We got back from a week at Center Parcs on Friday with my sister and her husband! It is a bit like a holiday in a bubble - we were on sight the whole time, but it is just fabulous! All of us really enjoyed ourselves :) One of the first things we saw on our arrival was a bunny hopping around in the forest behind the chalet :) And the the next morning we opened the back door, watching a little red squirrel in the surrounding trees, and he came in! We couldn't believe how tame he was!
It rained all week (we were literally just up the road from all the major floods), and the air felt so fresh whenever we were walking through the forest to and from the chalet :) We spent most of the time swimming so we were wet through regardless!! There was a good little covered area by the lake where we stood on the decking, sheltered from the pouring rain, and fed the hungry ducks who I think had been relatively starved due to people generally shuffling past at a quick pace under their umbrellas, not slowing to give them the attention they're probably used to!
We met some real reindeer down by Santa's Grotto on Wednesday, though they were upstaged by the ponies as far as Isaiah was concerned, and he got to have a ride on one :) We didn't indulge in the grotto but Isaiah did fluke a sneaky peak through the back entrance where he caught a glimpse of Mrs Claus and one of the elves!.. On being asked which pony he wanted to go on he, as easily the smallest rider, picked by far the biggest pony; apparently its size would qualify it as a horse! - he doesn't do things by halves! He hung around watching the ponies standing in the rain for ages after dismounting - he found them fascinating; the staff were running out of things to say to us! He also spent an extended period of time getting a close up look at the shire horses and their big hooves and horse shoes while they were resting between carriage rides.
There was also an excellent adventure playground made up of various wooden walkways, rope bridges and the like, plus a zip wire and swings. We all had loads of fun there too, in our wellies! It must have seemed huge from Isaiah's level; he loved exploring it! I took Jeremy on the zip wire in the sling! He didn't complain though I'm not sure he knew what was going on as his Uncle David pointed out his little hat had slipped over his eyes after I got off!
You have to pay extra for a lot of the stuff at Center Parcs but as you can see we have the most fun doing the free stuff! We never got round to using the log burning fire though becuase the heating was too efficient..maybe next time!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Hale Beach, Sudley House..
Oh dear, I need to try and keep up with this blogging thing, or at least remember I have one!! Time runs away from me and it would seem weeks have now passed since my last post! There has been a trip to Cornwall in that time though so I shall cut myself some slack..
Anyway, I digress..
Isaiah and I went for a walk down the country lane, looking at the farmers fields on either side, to Hale Beach recently. I followed his lead and therefore didn't get to the waters edge but spent all our time at the beach exploring round the rocks which are beautifully smooth and weathered by the water, if that's possible..! He had fun with an old rusty barrel which he climbed on top of and pretended was a drum. He also discovered what a kissing gate is and used it repeatedly thereafter! Jeremy slept in the sling and enjoyed the fresh air on his face and new things to look at when he woke up :) The 10 minute walk back took about an hour because we were going at snails pace until a passer by used the phrase 'a hop, skip and jump and you'll be there!', which was a godsend because I was secretly starting to lose the will to live and this sprang Isaiah into enthusiasm so we hop, skipped and jumped the rest of the way, from stone to stone, puddle to puddle, etc!
This week we visited Sudley House for the first time and ended up spending the entire day there - we arrived before they had opened and left as they were locking up! It is one of the Liverpool museums so free entry and is really closeby so I don't know how we've managed not to really know about it fully til now!
The gardens have some fabulous low trees in them ideal for small people to have a go at climbing, and there's a lovely veranda at the back of the house overlooking the gardens (now Sudley Park playing field) and River Mersey to Birkenhead. We had a picnic lunch on the veranda and a clamber on the wall and stones. I wouldn't massively recommend he cafe, though isaiah found it very exiting and as we walked up the hallway away from it he stopped a passer by in her tracks, saying "Do you know what's down there? ..A CAFE!!!!!!!"
The inside of the house was great too; really child-friendly and the staff were exceptionally friendly as well! Isaiah pulled up a chair to stand on to get a really good look at a model ship in the library room, and he studied it for ages, twice (after going round once we went round again)! He also had a good look at some of the artwork on the walls, especially the piece of Jesus as a young boy. All three of us had an extended play/reading time in the childrens rooms which exhibit genuine childrens toys from the day as well as modern ones to play with. Jeremy, of course, sat on the mat and mainly just slobbered on the toys, but he was loving getting his hands on them all :)
Anyway, I digress..
