A BIG Caterpillar!

Privet Hawk Moth Caterpillar! Not a bad find for a Wednesday afternoon :)

Enjoying our Summer Break

Holiday Club.  Free Holiday Club.  That's all I have to say about last week! :)

The week before:

Our favourite nature experts (our lovely ex neighbours) came to visit and the children chatted with them about moths, butterflies, nests and favourite Roman emperors...

...and they helped us identify some nests we have on our nature table.

The children's cute cousins came to visit for a few days.  They played pirates, climbed trees, played in the pool, went to sleep super late, ...

... had a few tea parties...

...and used the garden as a huge craft table :)

The cousins went home and we built a den in the woods with bestest Papa who knows all you need to know about surviving in the wild - although we did eat biscuits and we did go home for dinner and bed.  Hee hee!

Waiting for Papa's train.

Helping Mummy

The kiddies had a great opportunity to go horse riding at a nearby livery yard.

Lotions, Potions and a Garden for Grandad

We had a Lotions and Potions afternoon.  Incredibly it kept the children entertained for almost the whole of six hours.

Craft on wooden circles.  

..........................................................................................................................................

My father was supposed to have retired this week.  He had talked of fishing and creating and tending a vegetable garden as his big retirement plan and he had been looking forward to it for years.  He died unexpectedly and traumatically three months ago: three months before his 66th Birthday, three months before his longed-for retirement day.

It has been an incredibly painful three months for my mother and my five siblings, as well as my children and their cousins who lost their Grandad, whom they loved very much.  In his honour we made our own vegetable garden, something I have been planning to do officially once I no longer had a toddler and now seemed the right moment to give it a go.  

Previously we have tended the odd strawberry plant and tomato plants, but this time we have chosen a piece of garden, tended the soil and planted turnip, carrot, radish, pea and spinach seeds, which are still ok to plant at this time of year.  

It's now watered and ready to go.  Watch this space.  We love you Grandad.

A Beach Holiday in the Medieval Town of Rye Harbour

 I took the children on a beach holiday last week.  We stayed on a nature reserve: Wow, it was stunning and refreshing and SUNNY!

The Dartford Crossing which spans the River Thames: worth the traffic jam waiting to get on, just to see my Boy's face.

A mile walk to the Beach.  My little man walked the whole way there and back on his tiny legs.

A quick stop at the Nature Reserve Information Centre

World War II bunker.  I have the bruise on my head as proof of its low doorway.  Clever.

Heart = melted.  My Boy drew this portrait of me in his holiday book (writing aided by Panda Girl) and I dissolved a little inside.

We visited the sandy beach 3 miles away and spent two days catching freckles.

Back by our caravan Monkey Girl gasped "Look! Ragwort! Let's see if there are any cinnabar moth caterpillars on them!"  There were.  Lots.  This girl knows her stuff.

A visit to Rye Harbour town.  An anchor from a shipwreck found off the coast of the town.

Watching a show in the Heritage Centre about the history of the town.  

Tudor houses and cobbled streets.  I love my country.

Panda Girl delighted us all by discovering not one, but TWO hermit crabs.  Monkey Girl was beside herself with excitement as she came tearing up the beach to show me, trying valiantly not to spill her bucket of sea water sand and crab. :)

Ballet Girl made a shark boat for her brother.  He found lots of treasure sailing around in it.  Of course.

Bedtime in a hot caravan, or cooling off on the doorstep and drawing the seagulls?  No contest.