Woo hoos abound!

Today was Tilgate Park day. I’ve decided to try and ensure we do a few more out and about home ed meets so want to plan one a month for local folk. Tilgate may well end up being the venue each time actually as people from Crawley, Horsham and further up into Sussex are able to come along as well as the more coastal folk. And we like it there. And it’s free. And it’s a wonderful location for taking pictures of us having Seasonal Walks (UK).

Today dawned very cloudy, grey, windy and threatening of rain but we set off anyway thinking we’d stick it as long as was tolerable. We had a pleasant ride up there listening to HSM songs followed by some Queen, parked just outside to avoid the £2.50 car park charge (which then justifies buying cakes and a cup of tea in the cafe instead :)) and walked up to the carpark where we’d arranged to meet any other attendees. I had a vague idea of a couple of all but definite attendees and a few more possibles so was pleased to see two families I knew and another two I didn’t. Lucy and The Rs also attended.

Julie had told me about a (very) local new HEor with a two boys aged 7 and nearly 5 who she’d told about me and I’ve been hoping to bump into her for a couple of months now but our paths hadn’t crossed as yet. She was one of the people who came along though so I was thrilled to meet her and kept shoving Davies in her sons’ direction. However call them over socialised, call them cold and wet, call them bloody miserable ingrates Davies and Scarlett announced in that spooky twinlike finishing each others sentences type way they sometimes talk that they didn’t want to play with any other children and they didn’t want me to talk to any adults, they ‘just want to spend time with you mumma’. Sigh, eye roll, stomp, huff. So I walked slightly ahead of the group, ever conscious that I looked maybe a bit aloof or shy or just slightly mental organising an event and then ignoring everyone. And equally conscious that if I’m going to be seperate from a group it’s more flattering for me to be behind them so they don’t have to look at my arse and get to see my cleavage instead 😆

So me and the children chatted about plants and trees and seasons and animals and stuff and then we got to the farm bit and they finally ran off and left me to talk to the adults 😆 Oh and Scarlett started trying to chat to one of the staff at the park who was trying to clear out the chickens about how once she’d caught one there and how she loves chickens and we have bantams but he looked slightly alarmed at this little blonde over friendly person so I distracted her with looking at the turkeys :lol:. We had a good walk round all the animals, pausing at the chickens, the peacocks, the pigs (speculated at length about where all the piglets had gone and indeed about why there were so fewer chickens that before. Scarlett’s theories that chickens might fly south or hibernate for the winter were probably quite intelligent even if they did just make me laugh :lol:). Finally we were all ready for refreshment so we went to the cafe. We’d all brought sandwiches but by virtue of buying hot drinks and some of us buying cakes we felt quite justified in sitting inside at their tables even if there were lots of big signs about ONLY CONSUMING FOOD AND DRINK PURCHASED ON THE PREMISES at them. I think the army of children, a couple of breastfeeding mothers and the fact we were probably their only customers all day meant the youth at the till turned a blind eye – either that or he was scared of us ;). Davies and Scarlett had finished eating and were starting to get on the restless (read rowdy) side so I sent them outside to play while I finished my tea and most of the children followed them.

I looked up to see Davies and Scarlett had started a game of tag with the two boys I’d been pushing them towards all by themselves and when we came out and headed to the maze for a play the friendship was cememted with them remaining a firm foursome for the rest of the afternoon. :). I managed a good proper chat with Caroline, their mum and when we called them to leave when it finally got just too wet and cold and windy to be standing there comfortably any longer Davies came over and said ‘Since you’ve made friends with their mummy and we like A and E can we see them again?’ Caroline and I laughed and said yes and he then wanted to know ‘can we see them again soon. And lots?’ so that was a result :). We walked slowly back to the car park with Caroline and her boys and Cintha and her girls before parting to go to seperate places we’d all left our cars. The rain had really set in by then and as we went down the final slope I slipped and took both children with me (they were holding my hands) so we all ended up coated in mud having flashbacks of Kessingland :lol:. We stripped off as much as we could before getting in the car (ever mindful of the implications of being involved in a car accident while in a state of undress :lol:) and headed for home.

Davies and Scarlett had some toys in the car (a soft toy rabbit of Davies’ that he calls The Velveteen Rabbit) and various horses and ponies of Scarlett’s) so they played together with them all the way home. Once home we stripped off out of remaining muddy clothes leaving them in a big pile (which I washed off in the shower in the end, no way bunging them in the washing machine would have got that amount of mud out of them!) and had a big bubbly bath followed by mugs of hot chocolate. I bunged some flapjack in the oven and the children had roast chicken and chips for their tea with still warm flapjack for pudding.

They had a DS fest followed by Simpsons movie before bed and for once I think they both went to sleep pretty quickly (although they did both reappear briefly and sniff the various spices I was using to cook our dinner and observe how much colour came out of a single strand of saffron – think we might do some natural dyeing sometime soon, maybe when the weather is better and we can do it outside) so I guess a full on week of activities followed by running around in the rain finally wore them out! 😆

I’ve had an email tonight from the Shoreham group to say we can go along to that on Thursdays, although we have actually got every Thursday for the rest of this month booked up already, which means all our Thursdays and Fridays are booked up now with me working one of the days each week and potentially going to Home Ed group (every other Thursday) or meeting up with a small circle of Home Ed friends (every other Friday) planned. With the early success of the various after school stuff this week too and a couple of potential new friends to see it all seems to be panning out nicely :).