It's Open Farm Sunday this Weekend

Last week my #CountryKids post was all about our preview of Open Farm Sunday, where we got to visit Elm Tree Farm on Sunday 17th May. Well since then, since last Friday, I put my video vlog together of our day there. Last week I only shared Aaron falling on the chicken wire, but very soon after did the proper vid, which I love:

It's been a week all about farms on my YouTube channel, as the above spurred me on to edit our footage of Folly Farm Wales, which was gathering dust on my computer, what with us having been there the last week of April whilst we were at the lovely Bluestone Wales.

We haven't been anywhere this week worthy of a #CountryKids blog post, but my country kid is a very outdoorsie boy, so we HAVE been to the park every day after school, even staying there till 20:30 one night. Yes, I was exhausted.

But, back to Open Farm Sunday (which you can follow on Twitter and Instagram via #OFS15), all you have to do is go here and see where your nearest participating farm is:

http://www.farmsunday.org/ofs12b/visit/findfarm.eb

You even get to dictate how far you are prepared to travel.

It's this Sunday 7th June.

Liska x

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The Hottest Halloween Like Ever - A Day To Get Out in the Great Outdoors for an Adventure

The minute I heard Halloween was to be 20 degrees HOT on Friday, I was like that is not a day to be indoors. So Carolin and I made arrangements to meet for a fun filled day out. It actually got to 21 degrees in the end, and last night on the radio I heard that places like Kew Gardens reached 23.6 on the old mercury.

A temperature of 23.6C (74.3F) was recorded in Gravesend, Kent and Kew Gardens, Greater London, surpassing the previous record of 20.0C.Other parts of the south of England and the north coasts of Wales and Norfolk also broke the 20C mark.

I started off in a cotton mix jumper, but whilst I hung washing on the line I felt very hot, so before leaving had to change into a t shirt (and I was able to remain that way all day even in the shade). I left Aaron in a long sleeved t shirt and he was fine.

On arrival at the farm, all he wanted to do was feed the ducks (for 20 minutes) so half my crusty french stick was gone, just like that.

It tickled me (and my followers on Instagram) when his duck feeding was interrupted to exclaim...

"It's a Gruffalo!" at the top of his voice:

He was feeding the ducks but stopped to scream "it's a Gruffalo" when he saw someone dressed up. #Halloween #HalfTerm #Hot it's 21 degrees today

A photo posted by Liska (@newmumonline) on Oct 10, 2014 at 5:19am PDT

He soon had company feeding the ducks:

And after that, that's when the adventures began. They led the way, and Carolin and I followed. They really got off the beaten track our adventurous pair, and we ended up in what appeared to be a kindergarten Forest School, which was lovely.

This photo there kind of took my breath away as it gives me a glimpse of the man Aaron is to become:

Most trees are too tall for Aaron to climb so I was very chuffed to see them both scamper up this one with ease, and confidence:

What an adventurous fearless pair they are.

They followed each other everywhere and got to see much more of the place by doing so:

They'd climb to get a better view of animals, and just because...

There are actually too many nice photos so I think I will need to make a slideshow. I finally did, it is at the bottom, please take a look.

The best part of the day was making a carved pumpkin, not because it rivalled all the climbing and many adventures, but because it was SUCH a great keepsake, we had it lit by the door when gifting all the trick or treaters who came knocking last night, and because it is the first time I have done it, so a real memorable occasion!

Aaron drew on the face and I cut it exactly how he'd drawn it. The meltdown of all meltdowns ensued because he wanted to use the knife, but the lady on duty was quite strict that kids couldn't. Rightly so as the knives were incredibly sharp; all the better for pumpkin carving with.

He loved the finished result:

He was very proud of his pumpkin indeed:

We spent the last couple of hours of the day in the adventure playground, and despite being in the shade, despite the sun going down, we still were not at all cold. Amazing weather for the last day of October. Thank you weather Gods.

