Camping Adventure

Apologies for the lack of blog posts in the last week, life has not been as hectic and manic as you might expect, instead we have been relaxing and socialising with friends.

Over the course of the last year or so I have made friends with a few of the school mums whose children are in the same year at Ruby’s school. We are very fortunate that our children play together and get on as well as the parents do.

One of the parents has a caravan and we have a tent, so it was suggested we consider going camping for a few days. As a family we love camping it gives us the ability to be able to go away on a holiday without it costing a small fortune, its the only way in which we are able to holiday now due to the cost. Last year we purchased our 1st proper tent.

Last Friday we loaded up our car with all our camping gear - it really is amazing how much we take when we go camping, I have tried to reduce it but it never really has much of an affect and the girls still end up being squashed! I think we will be investing in a trailer soon.

On arrival at our campsite we pitched our tent while our girls enjoyed a game of football and then we waited for the other families to arrive, in total there were 4 families with 11 children between us! If I am honest I was a little worried how everyone would get on with one another, but I did not need to worry as everyone got on so well.

The site we stayed at is called Thornton Holt, first impressions were how clean and tidy the site was. The site is situated close to Sherwood Forest where we spent a day, I am sure I will blog about our forest adventure shortly. The site has both electric and non electric pitches, dependant on if you require electric or not, we did need the electric as when I camp I tend to glamp! As you can see from the video of our tent!

The site has its own heated indoor pool which can be used for £2 per person or you can hire the pool in the evening for £30 which is what we did.

Other than visiting the forest we stayed on site and the children played to their hearts content whilst as adults we sat and socialised. One day one of the parents organised a sports day and the children had a great time, there was even some adult races which provided some very amusing entertainment.

We had an amazing time camping with friends and I am disappointed to be back at home, I think its safe to say we are all hoping to go back again soon!

Princesses and Barbies

Ruby has appeared to have grown up rapidly over the summer holidays; some of her clothes are now starting to get a little bit small, so we have had to go and buy her some new ones; but what I have noticed more over the summer holidays is that she has grown in maturity, she is no longer my baby girl, she is now getting bigger, has opinions on what clothes she wants to wear and will not hesitate to tell me if she doesn't want to wear something. Is this giving me a glimpse of what living with teenage girls is going to be like?

Ruby has started to love anything that contains a Disney Princess and would love nothing more than to spend all day in the Disney store. I love taking her shopping, but we do have to look at absolutely everything in the store at least three times; I wish we had more money so I could buy her more, but we just don't and that is unlikely to change unless we win the lottery any time soon.

Recently my sister, Ruby's auntie, was having a clear out of all her old toys and kindly gave Ruby quite a few barbies; to be honest I didn't think Ruby was old enough to be playing with them and had intended to store them until she was older, however she loves them and plays with them all day every day without fail. The barbies even go outside and play with her and can often be found at night when its tidying up time, hidden in among the flower beds. Its so cute to see Ruby playing with the dolls and creating role plays, however there is that part of me that wants her to slow down so she does not grow up so quickly; I know this is purely selfish, but I worry that she will be so grown up in the blink of an eye and then moving out and getting married!

The weather really has been awful so far this bank holiday weekend with plenty of rain, so there was no way I would be venturing outside as I am only able to wear skirts or dresses as my knee is still too swollen to put on any trousers (if your wondered why my knee is swollen you can read more here), therefore we have spent the majority of the time inside, it has been a while since we last did any art and craft so I asked Ruby what she would like to do and she suggested we make princess tiaras!

As you can see Ruby had a great time and loves her tiara.

Here is the finished tiara!

Bank Holiday Monday - Memories

Its been a very hectic few days, hubbie was away attending a wedding in Dorset, leaving me alone with the girls until he returned home on Sunday afternoon. To make up for spending some time away, we decided that today was going to be our family day. It is only recently that we have started to make a habit of spending time together as just the 4 of us, and actually doing something rather than just staying at home. I find that if we stay at home, we don't really do a lot; we all do separate things rather than spending time as a family.

