Dusk

Last year, Nathaniel and I marked the changing of the clocks by embarking on torch walks before supper. We'd go out, armed with a torch each, and chase the "dancing lights", light up trees and generally play in the dark.

This year, the scooty bike is the preferred method of transport, and Nathaniel has become very interested in sunsets. Fortunately, at this point, the sunset is late enough to make it interesting to chase. He is also very excited as he has lights on his bike, and has been really looking forward to it being dark enough to use them.

So off we went on to the Moor. It was mild with a warm breeze and felt properly autumnal. We met several friends on their way home from work, and many exciting dogs.





We enjoyed the sunset, and I discovered that I couldn't work out how to take a picture in which you could see both the sunset and the boy.

Then we went off-piste and explored a muddy path and collected golden leaves for making art with later in the week.



By the time we got home, it was properly dark, so N felt that he had got the most out of his bike lights, and we were ready for warm spiced apple juice. Marvellous!

Something different

Poor Nathaniel has suffered lately from our to-do list. Weekends are filled with me having random naps and us not doing anything exciting because we have to purchase some random bit of baby gear that we forgot that we didn't have, or varnish some boat, or paint some walls. He was quite distraught when we left the sailing club at lunch time on Sunday. He couldn't possibly see how returning to the house to sort out some more boxes of accumalated junk could be more important than sailing.

So when we had a random Monday with everyone at home, we decided that we wouldn't be useful and do stuff just for fun instead. A couple of weeks ago we noticed how interested Nathaniel was in town. We never go there except to dash into a particular shop to buy a specific thing and hardly ever wander. So we decided to go into town, have some lunch, go to the slipper shop (N needs slippers), but have no other proper agenda.

We even decided to get the bus rather than cycling, which was greeted with great enthusiasm. Waiting at the bus stop meant we had to watch all the different vehicles (always fun), and then there was the excitement of sitting at the front of the top of a double decker bus!





Lunch was taken at Pizza Express, and Nathaniel excelled in remembering all the guidlines about eating out that we had discussed. His behaviour was marvellous. We were seated in the bar area, which normally I dislike, but it meant that we could watch the waiters preparing all the drinks, which was a great hit.



Nathaniel took this picture:



It was so over stimulating, that N was exhausted by the end and suggested that we went and had a nap somewhere! So we had a brief rest at the library with some books and then wandered leisurely through town towards the slipper shop, with lots of time to stop and chase pigeons.

Nathaniel was very thorough about seeing them all off, and his plan of campaign was so efficient, that by the time I had got the camera out, he had rid the square of almost all of them. Hence my photo is not the entertaining action shot I was after!



Then there was some good climbing along walls and running along pavements. All good Nathaniel fun.





After all that, we were all good for nothing apart from home and some quiet reading! Auntie Nimmy came over for supper (always well received) and then Ian and I went out for dinner at a real restaurant. A very superb day!

new posts

Sorry - we've been a bit tired, busy and generally distracted. But a post about N's birthday has eventually appeared. Of course, it had to be put in the right order, so please scroll down to read..........

Commodore's Trophy

Trophies at our sailing club are a serious business. Not so much the competition! For some reason we have a collosal number of trophies to give out at the end of each year, and it sometimes feels like we are just dividing them equally between us all rather than competing for them. There are some that no-one wants - the Alex Smith trophy is giant and unwieldy and requires polishing. There are some that are just a pain - a few of the second crew ones are so light that the wind blows them off the mantlepiece. Most people just put them in a box in the loft and forget about them until they are demanded back the following year!

However, when we are actually racing, we somehow manage to maintain that it is important who wins them, and so sometimes the races end up a little strange. This year, Steve, as Commodore, decided that the Commodore's trophy should be a personal pursuit race in order to allow everyone a good chance of winning. He and Hugh and I were OD, and Nathaniel decided to race with Ian.

There really wasn't any wind, so they decided to take the RS200 (!). Nathaniel, as usual, helped to rig and launch the boat with enthusiasm.







There really wasn't ANY wind!





But Nathaniel enjoyed himself (and the chocolate rations that were taken on board).







And it didn't stop them from winning the race and therefore the trophy! There was general excitement across the club about this, and most people failed to note that Ian may have something to do with the result. Even now, several weeks later, everyone refers to the fact that Nathaniel has won the Commodore's Cup.