The pumpkins were glad of the rest whilst the adventurous two played:

It was a long journey home, but thankfully there were still trick or treaters out and about.

When we arrived on our road there was not a soul in sight but I didn't even have chance to put a pizza in the oven before the door started knocking.

After the first few we put our costumes on, so we could greet our trick or treaters like this:

So so so very glad that I reviewed these costumes for Aldi a few weeks ago.

We set a table up inside the door with our pumpkin (which now had the addition of a candle) and a selection of sweets, so that we were all set up for our visitors. I think they probably started visiting before we got home, but we had more than enough visitors with the ones we did see.

I'm glad I popped my carving a pumpkin cherry. Love it so much will definitely now be an annual tradition:

I will send you in the direction of #CountryKids

  

A Day at The Beach Doesn't Have to Be Hot Especially if it's Weston Super Mare

So, last weekend, at the end of half term, we headed off for the beach. May as well end half-term with a bang eh? It was overcast and not particularly hot but that wasn't the reason we were going. We wanted to go on the rides, enjoy the "sea" air, look out to "sea" and just generally be there. Hubby doesn't like the heat, so it was the perfect day to go. Aaron's not yet done the whole beach thing (his last time at the beach was Summer 2012, a day trip to Brighton) so he wasn't nagging us to paddle or anything like that. PLUS he'd just been (I nearly forgot there) on Wednesday of half term, to Southend with me, ALL of his cousins, and my brother in law. So to him now, beach means rides. By the way did you know that Southend has the longest pleasure pier in the world - no I didn't either! Anyway rides is what we went to both beaches for. Great eh! No beach for 2 years and then 2 in 1 week. Like buses, you wait ages and two come along at once!

Will have to re-train Aaron when the weather kicks in, that sun, beach, sand and sea, means towels, picnics, cossies, sun cream, tans and sandcastles, and NOT rides.

You can tell by how he's dressed that it wasn't a particularly warm day:

He's sporting his brand new bucket and spade, as he's never owned one bless him!

I join in with #CountryKids when I can because Aaron is SUCH an outdoors active boy and because he ADORES animals and is fearless unlike me:

On honeymoon, would I go on a camel ride? Would I 'eck. But suggest a donkey ride to Aaron and on he hops, and even makes his Dad pay four times as he refuses to get off. I think if he could have done he'd have taken one of them home. Dare I go to Coombe Mill when he literally won't want to leave?

So, above kind of gives you an idea as to how a beach post has become a #CountryKids post. My boy, preferred more time with the animals than on rides. I am so glad I get out and about with him as much as I do, as this boy was built for the great outdoors. Don't get me wrong, he has about 15 favourite shows on TV, so he's not a complete farm hand, but he is a robust adventurer!

By the way, it's deliberate that he is on a donkey called JAKE as Jake and the Neverland Pirates is his favourite show on TV.

As enamoured as he was with the donkeys, what then made even more of an impression on him was the Weston Wheel,

The views from up there are spectacular which you don't really get from my photos - sorry. Hopefully you can see the bars on the right hand side of the beach photo to see that that is an on ride view :-)

What I haven't told you is Aaron did not at all want to go on. We had to drag him on convince him! Yet he couldn't get on quick enough for the second ride and as this pic shows, due to the cool temperatures (it didn't actually rain) there were no crowds, so bliss, no queues!

Whenever Aaron's had a good time, he doesn't want to leave. This was the "I don't want to go home yet pose!"

Which was closely followed by the "you will if I carry you pose"

But bless my fun seekers, on the way to the carpark they stopped at an arcades place (we got kicked off the pier as it closes quite early). So we stopped in somewhere, after the above, and they ended up having a full game of ten pin bowling. Considering I was on the team at Uni, you'd think I would have joined in, but my gout had given up the ghost by this point so I sat on a high bar stool and just enjoyed watching them have fun:

Oh, before I forget, apart from some GREAT donkey photos, this is my favourite photo from the day:

With our beach day in the bag, the next day, the Sunday, the last day of half-term, when the temperatures soared and everyone else was at the beach, we spent the day gardening:

I did a bit much, despite going easy, and ached for the next few days after. Clearly I need to do it more often and get fit. Who knew gardening could be exercise ;-)

Bye for now,

Liska xxxx

  

The Great Outdoors. Bike rides with a 3 year old. Cycling to the Farm.

