From a kid's point of view ....

Sitting at the kitchen table, finally allowing myself to have a single small glass of wine, after a day as a single grandparent in charge of the Bandits! 

I drove down to Burntie this morning, picked them and their wee bags of kit up, and brought them home to Methven to await the mannie from Autogarden Repairs. 

I love it when Abi has let them choose what to pack; amongst Ida's essential items were a wooden chicken leg and a plastic pineapple! Of course - no way you could ever leave home without them!

Lawnmower having been picked up, we saddled Rocky up and took him out for a walk before we went into town.  Arlo was whizzing along on his scooter, and Ida was hurling her Peppa Pig buggy at a fair lick.  Rocky stopped to (obligingly) do the business, and the usual conversation ensued: "yeuch", "why does Rocky do the toilet outside"? - "Because he has no hands darling, so he can't flush the toilet", etc.  During the course of which, Arlo discovered that it was expected he and his sister would accompany me on another walk later in the afternoon to take Rocky out again.  Major meltdown! 

While Ida would walk for miles, and cries on rainy days because it means she cannot get out and go to the park, Arlo would happily curl up on the sofa for hours watching DVD's (I suspect he is more like me than I care to admit!).  The idea that we may have to take the dog out more than once in a day was obviously a deal-breaker in the half-term holiday plans: thank goodness he wasn't told about this earlier! 

In the end, we got into town, they both got new 'inside' shoes - for wearing in school/nursery, and then we had a wee look around Pets Are Us or whatever it is called, before the highlight of the day - going through the car wash at Morrison's! 

Photo shows us with the sculptures outside Next, which I used to know the provenance/significance of, but can no longer remember/care. I just call it the Wullie Soutar Circle now, and think of it as the focal point of YES activities during the summer. 

Home to fish pie : "Granny, we ALWAYS get fish pie at your house!", and ice cream for pudding, and then Caspar the Friendly Ghost on telly, before teeth-time and bed time stories. 

Tomorrow we are going to be making Valentine cards for Mummy and Daddy, and maybe going to the softplay with wee Zakkariah from the shop in the village. 

Not for the first time I envy those of my friends who have already retired, and can do this stuff every week.