I hear thunder

spot the mistake

Bean took this photo

Geese in a hurry

Our first attempt at rolling down a hill

Plum enjoying a feed

What a day!We drove to Leeds Castle again today to meet fav auntie #2. We checked the weather before we went. It looked questionable but reasonable ie. cloudy, sunny and a few showers. With this in mind I packed fleeces, socks, wellies, raincoats, and spare socks, all for the boys. 


The car journey there was great. Bean got the maps out again and I showed him where we were before setting of and he directed me all along the green road to the blue road. I got warnings of every round-a-bout and bridge and it was a real eye opener into what he has been absorbing during all our previous discussions involving maps. He also said 'I want to live in Horsham, it's so fun and my children will love it.' Brilliant. Not only does he appreciate the town in which he lives, he is also considering where his children would enjoy living, very thoughtful.


It wasn't long after we arrived that Pumpkin mentioned his foot hurt. FA#3 took a look and burst out laughing. We all had a close look at his feet and discovered that he had literally two left feet! The worst part of it is that I checked the sandals on his feet before we left. He decided then that wellies would be better.


We walked up to the castle a different route today and spent more time running than observing the gardens. The gaggle of geese intrigued the boys as they were hurrying very determinedly in one direction. We talked about where they had started out from and where they were heading and why.


We went into the castle today which I don't remember going in before but FA#3 said that it has changed alot and has more to see. The boys picked up a costume spotting quiz which they loved and they really enjoyed looking at all the armoury and weaponry. I'm glad we have membership or annual tickets for these places as we do speed around them sometimes and repeat visits mean we get to see different parts on each visit.


Lunch included some fun with an inquisitive peahen (and rather cheeky, I thought.) 


FA#3 had a deadline today and we planned to have a play on the play area and then a quick wizz around the maze. FYI you cannot have a quick wizz around this maze. I went in with the boys and FA#3 sat with asleep  Plum. We got completely lost and spent half an hour wandering around, our only point of reference were the various shaped puddles!


The thunder began to roll and we could see the rain coming. The boys had already decided a train ride back was on the agenda so we headed to the pick up point. FA#3 waited for the train and I started to walk as the train is not buggy friendly. I walked the train route as it's direct but unfortunately through the open grounds. The rain game, spotting and spitting, the rain came splotting and splatting and then the rain came sideways and torrential (imagine someone throwing a bath tub of water at you.) I took temporary shelter under a canvas sheet but as the rain was blowing sideways this wasn't much use. The train stopped to collect us poor souls but as the buggy is not compatible with the train I had to walk on, although the rain had calmed a little. 


The end result was that the boys didn't need any of the spare clothing I had taken with us and I drove home with no trousers on. The rain continued on the drive home, the motorways were no faster than 30 mph and like driving through a river. When we got closer to home it became apparent that our home land was dry as a bone and hot and sunny! Wouldn't have swapped it though. Love days out with my sisters.

squelch squerch

Wednesday 6th June

Argh! How could I forget to write about our trip to see fav auntie #1 and #2 and cousing B. I uploaded all the photos and forgot to write anything. So, here goes...

It was a wet day and during a break in the weather we took six boys and Plum to the woods for a walk. Unfortunately fav auntie #2 had to unexpectedly go to work (boo) and fav auntie #1 chose to wear walking boots instead of wellies. Fortunately I had made the decision to bring wellies and wear them (both of which could have easily been decisions that I did not make, I could have been in walking boots or even trainers - that would have been disastrous!) There was a lot of mud moving, dam building, dam breaking, river making, puddle splashing, mud sucking, mud jumping, and, of course, getting stuck in the mud, which is where my wellies came in handy. We lost and retrieved two wellies to the pull of the mud. All the boys enjoyed climbing through the woods and the wet, we walked through the area where they were tree felling and we found a den with a door mat in! And just in case you looked at the photo of Pumpkin above and wondered if I had taken spare trousers on our visit...I had not. So on returning to the house he wore his pj's for the rest of the day.