We've always been very outdoorsie Aaron and I.  Very intrepid and weather on the whole doesn't stop us going anywhere and good weather, gets us going everywhere!

But now that he's on a 16 inch Avigo big boy bike, I have dusted down mine, which I hadn't ridden since pre-Motherhood and now there's literally no stopping us. I am used to not using umbrellas as I couldn't hold one and push a buggy, so the bike's the same drill. All we need is a water proof jacket each and hoods! Always have a hood when the weather looks like there's a chance of rain. We're saving money on bus fares as the bikes are taking us all over. My country kid is a natural on his bike. Very proud of him.

I wish I had chance to join in with #countryKids every week. I will certainly try to from now on.

  

I have some perfect material this time :-) A recent bike ride about a week ago, saw us heading off to a farm. Aaron was disappointed though as all of the animals had already been put away when we arrived. We got there as they were closing. They were nice enough to still let us look around though:

Aaron, being that it was daylight, was in disbelief that the animals were in bed so he literally walked up to every closed door, closed coop or closed shed, trying to see could he hear animals, or perhaps peek inside bless him:

He was very thorough in his search for animals. No stone was left unturned:

A closed gate wasn't going to slow down his intensive search either:

He continued to search, with his serious face on. I just quietly followed and enjoyed the scenery, whilst grabbing each and every photo opportunity I could:

Once he realised that the Farmer was right, ALL of the animals were indeed put away, and unlike Aaron himself they were asleep BEFORE dark, his sad face started to appear:

I'll always class it as a successful visit, as we got some beautiful photos and we now know we can cycle there.

These were taken on the same hill at the same time, but just because of the difference of a few feet, which effected the lighting, look at the difference in shade/shadows:

I think I would love that last photo on a canvas. It's always the moody scenic shots of Aaron that I love, and not necessarily the cheesy grin ones, although clearly they are lovely too.

It's these scenic ones that I will look at fondly in my old age I think. Aaron often leads the way, apart from when he's tired or stopping to look at each and every snail, so this is often my view of him, so here you are seeing Aaron from my eyes. My tall 3 (soon to be 4 year old) whose had TWO growth spurts in recent weeks. Did you know that can cause them to trip on their own feet? He only did it for a few days, but I was REALLY relieved when nursery informed me that was the reason. I worked in the footwear industry for 6 years, so I am thinking it must be his proprioception having to catch up with the adjusted size of his body/length of his legs.

Bye for now,

Liska xxx

@NewMumOnline on Twitter << follow me :-)

How Very Beautiful is Capel Manor

My Aaron is SUCH an outdoors boy. Perfect candidate for #CountryKids. Not a swing or slide in sight at Capel Manor, but give him the great outdoors and he is 100% content!

We had glorious sunshine yesterday, no jackets required and we spent it at Capel Manor!

Joining in with Country Kids:

  

#CountryKids got HOT!

My best friend came round today and we spent the morning indoors with our boys, but in the afternoon we headed off for a walk and boy am I glad we did. 

I have been hearing all week that it will be 18 degrees in London this weekend but I had NO IDEA that it would be nice today. I had  to come back inside and dump my jacket - 16 degrees today! 

Pure blue sky and the sun made an appearance AGAIN. The ONLY bad weather day this week was Monday when it rained SO heavy, that when we went to nursery for an appointment I had to put Aaron in his buggy with the rain cover on. He ordinarily goes EVERYWHERE on his balance bike. But Mr.Sun has come out to play every day since :-)

Anyway, today was spectacular and our walk was heavenly. Here is a collage summary of our wonderful walk. So grateful to be getting outside often now.

