Bikes & baking, crochet & cake, monkeys & mud

Well we've manage to have a more fun week than last thankfully! No more nasty sicky germs and poorlys :) 

After Conkers hubby had to go back to work for a few days so the boys and I were left to our own devices. We had a friend to visit Wednesday who always brings yummy cake! Then we spent the morning at the bike track. Momo has a Strider championship next week so he was practicing for that

And as if a few hours of racing round the track wasn't enough to tire them out we then spent the afternoon at the park. Fishing nets in the stream, cookies and mud, always a good combination sure to keep any boys happy! Unfortunately my battery died so I got no photos this time, but we do visit there regularly. 

Big Man had a friend over in the evening, Wizard, who has introduced the boys to 'Skylanders'. It's a computer game wih little collectible figures. I am not a huge fan of computer games, but this seems a lot tamer and more fun than a lot of stuff Big Man usually plays and Momo always gets really excited when there are extra big boys around, so I let him have a little go. He doesn't play computer games other than the IPad sometimes, i think hes too little and I know how hard it can be to drag the Big 'Uns off the Xbox so I have been trying to keep him away, but he certainly got the bug that day, much to my dismay. Thankfully Wizard took it all home with him after dinner but it hasn't been forgotten, they are now saving their money to buy their own Skylanders! 

At the end of the week we had another lovely trip out with PSNA to Trentham Monkey Forest. It started off a wet day but we put on our waterproofs, wellies and brave faces and went ahead. I am so glad we did as it turned into a beautiful afternoon. The monkeys, called Barbary Macaques, are so funny to watch! they are just free in the woods, running, jumping, climbing all around you, it's a lovely experience. It's pretty calm and relaxing. There are lots of rangers about to answer any questions and tell you all about the monkeys. They have 6 babies at the moment, so cute, Roger was out favourite, he was a proper cheeky monkey! It was lovely seeing how tame the monkeys were. 

There was a lovely playground that kept Momo, Squashy and all their friends happy for a while and wore them out for the evening.

We also managed to fit in plenty of the usual cooking, baking and other day to day fun :) 

Thursday evening I finally got to Knit & Natter at The Deli. I have been planning to go for a few months and something always crops up but this time I made it!

It was a lovely, rare opportunity for a couple of hours of Claretime. Boys at home with Daddy. I enjoyed a lovely pot of earl grey and a bit of happy hooky time

And some delicious cake and pink lemonade, by colourful fairy lights,  whilst catching up with some lovely friends who I hadn't seen in a while. 

At the weekend Big Man and Momo went for a sleepover at Little Namny's house. Momo hasn't been away overnight before so that was a first. We weren't sure how it would go and Half expected a phone call to come home late at night! But it went well. Little Nanny took them scrumping for apples in a nearby field, so now we have a huge stock and are looking forward to apple crumble

One of the best things of my week was Big Man asking me to teach him to crochet! (shhhh don't tell his mates!) he heard me say how many more 'hoxygons' I had to do so suggested I show him so he could help! I was so pleased and he picked it up so quickly! 

On Sunday Squashy and I were lucky enough to be invited to out friends karate clubs' summer camp. I will do a seperate post about that later on as it was an awesome day with some brilliant photos! 

So yet another Fun filled week at the house of Mo! I just wish the time having everyone at home wasn't going so quickly.

Bonkers at Conkers!

Today we had a great outdoors day at Conkers.

It's an awesome outdoor adventure place in the National Forest but they also have a lovely indoor area for when the weather isn't so great. We didn't get chance to look in there today.

It's a wonderful opportunity for some lovely photos, wildlife, nature;

 and action & adventure!

 We were with some good friends so the boys had extra people to play with. 

The assault course was the first stop. It is signposted as being for adults and teens only, but my boys have always gone on every visit, even Momo has a good go! 

Great fun whether you are big or small

Our friends' little man Mr Moomoo was so brave! He is only just 3 and tackled almost every obstacle! 

He was up so high!

Momo picked me some pretty 'fairy dust', a much prettier name than cow parsley (which I think this is?!)

They also have a lovely little water play area. We didn't hang around too long as although it wasn't cold today it wasn't quite sunny enough to get soaked.

Squashy really enjoyed this part, he loves water.

