Seeking Out Autumn

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Several months ago I read an activity post from Multiple Mummy that involved a nature trail in her back garden (her son had chickenpox so they were quarantined). Ever since, I've wanted to do this with The Boy but it's taken time to get prepared. First of all, I had to find some self-adhesive pads which having scoured local shops for, I ended up finding them in a cheap shop on holiday in Dorset! Now things are more comfortable with potty-training, I felt happy to have a go.

With the increasing bite in the air and the occasional, but gentle, rainbursts, it was time to pop on our wellies and waterproofs and go nature-treasure hunting in a local park. Ideally to do this activity you need horse chestnut and sycamore trees, pine trees and possibly an oak. There is a park on the way down to the beach that is perfect for this with the abundance of trees lining the periphery of the park.

The Boy already knew what a conker was because I'd shown him a few days beforehand, trying to get him to find other treasures proved interestins; he's only two, he's never seen these things before. We wondered around the more woodland area of the beautiful Victoria park, straying off paths, climbing up banks and sliding down muddy paths and found a whole heap of nature's wonders. The Boy kept stopping and listening during the still moments between the roars from the cars on the road alongside the park. In those snapshots of serenity he heard the raindrops falling through the layers of the canopies, blackbirds calling, squirrels scampering up the treetrunks, and his absolute favourite was the chorus of the crickets in the long grass. He stood and listened for over ten minutes.

In this emeral and khaki wonderland, under our rubber-encased feet and amongst the fallen detritus, we found pine cones, acorns, beech tree seeds, red leaves, orange leaves, multi-coloured leaves and conkers in their cases and out. Is their any greater joy than opening up a conker case and being the first person in the entire world to see that feat of nature?

Children can only learn what they experience!

(Come back tomorrow to find out what we found in our nature trail)

The Wonders of Revolting Rhymes

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There are an awful lot of, quite frankly, horrendous nursery rhymes out there.

Jack fell down and broke his crown. I don't understand why anyone would build a well at the top of a hill to start with but there you go. And then to top it all off, Jill suffers the same fate. Humpty was smashed to pieces and irreparable. Lovely, scrambled eggs; especially after all the King's horses and men had stomped in it. Down will come baby, cradle and all. Nice, why the hell were they rocking their baby in a tree in the first place? We all dip our heads in the deep, blue sea. Yep, they're drowning. Think Titanic but without the sapphire necklace. As if those Three blind mice didn't have enough to contend with by being visually impaired, the farmer's wife then disabled them further. And I'd hate to be that weasel standing in the queue in the shop when people start asking for half a pound of tuppenny rice.

Then there are the nursery rhymes where quite frankly the children do not set a good example to my son.

I would rather my child use cutlery to eat his Christmas pie than follow the example of Little Jack Horner. Georgie Porgie was a cowardly flirt and bully who knew when to scarper. Little Johnny Flynn needs a good slap as well as reporting to the RSPCA for trying to drown cats. And I do not want The Boy growing up with arachnaphobia like his parents, so Little Miss Muffet needs to get a grip pretty damn quickly if she wants to reside in this house.

However.

If those blooming blackbirds do not find somewhere else, other than outside my bedroom, to welcome in the new day with their sensationally loud chorus at 4am every morning, then I will be baking up my own dainty dish to set before the king!

April

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In order to show a retrospective look at the past month, Tara has set us this challenge:

This week's theme is: April.
Can you capture this month in a photograph? Be it bunting, street parties, holidays, hot weather or none of the above.

Now, there I was busy assembling a nice little montage of the best photos of April when I thought I'd double-check the brief. Ah, a photograph. That tends to mean one doesn't it? Right start again and check the many snaps that I've taken.

This epitomises the past month. We've had amazing fun playing in the garden in the most beautiful weather, and The Boy has learnt a whole range of new skills learning through his play. We've planted seeds, watered the seeds, got "soaky wet" whilst playing with the hose. It's been so enjoyable and I can't wait for the rest of the summer, and to see The Boy exploring and learning about the world around him.

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Now pop over to The Gallery and look at the other entries into this week's Gallery.

May Day

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Swimming yesterday seems to have completely wiped us out and today was a little of a non-starter.

We did however decided to 'pop' down to Margam Park to see what they had to offer for a family day out (even though it was only an hour or so). It was a pleasant walk around the grounds and we checked out the Fairytale Land area that they have, but it was a little lacking in entertainment for a toddler and probably somewhere that we won't be going to regularly. However, I did take some nice photos which I thought I'd share.

Green

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Tara has been kinder this week than she has been for the past few themes she's set us.

The theme is: Green.
The UK has been quite simply stunning this month. The sun has shone, the fauna is flourishing and it looks and feels like summer. Everywhere is so lush and lovely and, well, green! So go find me green. Of course it absolutely doesn't have to be the outdoors; anything, as long as it's green.

Having been criticised by my own husband for having such a wordy entry a few weeks ago, I shall let the photo speak for itself this week.


Fun on the Farm

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This is a short post and not at all witty, but we popped along to a lovely place today that I wanted to blog about so that I can remember it to use in the future.

I'm not sure if the Primary Times is a national free magazine, but it's something that we have in our area that is full of a calendar of family events, places to go, offers and shops that are suitable for primary age children, or younger. It's given out in primary schools once a term or so, and I always nab a copy because it's full of ideas for family days out and often contains coupons.

One of the places that I've seen mentioned for a while is Warren Mill Farm, near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. It's not too far from us and we wanted to do something today but only had about an hour or so before we had to be back home. The farm is quite small, nestled down in a little valley and situated alongside a fishing lake. It wasn't packed but there were a number of families that had obviously been there for most of the day, and I can see how that is easy to do. There wasn't a huge range of animals there, it's not a massive local attraction, but I was keen for The Boy to see farm animals as we had been playing with a little set that I'd bought in the nearly new sale a few weeks back.

We had a pleasant hour or two wandering in amongst the free-roaming chickens (whose eggs could be bought on the way out the door), and The Boy was fascinated with the warrens that spread all over the farm. He kept wandering up to them, squatting down and trying to find the 'sqwrels' that lived in there. He was wrong, they weren't squirrels, but they weren't rabbits either. Look at the photos and see if you can work them out!

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