Easter Family Fun and Fitness

Like many parents I a) have less time to exercise in school holidays and b) worry that my children don't get enough exercise when not in school. So over the start of the holidays I've tried to combine getting/staying fit with some family fun.

First up now I'm running for around 30 minutes non-stop its actually easier to go out with the children. I just need to workout a route that is feasible on their scooters (i.e. not too many road crossings or steep hills) and that has a bribe at the end of it. Luckily Kendal is fairly good for this as we have routes along the river and old canal bed. The bribe at the end was a trip to Abbot Hall park playground. This was the resulting mapped route from MapMyRun:

Yes it was a little bit extra jiggly as I had to retrace my steps a few times to chivvy along a reluctant 6 year old! I also had to run round the park several times at the end to finish the run as my children were about to go on strike so I called a halt to the proceedings for them and sent them to the play area. The run was anything but a steady pace with having to look after the children but my split times weren't bad:

The children enjoyed a good play in the park with a quick picnic whilst I recovered (amazingly its getting easier much quicker!). Then we all needed to warm up so nipped into the cafe at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery (see yesterday's post!). It was then a team decision to cross the courtyard and visit the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry as we had never been. It cost £5 for me but the children were free so an inexpensive visit. We all enjoyed looking at the recreations of historic shops, industries and homes:

Shoe samples

Victorian Chemists

Bobbin Making from Staveley

16th Century bed

Arthur Ransome's sketches and notebooks

I will have to back sometime on my own as the children didn't let me read a lot of the information as they kept rushing on to the next exciting display!

Afterwards we did some shopping in Kendal (have you ever tried buying gloves in March - apparently its the wrong time of year!). The children had their last Christmas book tokens to spend so we spent forever in Waterstones. A minor miracle occurred as I came out without buying a new book for myself!! I did attempt to run part of the 3 kilometers home but the 6 year old went on strike so I had to content myself with walking.

Today we met up with the extended family and with 3 children and a dog needing some exercise we again mounted up on the scooters (this time I took mine) and headed to the park from my parents' side of town. Once again the old canal path is perfect for this kind of expedition:

It was a bit chilly at the park but the children still had plenty of fun on all the equipment:

We could also just see the Kendal kite festival up at the castle:

And there were plenty of birds enjoying the River Kent:

The scooting looked so much fun that we even persuaded granny to have a go on my scooter:

Then it was a return leg along the canal path and my son spotted this cheeky little thing in the tree:

Later we rewarded ourselves with a yummy Easter tea:

Next challenge is the annual Easter egg hunt at Sizergh but I'll have to get the children to scoot across town first so that I can get in a run!