Happy Monday night (yep Monday – sorry!)

Very little happened ministry-wise last week because I spent most of it on leave. But it was so full of family, friends, joy and celebration that I can’t not blog about it!

Monday was Soph’s birthday! We went to a favourite childhood spot, Sundown Adventureland, aka, Pet’s Corner as it used to be known in the 90s! We took her there because Nathan, Isabelle and I all loved it as kids and the other two wouldn’t let me take her without them wheb I suggested it back when I was on maternity leave! So we went, 9 adults and 1 child, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I had a fab time! It was just as I remembered, with a good number of new things added. Soph loved the outdoor play best, and she liked playing in all the children sized houses, like the pub and the three little pigs cottage. I told her we were going to play all day, and boy, we did!

On Tuesday, Sophia and I went to White Post Farm (another great spot for the kids of Nottinghamshire) to see her Auntie Rosie! Cue more play, more animals and Sophia adoping another Mum whose snacks looked more tempting than the fish fingers and chips I bought her for lunch. After she had eaten two packets of crisps, a chocolate bar and a cake, we really did have to take her away!

On Wednesday I went down to Birmingham with my oldest friend, Fiona. We went to an interactive Grease the musical experience and it was brilliant! I’ve never been to anything like it before. It was like an outdoor cinema crossed with a food festival crossed with a trip to the West End – what’s not to love?!

We even found ourselves on the ferris wheel as summer nights started! The cast performed the songs all over the site and we could follow them round and interact with them. After about an hour and a half of that, the film came on and we watched it on the big screen as the cast performed various scenes below. Our 10 year old selves would have probably exploded with excitement!

That night, I came back to Retford to find a poorly Sophia. She was glowing hot and really not right. We wondered if she was starting with chicken pox, but no spots appeared and she perked up by the time we left to head back to Aintree the next day. She was even well enough for a trip round IKEA to pick up candles for church, but she wasn’t as excited as the last time we took her.

Friday involved sweaty mamas, a coffee in the Hub and party prep. I had a brief catch up with some church people before cracking on with all the jobs that needed doing before the next day.

Saturday was wet, but thankfully we had booked St Giles Church Hall! With the help of Helen, Paul, Polly, Martin, Jill, Graham, Gaynor, Alan, Josh, Ash and other family and friends who just mucked in, it went really well. We hired soft play and me, Mum and Dad had great fun doubling the size of the balloon garland I made for Nathan’s birthday a couple of weeks ago.

It was a great week. By 7pm on Saturday night, I had made my excuses and gone to bed with a sicky headache. Thankfully, I was more than able to take the service yesterday morning. Sophia, however, decided to turn up the temperature on her in-service antics. This included waving her legs in the air during the communion prayer, shouting NO during the declaration of faith and standing at the communion rail, hands out, saying ‘baba want one!’ as I gave out the bread. I’m hoping that she was just feeling the effects of a long and very exciting week… But watch this space, she is two now, after all!