Like much of the country we've spent the last week with snow and when there's snow on the ground and children in the house there are much more exciting things than sitting inside in front of a computer. Combine that with a few days solo parenting and blogging has once again taken a bit of a back seat. The wonderful thing about snow is just how magical it is for children of all ages. Enough of a rare event here in the UK that there's a huge novelty value attached to it and all the disruptions to school and transport is exciting. Talking to the parents of other toddlers yesterday we ... read more
Review: Wigwam Play Tent
Even the recent bad weather hasn't stopped us from making the most of this lovely wigwam play tent that we have been sent to review. Admittedly all the wind and rain has prevented us from putting it up in the back garden, but Little Miss C's new bedroom is luckily large enough to accommmodate a wigwam in the middle of it and the novelty of having a secret den in her bedroom has completely delighted her. The wigwam comes boxed rather compactly but Mr C found it easy to assemble. No tools are required as all you need to do is slot together the two parts of the wooden poles with a plastic ... read more
Blowing away the cobwebs
Many thanks for all your kind words following my last post. I've had so many tweets, emails and Facebook comments that I'm struggling to respond to them all in a timely fashion. I'm somewhat blown away by the messages that I have had, especially from old school friends who have fond memories of my Dad when he used to regularly come and cheer on our lacrosse team from the sidelines. Another old school friend also reminded me of the time that he came and "helped" on our Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition (if the Duke's reading, which I'm sure he is, he ... read more
A nature butterfly
On Sunday afternoon we headed down to the annual family day at our local nature reserve here in St Albans. Mr C and I have been involved there for years helping to run things, but it's only now that Little Miss C is getting a bit older that we are getting involved more as members than volunteers. Whilst the bug hunt and pond dipping were of interest to her today, but she's not yet ready to properly try her hand at either. We also unfortunately missed the start of the storytelling session which was much more for her age range, but we were in time for the craft ... read more
Making the most of the sunshine
If you're in the UK then it won't have escaped your notice that this summer has been WET - very wet. Wet enough that going out to splash in puddles has been a common activity with Little Miss C. Wet enough that when I told her I was taking her to the local Splash Park one day her first response was to go and get her wellies and rain coat and put them on! The outdoor toys that we bought her for her birthday have been used, but we've not had the long lazy days in the garden making the most of them in the way that I imagined. This last weekend though all that changed. The sun came out ... read more
Walk to School Week
I had this blog post all planned out as soon as I heard about Walk to School Week (21-25 May 2012). Little Miss C has recently started walking both to and from nursery on her own rather than being pushed in the buggy. Half a mile each way and she loves being able to point everything out to us and tell us about what she's going to do at nursery, or what she's done that day. It's a lovely part of the day for both of us, but the slight spanner in the works this week is that she's got chicken pox so no nursery and hence no walk to nursery. Tuesday is usually nursery day so it seemed right to write ... read more
Yeo Valley – so much more than just yoghurt!
Sometimes a physical change of scenery can help you clear your head and see things clearly and that's exactly what happened to me yesterday. I was lucky enough to be invited, along with a handful of other bloggers, to visit Yeo Valley - home of yummy yoghurt and some equally yummy farmers (well, so says their TV adverts!) - to find out more about the company behind all the yumminess and their way of doing things. When I recently wrote here about wanting to use my blog to find out more about the people and things that make me smile this trip was exactly the sort of ... read more
The Great British Walking Challenge
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing" That's a statement that's been used an awful lot over the last month in our house. The weather has been awful and wet for most of April, but that's not deterred Little Miss C and I from heading out on foot and exploring the local parks and other outdoor spaces. I was therefore completely delighted when I received an invitation to take part in a guided walk as part of Living Streets' The Great British Walking Challenge. If you're someone who travels by foot then you may ... read more
Fifty things to do before you’re 11 3/4!
After my recent post about how we should be allowing our children to explore the outdoors more to help them to connect with nature I was delighted to hear on the radio news this morning about the National Trust's new Fifty things to do before you're 11 3/4 campaign. If you're not seen this on today's news then let me tell you a little about the campaign. The idea is to encourage children to put down their computer games and step away from their TV sets and instead embrace the great outdoors. They have come up with a list of fifty activities for children to try with ... read more
If you go down in the woods today…
... it'll probably be quite quiet - well it is chucking it down with rain as is typical for a Bank Holiday Monday! Luckily that wasn't the case on Saturday though when The Wick was full of children all running around as part of an Easter Hunt in aid of the Woodland Trust. Instead of having to find eggs, children instead had to collect five differently coloured tokens that were distributed across the site and then they could trade them in for a chocolate treat - all for the fantastic sum of just 50p per child. As expected Little Miss C and her trusty rabbit took the ... read more