Isaiah and I went for a walk down the country lane, looking at the farmers fields on either side, to Hale Beach recently. I followed his lead and therefore didn't get to the waters edge but spent all our time at the beach exploring round the rocks which are beautifully smooth and weathered by the water, if that's possible..! He had fun with an old rusty barrel which he climbed on top of and pretended was a drum. He also discovered what a kissing gate is and used it repeatedly thereafter! Jeremy slept in the sling and enjoyed the fresh air on his face and new things to look at when he woke up :) The 10 minute walk back took about an hour because we were going at snails pace until a passer by used the phrase 'a hop, skip and jump and you'll be there!', which was a godsend because I was secretly starting to lose the will to live and this sprang Isaiah into enthusiasm so we hop, skipped and jumped the rest of the way, from stone to stone, puddle to puddle, etc!
This week we visited Sudley House for the first time and ended up spending the entire day there - we arrived before they had opened and left as they were locking up! It is one of the Liverpool museums so free entry and is really closeby so I don't know how we've managed not to really know about it fully til now!
The gardens have some fabulous low trees in them ideal for small people to have a go at climbing, and there's a lovely veranda at the back of the house overlooking the gardens (now Sudley Park playing field) and River Mersey to Birkenhead. We had a picnic lunch on the veranda and a clamber on the wall and stones. I wouldn't massively recommend he cafe, though isaiah found it very exiting and as we walked up the hallway away from it he stopped a passer by in her tracks, saying "Do you know what's down there? ..A CAFE!!!!!!!"
The inside of the house was great too; really child-friendly and the staff were exceptionally friendly as well! Isaiah pulled up a chair to stand on to get a really good look at a model ship in the library room, and he studied it for ages, twice (after going round once we went round again)! He also had a good look at some of the artwork on the walls, especially the piece of Jesus as a young boy. All three of us had an extended play/reading time in the childrens rooms which exhibit genuine childrens toys from the day as well as modern ones to play with. Jeremy, of course, sat on the mat and mainly just slobbered on the toys, but he was loving getting his hands on them all :)
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Garston Adventure Playground
We made our first visit to 'GAP' this week after a number of attempts over the last few months, all of which failed due to napping.. Anyway, that seems to be becoming a thing of the past for Isaiah and so we are not usually bound by related time constraints at the moment as Jeremy will sleep anywhere at this stage :)
The visit was arranged by the Merseyside home educators network and all credit to them for this fabulous find! We hire the whole place so get it all to ourselves. I never knew it was there, tucked away between the railway line and Garston library. There's also an indoor area with hockey hall and softplay but we didn't venture in there as we prefer the outdoors whenever possible, plus it was a lovely day that we wanted to make the most of with it being October!
We made a grand entrance down the steep slide, which is set into the earth down the hill into the lower area of the two-level playground where there are various wooden climbing apparatas and a crocodile made from a painted fallen tree! There's also a tunnel cut into a natural earth mound.. So, generally a fun space to explore :) Isaiah enjoyed himself on the hammock and playing in the outdoor sandpit, and we went home with the inevtably acquired stick :)
We also had a lovley time back at Greenbank Park this week, among other things. Isaiah and his little friend had a good run around the walled garden, looking for fish in the pond and posting pebbels in the postbox (I'm not sure if I should allow that but I don't really see the harm!?!)..
The visit was arranged by the Merseyside home educators network and all credit to them for this fabulous find! We hire the whole place so get it all to ourselves. I never knew it was there, tucked away between the railway line and Garston library. There's also an indoor area with hockey hall and softplay but we didn't venture in there as we prefer the outdoors whenever possible, plus it was a lovely day that we wanted to make the most of with it being October!
We made a grand entrance down the steep slide, which is set into the earth down the hill into the lower area of the two-level playground where there are various wooden climbing apparatas and a crocodile made from a painted fallen tree! There's also a tunnel cut into a natural earth mound.. So, generally a fun space to explore :) Isaiah enjoyed himself on the hammock and playing in the outdoor sandpit, and we went home with the inevtably acquired stick :)
We also had a lovley time back at Greenbank Park this week, among other things. Isaiah and his little friend had a good run around the walled garden, looking for fish in the pond and posting pebbels in the postbox (I'm not sure if I should allow that but I don't really see the harm!?!)..