There is general disappointment about the fact that he will not be at the Annual Dinner to collect his trophy (it's on the same night that we are expecting Adama to arrive, so we've sent our apologies), and no-one can seem to remember, that even if Ian and I were planning to go, it would be unusual for a 3 year old to be attending a dinner that starts at 8pm!

You can't say that YRISC doesn't support it's younger members!

Maisie's Wings

When I saw these wings on the internet, I knew that Maisie would need a pair to dress up with. So I made them for her birthday, and I'm rather pleased with them.


Fortunately, after modeling them for me, Nathaniel wasn't that interested by them, and was happy to package them up for Maisie.

Birthday

Nathaniel had a fine third birthday! Thank you all for your cards and presents.

Ian and I had to be at work on the actual day, but we had cards at breakfast;



And then we both took the afternoon off so that we could do opening of presents;





playing with new toys;







and eating cupcakes (Nathaniel's favourite). In the evening, as per tradition, several of OUR friends came around (also bearing gifts), and we had more cake (thank you Auntie Nimmy):



Nathaniel wasn't impressed with the idea of being sung to (we suspect that he hadn't enjoyed it at nursery that morning), and after much enthusiasm for lighting the candle, he hid under the table. So we abandoned singing, and just ate cake.

Then he went to bed and we all celebrated surviving another year by over-ordering curry!

At the weekend, we had a low-key birthday party - friends and their families over for playing, coffee and cake. It turned into an all-day affair, with people dropping in and out and in again throughout the day, and different people for each meal! It was really nice. Nathaniel didn't get overwhelmed, no-one cried, and everyone had fun.






Auntie Nimmy excelled herself on the cake front:





The bell tent was out in force;





and we made up for being cruel parents and never providing money to go on moving rides outside supermarkets etc by providing a special treat:





It was well used by all ages!





By the evening, everyone was exhausted, happy and generally very merry. Exactly how a birthday should be!

Preparations 2011

Dance of the Woodlice

Nathaniel very much enjoys being creatures other than little boys. He is very likely at any point in the day to say "I a little owl/cat/dog/bird/earwig", and he'll then let you know that you are a big owl/cat/dog/bird/earwig. You'll often then get a short lecture on his distinguishing features - whether he has fur or feathers, his colour, how he moves, the noise he makes etc etc.

It's all very entertaining.

But my favourite is when he is a little woodlouse. Woodlice dance to Sans Saens' Dance Macabre (of course - you knew that....). This is the bit where they get stuck on their back and wiggle their legs in the air:


It's worrying quite how carefully he has been observing them!

Things that are fun

Scooty biking to nursery in the morning:


Hugging the baked apples:


Nathaniel loves baked apples, and tells them so every time we make them:"I like you baked apples - you are very spicy and tasty".

Galtres

Over the bank holiday, we went to the Galtres Festival - a little local festival that has evolved from a beer and food festival into a family extravaganza of bands and beers.

As you are well aware, I'm writing this a good month after the event, so you'll have to make do with the edited highlights. As it is we didn't take a camera (we sadly lost the little camera last winter, and we didn't like the idea of taking the expensive SLR to a festival), so this is a bit bereft of photos.

Mud
It rained. For several days beforehand and then most of the first day. And people walked around on the wet grass until there was no grass left. So we got to experience the seven ages of mud right from the sludgy stuff squidging around the grass, through molten flowing liquid mud, to sticky, half-foot deep quagmire that sucked toddler wellies off every other step, all the way to dried rocky ravine mud. As someone who was at Glastonbury in the Year of the Mud, before they installed the amazing drainage system, I wasn't too bothered, but some people didn't enjoy it, and the campsite emptied out on Sunday quite dramatically.

Typically, the kids weren't too bothered. They didn't like it the first time they fell over and got caked in soft runny stuff, but once we had explained that we weren't going to wipe it, that it just dried and then you brushed clumps of it off leaving an insulating brown crust, they just got on with it! It meant that there was none of the sitting round on the grass, listening to bands, nursing a cold beer while the kids ran around us, which is what we had all been imagining, but it just added an extra dimension to the complexity of moving around the festival site.

We had to do quite a bit of hosing down when we got home!


