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Tree-Trunk Drum Fun!

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We love our country park!

After the adventure playground or the farm trail we go back through a woodland walk. Right at the start of it is a natural playground sculpted from tree-trunks: both artistic & fun!

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The taller trunks are actually drums. They have slits cut into them & in such a way that they make a different noise depending on where you bang them with a stick.

Jake & Ellie however are more interested in climbing & jumping!

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The game used to be that I had to lift them onto the first stump then zoom them through the air  - while saying “WEEEE!”, of course – to the next one.

Now that they’re so much more physically able they just need me to life them on then they jump off. Which is just as well as I have a bad back at the moment, to go with my dodgy shoulder!

After we’d done that & run around for a bit they discovered something new: a low-hanging branch to swing from!

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This is another new activity here. As with many other things they’d seen some older children doing it & so of course wanted to try it themselves. Not always a good idea, but this time it was fine!

They hung, they swung – and they fell! But they’re physically capable enough they have no problem doing that either.

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And they had a swingin’ good time!

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1-DSC00907I may have spoilt the mood slightly however by insisting on singing “I’m the King  / Queen of the Swingers, the jungle VIP” etc. to them afterwards…

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Bad singing aside, it’s a magical little spot & one we all enjoy

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Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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School Runner

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I got 2 pre-schoolers walking the streets…I need ya, Dad. This is a bad one, the worst yet. I need the School Runner; I need your magic.

Not quite what Jake & Ellie’s pre-school teacher said to me. But it might have been.

And, to be fair, she hasn’t actually said anything like that to me at all. I just couldn’t resist appropriating a quote from one of my favourite films

- for I am now officially a School Runner!

Cue swelling spacey Vangelis synths while my spinner car swoops over city skyscrapers before descending onto the mean streets of suburban south Wales

In my head, anyway…

The reality is slightly different.

Jake & Ellie have been eased gradually into their new life as pre-schoolers: at first 2 afternoons a week, then 3, & now they’re up to the full 5.

To start with the Mummy & I were dropping them off & picking them up together; now we ‘take turns’. She likes to do it herself when she can, & she does. I can usually go with her on her days but we want them to get used to just 1 of us collecting them as she can’t go with me on my days.

They are really enjoying pre-school & are usually excited to be going. We just point them in the right direction & off they go; taking them there isn’t a problem.

Picking them up again afterwards, however…

I gaze with envy at the other parents walking along sedately, hand in hand with their little darling – or little darling & slightly bigger & more mature little darling – trotting along sweetly at their side.

I’m not sure what they think when they look at me. They’re probably too busy trying to avoid a flying Jake as he attempts to become the fastest 3-year-old on Earth. There’s a nasty chicane at the gate which is always trouble, then a long lane which is perfect for a little boy intent on doing his best Usain Bolt impression. The lane leads to a footpath then a busy road, & he hasn’t quite got it into his head yet that running onto roads is generally a bad idea.

There’s usually shouting.

Ellie on the other hand likes to dawdle. There are lots of little walls on the way & she sees it as her mission in life to walk on every one of them, very slowly, balancing with her arms in the air so she doesn’t fall off. Except she sometimes does. Some of the walls are in people’s gardens. “That belongs to someone else” is a sentence which just doesn’t seem to register in the world of a 3-year-old, or at least our 3-year-olds.

There’s usually shouting.

Of course I try to grab their hands on exit. They’re surprisingly quick, especially Jake, so that often doesn’t happen. Even if it does they’re also surprisingly strong & are experts at wriggling free.

We’ve tried wrist-straps, but that caused World War 3. They actually seemed genuinely hurt so we haven’t had the heart to try them again.

The one time I used the buggy, strapping them in, was during a freezing rainstorm where they seemed to accept my argument that we were doing it so I could get them to the car as quickly as possible. I’m not convinced it would work on a normal day, but that’s the plan for my next time.

I’d love to hear about the experiences of  other School Runners, especially other parents of twins. Is it smooth sailing getting them home or are yours little terrors like ours?

It seems to me to be a twin thing, but I could be wrong!

I don’t think there’s any real danger; it’s just stressful so I’d like it to be better! We always make it home more or less all in one piece, unless you count stress as an injury. Where, even if I don’t manage it, I feel like having a sleep – and when I do I hopefully won’t dream of electric sheep or unicorns ;)

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An Active Weekend

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I’m joining in with this week’s ‘The Gallery’ on Tara’s ‘Sticky Fingers’ blog, as well as Fiona’s ‘Country Kids at Coombe Mill’ blog-link. The Gallery’s theme is ‘The Weekend’: it was a long one, & we had an active one!

We’re quite an active family. When the twins aren’t at pre-school we try to get out & about to do something active at least once a day, & often on school days too.

This last weekend was of course a Bank Holiday Weekend. And just to make it more interesting we made it a 4-dayer, starting Friday!

