Walking on Sunshine

Back to reality...

Today we are still in recovery mode from our holidays and took a short trip to Southwater Country Park, what a fabulous idea. We spent a happy 4 hours there, paddling in the lake, eating lunch, checking out the play area, walking the circuit and eating ice-cream.

The best part was watching Bean's growing confidence in everything. He paddled in up to his thighs with no hesitation and stripped down naked to dry off in between dips (something he never would have done 2 months ago) and giving the death slide a go even if it was only after Pumpkin had tested it out first! 

We counted the boys pennies this morning and worked out that they had enough for one small ice-cream between them, I gave them the money for a second one.

Plum didn't sleep until 2.30pm! and then only had an hour so has gone to bed happily at 7 this evening with Bean shortly after. Pumpkin is staying up and doing a bit more of his knitted scarf for Mandavil and watching my favourite baking programme with me.

Story Lab

Monday 13th August

A reading kind of day, in which we made a cosy nook and grabbed a book at the Family Centre and visited the library. Reading is never far from us day to day but some days there seems to be a whole lot more of it than other days. Today we read and read and read some more.

We spent some time this morning at a craft session. It was very well done and Bean even put his hands in multiple amounts of clay. He also painted two pictures of camp, one by day and the other by night. Pumpkin painted 'nighting time' which is a black piece of A4 paper.

The last week or so the boys have become very energetic (read: hyper) around late afternoon and pre-sleep. Finding it difficult to manage and am in search of ideas or council. Suggestions welcome.

In whom I will trust

Sunday August 12th

Psalm 18: 1-2

We live in a modern age of deliveries. It must happen more than I notice! Bean and Pumpkin set up a delivery service this morning. It began quite simply delivering an object to mummy or daddy and then driving off, one giving instructions and the other stating where they were going. It progressed to include a cardboard handheld machine which I had to sign and Bean asking where I would like him to put the parcel! 

We took the dog out for a walk in the woods this afternoon. Rode our bikes, climbed a few tree stumps and mud hills, fell off our bikes, got our bikes stuck in the mud.
The walk ends at a play area where we played cafes for about 15 minutes. Bean rode the zip wire and Pumpkin braved the wobbly bridge.

Plum enjoying being on her tummy (new found fun)

The completed Darth Vader mask with light saber. I invested in a craft knife earlier this week as some of the cardboard we try to cut with scissors is just plain impossible. The craft knife got its second outing today. Bean really has little idea of the Stars Wars movies and seems to be picking up bits of information about it from cousin J and copying other children's play based around it or involving the characters. I wonder what he'll think of it when he finally sees it?

And, of course, we went to church this morning, where I talked endlessly about Criccieth Adventure Camp and showed a bundle of pictures. Only 7 days to go before we go camping to the best Wet Welsh Field there is :)

Little Jack Horner

Saturday August 11th

Our second weekend in a row with nothing planned. I only mention it because it is such a rare thing...for it to happen two weeks in a row is miraculous. 

Daddy went out for a ride on the bikes with both boys, then had to ring me to come and collect Pumpkin. After getting up at a record breaking 5.30am he had worn himself out and was not prepared to ride home. He dutifully fell asleep on the sofa for an hour after lunch.

Pumpkin spotted some plums in the fruit bowl the other day and declared he wanted to make a plum tart so today we got to it! We made sweet pastry and then rolled it out and filled it with plums and an apple and some sugar, glazed it and baked it. Hey Presto!

I also had a go at making a new recipe for cereal bars (not quite as successful) but it meant that I had two egg whites to use and Bean had been asking how to make meringues so just before he went to bed we whisked them up, added the required sugar and popped them in the oven for the night. 

Turn off that TV set

Thursday 9th August

After a chocolate and apple pancake breakfast we headed of on a 45 minute bike ride to visit friends. I'm really enjoying the new freedom that having both boys on bikes in bringing as this would normally have been a car journey away. We played in their garden and cooled down in the front room mostly playing with electronic noisy toys! Shared lunch together and journeyed home.

This is what our afternoons predominantly look like especially on hot days, days when we got up early and every other day in between! Lazing around on the sofa, watching iplayer. Sometimes Pumpkin will nap on the sofa too. They enjoy watching cbeebies - Abney and Teal, Everything's Rosie, Postman Pat, Small Potatoes, Charlie and Lola, Timmy Time and I'm sure a few more that I've forgotten. More and more so we are seeing things that they have read or watched appear in their games.

The train track came out today which is the first time in over a week (very unusual)

Pumpkin has had these toys for several days set up on the picnic table and has his own little game which he dips in and out of throughout the day.

Bean requested lots of help today putting together definite ideas that he had. This included tying a tea towel to a pole to make a sail and digging out an old pair of goggles from the back of the cupboard so that he could play motorbikes.

Living in a cardboard box

Friday August 10th

Pumpkin spent about half an hour curled up in this large box this morning, not doing anything else, just in the box with the lid shut.

Our puppet craftyness continued with the theatre boxes coming out again, this time for some exterior decoration.

Plum chilled out in a summer dress.

Bean and Pumpkin devised yet another complicated game consisting mainly of different ways of winning a medal.

That's the way to do it!

Wednesday 8th August

Inspired by our recent puppet making interest I took the children to Worthing Museum to see their Punch and Judy exhibition. I was not disappointed  by their enthusiasm! They loved looking at the different collections of Punch and Judy puppets and Bean asked me to read to him the information about the development of Punch and the different Punch's in different countries. The boys both had a turn at giving a puppet show although Pumpkin seemed a little scared when it was his turn to be the audience.

Doris and Marg

Warrior

We took a look around the rest of the museum. Pumpkin was fascinated by the bones of a saxon women and the articles she was buried with. Bean wanted to know where her skin was. It turned into quite the conversation about death and dying and decay, a conversation I know some people avoid with their children but we're taking the approach that death is part of life and if we can talk about it now in the abstract then this will help when it becomes a more personal experience and it happens to someone closer to home (than a Saxon woman!) Of course, talking about the process doesn't address the emotion of it.

The boys were very taken with the sculptures made from parts especially as they could identify some of the metal objects.

Our outing was topped and tailed with incorporating the sleeping bags into the 'daddy and brother' game and then being cowboys sleeping in the wilds. More sticking adventures have been had by Bean and several braclets made for each family member.