Summer Holidays

So, the summer holidays are in full swing and trying to keep 3 small girls entertained can be hard work.
Amidst the cries of 'Im bored!' and the endless tale telling 'She hit me!', 'She's being nasty to me!' and so on, it has been my mission to do as much, and to get out as often (weather permitting) as i possibly can before i lose my sanity altogether.
Luckily this week so far we have had lovely sunshine and hot days. A far cry from the last two summer holidays where it has been miserable and raining throughout the whole of August.

That is why yesterday we found ourselves at Denham Train Station on an adventure. Well, kind of.
Because i dont yet drive, and have an other half who works shifts, this leaves us pretty home bound most of the time. It was my mum who suggested that we get on the train, one stop down, to her place and go to the park with a picnic.
Good idea i thought, and had full intentions of packing a picnic from home in the giant cool bag and also their paddling pool so that we could use it in mums garden afterwards.. But it didnt quite work like that.
I didnt relish the idea of carrying all that stuff on the train with 3 small children and so decided to buy it all in Tesco once i got there instead. It was a good thought but ended up costing me £25 for the privelige. I shouldnt be so lazy next time.

So there we were, at the train station, sitting eagerly awaiting our train to arrive, on the right platform (had to double check that a few times), girls all excited to get on a train (huge treat for any child im sure), when after a few minutes, it pulls in right on time!
Cue screams of fear from Sophie who was frightened by the whooshing of the doors opening and the loud noise of the train coming to a stop. She twisted in her pushchair seat, clung on for dear life and behaved as though she was about to be murdered.
Still, we pressed on and got on the train and within a minute of it departing, she was merrily shouting 'weeeeee!' as she watched the houses and fields fly past the windows.
The train was lovely, it even had air conditioning and it made me feel as though i didnt want to get off. We also went through a tunnel, only the trains lights didnt kick in and we were immediately ensconed in pitch black darkness. Luckily the kids didnt kick up a fuss, it soon passed and we had arrived at the station!
Now, have you ever tried to get a pushchair, plus 2 kids through a barrier while trying to make sure the doors dont close on you and leave one behind within the 5 second time frame they allow? If not then i dont recommend trying it.
I lined us all up ready to tackle the barrier as soon as it opened to allow us through, but of course there is always one child who lags behind (Katie) and had to be dragged through by the neck of her dress. We made it through just in time to see it snap shut behind us. Phew!

Never mind, we had a lovely afternoon in the park with our picnic, the girls played on the slide (going up the slide and down the steps, fantastic unique children i have) the swings, the zip wire, climbing frame, and had ice creams from the shop on the way home. Then we all sat in mums back garden afterwards with their brand new paddling pool.
John (my other half and daddy to the girls), also came straight from work and we even ended up staying for dinner (quite a result! saved me from cooking in a hot kitchen!)
But of course being Britain, as great as it is, you cannot predict the weather. One minute there was glorious sunshine and the next it was tipping it down.
At first we tried braving it, and huddled under the parasol waiting for it to blow over. In true British style, we refused to let a bit of rain send us indoors and tried to make the best of it.
In the end though it did get too much, and we did end up inside.
Still! As soon as the rain stopped, we all piled back outside and resumed our places at the garden table with our dinner and had a very nice meal.
We finally got home at 8.30pm and put three very tired girls to bed.

Here are a couple of photo's from our day -

Picnic Time!

Love this one :)

Onto the next adventure!!