For me the best thing about easter isn’t the chocolate, it’s spending time with family and celebrating the arrival of spring by spending a lot of time outdoors. So that is primarily what our our Easter has been all about… With a few treats thrown in.
After all the illness we’ve had lately with both kids having chicken pox, and Monkey and I suffering with tummy bugs we were a bit worried it was going to be a bit of a washout but thankfully we were all miraculously well and able to enjoy the weekend.
We kicked off with a day out with my family to one of my favourite National Trust places, Belton House near Grantham. The weather was incredible and we had a wonderful day.
It was seriously busy and sadly my older brother and his wife got stuck in traffic getting in, but they did eventually arrive and even though it was so so so busy, because it is such a huge site it didn’t feel too busy. Other than the queues for the restaurants! We were pretty lucky in that I had been to the play and ride cafe as soon as we arrived and got a timed ticket to get in, then a big enough table vacated as soon as we walked in which was really fortunate.
We had plenty of space to explore, climb trees, run around chasing bubbles and playing aeroplanes. We sat and had ice cream in the sun and partially completed the easter hunt, though gave up when we saw that the queue to collect the egg afterwards was absolutely ginormous and in our mind the chocolate wasn’t worth the queue!
Oh and yes the place is seriously stunning so I had to get some pretty shots too.
That night my aunt, who had come up from London for Easter, stayed with us and we had a lovely evening. The next day we took her to the local farm that we are members of. It could not have been a more different day weather wise and was windy and bitterly cold! Still we had a lot of fun completing the easter hunt there and we even met the easter bunny! Not that the kids were too sure about him haha. We had a bit of fun in the soft play then headed home for lunch.
After lunch it was time for a bit of a team effort making some easter nests. It’s a proper easter tradition for us and the first year LM could take part, though she was shattered and needed to go for a nap before we had finished. Monkey really enjoyed it though.
While LM slept that afternoon Monkey had some fun with some of the crafts and activities pound land kindly sent us to try out, and I was very grateful for something to keep him busy as I was shattered! We had already done some of the other crafts earlier in the week and I was impressed at all they have for a pound! *
Easter Sunday itself was a bit more of a normal day for us. We went swimming in the morning and then our neighbour popped in with her kiddies for a bit. After lunch we did a the other of our Easter traditions and we put on a little easter hunt for the kiddies. Because Monkey loves treasure maps I made a simple map of the back garden and made a trail for him to follow before having to dig for his treasure! He loved it!
LM sort of went along for the ride but didn’t really get what was going on I don’t think!
After LM’s nap that afternoon we headed over to hubs’ brother Andy’s house for a roast to celebrate his birthday and easter. It was lovely to get together all of hubs’ family too and we had a lovely time. Hubs bought his brother some star wars lego which the boys all had great fun building that. LM had fun with all of her relatives too and very much enjoyed a ride in Aunty Julie’s wheelchair while she rested having cooked us all a yummy roast.
Monday was the most relaxed day of all and we pottered in the morning and made a roast for lunch. My little brother aka Uncle Marky joined us (sadly Aunty Fran was poorly and missed out) and played with kiddies and had a good catch up. More like a normal Sunday I guess, with laundry and little jobs that needed doing etc. Just what we needed after a busy few days.
I’m painting a picture here that is filled with sunshine and smiles and to a certain extent it is true and we have had a happy weekend. But it has also been difficult with toddler tantrums from LM and major threenager meltdowns from Monkey. They have been overexcited over tired and over chocolated (not a word I know but seems to fit :)). We barely buy any treats (only for the nest making and treasure hunt) but our lucky kiddies have lots of adoring family who have given them lots of treats. I have drafted a post about the over commercialisation of Easter (as I was having a rant moment) but I am not sure about sharing it. I am instead choosing to remember the happy moments of a lovely easter spent with our lovely my.
I hope you had a wonderful easter too.
Ahh! I’m so glad you are all feeling better.
It sounds like you have had a fantastic, fun filled weekend.