The amazing bell tent
You wouldn't think we could get more enthusiastic about the bell tent, but we can! The bell tent was in it's element. Cars weren't allowed on the campsite - you had to carry things in. When we arrived at the site, it was chucking down with rain - really throwing it down. But Nathaniel and I were smug in the knowledge that during the 10 mins that Ian spent taking the tent to the campsite, he wasn't just finding a pitch and dumping the tent to get rained on like everyone else, he was putting up the tent, so that we could retire to the dry while he brought all the other kit.

Then as the rain continued, we sat in the tent with the door open, watching everything that was going on, with no rain getting in at all. There wasn't a nylon tent on the site that you could do that in.

And we quickly met the other bell tent enthusiasts - five others around us - and spent hours afirming how great our tents were!

The awning was a godsend as well. While other people had a swamp outside their doors, we rigged the awning between us and the Turner's tent and had a covered, dryish mud area where we could barbeque, put chairs and generally shelter without running for the cover of tents.

The buggy

We don't use the buggy much anymore, Nathaniel prefers to scooty bike, so we felt a bit silly taking such a big conveyance to a festival. But we had the idea that it would enable us to carry stuff around the site during the day easily, and give Nathaniel somewhere to have a bit of a rest without returning to the tent. Obviously that turned out to be not even an option once the mud started to stiffen up, but the buggy had already turned out to be worth it's weight in gold.

Carrying three days worth of food and camping equipment from a distant car park to a tent doesn't sound too arduous, but when the car parks have all been closed due to the fact that no-one could move the cars through the mud, and your car is miles away, and it's tipping with rain, and the mud is deep and squelchy, life is much easier if you can load up a buggy and push it!

Nathaniel the wonder-toddler

Festivals aren't necessary the best place for 2 year-olds, especially when they are very muddy. There is noise 24 hours a day, and nowhere to retreat. But Nathaniel took it in his stride. We anticipated that he would find the stages rather loud, and got him a pair of ear defenders which he wore with pride and as result really enjoyed seeing bands.


As it was, this was the most amazingly family friendly festival that I have ever seen. Along side all the story-telling, sing-a-long sessions, shadow puppet shows and tents filled with sofas and tea, there was a whole kids field with a tent full of brio! Nathaniel spent a good afternoon playing with trains and castles and planes while I reclined on bean bags and chatted to the play workers.

The rest of the time he happily squelched his way around in shorts and wellies, encrusted with mud up to the waist, with his cap on his head and backpack on his back taking in the sights and sounds.

In the evening when our friends were wrestling their over-tired toddlers into bed, we sat around the barbeque with a big carry keg of beer from the beer-tent while Nathaniel peacefully went to sleep. Star child!


Bands
We weren't really expecting to see many bands, particularly when it became apparent how muddy it was going to be. After bedtime, someone was going to need to stay with the sleeping boy. So we drew up a rota according to who liked what the most, and resigned ourselves to the fact that only one of us would see most of them, especially, the Sunday night headliners, the Levellers.

But come Sunday night, Nathaniel had been so good, that we agreed that after supper he could get ready for bed and then come out to see a band in the dark so that he could see all the lights. He decided that he was going to do this in the buggy, so we bundled him up in warm pyjamas, blankets, ear defenders and a hat, and pushed him over to see Beyond all Reason, who we both wanted to see. He was fascinated, and then promtly fell asleep in the second song! So Ian and I both saw them, and then pushed him over to the Levellers, and due to the complicated way that the site worked, got to see both bands from relatively near the front. Excited doesn't really cover it!!

All in all, we had a great weekend, and although the mud made it a different experience, it wasn't a disaster at all. We're already considering tickets for next year........

Adventures of the Bell Tent

It wasn't really an impulse buy, it's just that we had managed to shrink our usual decision making process time scale of around 18 months to two weeks on this occasion. That sounds a lot like impulse for us!

Buying our last tent was done out of necessity rather than true desire, mainly because we figured that it was going to be hard camping with a baby in our Vango Delta which required one to get in on your hands and knees. But we didn't really think it through as carefully as we should have, probably because we didn't really know much about camping with babies and definitely had never considered taking something so ludicrous as a travel cot with us. Basically our hearts have never been in big tents - we've always been light-weight on equipment (we never had camping chairs until Nathaniel was imminent), and the idea of sleeping in a nylon palace rather than a luxurious bivouac didn't really appeal.

