doubt you are a well organised lady, Melanie. Hats off to you!

Tim Atkinson said...

Hi Mel: Something for when you return (refreshed, tanned, relaxed)!
I'm having real problems bookmarking your blog. Every time I save it, it indicates you've not updated for a year and then (when I click the link) claims the blog does not exist - which it clearly does. I'm reading it! Any idea what's wrong?

Leigh Russell said...

Have a great holiday, Mel. Sounds like you deserve a rest! Thank you for following my blog. I hope you'll also follow my regular Thursday post on www.thecurzongroup.com

Leigh Russell said...

Where are you, Mel? I hope you're not so busy twittering that you abandon the blog! Or are you still on holiday. I hope you negotiated teh flight all right and are havingt a great holiday.

Leigh Russell said...

woops - lots of typos, sorry. Should've checked, shouldn't I?