Babasling rocks

As you know Elliot has been poorly, so getting out and about has been a bit of a challenge, especially as he can't breath when he lies down or when the cold air or wind hits him.

The dogs were going to explode in a mess of dog guts if I didn't get out and walk them, so we headed out with the sling. Elliot is a bit of a big lad now, so I only tend to use the sling for the school run and shorter walks.

I put Elliot in his sling, stuffed a bottle into his mouth and luckily he quickly fell asleep.

Trudging through the mud in my wellies was a bit dodgy at times, and a few times I thought I might slip and squash Elliot into a little baby pancake. However I managed to stay upright, and walking through the deep mud and water must have done the world of good for my thigh muscles.

Nearly two hours later we headed back to the car with a sleeping Elliot, two tired dogs and only a very slight ache in my shoulder from carrying him for so long.

Of course it had to go pear shaped at the last minute. Kelvin decided that it would be fun to run across the very busy road several times, leaving me having a panic, and waiting for the sound and sight of a car smashing into him. Luckily he eventually came back, had a good telling off and was quickly shut into the crate in the car.

No going out for us at the moment

We are seriously housebound at the moment. Sadly Elliot has a bad chest infection and the doc is worried that it may turn into pneumonia, so he is one seriously poorly baby.

Every time we set outside into the gale that has been raging for 3 days, it triggers a massive coughing attack, and the poor little man can hardly catch his breath.

Today I even had to call in some favours and get a couple of mums to pick the bigger kids up from school.

So no great stories from me for a few days, unless you want to hear about coughing, grumpy not walked dogs and lack of sleep!

Do not try this at home - getting lost in the woods

Today we had a late start, and proceeded to get very lost in the woods. Covered in mud and exhausted, this was not a good walk!

The afternoon walk started out well, with the kids coming almost willingly, and only a very small amount of "can we go yet" the second we stepped out of the car.

The kids really enjoyed catching and throwing beanbags at each other, although I am not sure the poor beanbags will survive being so covered in mud.

I was well prepared, in that I knew it would be cold and muddy, so the kids had nice warm coats, and we had even gone to Sainsburys to buy new wellies for the girls after I realised they had gapping holes in their old ones.

 

 

 

Elliot is 1 next week and he is a bit of a challenge now, as he can't walk yet, but hates being in the buggy for too long. I would have put him in the sling, but felt a little lazy after being a bit ill this morning, so he had to travel in the slightly lightweight buggy we currently have.

 

 

I think it all went wrong on the return leg, we managed to go down the wrong path, and ended up having to walk for a very long time down a very muddy and wet track. At first it seemed ok, but then we got to that point where we were all too tired to turn back, and we just kept following the straight path hoping and wishing that it would soon turn ( which it didn't!).

 

 

Imagine us with 3 exhausted kids, two bonkers filthy dogs, a buggy that was so mud soaked that the wheels would no longer turn ( and so baby and buggy had to be carried over most of the big sections of mud), and a path that clearly was a disaster choice........

 

In the end we found a road where the kids and I waited while Ali went in hunt of the car, roll on 20 minutes or so later and I was soooo glad to see the car coming along the road, phew!





Portsmouth and Southsea

 

We had some Tesco club card vouchers that needed using up before they went out of date, so we headed to Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth for the day. I would have cried if we didn't have the vouchers as the admission seemed very expensive, but maybe I am just getting tight with money in my old age.

 

On entering the tower we were grabbed to have a photo taken against a blue screen. I love photos of us all together, but I hate paying a small fortune for them, so later in the day we quickly skipped past the photo desk, I really am turning into an old grump

 

The lift whizzed us up to the first floor and the kids loved taking their shoes off to go on the glass floor, I was brave and walked over it a few times, but their dad stayed a safe distance away. Cat is a little bit mental and decided it was great, especially trying to jump through it, and laying down on it, that child definitely has a few screws loose.

The café was expensive, very slow, and lacking in room, so I would not choose to take kids in there again. However they did enjoy the top floor. Although it was annoying that no one had told us that we couldn't get the lift up there and we were not allowed to leave the buggy unattended, so we had to take it in turns taking the kids up.

It was actually much better than I expected, but at that price its definitely a one off.

After the tower we headed into Southsea just a few minutes down the road. As usual it was cold and the kids made a beeline for the shingle beach. Elliot was asleep in the sling, so we stopped for a while as the kids decided they simply had to play on this freezing cold beach.

Caitlin set about burying a bucket, and the other two started world war three with the sea, building a shingle wall, hiding behind it and firing stones into the sea. Its always brings so much joy just watching them playing, but I find this is more frequently tinged with sadness nowadays, knowing that Aidan will soon be too old for the make believe world that he currently loves. Arghh why can't they stay kids forever.

I did ask them all to stop having birthdays and to stop growing, but they refused, although Alex did offer to stop when she gets to 9, so thats very kind of her. Do any of us really take the time and enjoy this precious limited time with them as much as we should!

