I’ve been cramming in Summer Holiday Activities…

With a week off in the Summer holidays with our little bear, with strictly, absolutely no clock-watching, we’ve been doing lots of activities.  We’ve been cramming in a non-busy way 😉

 

There have been no rules really.  Just enjoyment, relaxation and a few lie-ins!

~

Hubby and I are firm believers in ‘down time’ and letting our bear do what she likes in holidays and at weekends, basically following her lead.  But I had a mental bucket list that I wanted to keep in mind, ready for those “I’m boooored” moments when she needs that extra stimulation and so far mummy, daddy and our little bear have:

~

Been outdoorsy.  We’ve visited the local parks.  If our bear had her way, this would be a daily occurrence but she has to go in the paddling pool in her Ariel swimming cossie and unfortunately the weather’s been a bit chilly at times!  The local recs haven’t had a look in.  It’s the ‘big park’ every time.  We don’t get the opportunity to do the park all that often because of work/childcare time restraints in the week and often the weather’s not great at the weekends.

~

Been crafty!  Because there’s nothing our little bear likes more than making and doing, we had the paint box at the ready.  She painted her bedroom wall with daddy bear and this week she has painted a mural onto that wall.  We’ve also made crocodiles from a Toucan Box we had stashed away for the hols.  I’ll be blogging about that very soon…

~

Been cultural.  We visited the local museum just today and in the process learnt about dinosaurs, the local area during the war and in the Ice Age.  Our bear flitted from one room to the next but she did enjoy it!

~

But the biggie, the cherry  on top, the icing on the cake, was a desk that we put up for her.  This is no ordinary desk though.  It’s one we converted from her old cot 🙂  More on that on the blog in the coming weeks too…

~

So, our week has been enjoyable, restful, invigorating, stimulating, lovely and crammed (in a sort of non-busy way!..)

And that is my word this week ~ “crammed”.

What’s your word?

Join in at The Reading Residence.

~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Food, fun and family

Picture source: Blog.unispain.com

Food, fun and family sums up our weekend very nicely!  Growing up on a farm, I’ve taken for granted all the things that I’ve done as a child that other children might not have a chance to do at the drop of a hat.  Digging around for seeds in soil, driving tractors, having rides on tractors, getting involved in harvest, ‘wild oating’ (or weeding in layman’s terms) and the freedom you feel playing on a farm.  These things really are the stuff of childhood memories.

Over the weekend I loved every single minute of watching our little bear with her ‘pop’ digging around in a freshly drilled sugar beet field, picking out 6 little blue seeds and re-sewing them.  Then clambering around on a ploughed field with her cousins, searching for bits of ‘treasure’ (broken pottery) and keeping her ‘loot’ in her pocket.  Finally, playing football, then piggy in the middle, and then rolling her cousin around on the lawn in a springy tunnel.

There was plenty of yummy food (thanks Mum), not forgetting the Waffleberry pudding (thanks Big Sis!), plenty of adventure, plenty of ‘raw’ learning, plenty of digging, plenty of laughs and generally plenty of fun!

~

I’m linking up with #TheThemeGame of ‘family’ at The Reading Residence and Redpeffer with this post.

Looking for something new to do?  Join in!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Thank you.

So what do you think to CBeebies ‘Topsy and Tim’?

Let’s face it, ‘Topsy and Tim’ on CBeebies isn’t very realistic really is it?  Now, don’t misunderstand me here. I know that it’s an adaptation of the popular books.  But I had high hopes for the children’s TV series, because I was a huge Topsy and Tim fan in my childhood.  And I do enjoy watching the new series.  In fact it’s one of my current favourites, but the truth is that us parents need to relate!

Yes, the twins are cute and quaint but first up, we’ve never seen anything close to a meltdown from either the twins or parents.  The closest we have come was when Tony Welch and Vinda came to play and a catastrophe was in the midst.  But pizza came to the rescue.  And they all lived happily ever after.  We’ve also seen milk get spilt on ‘King twin Tim’.  Tim threw a bit of a strop and Topsy’s bottom lip wobbled.  But big deal and no, I’m sorry, I don’t buy that!  The actors are great and granted, ‘mummy’ doesn’t get to drink any tea, never mind a hot cuppa, or sit down.  But just once (or maybe twice!), I’d like to see how she deals with a full on tantrum.  Or two.  At the same time.  Wicked aren’t I?!

It was interesting to read what one of the creators Jean Adamson thought about it.  Read it yourself here.  What do you think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding Working Mum Guilt. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Thank you.

Picture source: via http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/