Country kids – Page 8

Sarah May 31, 2013

France en Scouse. #Countrykids #Springcarnival

We have a beautiful beach about an hour from where we live and this week on half term we have had a *few* days of lovely sunny weather. But not too many. So we made the most of it. It is a really beautiful area and we walked to the beach through the woods which so reminded us of our holidays in France. Those lovely tall trees with dappled sunshine and sandy under foot. Made us hanker after a cheeky bottle of red, a freshly baked baguette and some smelly cheese.

There was a little bit of posing by a certain little girl who had just got herself some new gigs 🙂 I think these are the best yet!

Formby is the home to the endangered red squirrels, you can walk along a lovely boardwalk area and try to see some of them. We usually do get to see some of them, they are quite friendly although obviously you are encouraged not to feed them!! The beach is owned by the national trust so there are plenty of signposted areas with little bits of information about the squirrels and why they are endangered. We had a lovely walk through that part of the forest. Including finding the most bizarre looking tree stump that looks like it just came straight out of the water in a scene from Captain Hook!

We walked to the beach which is wide and sandy for the kids to have a play, inevitably we had a toddler faceplant in one of the pools of seawater but she was pretty game about it!.

Wet kids meant home time eventually, once we had climbed the dunes out of the beach and a stop off for some tea on the way home.

All in all pretty good!

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Sarah May 24, 2013

The red rock walk #countrykids #springcarnival

last weekend we went off with some friends to find the red rock on Thurstaton common. It is always nice being being with another group, the kids keep each other entertained and they forget that they are actually walking! Also big bonus for us is that there are a couple of older girls who like to play big sister to our little ones, when sometimes their own sisters are not really that interested in watching out for them. There had been some concerns over whether the weather would be okay but we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine. Pretty good for a walk in the woods.

Putting the world to rights..or probably trying to talk her out of stripping off because she has got dirty knees

when we got to the rock it was time for a little challenge for the kids. One of the adults in the group had gone ahead and tied lots of small bits of wool to the trees and the kids had to go and find them. Bringing them back to the rock where the adults were waiting and gaining prizes for their team. It was a great way of wearing them out too!

searching for treasure

then it was time to have a brew. First proper outing for the Kelly Kettle

then a spot of climbing on the huge rock…always hard to get a flattering angle when you are down below!! 😉

Part child, part mountain goat!

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Sarah May 17, 2013

Cook on a campfire #countrykids #50things #nationaltrust #springcarnival

Its not every day you just have to step outside your back door to do some outdoor fun right outside your back door. My OH was really keen to try out his new outdoor toy and so before bed the kids de-camped in their jammies and dressing gowns to see the new ‘Kelly Kettle’ in action.

The Kelly Kettle is a system whereby you can boil water in a safe and easy to use system which basically has a little fire in a bowl underneath and actually heats the water, it works pretty quickly once the fire gets going and it can also be used on a conventional stove.

It was a little bit of playing with fire thrown in, which lets face it all kids love, they all had a go at the fire-starter thing which they all think is a great little thing to play with!!…

But the most important part all together was the hot chocolate that was promised a the end.

It was all over and done with in about 20 minutes and then it was time to head inside and tuck the kids in the beds but they had that lovely smell about them as we were saying goodnight of woodsmoke. Which just gives you such a feeling of the outdoors it was really lovely. They felt like they had, had a mini adventure in the outdoors and they smelt like it too!

setting up the hot chocolate tray – a very important job!

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Sarah May 10, 2013

50 things. Number 46. #Countrykids #springcarnival

Flicking through the 50 things booklet from the National Trust, it was good to realise how much the kids have done already. I really love the idea of working through the booklet. The kids are really enthusiastic about it to which is all good. So far we are planning to get into some of the outdoors and have a go at some of the other numbers that we are missing out on.

I think last week my OH may have been cheating a bit when he lit a fire in an old wheel rim in our yard. Not sure that qualifies as cooking on a campfire. If you are interested in the 50things check out the website and also hop over to the boy and me who is running a linky on that very subject.

So this week i thought i would reflect on something that is one of the 50 things that the kids have done many times, largely because of my OH and his background in climbing. The kids are encouraged to climb safely, taking care about hand holds, being aware of how high they are if they are bouldering, going to climbing walls and becoming familiar with be-laying and trusting your partner.

They have climbed on walls, boulders, trees and of course all the other random things that children like to climb.

I think its great for teaching them how to trust their own abilities and also each other! All pretty good lessons i think. It sometimes gives me grey hair and our youngest has without doubt got the climbing gene that is FOR SURE. We were finding her on top of bunk beds when she was only just over a year old!!

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Sarah May 3, 2013

Skimming Stones #Countrykids #SpringCarnival.

Working through the national trust 50 things list which has enthused the kids and us with more of a desire to get outside. Also the OH has been reading this book by Rob Cowen and i think that has really given him a spur on to do more of the stuff that he has always wanted to do. He is planning a den overnight stay in the forest and already has spent his birthday money on a Kelly Kettle so that cooking and a fire when out and about are sorted.

So with that in mind we had a little impromtu lesson in skimming stones, which is mentioned in both the 50 things and the book. Always good when you have LOTS of pebbles to choose from!