Evening sunshine #countrykids

We were lucky enough last weekend to house sit for some friends of ours who live a little bit out of the city into the country. It was a fun filled couple of days. They have a small army of baby chicks, chickens, guinea pigs and a seemingly absent cat (we think it was insulted by the dog and so took off for the weekend). The kids were in their element looking after the animals. I think they probably gave them a little bit too much care if you know what i mean 🙂

It was a beautiful evening and so we sat in the garden for our pizza supper while the dog drove himself mad staring at the guinea pigs!

The kids headed out onto the trampoline. We have a tramp in our garden but the sunshine never hits it the way it did out in the country. It was too gorgeous not to take some shots of and also really lovely to see my bigger kids just being kids and enjoying the outdoors.

Good for the soul.

Always.

 

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Five minutes of fun in the park! #countrykids

Our weekends are getting more and more jam packed with stuff. Two of our girls have ‘activities’ on the weekend and they are rather incoveniently on the same day but one in the morning and one the afternoon. It doesn’t give us a lot of opportunity for spontaneity on a saturday! I also often work Friday night so it is always a bit of a challenge to try and catch up on my missed sleep.

Any time we can take to get everyone together and out for a bit of family time we try to take. Its often hindered by the weather though and recently the weather has been a bit undecided. We go from blazing sunshine to winds and rain all in the space of a few hours. It is hard to plan to do anything. So recently we grabbed the opportunity, when we had about 40 minutes in between commitments, the sun came out and so we darted out to the park. Its a local one that we have been to so many times but it us usually quite quiet which we like. The kids got on with some hide and seek games, they played with the dog, ran around and did back flips!

One of those occasions when having a big bunch of kids pays off because they all play together and reasonably well! Miracles do happen.

The OH and i got to sit and soak up a bit of sunshine for a few minutes before resuming the craziness of the day.

Doesn’t happen very often eh..

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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A budget birthday #countrykids

My birthday this year was a low key one. We didnt want to spend loads and we just didnt have the time with work and the kids after school commitments to do much. On the morning of my birthday it made me laugh when my son said to me ‘why is it that when you are a grown up you get loads less presents!’ 🙂

It is hard trying to decide what to do and to find the time to do it. Having a rare weekend off we decided to head over to one of the beaches on the Wirral. It was fairly late on in the day, a day which had been really quite hot, so we thought there might be a lot of people still around but the beach was pretty much empty save for the occasional dog walker. Our idea was to find a chippy, get a couple of bags of chips and then head to the beach. We got some steaming hot chips not too far from the beach and then when we got there set up shop with all our bit and pieces.

It always amazes me how kids react to being on a beach. On the way to the beach they were all begging for us to open the chips in the car so they could have a sneaky one. But when we got to the beach, that was forgotten and all of them headed off to explore and play. Digging, making castles, running (running on a beach is SO good!) and messing around in the little pools the sea had left behind. It took us telling them that the chips would get cold for them to head back and sit down. Was always going to be hard keeping the sand out of the chips, especially as they didnt sit and eat, they grazed, hoping back for the odd chip and then off to play again. Spraying the fine sand over everything. I ate mine up fairly quick. Im not such a big fan of sandy food!

After tea, we had a game of French Cricket and rounders. The older kids really got into it and we had a few guest players in the form of our two youngest who were mostly far too busy making a huge shell collection. It was fun. A moment of enjoying family time without worrying about anything else. Pretty perfect to me.

🙂

We packed up and headed home trying to not think about all the sand that was seeping into the upholstery in the car! The kids had a shower then finished off with a bowl of cereal before it was nearly time for bed.

It may not have been the most elaborate birthday ever but i loved it. xx

 

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Wild Flowers #wildflowers #springflowers #ukspring

There is a park very near our house that has these wild flowers growing every year. Its a large park mostly used by dog walkers, runners and an athletics club that backs onto the grounds and the flowers are high up near the road and away from where you might normally walk. I have seen them many times as i must drive past this park at least 8 times a week taking the kids to and from different activities. I always think that i must stop and take a moment to take them in but never do and i know that before too long their short season will have gone and there will be nothing left but the summer grasses. Driving past i always find myself thinking that i dont have time, or ill do it another time. The week before my half marathon I went for a long run which routed me back past this park. I was near home and time was looking good and i noticed the flowers again. I could have kept going and clocked a good fast time for my last long run. But i didn’t. I chose to go into the park and walk up to the flowers and sit for a while and take some pics with my phone. I love wild flowers, they remind me a lot of where i grew up where i spent hours and hours playing in fields that we were free to roam in. Makes me sad really that my own kids dont have that sort of freedom.

The fields were always full of these sort of blooms. They have that lovely free feeling about them. Not hindered to grow in manicured beds but just where the wind has blown them. They smell pretty good to. 🙂

One of those days when you make a decision that blesses your soul a lot more than you think.

 

 

 

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Go Ape in Grizedale Forest #countrykids #goape #grizedale

During the easter break, which seems like a while ago now, we got offered an opportunity to go and try out the brand new high ropes Tree tops Junior at GoApe in the beautiful Grizedale Forest in the stunning Lake District. We were really keen to have a go as my son has been asking so many times to try out GoApe and up until now he was below the height and age limit for the adult courses. The extra bonus here was that all the little ones could go on as well. If they were under 6 they had to be accompanied by an adult and my OH was pretty keen to volunteer! 🙂

They all got kitted out with their harnesses and had a pretty in depth demo on how to do it all. One great thing that we noticed, which put our worrying minds as rest, was that they were always attached to the safety line. I have been to some high ropes courses where the kids have to clip on and clip off at each different activity in the trees. Which if you are a 5 year old might be something you forget to do! I thought that was such a well thought through addition, especially for the little ones so that they can be included safely.

There are two levels of course and they kids have about 90 minutes to have a go at as much or as little as they want. Our bigger kids went for  both levels and our youngest adventurer went for just the first level with her Daddy. The kids had a great time and at no time did i have any concern for their safety.

After we handed the harnesses back and picked up the kids certificates for completing the course we headed out for a little walk around the stunning Grizedale Forest and its tribute to the Gruffalo. With wind up trees that played songs and little clues and tips on nature and what is in the Forest.

I really love the Lake District. It is a place we have lived relatively close for such a long time and not visited nearly enough! It is a true gem of a place. We really love it there.

 

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