Living Arrows 2021 – 36/52

Here we go.  Back to the school routine, after a really lovely summer break.

I’m not entirely sure where the holidays went though.  Normally by this time I’m absolutely ready for the return to routine and structure of term-time.

But this year feels different.

Even though the children were off for almost 7 weeks thanks to inset days, it still feels like the summer has flown by.  And I’m not sure I’m entirely ready to go back to the uncertainty that seems to come with the children being in school at the moment.

I’m just keeping everything crossed that we can all stay healthy and that Rhys and Nerys can have a more settled year in school than they’ve had for the last 2 years.

They both seem to have really enjoyed the break from everything over the summer, and I think we’ve managed a good balance of doing things and having time to just ‘be’ and relax.

Nerys and I popped into town at the end of last week to pick up the last few bits we needed for school, and we just about managed to get everything sorted.

She also had a ride on the carousel in town that she’s wanted to go on all summer.

It is a really lovely old-fashioned carousel and it really lived up to her expectations of how much fun it would be to ride on.

We didn’t quite manage to tick off everything from our summer bucket list this year, but we’ve had loads of fun doing as many things from it as we could.

We’ve made buns, cake, ice cream, brownies and s’mores.

We’ve had afternoon tea with the children’s grandparents, a family pizza party, and a sleepover in the lounge.

We’ve visited Margam park, the LC for swimming, Cardiff with the cousins, the waterfront museum, the sunflower fields at Rhossili, and Plantasia.

We’ve walked to 6 different parks in 1 day, played crazy golf, and walked to Mumbles and back.

We’ve swum in the sea, built epic sandcastles, and had picnics in the park.

Best of all, we’ve actually been able to see family this summer.

I had an amazing few days in Kent for my Dad’s birthday in July, and the children have spent time with both sets of cousins on my side of the family during the holidays.

It’s been so lovely to see the children together after not seeing each other for so long.  They all got on so well and really enjoyed just spending time together.

There are still a few things on our list that we’re hoping to tick off in the next few weeks before we start to accept summer is on its way out.

We’re planning on heading out to Gower one evening to watch the sunset, have a chocolate fondue one day for pudding, and Nerys and I are determined to learn how to knit properly.

For now though, I’m just looking to get us all through this first week back at school in one piece.  The routine at school has changed a bit again, with no more staggered start and finish times.  So hopefully that’ll all go smoothly and it might make drop off and pick up a bit quicker than it was last year.

Good luck to all the other parents out there with children heading back to school this week!