After a yummy picnic stop, the boys wanted to do the Barefoot Walk. An outdoor trail where you take off your shoes and trek over and through all the different textures floors. 

There are rocks, stones, pebbles, tiles, logs, water, some train tracks and our favourite - mud! Messy but great fun.

Big Man took Momo and Tpants round for a 2nd run they loved it so much. 

hh

Next we took a ride on the ConkerChoo Train 

round to Waterside, a pretty little area beside more lakes. They had an amphitheatre with a puppet show but it was a bit loud for Squashy. So we wondered round the wetland walk then let the boys have a run in the adventure play area. 

Inside here they have some information about the area, the park is built on the old Rawdon Colliery, and also about all the sculptures and art that they have in trails around the park. 

One piece that caught my eye is the Dunblane Flame, a memorial to the children and teacher who died in the tragedy back in the 1980's. It was a stunning piece with a lovely purpose. 

Back on the train and time for an ice cream and to say a little hello to the resident owls before we headed home.

It's such a pretty place, really lovely, outdoor fun, lots of mess and freedom to run off some steam, there is always something extra going on too. 

It was our 5th visit, 2nd this Year and I'm sure we will be back again before long. Now off to scrub the mud from between our toes and enjoy a well deserved cuppa and half hour peace :)

Quiet week

It's been a quiet week or so here. I had food poisoning, for the first (& hopefully last!!) time, and it was not very pleasant. And my poor boys have had to entertain themselves a lot. Even when I was over the worst I was so tired so we didn't do much at all. 

It all started with a super cute pair of new shoes

 And a lovely evening laughing with friends & a homemade pressie that seemed to go down well

While I was ill the boys picked me a flower from the garden (some kind of weed but pretty and brightened up my day)

Momo made me a beautiful necklace to cheer me up (excuse my pjs!) 

As I started to feel better I got some stitchy therapy in

A friend made a yummy pink grapefruit drizzle cake (to help build my strength of course) and I am lucky that Big Man is a wonderful tea-maker

I had a very cute thank you pressie from some even cuter little boys :) 

Then managed some more stitching time

We went out for the first time in a while yesterday to a party -Bazinga!

And today we have managed to get out in the garden for a little bit of fresh air and fun

We have squeezed in a teeny tiny bit of 'learning'. Momo used a sweetie pizza to learn about dividing by sharing it out with his brothers. Not sure quite an equal amount made it to each boy though ;)

So I am hoping now that's all over we can get on with enjoying the summer holidays. Hubby has lots of days off dotted over the next few weeks so we are looking forward to lots of fun family time :) 

Sand-tastic day

So I have only been blogging for a less than a week and already haven't managed everyday! We have had a busy few days, so only just getting chance to catch up with everything now. On Wednesday we were lucky enough to get a WHOLE DAY at my most favourite place to be, the beach. Living pretty much smack bang in the middle of England means we dont get to see the sea very often, so when hubby was working in Cardiff for the day we jumped at the chance to visit the beach. Hubby dropped us in Barry Island wit moyntins of stuff and we set up camp for the day, and when I say mountains I mean LOADS!

It had rained the entire journey down so we were well prepared! But we were really lucky and it stayed warm and dry most of the day. The boys all had such a great time, digging, splashing, exploring, burying, swimming, building sandcastles, frisbee-ing, it was lovely seeing them entertaining themselves without TV, Iphone, Ipad, laptops etc and getting on with each other. I'm not against game time, but I know how hard it is to get them off it once they start and while I love the idea of teaching them to regulate their own time, with teens, and ASD, that just doesnt always work.

When we arrived we had pastries and smoothies for brekkie on the beach.

I can never fail to feel happy with a view like this.

First dip in the sea, Momo still pyjama-clad.

Striding in the sea in his pj's.

Splashing around.

 

Larking around in the sand with my babies.

I even snuck in time for a little crochet.

Having a swim.

Burying each other.

Examining a dead jellyfish they found, the lifeguard came to tell them about it, so they knew it was safe to pick it up. And 'Friends' was wrong, you dont pee on a jellyfish sting!

Building sandcastles for the dinosaurs to live in.

Pesky seagulls trying to pinch our fish & chip tea on the beach, Momo thought it was hilarious! 

So I was really happy to have such an off-the-grid day, eating home-baked picnic goodies and enjoying the outside.

My favourite day of the hols so far :D