First week of holidays

I had originally intended to post this at the weekend, begining "We have survived the first week of the holidays without incident!"  Clearly I was wishing an incident upon us as Dog disappeared while we were all in the garden and doing jobs.  He had found a hole in the side gate and had taken himself for a walk.  Husband and No3 Boy went in hot pursuit, only for Dog to think this was a great game, and go heading into bush land.  We spent 8 hours looking for him, gave up the opportunity for dinner out with friends, rang the RSPCA numerous times, all in driving, torrential rain.  It rained all night as hard as I've heard it in the 2 years we've been here.  Children were sobbing and I was torn between feeling sorry for him and being furious!  Thankfully we had a phone call at 8.30am on Sunday to say that he was safe and sound and at the RSPCA, having been there since probably about an hour after he left!!  He was very glad to see us, but I doubt very much if he has learnt his lesson.  We, incidentally, learnt that he is actually a year older than we had thought, and is a Red Setter/Golden Retriever Cross, not Labrador as we had assumed. 

ANYWAY!!  Back to my original post...  Other than Dog, we had survived the first week of the holidays without incident, and now nearly all of the second week!  This is not always the case and the first week is often when all the bickering and nonsense goes on until everyone has agreed on their position in the heap.   We've not done much but the weather has been great so we've got out and walked the Dog, we've baked,

still loving the freshly baked bread and rolls

 played at the beach,

done some den building,

a fair amount of Hama/Perler beads,

seen some friends, played some football, been to tennis camp and still had music lessons.  The rain at the weekend was torrential so the DS's were out and there was begging for screens. 

Am I the only Screen Nazi out there?  I can't stand the way children (or men for that matter) behave when screens are on, so during the week they are banned, except for the occasional bribe for the Big 2.  No DS's, no TV, no Wii from Monday until Friday afternoon.  Computers are allowed only for homework purposes.  During the holidays there has been a screen ban until 5pm.  When I was their age I would go out and play on my bike or read, imaginative play.  No 2 Boy and his Best Friend in Scotland were always the best at this.  When they played together you could easily forget they were there as they just got on and built stuff together.  As they got older they would head off on their bikes or play in the woods next to N's house.  Even now, he is the one who has the best fun with his friends and can spend hours creating things. 

And now we are back round at the weekend again.  Husband has voluntarily said he will take some time off, so I'm looking forward to a long weekend of family time (no football or tennis matches), maybe a bit of exploring and spending time with friends. 

I'll leave you with a pic of my latest Crochet-ing.  These scarves are fabulously easy and proving very popular. 

I hope you all have a very peaceful and Blessed Easter weekend.