You just gotta hop over to Fi's blog and see her Country Kids Ye Old English Houses post. She hosts the fabulous #CountryKids, that I am linking up with:

  

Spring Has Certainly Sprung - Picking Up the Daisies February 2014

The blue skies on our walk back from nursery this afternoon were spectacular!

Loving getting outdoor time again so that Aaron can be the country kid he is built to be!

  

Country Kids Like Water and Outdoor Time

I haven't joined in with #CountryKids in weeks, but our 2014 outdoor time, after a Christmas (and December) hibernation has begun in earnest.

Our first morning back at nursery last week, our first early start after weeks of lie-ins, began with a baptism of fire, or should I say water!

We left here, both with hoods up, in the rain.  Aaron on the balance bike and me walking.  We go out in all weathers, so the rain didn't phase either of us.

However 5 minutes into our 15 minute walk and we were being hit in the face by hailstones AND we were both soaked through.  We called Daddy and asked him to hop in the car and come rescue us.  He'd been looking out the window so said "thank God you called".

Anyway to cut a long story short our way to nursery - by car - got blocked, so I kind of wish we'd carried on. After trying 2 alternatives routes, we eventually found a way.  Sometimes walking is more convenient - apart from when mother nature steps in of course!

Imagine my surprise, when the thing that made our morning hell, then made our afternoon a pleasure.  It really brought home the saying "every cloud has a silver lining" which I feel like re-penning to "every cloud has a puddle" and this puddle was like a toddler lake!

As you can see, when I collected Aaron from nursery, he let me put on what has become his signature fleece hoodie (a TK Maxx great buy) but did not let me put a jacket on - it was unseasonably mild for January!  He noticed the blossoms on a tree and tried to smell them.  You can see how varied the sky was, as you can see blue sky and fluffy white clouds in the picture of him with the blossoms, yet when I zoomed in, for the next pic, you get a dishwater grey (clearly a different part of the same sky).

He was absolutely thrilled when I let him cycle through that puddle BUT in that last photo, when he is busy looking at his foot, he is telling me that his foot is wet.  I don't believe him, as I say "that's what wellies are for, to keep your feet dry", but turns out that they did indeed have a hole, despite me only buying them on 30th November!!!  Like the fleece they were from TK Maxx where I get a lot of stuff for Aaron (and a lot of it designer brands, I wouldn't otherwise know of).  We took them back Thursday and exchanged them for Robot wellies.  They did the exchange no problem, as I knew my statutory rights and also know about the rules regarding wear and tear on footwear given that I did 6 years working for a footwear manufacturer and distributor which included managing the Customer Services Team (which included the returns department).

During the above, there were no accidents whilst he was on the bike in the lake puddle, yet when he got off it he fell on his knees and hands - no harm done:

Anyway, we have had a lot of outdoor time since school (nursery) returned.  In fact all 3 days that I collected him last week, we went somewhere afterwards.  It's been great to have more outdoor time and long may it continue.  We both really benefit from it, and it gets me away from this here computer.

Oh another thing I want to say is, every day last week it was incredibly mild.  I think there were days it was as high as 12 degrees.  When Aaron and I went to the shops on Saturday, he only had a fleece on all the way there and back, despite it being 4 o'clock on our return.  In fact he was trying to take it off on the way home, saying he was warm!

But Saturday night we had custard and no cake, and at 1900 hours I popped to the corner shop for those tinned steam pudding cakes, and couldn't believe how cold it was (after being SO incredibly mild during the day).  I looked at my phone as it felt FREEZING and sure enough, it was MINUS ONE.

Sunday, it was even like that during the day, as we both took Aaron to the park, and we came home, not just because it was getting dark but also because my hands were numb despite having gloves on.

After an incredibly mild week I think the BIG CHILL has begun, so maybe it will snow on my birthday after all.

Last year it snowed in April. Do you remember it?

Liska xx