Gorgeous photos x
What a lovely weekend you have had (toddler tantrums and threenager meltdowns aside!) and looks like you’ve had a lot of fun getting out and about in spite of the weather (although Good Friday was gorgeous wasn’t it – the perfect day to be out and about exploring a NT property!) Glad you’ve been enjoying time with your family too and love the tradition of making Easter nests 🙂
Aww what gorgeous piccys. I hope you are feeling well now after a nasty bug. You seemed to get up to loads! We had family over too and did the egg hunts but also had to do a lot of packing. The weather was so lush on Good Friday and it was a bit poo sorting paperwork hehe. xx #thetruthabout
That’s the real truth Caroline – you were questioning whether this post was suitable for #thetruthabout but one thing that always shines through with you is authenticity. ‘The Truth’ doesn’t always mean the crap bits – I wouldn’t want anyone thinking that I only want to read about other people’s crap bits! 🙂 I love the fact that you always make the effort to have special days out with the kids and the fact that you have so much family around makes it even more special. I love Easter and even though we are in a bit of an odd situation this year and I wasn’t able to plan it all like I did in the past (the kids were with their dad the morning of Good Friday and all day Easter Sunday) we managed to wing it with an Easter Egg trail at an NT property, a ferry across the Thames (and subsequent stranding North of the River due to particularly high Spring tides!) and then a lamb roast with my sister’s family on Easter Monday plus plenty of little egg hunts around the house. I love the idea of your egg hunt outside with a treasure map – you always show so much attention to detail! #thetruthabout X
I love your photo collages (and your caveat at the end since we were all drooling over your heavenly weekend by that point.) Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Looks like great family fun
Glad you are feeling better and what a lovely collection of photos. It sounds like you were really busy and that you had a great time, even with those pesky tantrums! 🙂 #whatevertheweather
oh this is the happiest post I just smiled at all the fab photos! #whatevertheweather
How lovely! You have some beautiful photos, and it looks like you really had a wonderful day. LP is recovering from chicken pox at the moment, he got it the day before the Easter weekend! Unfortunately it meant we had to stay home but I’m sure we’ll make up for it once he’s all better. 🙂
I love a good National Trust property and I also love your photos of trees. It looks like you had a great day. #TheTruthAbout
What a beautiful National Trust property, one to add to our list of ones to visit. Looks like you had a really wonderful family fun filled Easter weekend! #whatevertheweather x
Oh my gosh so much Easter fun! The NT Easter trails were great especially when we actually had some sunshine to them in x
What an amazing and fun packed Easter it sounds like you had! Great to spend a lot of time with family too. Love the easter bonnet.
Thanks for sharing with #LetKidsBeKids
We’ve been hit badly with tantrums too at the moment. Not fun!!! But we do get lots of enjoyable moments out.
What a crazy, busy and super fun easter you’ve had!!! I can’t wait till Evie’s old enough for a garden hunt! I love the hand drawn map and the box of treasure. A brilliant idea!
It’s so lovely having traditions for easter too, I love chocolate nests. We’ll definitely be trying that next year.
It’s a shame the queue was so long for the egg at the first hunt. But what a gorgeous place to visit!! It looks so peaceful and quaint, with lots of space to run around.
We had the same sort of weather down here on easter weekend. One day we were on the beach and the next day was icy cold and pouring down with rain, which was typical because it was Evie’s birthday! Boo 🙁
But the farm looks like a lot of fun and getting to meet easter bunny is a definite highlight. Thank you so much for sharing with #whatevertheweather xx
I love this post and all the photos and memories. It would be awesome to have you link up at #TreasuredMoments Easter special http://mscalling.blogspot.co.uk
Wow! You really kept so busy over the weekends, I don’t know how you managed to fit it all in! I know what you mean about the tantrums etc., it happens to all families/kids and I find it best to remember all the happy bits, it must be hard for the kids when they are tired, excited, not quite sure what’s going on and over chocolated (it’s definitely a word now!). So many stunning photos and happy family memories together. Have a lovely week! Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x