We’d both managed to make ourselves available all day &, after a great Monkey Music class, took them off from their afternoon pre-school. Why? There’s a fantastic place in Cardiff called Techniquest: basically a 2-storey hangar-sized space full of fun, interactive science-based exhibits.

Once a month they have a Toddler Day, each with a different theme, where they also have arts & crafts play, water-play, story-telling & the like. They love it! There’s so much to see & do, so many buttons to press, dials to turn, balls to throw: it’s always a fight to get them go home! And this time we had another first: face-painting!

Ellie was very pleased

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Jake however didn’t seem so sure

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Saturday, the Mummy took them to the excellent nearby soft-play place. I was very pleased to hear that Jake had made friends with a couple of boys there; usually it’s Ellie who does that, often finding a little gang of girls to run around with.

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On Sunday, as the weather was getting progressively better, it was our favourite country park again. We went to a different part of it this time: past the 12th-century Monastery ruins & church & the 18th-century Orangery, & to the fairy-tale themed playground.

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Throwing stones into a fountain by the Orangery

The playground not only has the usual swings & slides, but also little houses each with nursery-rhyme themed exhibits, plus a child-scaled castle – complete with secret passages, moat & drawbridge. Needless to say, they love it there!

Monday was almost a scorcher! In the morning I took them on their scooters to the local playground, & for the afternoon we had planned to go to an indoor swimming pool but ended up in a nearby water-fountain & adventure playground instead. It would have been a shame to waste all that lovely sunshine! It was great to be able to go there again for the first time since last summer & they had a great time, even though it was very crowded.

The weekend ended with big ice-creams all ’round, & with everyone going to bed having been stimulated & exercised, tired but happy.

And that’s what this parenting thing is all about really, isn’t it?

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Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Scenes From a Country Park

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We’re so lucky here to be just a drive away from the most fantastic country park, which we love so much & which we’ve tried to visit weekly, all year round & in all sorts of weather.

The range of  things to see & do is fantastic, & the twins love it. Not only that but entrance, along with most of the attractions, is free; you just pay for parking. We of course have a season ticket!

Now that it’s (allegedly) Spring & the train is up & running again we’ve settled back into our ‘warm weather’ (ha!) routine.

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The little train runs from near the entrance & chugs past farmland; through woodlands where you can try to spot nesting birds; past farm animals; past a lake full of ducks, geese & swans and with wonderful vistas of fields, hills, the ‘castle’ & even an iron age fort emerging through the trees.  It stops at the castle, then goes back.

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If it’s the afternoon (meaning “after their nap”!) we’ll probably head to the cafe for lunch.

Then we’re off down the track to the lake to feed the birds. Jake & Ellie just love it. Yesterday there was a particularly aggressive & very noisy goose chasing off all the other birds, which Ellie was both frightened & fascinated by. They had a right old ding-dong of a shouting contest; & I’m pretty sure Ellie won!

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There’s usually an activity on the lake: for instance remote-controlled model boats, swimming rescue dogs, canoes, barrel boat racing.

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After that it’s down to the adventure playground: a great collection of stuff to climb in, up, down, through, over & around.

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The last couple of times we’ve gone it’s been in the morning, & after they’re had a good play here they’re usually ready for their nap. Otherwise we’d head down to the farm trail to look at the farm animals: turkeys, chickens, rabbits, goats, including rare breeds. Then head back through the winding woodland trail with its weird & wonderful wood sculptures.

Instead we then head back up past the lake & take the short route back to the car: which is great for heroic scooting!

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That’s if we can make it past the cafe…

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You know, I think I could get used to this country living! How do you think I would look in tweed?

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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A message from Jake

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Jake & Ellie brought back some great pictures from pre-school this week; this was one.

“From the mouths of babes & infants”?

Or their colouring pens, at least.

And I’m really pleased with how good with their colouring-in is now :)

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Saturday is Caption Day!

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Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!

Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.


More Farm Fun!

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We managed to cram so much into our Easter weekend that I haven’t managed to post about it all yet! Especially as I think, with trying to do something great each day, we’d saved the best ’til last. On the Monday we went to Folly Farm Adventure Park & Zoo, in Pembrokeshire. This was one of the main attractions: 1-DSC00388-001 1-DSC00391

Peppa was there too of course. But actually I think they’d lost interest before she turned up. I think they’d sussed it. Jake said to us later at home: “It wasn’t George was it? It was a man dressed up”.* I couldn’t resist saying “Jake is a clever-clogs”…

So next we headed to the farm vehicle playground, full of all sorts of pretend heavy-duty things to pretend to drive, & miniature diggers you could move sand around from. They loved it  BUT IT WAS VERY COLD. Easily the coldest day of the long weekend. Although we would have preferred not to we’d have stayed outside if Jake & Ellie had wanted to, but by common consent we soon decided to see what the indoor attractions held for us.

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The trouble was it that seemed that everyone else had much the same idea: it was extremely crowded! By this time we needed lunch; just finding food was trouble enough, then finding somewhere to eat it even worse. We had to settle for eating standing up at the side of a walkway.

