Swings & Roundabouts

This weekend was supposed to be a quiet one, but somehow that didn't work out at all. Starting on Friday when I ended up with an impromptu sleepover.

Miss. D was supposed to be going to her dad's for the weekend, but one of her friends needed to stay over, so that then led to, 'Mum can another friend stay over too?'. Being a nice mummy and liking Miss. D's friends, obviously I said yes. The sleepover was a success, we ordered pizza and then the girls did what teenage girls do, disappeared off out for a bit (giving me some much needed peace and quiet) and the best part, they didn't keep me awake all night, or any of the night.


Saturday was thankfully, nice and quiet. Just as well given how flaming hot it was. Far too hot to be out and about too much, and definitely too hot for walking little orange dogs. Which left me doing what any self respecting girl would do on a hot day, stay in drink tea, eat chocolate and read, read, read. Oh my goodness, what a billiant book I have just finished. Huge thanks to D for lending it to me; even though I had to download it on to my Kindle because the font was too small for me to be able to read without my glasses. Anyway, the book was Alice, by Christina Henry and is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, or maybe that should be a revisit? I'm not really sure, but it certainly is not a children's book and is, in places very dark and disturbing. That said, it is a real page turner and I was truly gutted to get to the end. Not for long though, there's another book, The Red Queen, so that is on the reading list too, and I can't wait, although first I have to finish A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart.

And so we arrive at Sunday and the main event, yes those swings and roundabouts.

I was invited, by D, to the pub to celebrate a birthday, and was there drinking lemonade and lime (guess who was driving?) for somewhat longer than I'd anticipated, given the girls usually arrive home from their dad's at 7pm. To save having to rush home, I got their dad to drop them off to me at the pub and that's when we discovered the pub garden because D disappeared off with Miss. L to play on the swings.

Now, Miss. L enjoyed the swings, but I'm beginning to think that another big kid was having more fun, especially when he was joined by his best mate.

There's nothing quite like the sight of two grown men playing like kids in the playground is there? That's not me having a dig, or jesting. That's me saying, you boys are so lucky and us girls are just a little bit jealous. Let me explain. When I was working in an office, I once had an elderly gentleman tell me he felt sorry for girls because they have to grow up, but men never really do and he's right. That's not to say boys don't act grown up, they do, but the minute they don't have to 'adult' they revert to kid mode. This is also true for some girls of course, I myself am a huge overgrown kid, but as mums, we don't get as many opportunities to drop the 'adult' mode.

Not that I didn't try. With the girls being the ages they now are, they quite enjoy me joining in with them, but I'm telling you now, no way am I EVER getting on that bloody roundabout thing again. Oh my goodness, I climbed into the seat opposite Miss. D, feeling really rather chirpy, until I realised how fast it spins. I also made the single biggest mistake a parent can make when allowing their offspring to spin a roundabout...I protested and let my discomfort show (very loudly by screaming) and as we all know unhappy parent = super happy offspring and so we spun faster. Even after she finally stopped (and that was only because I was about to throw up and she can't stand the sight of vomit) the world was still spinning. All very unpleasant, and for the record, I didn't stop feeling sick until gone 9pm. The boys, however, were having a whale of a time...

...and do you know what? Why not. Playgrounds are for playing on and you should never feel you're too old to have a go. If you want to go on the swings, go on the swings, if you want to try not to throw up on the roundabout, go for it (I wish you the best of luck with that one) and if you want to climb on the climbing frame, well, that's what it was made for, do it. Maybe it's time to take a leaf out of the boys book and just forget we're responsible mums, just for a bit.