Saturdays

The girls have swimming lessons, and if we're organised then both of us get to go to the gym while the girls swim. Today that worked, mainly because I actually got out of bed in time.

Then we seem to spend the rest of the day sorting things out, doing laundry, folding laundry, cleaning and being boring. Today we did all of that, plus we got out all of the children's summer clothes, and packed for Florida.

The average high temp for Florida the week we're away is predicted to be 20C compared to -1C here. So you can see why we're going away. Although the fact that the two main airlines that we use from Portland - US Airways and Colgan Air - have had major crashes recently is a bit perturbing.

We're actually flying US Airways down to Florida, and Delta back again. They've changed our itinerary so many times that the flights we're actually taking now bear almost no resemblance to the flights we originally booked. At least they seem to have got more convenient rather than less, but our changeover times at JFK and Reagan DC airports are down to just over an hour. Is that actually long enough? The airlines obviously think so, seeing as that's what they've given us.

The little ones have had a great time today. They went next door to see the Wallaces, then they played hopscotch and goodness knows what else outside in sub-zero temps, and now they are chasing each other around the house.

Ellie dressed herself and is wearing her sweater inside out and back to front, which is impressive.

Mike has gone out to run errands galore, with no children. He's not used to spending time doing stuff for himself without any children attached. I imagine right now he's going 'Wow! I can achieve SO MUCH without children attached!'

Oh and it's Valentine's day, so I'm going to find an online card for Mike now. I got Fererro Rocher, flowers and a card showing a stick lady stripping - chosen by Hannah which is a bit worrying...

Tonight we'll probably watch more Weeds. We're on series 2 and loving it. I had a very happy evening yesterday watching three episodes in a row, while drinking a Sex on the Beach and stuffing my face with blue corn chips. I'm easily pleased.

Yesterday was the first day of the school holidays, so I had three children and a short temper. I took all of them swimming at the Clarion Inn in South Portland, which is always fun. Mark managed to jump into the pool without me catching him which was a first for him. Ellie tried diving, which was more of a bellyflop, but she didn't complain.

Then we met Mike for lunch at Wholefoods. You'd think, with it being a recession, that Wholefoods would be struggling, but not at all. It was the most packed I've ever seen it. Hmm. Food was good though.