Jake & Ellie hugely enjoyed the trick mirrors we found after lunch; they’d never seen anything like that before & were fascinated 1-DSC00409 Then we found some more big vehicles to drive. But they had competition this time!

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“This is worse than the 7.50 to King’s Cross!”

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Jake, bus-driver!

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“Why do they never sit down where they’re supposed to?!”

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“Who are you? I’m the driver here!”

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“Ahhh, alone at last! Now I can put my feet up!”

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” I like tractors, I do”

There were farm animals there too, & small ‘wild’ animals in a separate building, but they were much less interested in them this time than when we visited last year. They were mad for the driving!

There was a huge indoor old-fashioned fun-fair indoors, which they loved even more, including a big, beautiful & ornate carousel. Unfortunately we didn’t get any good pictures of that. This ride was also a big hit: 1-DSC00435 1-DSC00438 Another special attraction was a children’s magic show. They had never been out to anything for which they’d have to sit still for any length of time so we weren’t sure how they’d react. But they loved it! The guy was very good, a children’s entertainer with a few basic tricks. They joined in with the “behind you!” stuff with great enthusiasm. There was also a particularly entertaining game of musical chairs between the magician & some Dads, which was eventually won by a man named Ziggy. Presumably a Bowie fan, or at least the son of one! Jake is such a sensitive soul! He cried terribly at the end, saying “I want more magic!”. He got to stroke the rabbit that had popped out of the hat, & that seemed to calm him down enough.

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Image from folly-farm.co.uk

As we were leaving it was the best we could do to dissuade them from going down the huge helter-skelter outside. Even the argument “you’re not big enough yet” wouldn’t work, as they made it by a matter of centimetres. Seriously, it was so high I would have been nervous on it, but they insisted they wanted to do it! They don’t wear nappies now so there was no way I was taking them on that thing… We somehow managed to use enough coercion &/or bribery to get them back to the car without any meltdowns. I think they knew they’d had a terrific day, despite the weather, and they went home happy. We’ll do the helter-skelter next time! Another great day to round off a great Easter weekend!

*He actually thought it was the magician who was inside the George Pig costume, but he had the right idea

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Silent Sunday: Revealed

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Yesterday’s Silent Sunday seemed to have quite a few people guessing.

So here’s the original photo:1-DSC00387 - Copy

It’s just a sunset!

A very pretty sunset, but a sunset nonetheless.

I was planning to post it as is but when I looked at the sky it looked quite a bit like a sea stretching out into the horizon.

So I flipped it & I really liked the surreal look of it so decided to post it like that instead.

I really like that, from the comments, it wasn’t clear exactly what it was: reflections on water? Snow?

No, I just stuck my head out the back door one evening last week, liked what I saw & took a quick photo.

I love digital photography.

And blogging.

And Silent Sunday :D

Silent Sunday

IMPORTANT: Public Health Wales’ Advice on Measles Epidemic

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I was going to make this a series of tweets but I think this information is important enough that it should have a more permanent place here on my blog.

If you’ve been following the news you will know that there is currently a measles epidemic centred around Swansea in south Wales.

As of today there have been 541 cases, of which at least 51 have resulted in hospitalisation. The figures have gone up by more than 100 in a week and health experts are urging parents to ensure their children receive the MMR vaccine.

Public Health Wales warn that the risk of unvaccinated children coming into contact with those already infected is “increasing every day”.

It added that it was “just a matter of time” before a child was left with serious and permanent complications, such as eye disorders, deafness or brain damage, or even dies.

The full story is here.

The following is vital information about who should be vaccinated & when if you live in or have recently been in the outbreak area. It is copied from an email I received from Public Health Wales this afternoon.

Outbreak Area: Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Llanelli

The following is guidance for those residing in or travelling to an area where there is an outbreak of measles

Age < 6 mths 6 – 12 mths   13mths – 3 yrs 4 mths   Unvaccinated children over 3 yrs 4m and adults < 45 years Adults > 45 years
  No previous MMR No Previous MMR 1 previous dose of MMR
No vaccination Give one dose of MMR vaccine. Another 2 doses (at 13 months and 3-5 years) will be required in line with UK schedule.   Give one MMR and follow with 2nd dose at recommended schedule (3 yrs and 4 mths) Bring forward second dose. There must be at least a month gap between doses. If child under 18 mths and if second dose given within 3 mths of the first  give  third dose at recommended schedule (3 yrs and four months) 2 doses of MMR at least 1 month apart Are likely to be immune. However MMR can be offered

 

There is a free MMR vaccination session on Saturday, 6 April from 10:00 to 16:00 BST at the Princess of Wales (Bridgend) paediatric outpatients department. It is aimed at children but jabs will be available for anyone born after 1970 and who has not had measles or been vaccinated against it.

GPs’ surgeries & clinics in & around the outbreak area also have drop-in sessions.

If you might be affected please don’t play Russian Roulette with your children’s health: please make sure they, &  others around them,  are protected!

Thank you for reading.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

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