We seem to have missed most of the horrible weather everyone else has had. We had a couple of days with a bit of rain and now it is beautiful sunshine again.Ha Ha!!! Of course the rain didn't stop us, Dave was working so me and the kids got togged up in our waterproofs and headed down to the lake, fishing nets and a flask of coffee in hand. Eilidh put on her VERY pink waterproof suit and found out she had outgrown it in the space of six months. Probably just as well as she is refusing to go anywhere near anything pink at the moment, I was quite surprised she actually put it on!! She's going through a 'boy' phase and keeps telling me she isn't a girl anymore but a tomboy.

The kids had a splash about in the lake in their wellies and clambered about on some rocks then we decided to head off for some lunch over at Coniston. By this time the rain had stopped and it was really warm. Coniston was really busy as it's half term but we found a quiet spot where the river flows into the lake and they got on with building dams and trying to get across the river to explore the other side. They managed it eventually with a wooden plank they found and then disappeared off to explore where I couldn't take pictures of them!!! They've both got really good at dodging my camera now so I have to sneakily catch them when they don't expect it.

Yesterday Dave was off work as he has just finished a job so I wanted to go over to Farfield Mill which is an old mill turned into a art and craft centre where people have workshops and studios and sell their work. I wanted to get some ideas for making things, after looking around I realised that a lot of this crafty stuff is really quite easy to make and half of the people there aren't really doing anything spectacular but just have the confidence to make a go of it. Anyway, I came back with some new ideas and my head is whirring with things to do, I've got the bug!!!

As we were off doing cottages today, we decided to put out our table of tomato and baby corn plants to sell at the front of our house and see how many we could sell. We came back to find about £4 in our honesty box so that's not too bad, we were chuffed anyway!!!

Before going over to see our friends in Kendal again today we decided to make some 'Soft Pretzels' . Not ever having had any, we weren't quite sure how they were meant to turn out but they were quite yummy, although they just seemed to be soft bread rolls with cinnamon sugar on top to me!! Not much else has happened, we have had a couple of days at home for a change with the kids quite happily playing, helping with the housework and digging the garden. Unfortunately today the weather has changed, no more sunshine, just horrible grey clouds..boo hiss!!!

After packing the kids off to bed, I actually got on and finished a hooked rug I have been doing for months now. Hooray!! It was actually started by someone else from Freecycle who had only done about a quarter of it then given up, so it's not really my kind of design but it still feels good to finish it. Not sure if it will stay or be sold , we'll wait and see.....

Not much has happened, yesterday was cottage cleaning and then off to our friends in Kendal for coffee and playing. Today was church and then playing games and pottering about at home. So instead of a blog I found a great poem on one of our Home Ed Groups today which I thought summed us up!!! Anyone who's been to our house knows what I mean!!!!

Dust If You Must - (Author Unknown)

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better,

To paint a picture or write a letter,

Bake a cake or plant a seed,

Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,

With rivers to swim and mountains to climb,

Music to hear and books to read,

Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there

With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,

A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.

This day will not come 'round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,

Old age will come and it's not always kind.

And when you go and go you must,

You, yourself, will make more dust.

And this one.......

I hope that my child

Looking back on today

Remembers a mother

Who had time to play

Children grow up

While you are not looking

There'll be years ahead later

For cleaning and cooking

So quiet down cobwebs

Dust go to sleep

I am rocking my baby

And babies don't keep.

Grizedale Camp

I know, it's been ages since the last blog. We have just come back from a few days camping with our Home Ed group up at a farm and riding centre in Grizedale Forest. It was great, weather was good, no rain and now we are all exhausted!! This was our first camp this year and we had six families there. The site was lovely and the kids spent loads of time playing in the woods, in the beck and going to see all the animals (lambs, cows, ponies). It's kind of relaxing in a strange way as although the kids ages range from 2 - 15 they all join in together and keep an eye on each other. Of course the adults all look out for each others kids so it gives us a break as well from constantly being with our own kids 24/7. As much as we love them, sometimes we need a little bit of a break!!!

One day we took the younger group up to the Visitors Centre in Grizedale where there is a huge adventure playground, loads of walks, cycle trails, Go Ape and of course ice-cream! We all had a walk along a sculpture trail while the older boys stayed at camp with Dave collecting walking sticks and whittling, cutting, carving and decorating them. Some of them ended up looking really good and will probably be treasured for a few years. The younger ones spent some time decorting some and making crepe paper banners and proceeded to dance around the field with them!

Some of the kids, including Eilidh decided they desperately wanted to go riding so we organised for them to go on a small pony trek which they all loved. Eilidh has been looking forward to this for ages and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately riding lessons are SOOOOOO expensive, although I know she would love them but hey, we can't do it all. As Ben was too young to go on a trek they gave him a short ride up and down the long farm track. I thought he would bottle out when he actually got to get on the horse but he got up and refused to have me hold his hand and off he went. In fact he was so happy and confident he was chatting away to the farmer while boasting he could do it one handed!!! Oh, she of little faith!!! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera up but hopefully I will get some pictures off one of the other mums to put on here soon.

Each night was spent in front of the camp-fire drinking coffee and chatting so it was brilliant to catch up and be back camping after a long winter! Although I was dreading lugging down all the camping gear from the loft, it was worth it! Roll on next month, as we organise these camps we have just got to decide where we are going.......

Entrepeneurs ?

Getting a bit lapse with the blog so I will try and catch up. On Tuesday the kids went off to our friends Jayne and Ditch's for the day while I helped Dave out with a job which he wanted to get finished. They had a great time playing with their kids and dogs in their huge garden complete with tree house. Of course, they didn't want to come home again!!

