More movement

We suspected that a weekend camping would be the catalyst for proper crawling and now nothing is safe. Mostly we see this: and this... and this:

Warwickshire

Its crazy to think that we actually suggested to James and Beth that we altered our plans for this weekend because the weather looked so awful! In fact, the weather was wonderful for a spot of camping!

We met up near Stratford upon Avon as it is between the two of us (silly country with no good landscapes equidistant and not far from York and Basingstoke!), at a campsite that allowed campfires and no cars near the tents. Wheelbarrows were provided to move around you stuff and to play in ad infinitum!

This made everyone happy, even those too small to really appreciate the fun of wheelbarrow races.

It was a lovely campsite and pretty much empty so we had acres of space to ourselves and lovely clearings in long grass to pitch. Its no wonder that we spent most of Sunday playing around the campsite in the warm sun and only ventured out for a short walk down to the airfield to watch little planes take off and land.

The best thing about a campfire isn't a fire after dark with marshmallows, its actually breakfast. There is nothing better than rekindling a still warm fire and making breakfast on it while it warms you up in the cool morning air.

We had bacon and eggs and toasted bagels. Perfect!

Then we spent the day at the Heritage Motor Centre which Nathaniel thought was amazing. He looked at pretty much everything, and played with all the hands-on exhibits, but unsurprisingly, liked the couple of vintage cars that you were allowed to climb on the most. Thea thought they were pretty good too.

Nathaniel's next favourite was an MG Midget which had been taken apart so that you could look at cross sections of it all. We spent a long time here......

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. We got to sit and chat for ages and the kids all amused each other, each thinking the older one was amazing, and Nathaniel delighting in playing in Beth and James' tent.

Making flower wheels

More movement

We are all go for commando crawling, and the occasional bit of conventional crawling.

This area of the room was totally tidy when I left her.

Its fun to remove every item off the shelves!

A very ordinary picnic

It wasn't forecast to be a particulary sunny day, but it seemed like a good day for a picnic, so we packed ourselves into trailers and headed down the solar system.

First, an obligatory stop at the bumps by the sun for some wizzing;

and some scooting;

and some watching;

Then we scoured the sides of the cycle path for an area where dogs hadn't been allowed to make their presence known, and ended up sitting on the bridge where we ate, trying to persuade the kids to stay sitting down and not stray into the paths of the bikes that were constantly zooming past.

Then to a playground that we'd never visited before, an ice cream, and swinging;

and playing in the sand.

It wasn't a new or exciting adventure, but it was exactly what the day called for.

NB. You may wonder what on earth Nathaniel is wearing! Someone gave us a Bob the Builder dressing up outfit, complete with a hard hat, and Nathaniel has just discovered it. He doesn't really know who Bob the Builder is (though he sings the song at nursery), but he does know that he likes the outfit. He tells me that it is his fire engine outfit. Go figure......

Books

Thea has become mildly obsessed with books. Put her down for more than a minute and you'll return to find her somewhere like this:

Give her another minute and she'll be carefully trying to turn pages. Her success rate depends mainly on the position that she has ended up in!

Raspberries

Even though the weather hasn't been condusive to the growing and picking of soft fruit, it would be a crime not to stock up the freezer with raspberries. Especially as picking them is so much fun.

There is basket carrying to be done:

Though that gets harder work as you go on.

Its a good thing that there is a ready supply of sustinence on the way.

Good thing they didn't weigh him in and out!

Auntie Nimmy is always game for picking

And then there are broad bean jungles to explore.

It's so exhausting that lunch in the pub is the only way to go afterwards. And where there is a pub, there are swings!

Its a good thing that there is always someone around to lean on!

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