The Summer Revisted #1

I can't believe the summer holiday is over. I had such big plans for the summer, and to be fair, I achieved quite a few, but it's gone by so quickly. School time is here again and I foresee much labelling of clothing and shoes in my immediate future....

We just made the school shoe shopping trip today. That was nice and expensive. We also bought new bags for swimming, PE and dancing. I'm disappointed they are bought and not handmade like last year, but I have just ran out of time. I'm hoping by Christmas to have made a set of bags to replace them, but including a few extras (Tap shoe bag, Ballet pump bag, both to fit inside her dance bag, drinks bottle bag, because it is compulsory to take a filled bottle of water to her school, 2 small zippy pouches for hair things, one for dance, one for swimming). We shall see if I can fulfil this one small goal.

Today was also a party day. One of the small person's school friends had a birthday party at Umberslade Farm Park. She was so excited to see her friends again ('cos you know, when you're 5years old, six weeks feels like six years) and even more excited to have a pony ride.

So, our summer? How did we spend our time? We made lots of visits to places that were running summer holiday activities.

The very first Saturday of the holiday we still had one last dance class to attend, and Mr Bogert had a wedding to photograph, so he dropped us off on the way. As we had time to kill after dancing but before the village bus came (It runs roughly every, ummmm, week maybe :D), and we have our English Heritage membership, we walked down to Kenilworth Castle.

Elizabethan Garden

They were running an archaeology event as part of their 'Time Travellers Go...' summer events. The small person took part in a tomb raider race, where she had to loot each different place using only a hook on a pole, and then race back to the finish.

Tomb Raider Race

She also learnt about how to uncover real objects by gently brushing soil/sand  away

Discovering buried artefacts

and that you must not pick the objects up, you must leave them where they are and draw them as they lay.

We went in Leicester's Gatehouse to do some drawing, then sat outside in the garden having a picnic. Luckily, we had nice weather!

Leicester's Gatehouse

Picnic time

On the Sunday we had Mr Bogert back, so we took a trip in the car to Ryton Pool. This is not far from us. There is a lovely big pond with ducks and geese you can feed, several walks where you can also take your bikes, a large grass area for picnics and games (frisbee, football etc), and a few play areas dotted about.

There is also a small cafe near the information hut, and a model railway, that when it is open the children can ride (for a small fee).

Unfortunately, the small person ripped her dress climbing a tree. Mr Bogert was worried it would be beyond repair. His only concern being 'she looks like a Rocket ice lolly in that dress'. It should be a simple repair (I hope) and then he can continue to call her 'Lollipop' or 'Rocket' when she wears it. That will make him happy.

We also managed to fit in a game of frisbee and nerf guns at the Millenium Field (in our village), visit my Dad and go for Sunday dinner at Mr Bogert's mum's house. A very busy start to our holiday - A for effort, Wishes :)