Parks, Books and Getting Creative

I can't believe we are already half way through the Summer holidays, it has literally flown by so far and luckily we have been blessed with good weather for the majority of it. We have filled our days with so many activities and I wanted to share with you some of what we've been up to, perhaps give you some ideas of free things to do including park trips, reading lots of books and getting creative on those rainy days.


One of the things we've been doing a lot of is going to the park. This doesn't cost a penny and we're are very lucky to have quite a few parks local to us so we can go to a different one each time. Our favourite has to be Connaught park as it is only 5 minutes up the road from us and there is plenty of space to wonder around as well as an enclosed park to play in.

We're Going On A Flower Hunt

If you haven't seen by now, I am lucky enough to be an ambassador for Ben and Holly and this Summer they have set up the Little Explorer challenges for everyone to get involved in, each week with a new theme. Last week was all about flowers. So whilst the sun was shining on Friday we decided to go on a flower hunt at our local park.

Sea, Sun and Wind

When the sun comes out to play the first place that always springs to mind to go to is the beach. It is days like this that I'm reminded how lucky we are to live by sea.

I was excited at the idea of fresh air and sunshine whilst the girls were happy about the prospect of ice cream, either way it was going to be a good day for all.

This was actually the first time that I'd taken all four kids out by myself without putting Layla in a pushchair. So with sunglasses and Goldbug reins at the ready we set out to walk down the seafront.

It didn't take as long as I thought to make it down there, although I did end up carrying little legs for part of the distance.

However once down there the wind took over from where the sun began, it was shall we say a tad blustery, this didn't deter us though.

You can see from the smiles below.

Only One of Me and Four of Them

I love getting my girls out in the fresh air and their favourite place to go is the park, doesn't matter what park but that is always their first response when asked what they want to do with the day. I admit to struggling sometimes though, with there being only one of them and four of me, I don't like the thought of not being able to see them all and the trouble with a lot of parks is that things are so spread out that I can't be everywhere all at the same time.

It is funny how time makes you forget things though. My mum happened to point out to me recently that there is a park near where she lives, I should know, I did live with her for quite a while ;)

This park has recently had a makeover with all new swings, slides etc so we decided to go round there with nannie last weekend.

It has now become my favourite park. Not too big, something for all the kids to do and most importantly it is a big open space surrounded by fences, I can see what all of the girls are doing from wherever I'm standing which left them free to go and play on whatever they wanted.

I See Blue Skies

It feels like such a long time since I have been able to get outside of the house with the girls without getting drenched by pouring rain or blown away by the strong winds which keep coming back. Finally when looking out of the window yesterday, I happened to see blue skies all around, something that we just had to take advantage of!!

We decided to take a walk up to our local park and take the time to explore a little.

Fresh Air

Well we reached the month of November and boy has it got cold. I've been seriously thinking about hibernating!!

However I've been told by a few people that fresh air is good for you so I thought I best dust of my hat and gloves and get back outside. The tough part was convincing Layla that she needed to keep her hat and mittens on too.

So whilst the girls were at school and playschool my youngest daughter and I managed to enjoy some one on one time and do a little bit of exploring.

On our travels we stumbled across some ducks

Naughty mummy didn't have any bread to feed to the ducks though so we left them an IOU instead.

On the way back Layla was let loose.

 FREEDOM!!!!

She was not a fan of holding my hand and of course she made a bee line for the nice big pile of crunchy leaves in front of her. The fun only had to stop when she decided the leaves my taste nice!! 

xxxx

The ponies, the horse and a donkey

Yesterday Gracie, Layla and I went out with Auntie Lucy to go and see Great Nannie Russ on her birthday. A few family members were meeting up at Farthingloe Farm Restaurant for a bite to eat.

Gracie and Layla had already eating but still managed to find room for cake, which in turn gave them lots of energy to burn.

We decided to pop outside and say hello to the shetland ponies. As you can see from the picture below they were quite friendly. Layla kept saying "Hi ya" to them, unfortunately she got no response.

We then spotted another pony and a horse just up the hill, Gracie insisted we go and say hello to them too. She was more than a little surprised when got to the top of the hill that not only was there a pony and a horse but a donkey too, heehaw :)

xxxx

Wellie Season

Autumn has arrived, ok I know the weather has been seasonably warm but the leaves have definitely started falling, I've found a fair few in my doorway!!

With that in mind I thought it was time to invest in a new pair of wellies for my youngest two. Gracie was in need of a new pair because her feet decided to have a growth spurt and of course she had to have a pretty pink pair and what could be better than a pink pair of Hunter wellies.

And here she is doing her best modelling pose.

I know Layla won't be doing too much walking about, seen as she will be tucked up nicely in her purple pushchair but I just couldn't resist the matching hat and wellies from Peacocks.

So now we are all set for stepping outdoors during the colder months. Kids are now ready for jumping in muddy puddles and waltzing through big piles of crunchy leaves. 

Are your kids prepared for the colder weather yet?? 

xxxx