Heatwave

This week has definitely been an improvement on last when I was a bit doom and gloom, albeit every way I turn at the moment it's all a little more stressful than I would prefer.  Glenn has his big 350 mile ride next weekend so we are into the last minute panic / resignation of the fact that it's going to be long, boring and painful.  Having just checked the weather forecast it looks like it will also be wet - oh joy.  At least this time next weekend it will all be over (hopefully) and he can relax while soaking his bottom in a vat of recovery cream!  The next layer of stress is our house renovation which continues to crawl onwards, seemingingly one step forward and two back.  This week we got confirmation that the structural engineer (as now expected by everyone given the time that has passed) has messed up our RSJ calculations. On the plus side better to know now than when the house falls down, but its still a real pain and it means more mess, more making good and more time before we get everything finished. Ho hum, at least the company responsible have accepted liability and we aren't arguing that one.  The final stress is work, which was better this week - I know it will just take time.

As ever our antidote to all of this is our girls who have made the transition to summer holiday mode with ease and are now pushing the envelope on bedtime as well as everything else. We've definitely slipped and it's noticeable so I've spent the entire weekend repeating "tonight will be an early night" and then failing miserably.  Last night we promised them camping in the garden so of course it was never going to be an early one.  Despite all of the excitment we did manage to get them into the tent and asleep by 9pm which isn't that bad. Amazingly they then slept until gone 7am - much better than we thought and so we are inspired to take them camping proper when we have a spare moment.

We are in the middle of a heatwave at the moment and this coupled with the brilliant coverage of the Commonwealth Games means they have been recreating various events in the garden. Yesterday it was triathlon after watching the Brownlee brothers win gold and silver. I had to laugh as I timed them 'swimming' through the paddling pool before racing round to the back garden to ride round on their bikes and finally a quick change over to run round the same loop. Cue tears from Izzy "I'm always last" and shouts of joy from Abi so we had to put them into different classes to make it fair. We have tried giving Izzy a head start but it still doesn't work as she hasn't yet learnt to cheat as well as her sister. She'll learn!

Their other big joy is their new ride on buggy which was (almost) thrown in as a freebie with Glenn's new ride on mower.  They spend hours driving round the garden in it, picking things up, dropping things off etc etc.  I have to hold my breath as they charge under the trampoline, both ducking in the nick of time.  I did draw the line when their friends came over and they went to do the same thing - I'm not ready to explain a large bruise on the forehead of other people's children because they didn't know to duck!