Can it really be week four already? How time flies when you’re having fun. I’m really enjoying the blog challenge so far, and actually the weather hasn’t been too bad overall. I need to get hold of some waterproofs for us both sharpish though, because at some point we will be heading out into a torrential downpour.
My (not so) little sister wanted to join us on the challenge this week. Rosie is a keen photographer so I was hoping she’d be able to take some inspiring photos of Ebony enjoying the great outdoors. As it happened though, Ebony had an unusually long nap and Rosie had to leave before we were able to set off on our adventure, so I’m afraid it’s another week of crappy iPhone photos here.
We walked Rosie to the train station, and started our adventure from there. We headed towards the Chadkirk Chapel area, which is surrounded by beautiful countryside. I had Ebony in the carrier because, in spite of knowing exactly what I mean when I say “Please hold hands.”, she mostly runs towards huge fun shiny things (cars) in the middle of big running spaces (roads). So, until we are well away from all the exciting and potentially fatal things, Ebony stays in the Ergo and I point things out to her. Things like, “Look Ebony, a bird.” and “No, it’s not nice to hit Mummy in the face.” and “Please don’t smear food all over my face.”
We eventually reached a footpath, so I took her out of the carrier and let her explore. Her keen sense of adventure and natural curiosity took her straight to the gravel, which she ate. Then a dog walked past, so we followed him for about five minutes while Ebony waved intensely at the dog’s bottom.
After quite some time of waving at bums, I managed to convince Ebony that the Chadkirk Estate might be a nice place to look round. The gardens are filled with flowers of all shapes, sizes and colours. It really is a beautiful place. Ebony ran manically across the gardens coming to a screeching halt at a flower, smelling it, and then heading off in another direction to repeat the process.
There were lots of bees in the garden, so I took Ebony close to have a look. She has started to repeat words more frequently now, and she seems to be learning a few new words a day at the moment. “Bee! Bee! Bee!” she screeched at the bees pollinating the plants along the path. When she tried to grab hold of one of the (scarily massive) bees, I decided it was time to move on.
From Chadkirk Estate we headed straight into Kirk Woods. I’ve developed a real love for woodlands recently. Aside from being completely and utterly terrifying, they are also beautiful and peaceful. They feel untouched in a way that not many places do. In the four short weeks of this blog challenge so far, I have noticed how quiet the woodlands are. We might be there for over an hour and only see one other person, it’s a shame that more people don’t take advantage of these naturally beautiful areas. Although, I do appreciate how quiet they are (when I am not terrified of being murdered).
Kirk Woods were less toddler-friendly than the woods closer to home. There were lots of sheer drops running alongside the paths, and the woods were quite steep for walking up. Ebony had fun running about, while I ran after her sweatily screaming things like “Oh my god, no, be careful of the edge!” After walking through the woods for quite a while, we came to an opening in the trees. Thousands of yellow buttercups stretched out in front of us. We stayed there for a little while, exploring the meadow and picking buttercups, and then we decided to head home.
Week four was another successful great adventure, and we really enjoyed it. What did you do?
Join the Great Adventure
All you need to do to take part is head out into the great outdoors once a week - every week - and have a great adventure. If you write a blog, please link up your posts below. I’ll be posting once a week, but you can post less often if that works better for you.
The Rules:
- You must have a great adventure once a week, every week, for as long as you can handle. No excuses! You don't have to blog every week though, you could do a monthly (or whenever you remember) round up if time is limited.
- You must leave the balls, toys and bikes at home. This is just about the kids and nature - no distractions.