Easter conclusion

This is the first day of the last semester in school, also known as the Summer Semester, which can mean only one thing - it is raining. But it also means that Easter 2014 is behind us. Last night I asked the kids to summarise the holiday, which lead Yon to start talking about chocolate and MineCraft, and Ron to talk about lack of excitement in our life. He is right unfortunately, at the moment our life lacks excitements and adventures and though we have some very good reasons for it they don't change the fact that Easter this year was more of a relaxing at home kind of holiday and less of a barrel of outings and adventures.

We are hoping for some more interesting times in the coming months, but for now the two weeks we spent at home, in spite of Ron's complaining, were precisely what we all needed. It is no secret that we all have been having a rough few months both mentally and physically, and we needed time to lick some wounds, reach some life related conclusions and just rest.
And anyway it's not like we promised him we'd do something and didn't do it, but it's always like this - it doesn't matter what you'd do the kids will find a reason to complain about the one thing you didn't do with them.
So I made him list all the things he wanted to do and we didn't do, which he summed with - none, and then list the things we did do -

We went to the library, and apart from the book he got at school, and the four books he got from the library, he also got two more on the Kindle, so he read seven books this past two and a half weeks.

We had loads of movie nights and movie afternoon and watched a whooping total of ten movies together - Frozen (which we've ended up watching more than once), The Hobbit, both movies (because I got them for Hidai's birthday and the kids love them), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (because Ron read the book), Amazing Spiderman (because we needed an excuse to watch it), Escape From Planet Earth (because the kids heard it's good. It was ok at best), Planes (really not worth it), Prince of Egypt (to get us in the Passover mood), Man of Steel (do yourself a favour and avoid at all cost) and Muppets Most Wanted (which was hilarious. It was the first time Yon was a delight to go to the cinema with).

We ate at McDonald's twice, and even got a Super Mario figurine and free chips. I think McDonald's is like everyone's secret guilty pleasure. We use the kids as an excuse to eat there, but the amount and verity of people you see in London eating there amazes me every single time.

We went to watch Arsenal play. It was the first time we've all gone together. Actually it was also the first time I got to see a real football match, and it is much better than having to watch one on TV. Unfortunately Yon wasn't really into it, and so it will probably also be the last match we'll see. At least we got to sit in the front row and watch Arsenal win.

We went clothes shopping for the kids, and mostly for Ron, who apparently thinks it is acceptable to keep growing and needs new clothes all the time. I love shopping, I love looking and buying and having new things, so going shopping for me is an enjoyable outing. Unless I have to take the kids. When you are new to parenthood you usually think kids clothes are the best. The joy of standing in the middle of a MotherCare baby clothes department and just looking at all those tiny colourful beautifully soft clothes is still fresh in my mind. It is nothing like walking with a reluctant almost nine years old who only has two modes: everything-is-fine-what-do-you-want-from-me-why-am-I-here or nothing-is-good-enough-I-hate-you-and-all-these-weird-looking-clothes-you-are-forcing-me-to-try-on. And no matter what his mood is, he will always go for the most expensive and usually totally weird looking thing in the store. Because he has Personal Taste. And everyone knows how important it is to let them develop their personal taste.
Yon, to add to the fun, is happy as a clam as long as you let him touch everything in the store. He has a thing for mannequins, but at least is very open to every shirt I pick. As long as I can up-sell it (look it has stripes - you will look like a zebra).
Thankfully Primark, which was our first stop, had heard my cry for help and came out with a football collection (probably has to do more with the World Cup in Brazil and less with me, but still), so it was also our last stop, and the whole thing was practically harmless. Also no mannequins were hurt in the process. Success.

We had family game-time so the kids could hone their Black Jack skills (a very important skill, and a chance for me to explain casino etiquette), Ron could beat me in a Memory Game marathon and Yon could beat both of us at Uno. Seriously that child has the best luck I have ever seen. It's scary.

We went to Moorfields Hospital. Granted most people won't call that an outing, and true it went a lot worse than expected, but Yon did get new glasses out of it. He chose Purple. We convinced him deep blue and dark purple are the same because Hidai was against real purple glasses. I said he should go for it, after all we get new ones every six months or less.

We celebrated Passover and Easter. The Easter bunny was very generous this year and even got us some proper grownup chocolate from Hotel Chocolate that we didn't even have to share with the kids. For the first time ever we also had an egg hunt (inside the house, but seeing as the boys are the worst seekers in the whole wide world, they still found it hard).

It took Ron awhile to list all this, and he needed some help along the way. Especially as all he could list at the beginning was "we had lots of electronics-time", which he did though he conveniently forgot to list the new games he got.
When he finished it all he stopped, looked at us, and concluded the holiday with the never to be forgotten saying - ok then, I am only half-complaining.
What a proud moment.