Friday morning turned into an extended bath morning for 
smallclanger
and bopeepsheep. In the afternoon we went out and bought some more
shelves for the spare room, and various other random stuff, and after we got
back I think I finished painting the bathroom (unless that was Wednesday). And
I mowed the lawn.
On Saturday (19th) we set off for Cambridge using the Northampton route.
We didn't seem to hear back from people we might have been going to visit, so
we stopped at the Little Chef next door to our Travelodge for a leisurely
lunch, taking us up to check-in time. So we dumped our things and then set out
to hoiho's party
where smallclanger had a fun time opening and closing the patio doors
and trying to run up and down the steep incline in the back garden. Various
other things happened, including lots of people playing musical instruments.
After 9pm smallclanger started to get tired, so we took our
leave, just as some other bits of minor drama were coincidentally also going
on. I managed to get the car out of the driveway eventually, and we went back
to the Travelodge to put baby, and ourselves, to bed — but not until
after I had been sent back out to buy sandwiches and burgers because we
realised we had somehow failed to eat anything other than chocolate mini-eggs
and nibbles since lunch time.
On Sunday after breakfast we headed out towards land_girl's house,
arriving (via a small detour to buy a newspaper because we seemed to be early)
at about 12.30. This time smallclanger and bisonbaby
didn't have to fight over the pushchair because they had one each. We had a
jolly nice roast dinner cooked by bisonfish. Not long after that it
was time for bisonbaby's nap, but smallclanger wasn't
looking very sleepy. We went out to try the big trampoline, but
smallclanger seemed rather nervous, so we walked a bit further out
and fed the chickens. When that was done smallclanger was a bit
braver and had a bit of a bounce with R (who isn't called
bisondaughter, though that would be logical) and her friend.
And then we drove home, not via Rugby.
Three-day weeks do have their advantages. The lab is traditionally closed on
Maundy Thursday as well as on Friday and Monday, so we get to take three
days out of our annual leave entitlement. Putting up shelves and trying to
move piles of junk out of the living room were our rather boring activities for
the long weekend, though we also went out and bought smallclanger
his second set of "first shoes" which light up when he stomps.
We did manage to clear a fair amount of space and I was just
finishing the hoovering at lunchtime on Saturday when my parents arrived. So
we had lunch and smallclanger showed off (as usual) during the
afternoon. In the evening we went to the local Beefeater, and then my parents
left to go to my brother's house near Cambridge.
On Sunday afternoon we had a brief visit with bopeepsheep's parents,
but they were meant to be tidying up so we didn't officially stop for dinner,
though we had tea and sandwiches.
Not a lot seemed to happen on Monday, but I mowed the lawn again (just in time before this week's dreary rainy weather arrived).