Stumble trip

Tuesday 31st July

FA#1 took us to the woods again today with all six boys and Plum. This time I took the sling and Plum was one very happy baby. 
We walked to the bomb crater and played happily in a cave made in the side of the crater with the stump and roots of a very large tree forming the roof and sides.
One of the boys decided to build a bridge across the 30ft bog and began dragging large branches to the site and placing them and levering them into place. There were already a number of branches and cut timbers already there which were used too but soon all the boys were helping out from Pumpkin, 3 to cousin B, 10. They carried together and put them in the right place and levered them and tested them and talked through what they were doing. Bean became chief tester and walked as far as he could across the bridge until the next set of branches were in place. It's a shame there are no photos but the smallest branches were probably 10cm in diameter and 6ft long and they got much bigger! Bean crossed 30ft of bog on this make shift bridge, it even had a hand rail in on place which was supported by two stumps in situ. 


The rest of the day was spent watching olympics, reading books, playing with lego, trying out the skateboard, playing basketball, and playing cars and diggers. 
Pumpkin fell asleep on the sofa about 5pm. 

Go to sleep

Monday 30th July

After a manic morning packing and doing all those other household jobs that need to be done we headed off to gymnastics where again Bean was the only participant. Today he walked backwards on the beam, did a forward roll on the beam, took a turn on the bars and bounced on the trampoline, amongst other things. 
After this we headed of to FA#1 house to spend the remainder of the day with cousin B and stay the night. 
We watched the men's gymnastics and the diving on the television and played at giving them scores. 
There was lots of lego making and book reading going on. 


The journey there had given Pumpkin a huge afternoon sleep and consequently he was up till after 10. He is actually much more pleasant company after having an afternoon nap but usually only takes one if he's in the car, it does always mean that he's up late though when he has slept. 
Bean went to bed as normal but ventured downstairs after half an hour because he was lonely and even though he knew he was tired he preferred to stay with company until he was literally falling asleep and then I took him upstairs about 9. Bean likes his sleep and although he likes to be up between 6 and 7am he is always in bed between 7 and 8pm even if he has had a sleep in the day so to be up this late especially after the super late night on Saturday (11.30pm) will tire him out. 
Plum went to sleep about 7pm and then woke at 9pm but soon settled after nursing. We had a whole bed to ourselves which was nice and I think we both enjoyed the cosyness.

It's Party Time

Sunday 29th July


A busy day. Daddy was leading at church so we had to be out earlier than usual which was a challenge after our late and energetic night dancing at a friend's birthday party. Although the children were still up at their normal times. They were dutifully cranky and edgy and we nearly cancelled the birthday party that we had been invited too but Bean and Pumpkin both insisted that they wanted to go and it turned out to be a good move. Although how Pumpkin managed to stay awake on the way home I don't know.
We had a great afternoon and daddy got to meet some of our home ed friends and there were some other daddy's there too which completed the picture nicely. 

Are you dancing?

mummy and daddy dancing with Pumpkin

Saturday 28th July


Daddy took Pumpkin and Bean out for a short bike ride today. Since Pumpkin has become confident and speedy on his balance bike things have speed up enormously. They sped down humps and Bean confidently started himself off every time and rode uphill too. Pumpkin is now pushing with both feet rather than just using one so it's much smoother.


A late night was had by all as we went to a SGS's 60th birthday Barn Dance and had a great evening. Bean didn't join in any of the dances but took masses of photos and Pumpkin joined in every dance that we joined in. Plum enjoyed the music and was cuddled by many a guest. Bean and Plum both fell asleep on the ride home (only across town) but Pumpkin was still awake. At 11.45 I had to give in and go to bed, I think this showed him just how late it was and daddy put him to bed a few minutes later. 

Home Ed @home ii

Friday 27th July

Today's big adventure was making pink milk Bean style. He came up with a recipe and we tried it out. Strawberries, milk, sugar. Blend. Fortunately it tasted good and was cool on yet another hot hot day. Another at home day, works well with the current weather as the boys can use the garden too.

Splashy Sploshy!

Wednesday 25th July

Pumpkin insisted that we went to Warnham Nature Reserve this morning. It wasn't a bad suggestion, for a hot hot day we would be walking in the shade of the trees, so off we journeyed. Unfortunately, once we got there he had a bit of a melt down and we managed only to walk around the meadow, and this took us longer than normal. We stood in one place for nearly 10 minutes waiting for Pumpkin tto regain composure. On the upside this gave the wildlife the opportunity to emerge in our presence and we saw loads of bees and dragonflies and butterflies and spiders. We stopped at the pond too and saw a Willow Tit, which we looked up when we got home. We also spotted a newt which excited Bean as he was desperate to show me one having spotted one with Pops on his last visit.


The rest of the day was spent playing in the paddling pool and running around naked. They came in during the heat of the day and sat in our living room (the coolest room in the house) and watched iplayer.

Don't build your house on the sandy land

Tuesday 24th July


A day at West Witterings with fellow home educators. The journey there took twice as long as usual due to it being the first sunny day of the school summer holidays and sunny weather is not guarenteed to continue. Plum woke up on the way there and wanted feeding, with no where to pull over and the friend we had given a lift unable to drive we were stuck with a screaming baby in the hour long cue to the car park.


It was a wonderful day once we arrived, sandy sandwiches, ice -cream, building sandcastles and an entire house arrangement with friends, several trips to the sea where we learned to bodyboard. 


Officially today was learn nothing day ...we failed miserably.