Blog Challenge: Great Adventure #23

It’s rainy, windy and miserable out - the perfect weather for a great adventure. The whole point behind this challenge (read more about the challenge here) was to force me out on days like this, when it’s cold and wet, and I’d much rather be snuggled up on the sofa. We got up early this morning and, before we could change our minds, headed out into the wilderness to explore.

Laurie and myself were wrapped up in coats, wellies and plenty of layers to keep the bitter cold out. Parenting being a learning curve and all, Ebony was not. She had wellies and a puddlesuit, but we’d somehow left her thick winter coat nestled on the sofa at home. We’d driven for 25 minutes so didn’t really want to turn back, but were worried Ebony might freeze in her limited clothes. Luckily, our parenting skills are matched only by our charity donating skills so we had a bag of too small toddler clothes in the boot. We put together a stylish ensemble of ill-fitting clothes and gave Ebony a fat-Monica look about her, and then stuck her back in the puddle suit to keep her dry.

We got out of the car, immediately cursing this blog challenge as the wind pelted rain into our faces, and walked towards the woodland. We had no plan, we just wanted to get out and make the most of our adventure in the woodlands. Ebony was walking along the path, stopping to jump in puddles every now and again, but seemed a little cold and miserable. She asked to be picked up, and it seemed like she might prefer to give this adventure a miss.

Then I spotted a conker, and the morning’s activity was born. We have a few conkers at home, and this week we’ve been practising at throwing them across the room and (sometimes) into a bucket. Since they are mostly ending up under the sofa, meaning I have to keep moving furniture around to locate them, I thought we could do with some extras. I soon discovered there were plenty of conkers to be found, and started collecting them in a bag. Ebony was still cold and in Laurie’s arms, and didn’t want to join in at first. By the time I’d collected a handful of conkers, Ebony was helping me to locate them and pointing them out from the safe distance of Laurie’s arms. A few minutes later and she asked to come down so she could help me look.

Far from the cold and miserable toddler of ten minutes ago, Ebony was now running around and kicking through the leaves excitedly searching for conkers. She had mittens on so was struggling to pick the conkers up, sometimes having to follow them down the hill after each accidental nudge. We managed to fill a carrier bag without standing in any dop crap (an impressive feat), and then walked down to the lake to look at the geese.

I’m glad we persevered in spite of the bad weather. It’s all too easy to say kids don’t like being cold, but probably a lot of the time we just need to engage them in a fun activity. I’m glad Ebony isn’t afraid to get muddy, rummage through leaves or scramble down hills to stomp in muddy puddles.

Have you been on any adventures in the elements this week?