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Speke Hall and Crosby Beach
We had a lovely day at the National Trust's Speke Hall yesterday with my parents. The weather was lovely so Isaiah played in the little adventure playground there for an extended period of time, twice, and rode his bike around the gardens inbetween :) He found a fallen apple and had a couple of bites but it was pretty bruised so the rest got shunned. There were loads of Yew trees and my dad informed me their berries are poisonous. I recognised them as the ones mentioned in a previous post that Isaiah and Davey tried to eat, so it's a good job we stopped them!
Isaiah went exploring off the beaten track with Grandpa, in the trees and bushes, and we spotted a member of staff in Tudor costume, who was amusing to see wandering around the grounds - adorning tights and a feather hat (among other things, needless to say)!
Crosby Beach was fun today. The babies didn't love it (we were with friends) - I spent my time sheltering Jeremy from the wind - but they ended up sleeping much of the time - I guess the sea air must have taken it out of them! The kids had a great time though! To my surprise they didn't venture toward the sea at all despite my carrying wellies and change of clothes etc, but they spent ages collecting wood and shells, playing with the sand and on the rocks. Isaiah upturned the two buckets our friends had brought and lay the plank of wood across them that he'd found, then proudly declared "We've made a bench!" They then proceeded to decorate it with the shells they'd collected. We had a picnic and later on the three of them disappeared over to the rocks and it transpired they were 'filling a hole with sand so that people wouldn't fall in it'! It turned out to be a pretty big hole; they were there for at least an hour!
We then made the treck back past the marina to the car and Isaiah slid his hand along the fence most of the way, stopping at an area of decking to listen to the water sloshing up against the rocks. He walked a considerable distance quite happily :) I'm glad we managed a trip to the beach before the weather gets too wintery, not that that will necessarily put us off but it may!
Isaiah went exploring off the beaten track with Grandpa, in the trees and bushes, and we spotted a member of staff in Tudor costume, who was amusing to see wandering around the grounds - adorning tights and a feather hat (among other things, needless to say)!
Crosby Beach was fun today. The babies didn't love it (we were with friends) - I spent my time sheltering Jeremy from the wind - but they ended up sleeping much of the time - I guess the sea air must have taken it out of them! The kids had a great time though! To my surprise they didn't venture toward the sea at all despite my carrying wellies and change of clothes etc, but they spent ages collecting wood and shells, playing with the sand and on the rocks. Isaiah upturned the two buckets our friends had brought and lay the plank of wood across them that he'd found, then proudly declared "We've made a bench!" They then proceeded to decorate it with the shells they'd collected. We had a picnic and later on the three of them disappeared over to the rocks and it transpired they were 'filling a hole with sand so that people wouldn't fall in it'! It turned out to be a pretty big hole; they were there for at least an hour!
We then made the treck back past the marina to the car and Isaiah slid his hand along the fence most of the way, stopping at an area of decking to listen to the water sloshing up against the rocks. He walked a considerable distance quite happily :) I'm glad we managed a trip to the beach before the weather gets too wintery, not that that will necessarily put us off but it may!
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Yew Tree Farm and horses in the park!
Our usual weekly pattern tends to include a trip to Yew Tree Farm shop on a Thursday, with more of an emphasis on lingering around the animals than on the actual shop :) When we first arrived this week, Isaiah had fun running up and down the mound of stones in the car park, being king of the castle and watching the ducks from up high while I fed Jeremy. He didn't find the sheep very interesting this time, and the hens were nowhere to be seen as has been the case for the last year or so (!), so he then ran round to the donkeys, with me in hot pursuit clutching Jeremy! We watched and interracted with the donkeys for a good 45 minutes; they were quite sociable with us and Jeremy was at just the right height for a good look at them, facing out in the sling - he was fixated!
Isaiah was a bit unsure when one of them cranked up a reel of really loud "EYORE"s, but was enjoying it by the end of the rendition! We observed the younger, darker one having some 'mummy milk', which came to a prompt close when the mum had obviously had enough of him there and bit him on the head! Then he lay down and rolled around on the ground and a little goat came bounding up bleeting hello to us :) The last couple of times we've been we've been able to go in the sheds and have a look at the baby turkeys growing for Christmas.. but they weren't there to see this week. When we first saw them and I explained to Isaiah why they were there he said, "but they probably don't want to be eaten".. I had to agree!