But it became apparent this year that getting two adults, one growing Nathaniel and one Adama (who would probably also grow) into our tent, was going to get a bit tricky.

So we started looking at other tents. We spent hours on the internet, and ages sniffing around other people's tents at campsites. We went along to a proper outside tent exhibition and climbed into tens and tens of tents. And while this was great fun (Nathaniel enjoyed counting the bedrooms, finding the built-in storage and unzipping all the electric hook-up zips and pulling tufts of grass through), we never found a tent that we wandered into and felt at home. In fact, the tents we liked the most were little low ones, much like our very old ones, and we found ourselves pondering how soon we could have one little tent for us and one for the kids.

And then the internet struck. And I saw a bell tent on someone's website. And was smitten. And I showed Ian, sort of as a joke, and he became more obsessed than I was.

We dutifully kept looking at modern tents, but none of them matched up. We started pacing out its footprint in other tents and obsessively observing living arrangements, and came to the conclusion that we had entered the realm of the yogurt-weavers, and nothing except a Baden-Powel worthy canvas monster was going to satisfy us.

So we bought it, immediately put it up in the garden, and instantly it was perfect.










So this weekend we took it for it's first outing. Just up to the moors, to a little campsite on a farm with room for only a few tents (a good antidote for the Butlins-for-Boden we visited in Rutland), and played.


It was perfect. We have been broken records with our exclamations of "I love our bell tent!"

It's made out of polycotton, so its lighter than canvas (just!), and is light and airy and aesthetically pleasing inside. It takes just 15 minutes for one person to put up on their own (and that was just the first attempt!). It has no bedrooms, so camping is a proper communal activity, just as it ought to be. Privacy in a tent is an illusion, so why not stop trying?!

I thought I was over-indulging my kiln-coveting tendencies by making bunting out of scraps of old pyjama, outdoor cushion and ian's shirt material (thank you Mf for all the bits and advice!), but it is lovely, and makes the tent feel all cosy and festive.


Nathaniel thinks the whole thing is brilliant and saying "I like the bunting - I like the stripy flags. I like the bell tent!", and we have found that unlike a nylon tent, sitting inside somehow feels like sitting outside. We have so enjoyed actually being inside it, which is very weird.




While on the moors, we forayed across the purple-heathered high moor to the North Yorks Steam Railway at Grosmont and spent a happy day watching steam trains and visiting their workshop.


Its been pretty much a year since we went there last, and Nathaniel's enthusiasm hasn't wained, though he is still somewhat alarmed by the volume. It took about 10 minutes before he would venture out of the doorway of the waiting room and then would only sit on a bench away from the tracks next to a parent.


He did get as far as standing on the platform, but he still insisted on an arm wrapped around him at all times, and when Ian suggested that the train might sound it's whistle, he ran as fast as he could back to his doorway!


On Saturday evening, the forecast drizzle appeared and we took the opportunity to experiment with our awning......!


Yes, it's pretty much the same size as the tent, and probably a bit overkill. But it is beautiful as well, and will be very useful when camping in the rain to create a bivouac to sit in of an evening around a campfire. We spent a long time investigating various arrangements of poles and guy ropes.

This morning was exactly how camping should be. Warm and sunny and beautiful, and we sat in our doorway (handy to have a bit of insulation so that we didn't wake everyone else at 7 in the morning), and ate bagels and watched the cows. It was very pretty.




Striking camp was so quick - much quicker than with a giant nylon tent with more poles than brains. It helped that Nathaniel took himself quietly into the car, put on his favourite CD (alarmingly, Toby Keith - a patriotic American country singer!) and sat reading his vehicle book.


Then we went for a walk/scooty bike along the Cleveland Way past some rather fine fishpools created by the monks of Rievaulx.


And no walk is complete without compulsory splashing and throwing stones into a stream. We could have stayed there for hours.






We had the country's second best fish and chips and an ice cream in Helmsley and then headed home, feeling as if we had had a relaxing week away rather than just a brief weekend. Everyone is smiley and happy and looking forward to next weekend's adventure in the bell tent - Nathaniel's first festival.

Watch this space!