Fresh Air and Fun

I could have easily tagged this post as "Just Another Manic Monday!" for within minutes of waking Dave and myself were dealing with a plumbing problem and an hour later the car refused to start!!  Thank goodness I'd remembered to say a short prayer before allowing my feet to hit the floor, God's goodness and peace kept me calm, no shouting or less than favourable words, nothing short of a miracle I'd say!!

 By 10:30 am both problems had been sorted and although we had to change our original venue we had a fantastic day and all within a 20 minute drive from our home.  So without further ado here are our pictures:

 Our first stop was to visit our lovely friends in Silverdale, we buy all our wood from them.  They own a  forest at the back of their house and  they only take trees that have felled on their own due to decay or high winds.  To the right of the forest is a beautiful walled garden where they keep several hives, their honey is just delicious.

The Wolf House Gallery was our next stop.  We had hoped to feed the kids but their gluten free options were almost non existent, it was a choice of soup but no gluten free roll and a coconut slice, hardly likely to feed two hungry tums.  The kids however did have a great time in the small play area and I had a quick look in the gallery.

Shot taken from the top of the drive.

Pip found an outside toy box containing "my baby" and the two were inseparable for the duration of the visit.

Benedict doing what he loves best, just digging!

The studio where the artist in residence works, I just love the Christmas tree made from logs of wood, it is quite delightful.

Heart design hung on one studio wall.

An owl acting as gate keeper.

A sign that says it all.

By now our tums were truly rumbling so we made the short journey to our favourite nature reserve and feasted on baked potatoes, soup and warm drinks.  Their is a little table with children's books, crayons and paper so Benedict and Pip were kept busy:

Pip engrossed in her "Work", she tries so hard to copy some of Benedict's writing it is quite sweet.

View from one of the bird hides.

Looking hard.

" I saw it mummy... I saw a penguin!!!!" 

Pip and I having one of our regular discussions it goes like this:

Pip, "I no want the reigns"

Me, "Then you have to hold my hand and walk nicely"

This time she agreed and we walked together.  Benedict as usual was "going his own way" and  ran ahead to the feeding station, perfectly normal for a boy his age but not one who is often not hypo aware.  It is a constant dilemma between allowing him the freedom he craves and keeping a constant watching brief on an all too often volatile medical condition.  I managed not to comment and he was all smiles at having watched the birds on his own.

Before leaving we stocked up on bird feed and both kids had great fun in swishing their hands in the seed bins, very therapeutic I know.  I might just look into filling an lidded box with some popping corn as a cheaper alternative, I bet Pip in particular would have fun pouring and digging.

All in all a good day and plenty of smiles all around.