Monday, May 28, 2012

After saying goodbye to our friends, we finished moving out of our weekend home in the scorching heat and decamped to the river to cool off, stopping first in the town to equip everyone with fishing nets.


 




 All was going well.....


Until a tiny fish swam a little too close for comfort


So Mathilda decided that she would prefer to watch from the river bank

But that soon became boring, so she found another way to cast her net in the river, while keeping her toes away from harm


Weekend of Marvellousness

After frenzied packing, we loaded our car up with clothes, air beds and bedding, camping stoves, utensils, paddling pools, bats, balls, pots and pans, in fact everything that one needs for camping, except the tent - as we were staying in one of these fab things for the weekend.




Then, when it looked like we couldn't possibly stuff any more in, we loaded the car up even more with lots of cold and wet weather gear just in case the weather took an unexpected turn.  After all of that we managed to squeeze in the children (but only just) and off we went to the lake district, to meet up with friends. 

Within seconds of getting there, the children were running about in the hot hot sun with their friends, filling water bombs and water guns and getting soaked to the skin...and this was pretty much how they spent the whole weekend.   

and what a marvellous weekend it was, relaxed and easy, with no where to go and nothing to do apart from take in the beautiful scenery, with playmates on tap for the children and lots of adults to keep a collective eye out. 


Friday, May 25, 2012

So lucky...

We are so very lucky to be able to visit this beautiful place.  Its possibly my favourite spot, such an easy place to visit with children.  Almost on our doorstep, we go practically weekly, including right through winter and it is always different each time we go. 

This week, we spent a lot of time up by the pond in the full heat of the sun with lots of other families.

The sudden sun after such a chilly spring was a bit much for lots of the children and they soon started to droop in it.  Everyone quickly drifted off home to retreat to paddling pools and shade.  We decided to stick around and take a walk.  We usually are with people here and the children play with each other, while the grown ups grab snippets of fragmented conversation which is interspersed with interruptions by needy toddlers.  Its nice every once in a while to spend time, just us and see it with new eyes  and explore the bits that we don't go to so much.   


Off on an adventure...



Bird Watching 

 

Sunny Pathways



Leading to woodland which is cool and shady in summer and sheltered and nurturing in winter


Where we found a ready built den


and lingered for a while, enjoying how much cooler and more comfortable we felt out of the heat.




Eventually seeking out the sun once more. 


Very, very lucky.


Cafe Kids

After three glorious days of sunshine we needed a little respite from the heat.  All that sun had made me long for iced coffee, so we headed to a cafe for iced mocha and 'brain freezes'.  We feel suitably recharged now for a sunny weekend (fingers crossed for sun!)



Sunday, May 20, 2012

Swimming

When I was child, my dad used to take us swimming regularly, usually weekly on a Friday during winter and every Sunday morning in summer, before going for Sunday lunch.  There were no rules then about how many children to one adult and he'd often take all three of us.  Not something that I could imagine feeling confident doing with my three, even if there weren't rules to prevent it.  Needless to say we weren't very old before we were all pretty good swimmers.

I feel that it is very important to be confident around water so I feel a bit sad not to have taken our children as often as I would have hoped.  The last time Toby went was at centre parcs, when the competitive streak in him came out when he noticed a smaller boy than him was swimming without any floatation bands and he resolved to be able to do this himeslf.  He practised and practised and by the end of the weekend he was pretty much there.

On Saturday we drove nearly an hour away to a lovely pool that is light and bright and has a sensible policy for non swimmers.  I know that I'm meant to be focusing on positives here but I do feel the need to fit a bit of a rant in, about the last swimming pool we visited that wouldn't allow non swimmers any deeper than my calves.  Meaning we were stuck, shivering in tepid water that was far too shallow to learn to swim in!  (rant over) 

The pool we visited on Saturday is a lot more sensible and we all had a lovely time.  Mathilda showing absolutely no fear as she explored, occassionally letting herself get out of her depth, safe in the knowledge that we were right by....and shouting 'help me' before she bobbed under the surface, only to come back up in  our arms grinning, ready to repeat the whole thing again.  Tristan floated around happily in his arm bands, looking very chilled out and relaxed and Toby worked solidly trying to improve his swimming.  He had slipped back a little since March, but by the end of the session had caught back up with himself.  

After swimming we went into town and treated the children to hot chocolates - and this boy really does know how to enjoy hot chocolate!


 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Afternoon Tea

No afternoon tea is complete without the most giant bottle of tomato ketchup that one can find!



Monday, May 14, 2012

Crazy Golf

After a busy weekend away in Scotland, we took our time this morning just to regather together our energy by doing the things we love.  For me that involved notifying the winner from a giveaway that we were holding with our internet store .  Tristan was happily catching up on Netflix with his Marvel Super Heroes that he'd missed over the weekend.  Toby was playing out in the foot high grass inthe garden (will it ever stop raining so that we can mow it?) and Mathilda was pottering and spending a lot of time on my knee too, chattering while I worked.

After a late lunch we headed out to a park that has crazy golf and it stayed mainly dry while we played a very hurried game.  I was really pleasantly surprised with the difference between playing this now and last summer, showing how Toby has really grown in maturity.  With the sole focus no longer on winning, Toby was a lot more willing to let the younger children play their own way and decide on their own scores, even when running all the way down the pitch with the ball in their hand and plonking it in the hole meant that they beat him.  Instead he concentrated on playing the best he could and having fun. 


Then we headed over to the river to watch ducks


Admire a gnarly tree



Notice the rain shimmering in the sun as it landed in the pond


...and eventually convincing a grumpy old troll to allow us back across the bridge


then having to wait in the car back home, with the windows steaming up until the freak hail storm passed


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Maypoling

We braved a rather chilly grey day to gather with other families to celebrate the start of May.  We had rather ambitious plans to set up our maypole (aka a swingball pole) in a beautiful circular Japanese garden, surrounded by trees in blossom and with views over the daffodils that are still in bloom.



Having never seen maypole dancing in action before, we watched some Youtube videos to get a feel for what we were trying to recreate. 
Our own version was a rather less traditional and far more hillarious affair with such classics as 'The Maypole Hokey Cokey' and 'We all Like Figgy Pudding' sung at full volume and exuberance while children raced around the maypole at breakneck speed.