Today we ventured over into Northamptonshire to a place called Coton Manor; there are over 10 acres of beautiful gardens and a massive 5 acre bluebell wood. My mother had recommended Coton Manor to me as she remembers visiting it with her Nana when she was as a child. Next time I might even take my mum with us as Coton Manor is definately a place we will visit again. You can find more details on their website www.cotonmanor.co.uk

On arriving at Coton Manor the sun was shinning so brightly, but it was a little bit windy. Ruby was very excited about looking at all the pretty flowers and as soon as we were in the garden, she was walking up sniffing them and saying 'beautiful, they smell so lovely" Everyone near to us who overheard were all smiling at her.

We had a lovely time ventured into all the different sections of the gardens and even came across lots of different animals that were happily walking around the gardens at their leisure.

There were even some flamingos; at first we didn't think they were real so Ruby walked up to one and stroked it before it let out a squawk and ruffled it's feathers, much to our surprise. I have never seen ruby move that fast!

Flamingos!

We settled down for a spot of lunch near to the flamingos and it wasn't long before we were being surrounded by various different animals who all wanted to come and taste some of the picnic that I had packed.

Chickens joining us for lunch!

After lunch, we followed a path that led to an amazing sight; bluebell woods! Wow, it was such a wonderful sight, I have never seen so many bluebells. It was just magically, I loved it and it felt like we were in the woods with fairies.

Magical Bluebell Wood

Ruby loved running through the bluebells and Lottie was very happy to sit and feel the bluebells in her fingers whilst posing for some photos.

We had a really lovely time at Coton Manor and its such a shame that the bluebells only last a few weeks; we are definately planning on returning very soon and can't wait until next year when we can go back into the bluebell woods.

A Swell Bank Holiday!

I hope everyone has had a lovely bank holiday; is it me or do bank holiday weekends seem to go quicker than regular weekends, even though we get an extra day together as a family!

We were supposed to have a reasonably quiet weekend, however as Friday evening drew in I knew there would be no chance of that. Ruby came home from playschool with slightly red cheeks, I thought nothing of it until later in the evening her face started to swell! I asked Ruby what she had been doing at playschool to try and find out if she had fallen over or something else had happened; fortunately she remembered that she had been playing outside and that one of the teachers had put sun cream on her. I gave some Piriton in the hope that this would reduce the swelling, but after another couple of hours it was not having any effect. We took her down to my local minor injuries unit and were advised to go to the hospital; the hospital confirmed she was in fact having an allergic reaction. I can't believe Ruby is allergic to a type of sun cream.

Swollen face!

Saturday is normally action packed with swimming and ballet but due to Ruby's allergic reaction, she didn't attend her classes; only Lottie went for her swimming lesson.

Ruby and I had a girlie afternoon leaving hubbie and Lottie at home whilst we hit the shops! I love having a daughter, she's my little best friend and I love how much she enjoys my company. Ruby helped me do the weekly food shop, oh how I have missed eating a variety of food since taking part in the live below the line campaign.

In the evening Ruby and I had a pajama party, in which we ate cakes and watched TV in bed before we both fell asleep; hubbie ended up sleeping on the floor as he didn't want to disturb Ruby!

Cake makes everything better! 

Sunday was spent at home relaxing before we went out for a meal to celebrate my sister's birthday. Ruby had a great time playing with some children in the pub garden. It always amazes me how confident Ruby is with other children; despite being the youngest she stands up for herself and always tends to take charge! I wonder where she gets this from? Anyone who knows me can confidently say that out of hubbie and I, I am the one who is strong willed (hubbie says stubborn!)!

Ruby and Auntie Tegan being silly at the restaurant! 

Today we ventured out with a picnic to a local country park and I shall write more about this on tomorrow's blog post. I hope everyone had a fun bank holiday, what did you do?