Disaster with a capital D

Lets see:

Forgetting wellies

Going for a walk in a swamp with an insubstantial buggy

Forgetting both babies and my hat and gloves

Weather being somewhere in the minus a million degrees area ( or at
least feeling like it)

One tired mummy with tooth ache

Two dogs who are being naughty, including rolling in copious amounts of the most foul smelling badger/ fox poo that has ever existed

One nanny talking on the phone for the first time in a while.

One baby screaming like a banshee most of the way around, due to teething and the cold weather.

One baby very much in need of sleep, but refusing it 100%.

One bottle of formula dropped like a bomb, teat first into a pile of mud

Then the torture not ending when one arrives home, having a combination of trying to get baby to stay asleep from car into cot, and also trying to bath a white dog covered in big patches of brown animal poop.

Do I need to say that this was not a good outing!

Crab hunting in mid November

Its mid November and rapidly heading to the arse end of the year, so I tend to be someone who likes the idea of hibernating. Shut those curtains, whack the heating on, cuddle a hot water bottle, and slurp up a very naughty mug of hot chocolate ( with all the trimmings of course).

However with the dogs and the kids hibernating all the time, is sadly not an option, ummm just the thought of spending 4 months of the foul winter snuggled in the warm gives me a warm glow. Back on track, the kids need a walk as much as the dogs, so today we headed out to a river and wood that has a great little crabbing spot.

You know those days when it all goes wrong, well today it actually miraculously nearly all went right.

In the car the kids, the baby and the dogs all behaved, with a bare minimum of fighting, in fact at one point I think I had a little nap while hubby drove. That's what happens when a teething baby keeps you up all night, you turn into a toddler and end up needing an afternoon nap.

When we arrived I hoped the little café shop would be open and was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually was.  The owner had popped down for the last time this year, as it was a sunny afternoon, in case anyone wanted a cuppa, and to empty out the perishable stock ready for the long closure.

I really fancied a cuppa, but more importantly we had no crabbing lines, and he generously sold us 3 for the price of two. I have to admit that it was completely my fault that we had no lines. Being a bit brain dead I had been certain that I had emptied out the bags after the last trip. However roll on many weeks later and I am stood in the garage wondering what on earth the foul smell could possibly be. You can only imagine how nasty 3 crab lines sealed in a plastic bag with crab sticks, river water and seaweed can be!

While we enjoyed our cuppas the kids ran around in the mud covered play ground. I hate mud, its so fun when you are a kid, and yet as a mum all I see are the problems ( and the washing it brings). Where has the joy of mud gone for me :-(

After a while we dragged them on towards the pontoon. I am no expert on crab behaviour, and we have never been winter crab hunting before. Due to my ignorance I thought we might not catch any, based on my assumption that they may hibernate, slow down their lifestyle or at the very least move to some deeper water.

How wrong I was, we caught loads, and they were whoppers, and sadly so were their nasty nipping claws, argghhhh. A little lad appointed himself our head crab grabber and helped to get the crabs into our bucket.

I started off waiting with the dogs in the path, but they were being a pain so I decided to tie them up while I helped the kids. Imagine this me on a wobbly pontoon, hanging on to a very bulky and heavy 11 month old Elliot, trying to tie up the two dogs. Kelvin went smoothly, but the lovely Abby slipped her collar. So there is me with Elliot under my arm, one hand holding Kelv and the empty collar, and the other grabbing a handful or mud covered Abby fur. A lovely lady offered to help, but luckily Ali came back to help before I dropped Elliot over the side.

Ali took the dogs off for a run, and all went well for a while. Until Abby decided that it would be fun to race down the pontoon like a greyhound. Now this would not have been too bad if it was not for the 3 year old little girl that she nearly sent flying into the water every time she passed.

We emptied the crabs onto the low tide line and rewarded them with the left over raw bacon.

Aidan had the task of releasing the crabs, and managed to walk in the stinking low tide mud in his new shoes.

We decided to take the longer path back to the car, and luckily this went smoothly, especially considering the kids were heading towards the hungry and tired world of the grumpy.

Rivers, cold and mud ( yuk)

Aidan was not impressed at the idea of having to walk the dogs again, but he came along with a little encouragement.

However it soon turned into a great fun walk in the woods when the boys decided to tackle the river. Personally I hate being cold and wet, but this state of being seems to have great appeal to a 9 year old lad.

They walked a very long way in the river regularly stopping for emergency code reds ( or whatever colour was appropriate) to unblock the leaves, branches and dead trees that had blocked the rivers flow.

We tried to keep the girls out of the river, and so they found their amusement with sticks and lots of mud on the river bank.

At 11 months Elliot has now got to an age where he is not keen on the buggy and being restrained, but he can only crawl and has no sense what so ever. So its now great fun trying to keep him happy while out walking. Roll on his ability to walk and another year or so, so that he can start to enjoy being out as well.

A two year old diving straight in....

I am sorry that I don't have a picture for this blog, but it was a typical mummy moment.