We've also been back to Calderstones again a couple of times since my last post. The most noteworthy discovery of these visits is definitely that there is a field of horses there that I never knew about! I'm really surprised it doesn't seem to be common knowledge! It is kind of tucked away but very accessible. We had a lovely hour or so sitting right up next to them just on the other side of the fence. There were two white horses just grazing, so peacefully. It felt really special sharing the space with them and just quietly watching them be, with noone else around. Isaiah wanted to climb through and join them but was thankfully content not to! We visited the stables afterwards too :)
Isaiah was a bit unsure when one of them cranked up a reel of really loud "EYORE"s, but was enjoying it by the end of the rendition! We observed the younger, darker one having some 'mummy milk', which came to a prompt close when the mum had obviously had enough of him there and bit him on the head! Then he lay down and rolled around on the ground and a little goat came bounding up bleeting hello to us :) The last couple of times we've been we've been able to go in the sheds and have a look at the baby turkeys growing for Christmas.. but they weren't there to see this week. When we first saw them and I explained to Isaiah why they were there he said, "but they probably don't want to be eaten".. I had to agree!
We've also been back to Calderstones again a couple of times since my last post. The most noteworthy discovery of these visits is definitely that there is a field of horses there that I never knew about! I'm really surprised it doesn't seem to be common knowledge! It is kind of tucked away but very accessible. We had a lovely hour or so sitting right up next to them just on the other side of the fence. There were two white horses just grazing, so peacefully. It felt really special sharing the space with them and just quietly watching them be, with noone else around. Isaiah wanted to climb through and join them but was thankfully content not to! We visited the stables afterwards too :)
Friday, 18 September 2009
Caldies and more
We've been out and about a fair bit lately, as per, but I don't always get time to write about it! We had fun at Long Lane playing fields yesterday, running to and spinning round goal posts, picking the last blackberries of the season, rolling on the grass and picnic-ing (sp?!) in the bushes :)
Today we were back at Calderstones for most of the day. We didn't get far due to stopping to investigate under trees, in big bushes and over logs :) We played hide and seek round a big fallen tree, kicked dry leaves at each other under a holly tree, and pretended the inside of a bush was our house; it had windows and everything (clearings in the leaves)! Isaiah said "Can we stay here all day mummy?", and we basically did :)
We also found some fabulous sticks amongst some other bushes, and proceeded to have a pretend sword fight :) We were even lucky enough to chase a very pretty black, white and orange butterfly, which kept landing right in front of us and let us walk right up to it :) We met a dog called Millie who we stroked and, in a very excited manner, Isaiah said "I've never met Millie the Dog before"!
There was a lovely evergreen covered in juicy-looking red berries, and upon closer inspection, Isaiah declared, "Me and Davey ate these!", which they did indeed attempt to - until Davey's dad and I intervened! That was about a month ago - I was impressed he remembered the exact berries!
The weather was gorgeous and I was really tired after having both of them up in the night a fair bit but when we get out into nature all our spirits lift!
Today we were back at Calderstones for most of the day. We didn't get far due to stopping to investigate under trees, in big bushes and over logs :) We played hide and seek round a big fallen tree, kicked dry leaves at each other under a holly tree, and pretended the inside of a bush was our house; it had windows and everything (clearings in the leaves)! Isaiah said "Can we stay here all day mummy?", and we basically did :)
We also found some fabulous sticks amongst some other bushes, and proceeded to have a pretend sword fight :) We were even lucky enough to chase a very pretty black, white and orange butterfly, which kept landing right in front of us and let us walk right up to it :) We met a dog called Millie who we stroked and, in a very excited manner, Isaiah said "I've never met Millie the Dog before"!
There was a lovely evergreen covered in juicy-looking red berries, and upon closer inspection, Isaiah declared, "Me and Davey ate these!", which they did indeed attempt to - until Davey's dad and I intervened! That was about a month ago - I was impressed he remembered the exact berries!
The weather was gorgeous and I was really tired after having both of them up in the night a fair bit but when we get out into nature all our spirits lift!
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Sheffield
We made a much aniticipated trip to my parents' today where, after a yummy bbq in their garden, we spent the afternoon at Forge Damn. They're right on the edge of the Peak District and this park joins a residential area with the countryside so is easily accessible but totally authentic without the man-made feel of some self-contained city parks. Isaiah had loads of fun running alongside the river, getting right up close to the waterfall, feeding the ducks, and exploring off the beaten track - playing in the woodland on bouncy fallen trees with Grandpa :) The air felt so fresh; I'd love to live somewhere like this, though it's apparently the third most expensive ward outside London!!
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