The month of April has arrived and bought with it more cold weather, Come on now, we’ve been patient, when do we reap the rewards??
Mother’s day the after effect
I’ll be honest and say that the beginning of April was a difficult one, I think Mother’s day really hit me hard, but after the occasion. It took a week to level off and feel like I was taking control again.
Date night and wedding news
This seems to be becoming a regular thing! Today the venue we hoped to book for our wedding had an open evening. It was really lovely to see the venue how it would be for a wedding rather than just as a conference room. It was hard to visualise how it would be. I am so pleased to say that we now have a date and a venue! Shit just got real *excited face emoji*
To celebrate we headed to our favourite bar, The Botanist for a cocktail. The main aim (other than the weeding booking of course) for the evening was to see the Knife angel. This is a statue that is made out of thousands of confiscated weapons. Now unless you have been hiding under a rock, we are all aware that knife crime is currently a huge issue nationwide. The idea of this statue is to raise awareness of this issue.
I am not sure what I was expecting when we went to visit but I was instantly struck at the beauty of it. Of course it is made of something that is so deadly but the shape of the angel and the face of sadness is portrayed beautifully. I found it so moving. To think that these knifes were being carried with the intention to be used by someone and that they were now on display in a way that offered such peace is really a wonderful thing to see. The Angel is on tour around the country, and although as I type its stay in Coventry has been extended, I believe it will be heading to Birmingham next. I would highly recommend visiting if you can. You can follow its journey Here
Family time
April was full of family time, starting with a visit from the wonderful Auntie M, Everyone needs an Auntie M in their life. I am not sharing though, she’s mine!
Followed by a birthday celebration for Pops P, my father in law. A Pinks get together is always fun and the children love catching up with their cousins.
It was also my Nephews second birthday. I can’t quite believe its been two years since I missed his birth by minutes! A lovely put together Gruffalo themed party kept us all entertained.
Easter Holiday time
If like me, you work in a school you will know the amazing feeling that comes when you walk out of work knowing a week or two or even six weeks of holiday lie ahead of you. There really is something so special about it. I feel slightly cheated this time as I walked out of work on Thursday with a small spring in my step, knowing that Friday would bring the ultimate step spring moment….. Until I collected a very poorly boy up from school. I felt that moment slip away as he seemed to get worse and worse over the evening. And I knew I’d not be going in to work the next day.
The holidays might have come a day early but they were here and I was excited!
Witley Court
This was the final weekend that we could make use of our English heritage passes and the first weekend of the holidays. And although I feel like we more than made our money back on them, I was disappointed that we were not able to make as much use of them as we did with the National trust ones. Until we visited Witley Court in Worcestershire. I was completely blown away. All I knew of the visit before hand was that it had burnt down in 1937. What I was not expecting was to find a fully formed building with nothing inside at all. It was just a perfectly formed shell of one of the most impressive houses I have ever seen. And the grounds it is set in are just as impressive. It has a beautiful lake and 2 great play areas that we all had a go on and nice walks. It was also our first (very cold) picnic. We do love a good picnic.
Easter Egg hunt
Grandparents are awesome, and I think my children have lucked out with theirs! It was Bompa’s turn to play Easter bunny and I think he did very well given the heat (Yay Sunshine… there you are!) And the kids loved it. They had a great stash to bring home with them and while I cooked lunch they took a walk. A walk I made them repeat in the afternoon as I felt i’d missed out on some much needed sunshine. I love where my Dad lives, he is just a few minutes from the canal which makes for a lovely walk and the children love watching the locks and helping if they can.
It was a lovely day, Mum was missed but that’ll always be the case.
DISNEY!!!!!
Finally the day arrived and we were all up and out super early but full of excitement. Ears on and away we go!
I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being a little anxious about the 12 hour coach trip with 3 children but honestly they were ace! It would seem if you throw food at them often enough, have fully charged electronics and plenty of colouring/stickers/books that 12 hours is a doddle! I think they coped better than us adults.
I won’t say too much about the trip for now but the excitement carried on right the way through, we made some amazing memories and had some really special moments.
Two highlights would be managing to get a picture of the children sat in front of the castle almost alone, it looked like we were the only ones in the park and E meeting Belle during the parade. At 35 this made me so happy so E must have been completely blown away by it all.
And the children were just as great on the 12 hour journey home! Bonus!
A Weekend in Cambridge
This really is becoming a habit, all this adult alone time!