Imagine the scene, a very cold and over cast morning at the backend of October. One of those days when you really know that winter is well and truly on its way to bite you on the bum ( or at least leave you with cold feet).

Our setting is a very muddy and wet woodland, with my friend and 7 kids between us. Very sensibly all children were attired appropriately in coats and wellies, and we were ready to head off on the play trail for some slightly chilly fun ( while myself and my friend gossiped the morning away).

However her two year old lad had very different ideas. He started out in a sane peppa pig fashion jumping in a few muddy puddles, how very normal for this age group.

He then decided to get his hands into the muck, again gross but fair enough, I am sure as kids we all would have loved to have felt that goopy yuk in our hands.

Anyway we separated the kids from the puddle and headed up to the little play park. As we arrived my friends little boy made a beeline for the pond, did he stop - NO, did he falter - NO, did he slow - NO. Instead he ran straight into the pond right up to his middle, caught his foot and went flying into a very stylish dive.

Now only a mum will know the joys of stripping wet and muddy clothes off of the body of a shaking and blue toddler who is not impressed at the fun being stopped.

Needless to say my friends time with us was cut short as she had to borrow one of Elliot's blankets to wrap the shaking lad in, and hurry back to the warmth of her car as quickly as possible.

Nature detectives

This is a truly amazing site from the people at Woodland Trust:

http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/

Its packed full of top class activities to do with your little ones in the great outdoors, and most of these activities are free, its so nice to get such a great resource for free!

We decided to join the club to get the little extras, and because I am lazy beyond belief, so the weekly emails guilt me into doing something interesting with the kids, rather than sitting on my ever increasing fat bum.

Pumpkins, scarecrows, and heavy hail

 

http://www.jst.hampshire.org.uk/index.html

 

It was a bit of an overcast day, but looked like it would turn out nice ( or at least not too foul). We were torn between 3 events that were going on locally, but decided to try a Pumpkin and scarecrow event in aid of charity.

 

This was running at a seaside park,so gave me the chance to get the kids to help me hunt out some treasures for my arts and craft projects ( http://ofsoilseaandsky.blogspot.co.uk/ )

 

I suspected that the park would be heaving when the event started at 12, so we headed out early and decided to walk the dogs first. Walking along the sea shore Abby did her usual barking at every dog insight, she just is not improving with her fear of other dogs, I fear this is a battle that we will loose.

 

Then we headed into the woodland on a path that we have walked many times. Its funny how something can be right under your nose, and yet you just how no knowledge of its existence. Half way along the path Aidan suggested we take a little path that branched off and this immediately led to a previously undiscovered play park and big field. This was a really lovely find.

 

 

 

On the way back the kids decided that it was necessary to make hats out of leaves, I never know why they do these slightly odd things, I don't see many other kids walking around with leaves on their heads ( normal is certainly not something you can accuse my family of!)

 

Aidan then found a very steep hill and being a boy just had to clamber down to the bottom, and back up again. I on the other hand see a steep hill and think about how best to avoid having to waste energy climbing it, and head off for a nice cup of tea instead.

 

At 12 we headed into the festival, and it turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I managed to distract the girls so they didn't see the face painting tent with its queue from hell. How many times have we been stuck in those queues waiting for hours with increasingly irate children. I hate face painting at festivals there is always too much demand and too few painters. Luckily we stumbled upon a tent supporting guide dogs where they could get very quick and very lovely face stencils done for 50p with no wait, so they were happy bunnies.

 

 

We rounded the corner of the big central building to find two ponies, so immediately had two very excited little girls upon our hands. They got to do a lap of the circuit for £3, and very much enjoyed themselves, what is it with girls and ponies!

 

 

Having only snacked we decided to find a late lunch, and this was when the weather decided we had well and truly had enough fun for one day. As we were queuing for hot dogs the heavens opened. The kids found space in a tent, but Ellie was in the buggy asleep so for a while we were stuck out while I worked on my drowned rat look. Luckily as the heavy hail set in a chap found a space for the buggy and we sheltered while the hail pelted those that were still unlucky enough to be trapped out.

 

I am not sure I faired a huge amount better being under the tent as the awning had to be regularly prodded to dislodge the water on top, and on several occasions the weight of the rain managed to run off and straight onto me in the tent.

 

Once the storm eventually cleared the kids were keen to do more stalls, especially the tombolas and other games, but us adults do not enjoy being wet through to our pants, so we headed home.

 

This outing was: 

 3 words = Majorly child friendly

Fun 7/10

Amount of moaning and whining 20%

Chill out factor 7/10

Anyone in Hampshire area with some good suggestions?

Is there anyone out there that lives in Hampshire or has visited the area.

We are always looking for fun new outdoor places to visit, so please do share your special places with us. Then we can nick the ideas and make them our new special places!

It could be a good dog walk, a nice day out, a great woodland, a beautiful seashore or anywhere else where we can drag the kids.

Any ideas?