We had this half a plan today to get up earlyish and head off to Dorset for the day with some basic camping (small tent, sleeping bags, camping mats, change of clothing) shoved in the car and if the weather stayed nice to find somewhere to camp overnight and come back tomorrow. But the weather looked iffy today (although it never came to anything -grr) and Ady heard on the radio that the New Forest was bracing itself for a mass onslought of visitors and campsites were reporting their busiest weekend in years so we decided following the crowds that way was probably not a great idea unless we wanted to sit in the car for most of the day.
Instead we decided to go to the Family Fun Day event at Pulborough Brooks RSPB reserve.While online looking for something else I stumbled upon details of the Worthing Fire Station open day also today so we decided to take that in on the way.
The fire station was heaving and we were there shortly after it started at10am. We watched a chip pan on fire with water poured on it demonstration, had a walk around, signed up for someone to come round for a home visit to check our smoke alarm provision and set up an emergency escape plan from the house which I thought the children would enjoy, gathered up some of the road safety freebies and then watched another demonstration .This one was about cutting out an injured person from a road traffic accident. The children were very interested in both demonstrations and although not the cheeriest of subject matters they were very impressive displays of the firefighters skills.
We went from there on to Pulborough Brooks and arrived in time to participate in some pond dipping. Davies got an impressive specimen of a waterboatman and Scarlett got the reddest non-biting red larvae the man claimed to have ever seen :).
We were all hungry by then so we sat in the park and had lunch. Davies went off to play and made friends with another boy and played tag with him for ages while Scarlett sat with Ady and I. She wanted to fill in her sheet about what she’d found pond dipping so I told her the letters to write. She was enjoying that so I decided to see how many letters she actually knew the names of and could write by herself. She got as far as J before getting fed and and going off to play again – I was impressed :). Davies was doing lots of incidental reading today too actually; he read ‘heron’ and ‘badger’ and ‘woodmouse’ all by himself :).
We moved into the ‘classroom’ to do some crafts next and the children made foam and paper sea creatures to hang in boxes mocked up as under the sea, paper plate fish, some tucan origami beak thing and some acetate suncatcher mobiles. All really good creative crafts that the kids could do themselves and enjoy :). It was so hot outside and they were so happy doing the crafts that we missed the storytelling session.
The children both then did a guess the bird song quiz and then we went to the meadow for parachute games. They both really enjoyed that 🙂
We moved on to owl pellets which Davies and I had done before from a kit so he got bored of before Scarlett. She loved it and had to be dragged away, it was right up her street! :).
We decided to have a walk round the reserve while we were there so did that. It took an hour and was actually not that pleasant at all as it was just so bloody hot. We did do some grass sweeping which was cool and we found ladybirds, crickets and grasshoppers, ants, spiders and other bugs. Scarlett and I also found an owl pellet of our own to bring home so we might soak and disscet that soon. By the time we got back to the visitor centre I was really ready to sit down, drink water and have someone fan me with oversized palm leaves though.
The skies were darkening with clouds and I really expected a big thunderstorm but nothing came and the sky turned blue again without event :(. We came home via Tesco where Davies and Scarlett were able to see Lucy at work in the pharmacy which seems tidy given how often The Rs see me in the library – I like them to see people with jobs outside the home aswell as in the home.
We came home and they played in the sandpit til their dinner was ready, we watched Who Dares Sings. They went to bed, we had a lovely curry and lots of cider and what the plan is for tomorrow is still very much up for debate.
did someone say firemen? off to check flickr, hope you took lots of pics! 😆
Comment by Liza — 27 July 2008 @ 2:47 am
hmmph, i is not impressed. on our fire station trip i took fotos of the firemens butts! 😉
Comment by Liza — 27 July 2008 @ 2:52 am
Hmm, I have to confess to fondness for women firefighters with their confidence and capable hands. There are always a couple driving a truck in Pride parade. Oh yeah, and the Paramedics too… Sorry, distracted!
Sounds like a lovely day, anyway.
Comment by Allie — 27 July 2008 @ 8:18 pm
oh yes! Having them come around to install smoke alarms was lots of fun. They came in the big engine too (but had to park it in the pub car park :-(). One very fit male firefighter and a very gorgeous female firefighter too so as a team they appeal to all 🙂
Comment by Michelle — 27 July 2008 @ 9:54 pm
Sorry Liza, it was only Ady and Davies taking photos really. I’ve never been one for fire fighters really but I could sort of see the attraction yesterday actually….
The fire check sounds like something to look forward to then – I’ll post up the time and date when it’s arranged just incase anyone wants to be being a vistor that day 😆
Comment by Nic — 27 July 2008 @ 10:14 pm