Days 349 – 355 of Project 365
349. MONSTER BINGO (… is the phrase that needs to be shouted out by the winner of the latest Orchard Toys game we're reviewing. I love the exuberance on his face here.)
350. Daddy Does Craft (This is not something which happens often in our house, in fact he groaned when I asked him to do this activity, "Homework; yes. Reading; yes. Craft; NO!" However, it was a super easy activity from Toucan Box with idiotproof, foolproof, comprehensive instructions.)
351. Intent (Watching his video message from Father Christmas via the Portable North Pole app, he was enchanted with the whole thing. Every time Father Christmas said his name, he nodded eagerly and smiled.)
352. Dear Miss… (Making his Christmas cards for his teachers, the effort was immense but he made a super job of it.)
353. Bedtime Reading (New pyjamas and books sent from Marks and Spencer for a bedtime reading project. I love seeing him in old-fashioned pyjamas, he looks so cute!)
354. Hungry (For a few months now we've visited our local nature reserve once a week to feed the swans, our confidence has grown as has their hunger. Yesterday they were starving, and with it a little bit nasty. For the first time, I felt nervous feeding them in the slipway area; one of them hissed at The Boy and flapped his wings, another pecked my hand. We walked up to the boardwalk as they can't manage it and it forces them into the water to have the bread; more controlled you see! Within thirty seconds of us being at the board walk, the 40+ swans had worked out what was going on and swum around to feed on our stale offerings.)
355. Best Buddies (We ventured to Tredegar House near Newport today to see Father Christmas in his grotto. Normally we go to Cardiff Castle but it was completely sold out weeks in advance, so we decided to try here in their first year as a National Trust property. The Boy was over the moon to see the Big Man himself, and the room was dressed so beautifully! He walked in cautiously, took one look at him and ran at him to give him the biggest, most heartfelt cuddle I've ever seen which was received warmly. Unfortunately the photo is too blurred to share as a 365, but it was a wonderful sight to see. And all for only £2.50.)
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Exploring Tredegar House & Gardens (Country Kids)
Growing up in south Wales means that I have a heads-up on the types of places and activities that are good to take The Boy on weekends; there's now't as good as personal experiences and happy memories as a reference bank to fun!
One of the places that I didn't really experience much as a child was Tredegar House in Newport, probably due to a mixture of cost, subject matter (my mum doesn't like history as she doesn't like to dwell in the past) and distance. I do remember going there once when I was about eight years old, and have a photo to prove it, but haven't been since. And that was a long time ago.
Having a media pass to the National Trust for the year, and being a NT blogger, means that we are now visiting places that we wouldn't have thought of going to before; Tredegar House is one of those. It was taken over by the National Trust last year and since then there have been changes to make it more interactive and interesting to children, something I've noticed in every National Trust property we've been too.
And so we decided to visit Tredegar House last Saturday when they were running a special event to promote the 50 Things campaign. The irony is that we spent so long playing on the lawn with the old fashioned games, having a picnic and exploring the house, that we didn't have much time to try and tick off some of our 50 Things. It's just as well we're making good progress anyway.
Spring had definitely sprung; the brilliant sunlight was glistening through the freshly budding leaves, casting dappled shadows on the lush lawn and providing a veritable paradise to play on. From the huge conifer, spreading its arms over the lawn protectively, hung tyre-horses swinging back and fore with the giggles of The Boy and other delighted children. The huge open space provded him with the ideal opportunity to fly his kite with just enough breeze to lift it.
And after we'd enjoyed our picnic lunch and explored the partly restored manor house, we managed to find a cracking tree to explore inside. The only problem was… how to get up to it? Well, that's what daddies are for, isn't it?
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Days 118-124 of Project 365
118. Zoom! (We went back to Hotham Park next to Butlin's today, this time taking Laura and her family from Tired Mummy of Two. The Boy had a great time playing with Alison and Elizabeth, especially showing Alison exactly how much fun a zipwire is!)
119. Every Drop Counts (We called into The Vyne, a National Trust venue, on the way home from Butlin's today. More about that in my Country Kids post!)
120. Builders' Yard (I set up another small-world play scene for The Boy today in his water table which he spent quite some time playing with, before we headed off to gymnastics and shopping.)
121. Green Fingers (Wednesday today = first day at work of the week. However, this is not a sleeping photo which is a bonus. The Boy was determined to water the plants in the garden, something tells me this could take some time!)
122. Turning Point (After a good day in work, where I was more than happy to be on playground duty due to the glorious weather – so much so I took my classes out on the playground to do ICT that afternoon – mum and I took The Boy down the pier for an ice-cream and cycle ride. The sun casts such amazing shadows at this time of year. The Boy was having an amazing time racing up and down the pier, until he fell off and ended up with more than fifteen splinters in his right hand!)
123. New Glasses (After picking The Boy up at lunchtime from nursery, we nipped over to a small park in Cardiff Bay which I found a month or two back. It's next to the busy area of the Bay, but because it's behind a high wall and in a residential street, it's usually empty and so we get a chance to play in peace and quiet. I love this snap today for the comedic value.)
124. #22 Explore Inside A Tree! (We went to Tredegar House in Newport for the first time today. I vaguely remember going there once as a child with my parents and sister, but didn't think there would be much for children aside from a play park. It transpires that the National Trust had done a huge amount of work to make it interactive for children and they were also having a launch weekend for the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. We actually spent so much time having fun exploring the house – more on that later – that we almost missed the opportunity to cross off about eight of the fifty things. In the end we saw them and got ideas of how to fulfill them, but we didn't actually do any apart from #22 with the help of daddy.)
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