Yesterday was library day, I found a great book on making soap so we might have to give that a go one of these days (along with the hundred other things we want to do!) Today was spent pottering about the garden and house. Dave wasn't working so he was out digging some more of the garden out with a guy from Freecycle who had come to get some topsoil. They filled up the back of the pick-up but it looks like hardly any has gone from the garden. Hopefully we will have some more people wanting topsoil and it will slowly disappear. We desperately want to get the garden level so we can have a proper table and chairs to sit on and the kids can do bits and pieces on in the summer. Any volunteers???? we'll provide a room (or a tent) and food!!!!

Me and Eilidh potted out some tomato plants we had been growing on our windowsill and realised that we had ended up with loads. I half jokingly suggested we set up a table out the front to sell them to passers by. Of course Eilidh decided this was a great idea, and I was ordered in to make signs, get a table and make an honesty box (she's soooo bossy!!) We set up our little stall and left it out all afternoon and we sold seven plants....not bad for not much effort. Ok it was only £3.50 but Eilidh was really chuffed....our mini entrepeneur!!!

Dave took the kids out to get a paddling pool and also came back with a mini greenhouse for me, so I now have somewhere to put all my seedlings (ones that haven't been sold!!) I hope it can survive the winds that seem to whip around our house sometimes, but since our 'proper' greenhouse got squished by a tree earlier this year I think it's great!!

I am desperate for a workroom / shed / anything as I have a hundred ideas running through my head at the moment and have nowhere to make any of them happen...GRRRRRR...very frustrating. It's such a pain getting the sewing machine and clobber out only to have to clear it all away every time. I can but dream...........

Summer's Here........I think!

The last couple of days have been spent out and about in the sunshine. We had another visit to Sizergh Castle with a friend from the Home Ed group and her boys. All the kids did some more felting and enjoyed running around and climbing trees. Friday was our cookery group where we were busy making pasta from scratch, then playing with the pasta machines, trying to make it into spaghetti. Well, it was edible at the end of it!!

Yesterday, was holiday cottage cleaning day, then over to see our friends, Kate, Dennis and Florence for the rest of the afternoon. Kate makes great coffee and always manages to find much more interesting things to feed the kids with than we have in our house!!

After a very hot, humid church service this morning, I was completely drained so while I had a little lie down, Dave got a picnic ready, packed a bag with all the clobber the kids needed and woke me up to go down to a park on the other side of Lake Windermere. It was so hot and sticky everywhere and we thought a nice paddle in the lake would help cool us all off. Well, we managed to get the picnic eaten and the kids paddled and splashed about for a half hour and then there was an ominous rumble. Not just one rumble but lots coming from different directions, then the rain began. After quickly bundling kids, bags, fishing nets, spades, picnic and then ourselves back into the car we decided to sit and watch the thunderstorm over the lake before catching the ferry back over.

It went from this..........

to this.......... in about ten minutes!!

At least it's cooler now!!

We have had two days of beautiful sunshine in our lovely part of the world, a great excuse for going out with the kids for picnics!

Yesterday we went down to Sizergh Castle, a local National Trust property which the kids love going to as it has a small residential castle, a lake, rhodedendron bushes to climb and play in, and a fantastic limestone rock garden where they can clamber over little rock bridges and find different paths through it all. They spotted hundreds and hundreds of tadpoles swimming around the little streams in the rock garden.

We also found out that there was an exhibition about felting, knitting, weaving and spinning which of course kept me happy! They both had a go at making a piece of flat felt which is soon to be made into a purse or something! Eilidh also came away with a little weaving loom made from cardboard which she wants to make a bookmark with, so it was really good.

Today we decided to go off to Fellfoot Park, another National Trust park (getting our money's worth!!) which is right down by Lake Windermere. They spent all the time splashing about in the lake and playing in the bushes again. Ben was exhausted and fell fast asleep on the way home, he really is getting too heavy for me to lift upstairs now but I managed it after a few grunts, groans and swear words!!!

Beautiful Scotland

We've been back a few days but had problems with our internet and catching up on sleep! Our little holiday was really good, we love Scotland and the site wasn't too bad!! I will leave most of the talking to the pictures as my brain doesn't seem to be functioning at full speed at the moment!!

This was our lovely little home for a few days. It was actually really nice inside and had more heating than our house!! The site had a small swimming pool and indoor play area which we visited every day, unfortunatly you had to go through a really loud amusement arcade to get to them. We did manage to get a few games of pool while the kids played in the play area which was great although I got completely thrashed by Dave!!

One day we found a gorgeous beach along the coast where the kids (and Dave!) spent a happy hour building sandcastles and rock forts while I collected loads of shells to do something with!

We also went to the 'Museum of Costume' which wasn't far from the site. It was in a lovely old Scottish house with beautiful grounds and the kids had a chance to dress up in victorian costumes. Eilidh wasn't too impressed with her very girly costume so decided to go around the museum in the boys sailor suit instead. Mind you, it didn't quite go with the corset she tried on at the same time!!

On the way home we decided to stop and have a look at Caerlavaroch Castle. There were actually two castle, the older one just being ground ruins. The 'newer' castle was amazing, it even has a mansion house built in the middle of it which looks really bizarre. The kids had a quiz to do as we went around and they really enjoyed pretending to be the raiding armies and discovering little staircases and hidden rooms.

After having our picnic lunch we headed off again until we got to Gretna Green, where we stopped for a look around. It's really just a glorified tourist shopping centre now but we stopped for an ice-cream before heading down to some friends for tea.

It's been a lovely few days but it wasn't quite such a wrench to come home as it normally is when we go away to Scotland. Maybe because we knew it wasn't for long or maybe because we feel happier at 'home' now than we have before. Who knows... or maybe it's because we know we will hopefully be going back to Scotland later in the year.........