The last month or two have been… a lot. I’m not going to lie and say the year so far has been easy going at all, but at the beginning of spring I felt like things were looking up. My stress levels were going down and we were starting to sort out some of our to-do list items!
March was a bit up & down with things still going on, and April was by no means a bad month, except for one or two Very Bad Days. We’ve had some lovely outings lately, and even a weekend away that was lovely…
First up was making use of a teacher training day to go to the Jinney Ring Craft Centre for a nice dog walk, mooch around the shops & craft workshops, and a lovely cake & coffee moment. I drooled over the blown glass ornaments by Top Glass and we all treated ourselves to some delicious treats the Chocolate Deli.
At the end of March we spent a weekend in Wales visiting my parents to enjoy some family time & played with light to watch the partial solar eclipse while we were there. It was nice to have a weekend away from the craziness that life had since for the start of the year – even if we did have four dogs in tow! The girls quite enjoyed sharing the backseat on the way for maximum cuddles (all dogs were seatbelted in securely, of course!).
James & I went to see Ghost the Musical at the Alex and really enjoyed it, and we took the girls to the recently refurbished Omniplex Cinema in Rubery to see the Six proshot. They’ve done a great job giving the old Empire cinema a complete refresh, with super comfy seats and a fancy new lobby complete with a pizza food truck. The musical was great too, only Georgie has seen it live so although the rest of us were familiar with the songs we’d not seen more than clips of the Megasix.
Next up was the Easter break and James booked the first week off to spend time chilling at home with me & the girls. We had Vue cinema tickets to use up and so the girls opted to go & see the Amateur over the Minecraft Movie, and all four of us had a great time watching a nerd play spy assassin.
This is when disaster struck and a lovely day out walking with the dogs at Waseley Hills Country Park – complete with delicious Easter themed treats from the fab Windmill Cafe – turned into a Very Bad Day. On the drive home from the walk, and luckily whilst stopped at traffic lights, James had his first unprovoked daytime seizure in more than two decades.
My poor husband has suffered with epilepsy his whole life, and takes medication to help manage his condition. Usually he has the occasional night time seizure that wakes him (and me!) up from sleep. Unfortunately it seems like the medication hasn’t been working as well as it did in the past, and he was actually already on the neurology waiting list for a referral because he had a few extra night time seizures than we’d have liked last summer.
Of course, the biggest consequence of this is that James has had to surrender his driving licence. He can’t reapply until he’s gone a certain length of time without having a seizure during the day, and is considered safe to be behind with wheel. It was a pretty horrifying experience for all involved, especially having the girls in the car with us. Thankfully it wasn’t too long or violent, and he was fully aware the whole time. Things could have been a lot worse!
We didn’t let it totally ruin our Easter break though, and have started making more use of public transport to go on our adventures. It has meant cancelling our planned trip to Scotland next month, but we are planning other things to look forward to instead.
Lydia and I particularly enjoyed a morning in the city centre over the Easter break doing a little shopping at Grand Central before heading over to The Alexandra to check out their family open day event. The behind the scenes tour was fascinating – the staff and casts must definitely get their steps in with all those stairs and having to go underneath the stage to get to the other side! Lydia enjoyed checking out some of the costumes and taking part in a dance workshop, too.
The last Friday before the girls headed back to school, we met up with my sister & her family at the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham and had a lovely few hours walking around looking at all the sea creatures. The girls were ambassadors years ago and it was lovely seeing some of their old favourites.
It did look a little tired & dated in some areas; I don’t think Merlin are investing as much these days as they used to in keeping it looking fresh & inviting – and not much had changed over the last few years, whereas it used to feel like something was different every time we visited. Regardless, we enjoyed the visit and most importantly the girls had a great time with their cousin for a few hours.
Before heading home, we went to check out the Lucky Claw, which is an arcade in the Chinese Quarter that is full of claw machines and other Japanese arcade games. Lydia and Georgie (and me, I admit) had fun winning various soft & fluffy things from the machines, and great fun was had on the drumming game. The temptation to get it for the Switch is high!
The last day of April was the second Very Bad Day as James had to say goodbye to his beloved orange car, as it was taken away.
Since James is the sole driver of our household, it didn’t make much sense to keep it on the drive for at least a year, unused. Plus, it was costing us insurance money! It was a bit of a shame because James loved his car, and we’ve all had so many fun adventures in it. The MG4 is so comfy for long drives, even with four people and four (admittedly small & cuddly) dogs.
So there you have it; it has continued to be a rollercoaster of a year so far, for sure. Ah well, May is here and with it Georgie’s 14th birthday and the beginning of the summer term. Fingers crossed things are a bit calmer for a few weeks at least, I think James’s head might pop off if he gets any more stressed about things!