The trip to the woods was sandwiched between, marble run, lego, playing with remote control cars (thank you fav auntie #1) and playing battles, hide and seek and dens outside mostly in the rain. The picture of the empty sofa is a record to show that even when the tv is on (which it was) the call of the wild outdoors and playing with friends can be the more attractive pursuit- all six boys were in the garden.

Rainy days and Mondays

 Roopt

'A word is dead once it's been said, some said, I say it just begins to live that day.' Emily Dickinson.

After a lazy morning for me (thank you daddy for the lie in) in which the boys got busy building railway track and drawing pictures we headed for Owlbeach and Leechpool woods dressed for rainy weather. 
         
It was a good job as not only did it rain but unsurprisingly the woods were wet and muddy. The boys loved it. Bean and Pumpkun both struggle with walking (as such) and either stand still or run! Standing still involves looking at a twig that could be a slug, or watching where the river runs, smelling the flowers, discussing which path to take, listening and looking for the birds, splashing in a puddle, squelching in the mud or just pausing to climb the fallen tree or drive in the rotten tree stump. Bean was particularly taken by the 'blanket of bluebells' (his words) and Pumpkin interested in the puddles and mud.              
           
Bean's use of words to describe the bluebells really impressed me and daddy. Our children's language development has always impressed me, it seems to be something they are good at and enjoy playing with words. Bean regularly asks what words mean or who might use them.I felt sorry for the boy in the synthetic phonics training video who was marked wrong on his hestitation to pronounce 'roopt,' which is a great non-word but is clearly a word he knew was wrong and therefore hesitated to read it as such. I think the world may have gone slightly crazy when it asks a child to read a word that is not a word and tell them they got it right and when they pause to question the non-word tell them they are wrong. I think maybe we have forgotten we are dealing with people and not processes (rant over.) 
          
We ended up in the play park where I fed Plum under the play equipment in the only 20cm squared patch of dry bench I could find. Bean hasn't been too well and rode back in the buggy but Pumpkin managed the whole walk there and back again.
                                     

Dr. Foster

The boys began the morning in an artistic mood. This time on paper!
Plum had a check up at the doctor's and then we headed off.

A Volcano by Bean

A day trip to Drusilla's even though it was raining and I thought all the animals would be in hiding. As it turned out we saw some animals we haven't seen out before and we have been a lot of times!

Pumpkin challenged himself on some of the indoor play equipment and went down a tunnel slide and the bumpy slide too on his own. He was so pleased with himself. He even held Bean's hand down an outdoor tunnel slide to give Bean some confidence as he won't normally go down these. Pumpkin also managed to find a puddle that was about 1/2 cm from the top of his boots.

Bean enjoyed me reading the information to him on certain animals and has definitely developed a preference for different animals. He continues to find Penguins interesting but won't go in to see the bats or the parakeets.

Plum's first ride on Thomas at Drusillas

Rain on the rooftops

Not the day we'd planned (outing into the New Forest, farmer's market, maybe a picnic.) Mainly due to the rain that poured all day and the fact that I hadn't packed any form of waterproofs we had a crafty day with grandma instead.. Bean spending a mammoth one and a half hours colouring in pictures and drawing with stencils. He drew a circus picture and fish under the sea. Pumpkin attributing a nursery rhyme to every picture in the colouring book no matter how tentative the link! 
Grandma and daddy spent some time winding wool around circular card in an attempt to make a bird. Simething Bean started a while ago but I got confused at the instructions and we had a good think about who could help us when cousin B turned up with one he'd made at grandma's...perfect!

Pops and Pumpkin did a lot of puzzles together, in fact, Pumpkin had a very puzzley day.

Bean enjoyed emptying grandma's games cupboard and I enjoyed playing some childhood favourites. We went through known favourites like snakes and ladders, snap and pairs, learnt some new classics like ludo and draughts, and shared those old old games of mine like rings on your fingers.

And Plum enjoying some time with her Pops...or is it Pops enjoying time with Plum?



All in all a lovely family centred day...maybe not that far removed from what we originally planned :)