We decided that after the chaos of Disney, that it would be nice to have some much needed adult time. A quick browse on Air Bnb and I had found us a lovely little hideaway 40 minutes from Cambridge. Cambridge was on the UK bucket list for this year, and it meant we could spend the day exploring before chilling out in comfort. What we didn’t expect was the horrible cold weather we had, It was freezing! (Come back Sunshine, we love you!) Rob had planned for a solo punting ride for us, but on seeing the speed in which the water was blowing and factoring in the fact that neither of us are experienced in punting (or owned the right footwear it would seem) we thought it best to skip this. What we also did not realise when booking is that a lot of the college’s were holding Graduations which meant they were not accessible to the public. We managed to explore Jesus College, and there is no denying it was spectacular so I have to admit to being a little disappointed.
The Air Bnb though was all I had hoped for and more. It was cute and cosy and tucked in the back garden of a lovely country home. Although it had a basic kitchen it was certainly not suitable for cooking anything more than a microwave meal. We headed to nearby Royston to the Jolly Postie for dinner. This place was brilliant. Set in the old post office it came complete with its own post van that you could dine in. There was so much attention to detail that I wasn’t quite sure where to look. Thankfully the food was as good as the surroundings, so much so we returned for our breakfast the next morning.
So if you ever find yourself in the area, I would highly recommend both the pub and the accommodation. Our host Jo was brilliant, and although we didn’t meet, her communication was spot on and she was full of advice and tips for the local area. You can find her Here And the Jolly Postie is Here
In hindsight, we were both so exhausted from Disney that we should have just had a quick walk around Cambridge and spent the afternoon doing nothing but chilling out, but it is one ticked off the Bucket list for the year.
And thats that, April leaves as work and normality resume. I wonder what May has in store for us.
It looks like you had an awesome April! I enjoy seeing other family pics and I especially loved the kids pics from Easter and Disneyland….they look SO happy! Glad you had some great memories to add to the old scrapbook…
Oh yes, I’ve just ordered 4 lots of photos for each of the kids to create their scrapbooks, it was so amazing that I want to keep every moment x
We’re going to visit Coventry in Half Term so I think I’m going to have to visit the Angel. What an amazing piece of art and great to raise awareness of knife crime too!
It is phenomenal, really beautiful and moving x
Wow you had a really jampacked April, it puts mine to shame! I did that Disneyland Paris coach trip with my partner in 2014, we had immense backache but absolutely loved the parks! I cannot wait to go with my daughter when she is older x
It’s definitely hard going on the bus but it was so much cheaper. The parks are amazing and taking children certainly adds something even more special to the experience x x
An amazing month! The Knife Angel looks incredible! And wedding planning is sooooo exciting, enjoy!
Thank you! I’m so excited 🥰
Would love to see the knife angel, looks amazing and so moving.
It’s honestly wonderful x
That seriously was a busy April! Thanks for sharing the knife angel. I had no idea about that, but it looks incredible. Looking forward to hearing more about your Disney trip. Glad it went well. Xx
If it comes near you it’s worth the trip. Disney was amazing 😍
I never would have thought the knife angel would look like that! It’s beautiful!
You’ve had such a busy month and it all sounds amazing! I’m glad you got to see your wedding venue as a wedding venue, makes it that bit more special when imagining it all!
Which membership would you say is better value for money? The English heritage or the national trust membership? I’m looking at getting one but can’t figure out which to go for!
Thank you. And yes the knife angel is incredible.
I’d say national trust, we visited so many and save £700-800 over the year. We probably only did 5 English heritage ones, we still saved about £150 though.
I did have to list all the ones I wanted to visit and the distance etc when deciding to sign up though mainly because I love a list but also it helped me to see if it was worth it x x
Wow this was on busy month but it seems to full of happy memories 🙂
Wonderful memories 🥰
So many great memories made in April! And I love that you are making it a habit to have some adults only time! I need to put more effort into that area of my life.
Yes, I’m getting married!!! Eeekkk scary and exciting! I need to get my ass moving, I have so much work to do, but it’s going to be great fun.
I love the botanist but not tried mixology, will have to try that out.
It’s been a wonderful month, feel very blessed.
Will check you out 💕
Sounds like April was a pretty hectic month for you! Glad you had such a lovely time at Disney – I love that photo you took of the kids and the castle!
Oh me too! It is just perfect, they were all wowed when they saw it after as well x x
That looks like an amazing trip! You have such a beautiful family! Thanks for sharing your journey. 🙂
Thank you so much for your lovely words 💕
Wow, the knife angel is stunning!
Family get together are always so much fun! It looks like you made some lovely memories with your family. Thank you for sharing x
Thank you! It was a lovely month x