Saturday was Wildlife Explorers. After a wobble last month Davies has decided to rejoin the younger group. I was quite surprised at his wobble, particularly as I suspect it has much to do with expectations of him to read and write, just at a point where he is doing well with both and making some real headway but I was deeply impressed with the way the leader, Diane, dealt with it all. I haven’t been around for all the WEX (as they call it) meetings as they often fall on Saturdays that I work so I don’t know her that well but have always read all the newsletters that get sent to the kids each term and seen the crafts and activities they bring home. When Davies ran out last month she was really calm, went to great lengths to make him feel okay about it, reassure him it was fine, persuade him to come back for some or all of the session and try to find out what was wrong so she could put it right. I thought then she was great :). She’d rung here on Friday to say she was hoping Davies would be at one of the sessions on Saturday and looked forward to seeing him whichever he wanted to attend.
So I took Davies in slightly early while Ady and Scarlett had a look round the shop, spoke to Diane who was delighted to see Davies (I think she was really worried he wouldn’t come at all), thanked her for her phonecall and for being so great about the whole thing and then took Tarly in. I think Davies has just really struggled with the longer time of the session (one hour to two and a half hours is a pretty big jump) along with all new faces of children plus an expectation of him to be able to read and write and pull off more advanced stuff with less support. There are more kids in the bigger group too. Scarlett will technically be able to move up when she is 8 in December although I suspect if Davies struggled she might too but at least they will probably now move up together and I know that not only is Diane prepared to accomodate them and their particular needs she is very keen and able to do so :).
With just an hour to spare and an ever darkening sky Ady and I decided to be lazy and spent the time in the cafe rather than walk round. We had a mug of coffee and a pot of tea which came to £2.50 and filled the whole tray with little jugs, pots of hot water, tea, spoons and cups and saucers. I know that isn’t cheap for just two drinks but all of the different component parts made it feel like we’d got a real bargain 😆 Or maybe I’m still enough of a child to get a thrill out of pretending to be a grown up at a tea party ;).
Davies and Scarlett had spent the whole hour out on the reserve (and had to borrow wellies (Davies, I thought he’d picked his up, he thought I’d picked them up :rolls:) and coat (Scarlett, she only had a fleece) and had spotted adders and learnt about how they are cold blooded and need to bask in the sun to soak up the heat. They were given some chocolate eggs each and we left.
We had a plan to visit a camping shop as we were on the look out for a third tent (the big Outwell is fine for our longer jaunts, the mini tent is great for chucking up for one night / in friends gardens when it is literally just serving as a temporary bedroom, but we wanted something inbetween the two as a genuine weekender / two or three night tent) but we also wanted to get Scarlett a book as an Easter present. Davies had 2 x box games (from charity shops) ready for his and Scarlett had been eyeing up a wildlife spotter book in the Pulborough Brooks visitor centre the last few times we’d been there so I thought we’d grab that for her but it wasn’t there. She said she wanted a book to fit in her rucksack with more information about British Wildlife. Ady knew of a localish garden centre with a Works concession selling cheap books which we were halfway to being at Pulborough Brooks so we decided to go there instead.
We did indeed get a book for her (A field guide to the wildlife of the British Isles along with Spot 50 insects) and picked up a book for Davies too (Spot 50 trees) and Davies and I did the ‘Spot the Bunny’ competition they had around the garden centre while Ady and Scarlett browsed. When we realised chocolate treats were on offer for completing the bunny hunt Scarlett decided she would deign to write the answers on a sheet, copied from Davies’ and they both claimed a tiny Lindt bunny each :).
We came home with enough time to have some lunch before heading out again. Scarlett seemed to be coming down with a cold but happy enough in herself so after lunch we headed over to Ros’ for her Easter Egg Hunt party. As usual when Ros has a party it is one worth attending as the food, company, surroundings and general atmosphere are always fantastic :). Ady and I really enjoyed just sitting out in the sunshine while the kids went off and played. Eventually some of us adults hid and scattered the HUGE amounts of chocolate eggs around the grounds, in bushes and trees and flower beds and up in the woods before releasing the children with loot bags to find them all :).
When all the eggs had been successfully tracked down we got the kids to line up in age order and hold up their spoils; they had all done very well 🙂
More playing, chatting, gathering round the fire and enjoying the sunshine 🙂
Ady and I had a game of pool, then Scarlett and one of the lads had a game, which was most amusing to watch and listen to 🙂
Apparently no one won, they mutually decided they’d got bored and agreed to stop and find something more fun to do instead 😆
The rest of the kids all watched Doctor Who, more food came out which Davies and Scarlett partook of but Ady and I had curry slowly cooking at home (and it was early for us to be eating ;)). We left as it started to get dark and the threatened rain finally started to pour.
Home for a sleepover for Davies and Scarlett as promised (they begged on account of it being Easter the following day and therefore a special occassion and for Scarlett having seen a few snippets of Doctor Who and deciding she was *bound* to have nightmares if she slept alone 😆 ), curry for Ady and I and the taped Doctor Who for us to watch properly.
We went off to bed having laid out the books and x box games along with a selection of mini eggs strewn around the lounge.
