A Perfect Day

Yesterday was a perfect day. Why does it feel wrong to be able to say that? Why can’t we have perfect days without feeling guilty? I can’t remember the last time we had a perfect day so I want to remember this. It started early and I managed to get a whole list of jobs done before 9 o’clock which never normally happens. After this, a friend collected Bubble to take him to his lesson and at the same time, our piano arrived! I was so excited – I’ve been waiting for so long to get a piano and it all went really smoothly and it fits perfectly. Luckily. I took Squeak on the bike to the gym to collect Bubble and then we came home and tinkered on the piano for a while.

After building some towers and picking up crayons from under the sofa we headed out for National Open Monument Day. There’s a big house close by which is called the local castle. Yes it has a moat, and its estate used to cover a large area, but is definitely different from the traditional image of an English castle. However its doors were open for the day so we went back out on the bike to have a peek. There was no way I was going to take to boys inside, what with Bubble being in his ‘why why why’ phase and Squeak embedded in the ‘I have to touch everything’ phase. Instead we explored the garden and the stables and argued about how many stones it was acceptable to throw into the moat without completely dismantling the pathway. From here we climbed back on the bike, literally (mounting a bike with 2 extra seats on is a skill. And one that does not always come naturally!) and we headed off to a local church that was also open for the day. We wanted to hear the organ playing but we were early so instead learnt about bees making honey. A little bit random but it kept the boys interested. When the music started the boys were completely enthralled. There was a TV screen so that they could watch the organist playing as she was sitting high up in the church. The icing on the cake was that they came to ask if we wanted to go and have a look up the stairs and watch the organist for ourselves. Yes please!! It was ace. She explained everything, speaking especially to Bubble, and he even got to play it! Only hours earlier we had a new piano, and now he was playing the organ. This boy does not hang around. However the attention span of the boys is somewhat short. Certainly shorter than most pieces of music. I had prepared some grapes as I thought this would be suitable for sneaky eating in a church. But it turned out I’d forgot to put them in my bag, so instead I had to resort to the reliable rice crackers. These are neither subtle (rustling in the packet) or quiet (crunch crunch crunch). Especially when you are eating them next to the organist, and being filmed so therefore being projected onto the TV screen down below for the entire change to watch. Whoops. Time to leave.

Back at home and it was all about the trampoline. Read: happy, happy, fight, fight, scream, scream, sad, sad, happy, happy, fight, fight, scream, scream, sad, sad. Interspersed with a yummy frozen yoghurt lolly. H came home from work and I was torn between wanting to push the day a little further, or just accept that it had been good and not risk ruining it. I had a coffee to think about it. Or at least I made a coffee. It was stone cold by the time I found it again as sitting down and thinking is a luxury restricted to child-free time. Sod it, lets go. We had a manic 20 minutes pulling a picnic together whilst the boys bounced (happy, fight, scream, sad, happy) and clambered back on to the bikes. And I’m so glad we did. It was a lovely end to a great day. We picnicked in a secluded spot (slightly illegal) and paddled in the water, racing ducks and throwing stones – only occasionally at each other. Boys…! Bubble spotted a an army of frogs (is that right?), went ‘fishing’ with a makeshift rod and poked some enormous slugs. Squeak splashed everything, caught the (plastic) ducks and kept choosing spots to pee, although this was hypothetical as he is only at the very beginning of potty training and is more interested in talking rather than doing. All in all, a total success. Right down to the running commentary from the boys as I pedalled them home “mummy look, car, car, bike, dog, motor, car, car”. Never a quiet moment. We also had the rare experience of being passed directly over by an hot air ballon on its climb up, so we got to see everything clearly with a beautiful clear blue sky as a background. Cue question after question after question after question from Bubble. But it was glorious. As I said in beginning I wanted to write this down so that I wouldn’t forget. It is possible to have a perfect day, it does happen and I don’t need to feel guilty about it. Tomorrow however, is a completely new day…!