Our moods have definitely lifted since restrictions started to ease last week and although we have stuck to our county, we have explored slightly farther afield.
On Friday we headed to Lyme Regis to see my Dad, where we found out that Prince Philip has sadly passed away at the age of 99.
My Dad told us of the time he met him, when he unofficially toured a ship my dad was working on when the Royal Yacht Britannia moored alongside it.
Abbey also got to meet him when she got her Duke of Edinburgh gold award as I watched from afar. I don’t think we will ever forget that day as it was just before he retired from public duty.
Here is our week:
Sunday 4th April – Easter Sunday
The Easter bunny did well with Harry Potter inspired easter eggs for Eliza and Stormtroopers for the boys – they had quite a haul by the end of the day as we also had an easter egg hunt at home.
As the weather was so beautiful, we headed out for a walk along the southwest coast path to the disused quarry at Winspit.
The kids loved exploring the caves and old quarry buildings and we have since found out that they were used in the filming of an episode of Dr Who, so they can say they have visited Skaro, home of the Daleks.
From there we walked along the coast path to St Aldhelm’s Head, the southern most point of the Purbeck Hills and home of St Aldhelm’s Chapel, whose corners – and not its walls – face the four compass points.
On the way home, we stopped by at Nanny’s house, who had organised another easter egg hunt in the garden.
Monday 5th April (Easter Monday)
I worked Easter Monday, so the kids were home with Dad, who kept them occupied with craft activities from Pets at Home.
In the evening, we finally got around to burning all the cardboard that came with our sofa, so the kids enjoyed some camp fire songs, although we didn’t have any marshmallows.
Tuesday 6th April
We enjoyed another day off together, so took the kids for a local walk along the River Allen, where we spotted a grey wagtail on the river banks.
The temperature had definitely dropped from the day before and we were surprised by a brief snow shower in the afternoon.
I am classed as immunosuppressed, so got a text message to see if there was anyone in our household over the age of 18 that could get a vaccine, so we booked Kian in for his for Friday.
Wednesday 7th April
The kids finally gave in and started to eat the Storm Trooper and Hedwig.
We met up with Abbey in the afternoon for a walk around Christchurch – I was tempted to leave the kids in the stocks.
We stopped for a play in the park, although didn’t stay long as it got quite busy.
Thursday 8th April
If you have been following the sofa saga, you will be relieved to know that they collected the wrong half today and brought the replacement – I finally have two matching sofa’s!!
The kids have been making masks for a Pets at Home competition, so we took them out for a local walk to take a picture to send in – Lilah really wasn’t impressed!!
We got a phone call in the afternoon to say that as Kian is under 30 he couldn’t have the Oxford vaccine due to the evidence linking it to rare blood clots, so his appointment was cancelled until they can source a new vaccine brand.
Friday 9th April
Now that the Easter rush is out the way, we headed out a little farther afield to visit my Dad for an outdoor walk, starting out in Lyme Regis, where we saw our first ducklings of the year.
We walked through the town, along the cobb and back to the car before heading to Charmouth to do some fossil hunting.
As the tide was coming in, we didn’t want to risk our favourite fossil hunting spot, which lies between Lyme and Charmouth, instead heading east.
We found a few ammonites, but could see the rain heading in, so will head back and spend a full day here again soon.
We got home in time for Sebby’s first face to face Beavers session since before Christmas – safe to say he was very excited and came home with an envelope full of the badges he has been earning online for me to sew on his jumper.
He only has a couple of months left before he joins Cubs!!
Saturday 10th April
We live on the flight path for Bournemouth Airport and as you can imagine, it is very quiet, however, this A400 is on a training exercise here and keeps flying over.
How was your Easter?
Aww! It was sad news about Prince Philip. How wonderful that some of your family got to meet him.
Ohh! What a great haul of Easter eggs. I saw the Hedwig one and did think about getting myself it. hehehe It looks like you had a great Easter.
The sofas look fab.
That is a shame Kian couldn’t get the vaccine. x
It looks like you’ve had a whole lot of fun exploring! You certainly did well with the Easter eggs too. We’ve seen a bit of snow too.
Looks like you’ve had a great time , oh wow !! That Easter egg stash is really impressive!
It was very sad to hear about Prince Philip. I only saw him once when he accompanied the Queen for an event in Liverpool. Meeting him must have been really great, especially for such an important event, getting the Duke of Edinburgh award.
The weather seems crazy, very warm and everybody enjoying the outdoors, just before snow starting after a day or two. Love it 🙂
Looks like you’ve all had a great outdoors exploring time. Bet it’s nice for Sebby to be starting back face to face activities too.
Such sad news about Prince Philip. So glad you all had some lovely stories and memories to share. I didn’t do DofE when I was younger, my choice, but now I feel like I’ve missed out!
That’s chapel looks beautiful. The kids look like they are having lots of fun!
Nice to be able to get out more and go further afield isn’t it. Looks like you have had a great time exploring!
I am impressed with that Easter Egg haul!
Looks like you’ve had some great adventures, my son would love to have been on Skaro! Have the kids finished all that chocolate yet?? #365
Wow that is quite a haul of Easter eggs! Lovely to have an Easter egg hunt in Nanny’s garden too. Love the photo of the kids in the stocks. Glad you now have two matching sofas – they look great. Fossil hunting sounds like fun. Glad Sebby has been able to get back to doing Beavers face-to-face – we’re looking forward to when Sophie can start back at Girls’ Brigade in person. #project365
That’s a big stash of chocolate eggs! The Hedwig and Stormtrooper eggs look cool. Beautiful Chapel. Lovely memories of meeting Prince Philip.
Glad to hear your sofa saga has been resolved. So many lovely outdoors photos! The weather has been so bizarre, changing from hot to snowy.
Wow you have deffo been very busy and soooo many Easter goodies too – sounds like you had a lovely time
Laura x
Looks like you had a great week. Glad you are getting out and about, we are slowly too. My teen also met the Duke, a while ago, she doesn’t actually remember, he was at a charity event I was working at when she was little, and my dad and mum also met him when they visited where my dad was working. It’s very sad. Is your easter chocolate all gone? we still have some!!
Good Easter choc haul! The random weather has been fun to enjoy, the snow and sun has made the holidays more of an adventure! #project365
What a wonderful Easter break sounds like you got up to tons. My eldest would love hunting for ammonites. So good to be back at Beavers no wonder he was excited. Hope they have worked their way through all the chocolate by now.
What a haul of chocolate, has it all gone now? Bet your’e relieved you’ve finally got the sofas sorted, shame about the age with the vaccine. I’ve not paid much attention to it as we had the Chinese one back in January
I’m glad the sofa issue was sorted out. I love the Harry Potter and Stormtrooper eggs. I had to stop myself from buying these for me! I think Little E would love to go fossil hunting. I keep adding things to do to our evergrowing bucket list #365