Chislehurst Big Draw

Mostly,  PND aside, I have loved the ‘baby years’ of my children’s childhood.  There is nothing quite like the soft solidity of a baby asleep on your chest, the pride and the joy of the many firsts, the getting-to-know-you of a whole small new person that feels like slowly unwrapping a precious gift over the course of the first few months.  Those past few years have been glorious, they have been magical, they have been exhausting and I have felt so alive, and so wonderstruck, navigating the chaos in which we, their parents, had willingly created.

But oh, we are suddenly just on the cusp of everything that made me want to embrace having a large family.  We are suddenly just at that point where the boys can join in and do, and the girls try their best, and it makes them all so fun.

At the weekend we visited Chislehurst’s Big Draw. The vibrancy of our little town is one of our favourite things about living here; it is such a family-friendly place and there is almost always something to do with our little tribe.  We visited the Big Draw for the first time last year and even though the boys were still very small and our daughters even smaller, we had an excellent time, so we knew that this year it would be exceptional.

It did not disappoint.

There was the obligatory tantrum over cake.  We all have those, Lysander more so than others.  Until recently, the boys were quite stoic in the face of disappointment; the bakery is having a rest now, they would accept it and move on.  Now?  Crumpled heaps of fury and devastation writhing on the floor.  But that aside, my children are fun.

We painted with sticks, we drew.  We danced in the grass with the babies in our arms and the boys tumbling down the hill.

Kirsty and Josephine-dog inadvertently wore matching jumpers.  Matching jumpers.  Kirsty was quite mortified and refused to stand beside the dog for a photo, or in fact, at all.  Oh, how I laughed.

I feel as though we have entered a beautiful new stage in our lives, one where we are quite free to adventure and explore.  Experiencing these trips out through my little ones’ eyes is my greatest new joy, and I feel so fortunate to have events like the Big Draw on our doorstep.  Thank you too the Visit Chislehurst team for all of the work you do behind the scenes to make our home so special.

Can’t wait for the Pumpkin Hunt later this month!