Sunday started fairly early for Davies and Scarlett, less early for us as we agreed they could indeed go downstairs, eat chocolate and play x box games if they wanted :). We were both presented with the home made boxes and chocolates from our day with Tasha last week and Scarlett had painted a canvas for Davies of Simpsons characters too. I also got gifted the various chocolate eggs that the kids had found at the egg hunt but decided they didn’t like. I bought Ady a selection of egg shaped, only foil packaging eggs and he bought me a bottle of caramel Baileys :).
We had a fairly lazy morning although I made a cake (my most favourite cake of Baileys and chocolate brownie cake with baileys and chocolate meringue – two layers of each sandwiched together with Baileys and chocolate whipped cream. It is delicious, if I do say so myself :)) which solved the dessert dilemma and used up some eggs. Ady got roast dinner on and my parents arrived.
Mum has clearly been paying attention as she had given the children sensible gifts and a single, unpackaged other than foil wrapped egg each. Davies got a Science Museum star constellation kit and a Simpsons 3d chess board and figures – all from charity shops and Scarlett got a new top and trousers (charity shop again) and a book and dvd of Big Cats. Very successful gifts 🙂
Ady and Davies got stuck straight into a game of chess and I’ve been really impressed with how quickly Davies grasped the rules and idea of the game. I can’t play so have no idea what is going on with it all. Scarlett and I spent lots of time looking at her books and she did some of a kit she got from us for making sea life fridge magnets with plaster of paris.
We had a lovely roast pork dinner, served with plenty of fizz and folllowed by my lovely cake and triple layered jellies for kids topped with whipped cream and wafers which they were most excited about – my kids LOVE jelly :).
More chess for Davies and Ady, Scarlett spent some time snuggled up with my Mum and Dad looking at her globe, an atlas and a book we had on the shelf about China seeing where my parents are off on a month long trip to next week (China, touring about including a 7 day river cruise and taking in all sorts of sights including the Great Wall and Tianamen Square).
Davies and Scarlett went to bed (another sleepover) and Mum, Dad, Ady and I spent a very nice evening listening to music and comedy sketches and drinking quite a lot more wine and beer.
Monday a slower start thanks to sleepovers, wine and beer :). Ady did a spectacular cooked breakfast and for some reason we all watched Toy Story on video. Davies enjoyed the nostalgia – it was his very first Grand Davies Passion when he was 2 and very much the shape of things to come with all his subsequent passions) while Ady and I just enjoyed it for being a good film :).
Both Davies and Scarlett were feeling / looking a bit peaky but I was feeling a bit cabin-fevery after being in ALL DAY LONG yesterday so was keen to go out. It’s been a gorgeously sunny day all day so we persuaded them it would be good to go and look at tents and get the duck eggs we’ve planned need to start being incubated this week to fit in with May and June’s busy calendar of weekends away in terms of hatching and being fully fledged to go outside.
First port of call was DW Camping for tent perusal. I had a budget of £100 in mind for a medium sized tent and we found one with lots of money knocked off reduced to £130. We have since found it cheaper online (although not much once you factor in shipping and several places don’t actually have it in stock) but the service there is really good with lots of come back potential so we went for it and bought it. 🙂 I am itching to have a go at pitching it but for now have satisfied myself with checking all the parts are there and being impressed with the triple section bag (poles, ground sheet and flysheet all in seperate zipped compartments which roll together in one bag, I figure you wouldn’t put a crappy tent in such an impressive bag :lol:). It’s a Royal Memphis 400 in green (which caused some consternation, ALL of our previous tents have been blue :lol:) and I think it’s going to suit our needs perfectly.
We left there and went to The Old Gardens Rescue Centre for a look around and to check their ducks eggs are likely to be fertilised. Having chatted to one of the women there for a bit, admired the turkeys and peacocks, looked at the ex battery hens and looked over the ducks they have there we picked up half a dozen freshly laid eggs to bring home, incubate and hope for results :).
We drove along to Brent Lodge which is nearby and has an impressive selection of owls and other birds of prey aswell as whatever is in their currently convalesing – today it was an swan, a couple of herring gulls, a fox cub and some geese. We chatted to the volunteer there for a while and invisaged Scarlett working somewhere similar some day .
We made a brief stop at Pagham Harbour as we were driving past and I’d never been and had a quick walk around the first leg of the footpaths, stopping to try and identify a bird which I was sure was a ‘red something’. I was proven right when Scarlett found it in one of her bird books and confirmed it was a red shank. She’s loving her little mobile library of wildlife and bird id books :).
Then it was time to come home. I fed the kids, while Ady cleaned his car out. Ady and Davies had another game of chess while Scarlett and I researched duckling incubation a bit more and then they got into pjs and I read some Humphrey to them. I chopped up the fire wood (ever conscious I won’t be swimming this week so wanting to grab exercise where I can) and Ady cooked some chips to go with the leftover game pie from last week which was just as delicious a second time round :).
And in typing this last night this would appear to be the moment I fell asleep over my laptop 😆 I woke at nearly 2am and staggered off to bed. I suspect other than watching Masterchef and eating the ears off my chocolate bunny I’d pretty much finished my account of the day anyway.