Madhouse diaries : Sowing the seeds of love

Yesterday marked the one month anniversary of Madhouse Daddy's death. People keep telling us that we're coping incredibly well. I don't know if we are or not, but our way of dealing with things is to keep on keeping on, filling our days with activities and trips out so that we can keep our minds off things and make new happy memories.

I haven't made any huge changes around the house but we've dejunked certain areas and given them new purposes that better maximise the space. This area next to the kitchen sink, for example, has been transformed into a little growing area for Pierre. He's already filled some pots with herb and tomato seeds and we found a little "magic bean" sowing kit, which contained a bean with a heart on it. In theory, according to the picture, it should grow a plant with a heart on the leaf - I admit, I'm very dubious ! It's keeping Pierre busy though and he conscientiously waters all his little pots every day after school.

We're still taking the dogs out for walks after dinner and, as an added bonus, it's much quieter at this time of day so we can let them off their leads for a run around the field. In the middle of the afternoon, there are big groups of kids running around and generally several large rottweiler type dogs, so we usually rush through keeping our two on their leads. 

Pierre always has great fun charging up the big hill in the middle of the field - this is actually the remains of a world war II bunker and you can see parts of the concrete poking out.

What goes up must come down but it's not so easy getting back down to ground level ! 

We changed things around a bit this weekend and went to a local pizza restaurant for Saturday lunch instead of heading to a fast food joint.

The pizzas were enormous but they also do take away pizzas so I asked for a doggy bag and we brought the leftovers home in a box.

When we were ordering, I'd spotted a sharing dessert that I thought looked fun, so I put in a sneaky request at the end without the kids knowing. Their face was a picture ! It includes six scoops of ice cream, two mini chocolate brownies, a chopped up banana and whipped cream, along with chocolate sprinkles, hot chocolate sauce and three biscuits stuck in the top. There may well have been more - I can't remember ! 

It is supposed be for two or three people but we didn't even manage to finish it with all four of us giving it our best shot !

This weekend was the annual Wine & Regional Food Fayre so we headed down for a quick look. The kids were drooling at all the food stands and trying all the free samples of cheese, smoked sausage and cake, so we ended up buying some cured sausages and some traditional cakes from Brittany.

It was breezy but sunny so we headed down to the beach for a quick stroll along the prom. The beach huts have just been installed, which is a sure sign that the summer season is on the way.

After a quick play in the sand and a chomp on a sausage, we headed to the bus stop. Sophie offered to give Pierre a shoulder carry but he always hangs on to her forehead for dear life so she can barely see where's she's going !