I had an incredibly lazy morning and didn’t get out of bed until about 10am. I’d been awake since before 8am what with the postman ringing the bell to deliver a parcel (thanks Layla, still huge for Davies but if he doesn’t grow any time soon then Tarly will have them, very gratefull received :)), children coming to tell me ‘interesting’ things and Ady bringing me a cup of tea. I was having a really interesting dream which I kept trying to go to sleep to get back to but failed, so gave up and drank my tea and read my book in bed instead.
Ady was having a busy morning doing loads of washing and taking rubbish up to the tip. Davies and Scarlett were having a busy morning making ‘stuff’ out of sticklebricks.
When I finally did get up and dressed I did some more washing, made french toast (sweet with eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon) for brunch which the children adored so might well become a regular foodstuff here and then let the chickens out for a run around free range stylee. They didn’t get a lot of chance to do freeranging as the children didn’t really leave them alone but Freddie (the oldest by a day) was adventurous flapping up to perch atop the coop and run:
Ady got to cuddle Wobble (who is clearly his favourite)
and we generally enjoyed watching them being real proper chickens now. I can’t believe how quickly chickens grow. They could start to lay any time from about 18-20 weeks – or crow as the case may be, which is really quite a staggering quick sprint to maturity – about week for every human year really 😯
We then set off to Lewes to Spring Barn Farm Park where we were meeting Freya’s birthday posse for sixth celebrations. Due to uncertainty about traffic levels we were slightly early so sat in the carpark playing ‘guess Chris’s middle name’ on twitter, which led to a few others joining in. Really like that aspect of twitter :). Ali arrived with her Mum and we lurked awhile waiting for J, Freya and J’s mum to arrive during which time Ali told some random strangers that they were ‘not the right people’, I had to perform emergency pretend-croc repairs on Tarly’s last remaining rivet using a jibbitz nicked from Davies pretend-crocs and we were greatly amused by a sign talking about breeds of pigs and ending with the proclamation that the ginger spotted one was called Kevin Bacon, which was just funny in so many ways. 😆
The second installment of the birthday posse finally arrived and we entered the farm. We were immediately drawn to the poultry to compare comb and waddles sizes and hues for telltale signs of gender for our own. Scarlett was rather bewildered that she couldn’t just pick up every chicken she came across like she can with ours at home and Davies wanted to know all sorts of bizarre things like the names of all the rabbits :lol:. We decided to head into the Maize Maze fairly promptly (I am very tempted to call it the Amazing Maize Maze but actually it was not amazing, I was not amazed. It was very good though and when it grows to full maize height (it was a proper maze for the children but adults could still see over it) it may well qualify as amazing too – a marketing dream 😉 ). We had maps with seven lookout points to find and track down clues for so we set about doing that. It was good fun 🙂
We were also taken in with the beauty of the south downs within the farm setting too – the hills rolled into the background in all four directions and everywhere was just so full of green grass and blue sky. It was lovely :). We complete all the clues and as we had no pen I used my phone to note all the answers down with on the notes feature. Handy :).
We came out of there needing the loo so headed off to find toilets and happened upon a massive area of straw bales which provided much entertainment for me and the children and many photo opportunities for Ady. I probably did start the straw fights but certainly got more than I bargained for taking on Davies and was still picking straw out of my bra this evening 😆 straw in your pants is not a nice feeling I have to tell you!
plenty more pics on flickr should you wish to see them 🙂
We had ice cream, Freya’s birthday posse came and joined us having had their own maize maze experience and we sat and chatted while the children played. There were some kindly adults playing a game of monsters with a huge crowd of children in some more straw bales which they all got involved with (and Davies tried to manage :roll:) and we had fun with J’s hat:
and probably convinced J’s mum that we should all be locked up somewhere with no responsibiliy for our children at all let alone their education following surreal conversations about Springwatch, the children’s individual-ness and my skills as a chicken-whisperer :lol:.
We left there and on the way out Davies found a £20 note all screwed up. There was a little hushed debate about whether he should keep it or not before he was bundled out the door. We were about the last people to leave and while I’d ring to find out if a possession had been found I don’t think I’d even consider whether screwed up cash would be handed in anywhere. So we decided finders keepers on this occassion. My parents will be so proud ;).
We headed back to Ali & J’s for coffee / wine / further chatting / perusing of photos which was very nice finally leaving there after 7pm. After much discussion about what to spend his finding on with me rooting for ‘splurge and enjoy’ and Ady counselling ‘save and savour’ we called into Tescos for some bits for dinner and he spent the lot buying a Doctor Who set containing a Dalek, a Cyberman and The Doctor for himself and a Littlest Petshop character for Tarly. He was so sweet about buying something for Scarlett having been assured by me that it was his money and he should spend it however he pleased :). He is utterly thrilled with it and has fallen asleep surrounded by Doctor Who mini figures tonight.
Home for tea for the children and a bath to wash off farm dirt and straw from their hair before another late night for them. We had baths, I cooked tacos for dinner and I’m fairly sure I’ll be picking bits of straw from my hair for a good few days yet despite a very rigorous hairwash :). It was a great day, lovely weather, lovely location, lovely company – thanks to Ali, J & Freya for a great time :).
yeah, i like the oddness of flickring peoples names. galen and gaius my favs! better than the real ones – actually the second g [unguessed] more unusual.
obviously a day for mummy mornings with book in bed.
i like mazes. SB has a character called maisy the maize fairy who makes an amazing maize maze every year – she did it about 3 weeks ago!!
and crumpled up money outwith a purse is finders keepers.
Comment by HelenHaricot — 15 July 2007 @ 12:07 am
That few minutes guessing G names amused me too, in an otherwise fairly dull and difficult day. Still wondering what the other one is!
Looks like a lovely day 🙂 I’m especially envious of the lie in!
Comment by Sarah — 15 July 2007 @ 5:56 am
Thanks for coming, it was a lovely day, really enjoyed it and glad we could share it with you. Found straw on our loo seat!
Comment by Ali — 15 July 2007 @ 12:38 pm
The pictures are excellent! It looks like a great place to visit, especially if there are twenty pound notes laying around.
Are you any closer to guessing the gender of the chickens?
Comment by Lucy — 15 July 2007 @ 7:52 pm
Lucy, nope! I think we’ve decided that they are either all cockerels or all hens. I’m hopeful that they are not cockerels again now, having seen the hens that are the same breed as ours at the farm they look very like the hens and the cockerels are way bigger. If they are all the same gender then it would explain why none of the ‘secondard sexual traits’ are being exhibited – there is no need!
Comment by Nic — 15 July 2007 @ 11:46 pm