Homeschool Field Trip: Farm Visit

A few weeks back we visited the lifestyle farm of a friend of ours.  The kids have been listening to Dick King-Smith's 'Sophie' stories, so farms, on any scale, held quite a bit of appeal.  Some of our homeschool group made the trip too, despite the gloomy weather.  Last term was pretty quiet when it came to homeschool outings (we made up for it in the holidays).  I think we'll have to up our game a little this term.

Picnicking and Pipi Collecting

A few weeks back we had an impromptu family picnic at one of our favourite beaches.  It turned into the sweetest family outing.  We collected pipi and cockles, discovered obsidian and some 100 year old bricks, and investigated rock pools and oyster covered islands.  Plus, food.

:: Forest ::

Advent Activities - Picnicking

Atticus's picnic spread foreshadowed our own sunny day picnic adventure.  We even had a matching little blonde baby at ours :-).

Happy summer days...  And also - Garland's shorts by Croutons, and sweet bonnet by Heartfelt.  Best dressed (even if his tee-shirt is too small).

Winter Adventures

Well... Ah, so yeah.  There's always an awkwardness about a the first post, after you taken a blog-cation.  Particularly an unplanned, unexplained one.  We've had a week of activity, most of it in the Hawkes Bay.  I'll share some of our adventures here, but will try to intersperse them with current stuff too.

Probably favourite of all was a visit to the snow.  It was the first snow experience for the three littlies which made it pretty special all round.  I built my first traditional snowman (I say 'I', though technically it was a family effort, but in my own special, centre-of-the-universe way, I claimed entire ownership of that thing - my family love me).  Alas, there were no sticks to be found (though we didn't, perhaps, cast a very wide net), which to my thinking that means I cannot completely cross this important task off my bucket list just yet *grins and rubs hands together*.  

Kids = indifferent to the snowman, though fascinated by his carrot nose.  More than one of them tried to remove/eat it.  Also, neither would wear sunglasses on the mountain, but were thrilled to pop them on once we left the snow :-D.  Yah.  *eyeroll*

 I also did some special baking so we would have yummy snacks while we were up there:

Some things never change.  Especially me.  I never change.  Or, at least my baking ability.  My baking ability never changes.  Glad I got that off my chest.

In Our Backyard

We've been going on lots of walks lately.  It would be silly to waste these beautiful sunny days.  So valuable to have a little mid-winter respite, after all that stormy weather...

I still find I catch my breath when I see that view.  It's pretty hard to get sick of some things x

An Unexpected Adventure

Even though it's been extremely cold over the last few weeks, there have been a couple of beautiful sunny days too.  We do our best to seize the moment and all that, but we still often tend to stick around at home too.  Like many, I'm a total homebody at this time of the year.

On this particular sunny day we were heading home after an outing, and Eleanor took it into her head to visit the beach.  I was feeling pretty tired, G-Bear was asleep, and honestly it was pretty much the last thing I felt like doing.  It was sunny, but it was heading into late afternoon, and I had my mind pretty set on going home and having a cup of tea.  

Well, three year olds are pretty persistent, and no matter how many times I said no she kept on making the same request.  And then I just kinda realised that I had no actual reason not to grant her this pretty simple wish.  

Does anyone else have that default 'no' setting?  I should've learnt from this experience, but I get the feeling this is one of those lifelong type lessons.  It was my Jim Carrey moment I guess, and I realised that not only was it easy enough to say yes, it was actually better for all of us that I did (again, did I not learn this already?).

The truth is, I love spontaneous adventures.  They are right up there at the top of my list of favourite things to do.  Particularly if we are duo-parenting :-).  But I'm not always all that comfortable at the beach unless I've got some purpose there, and with a sleeping baby in the car, all I could really do was sit.  Which funnily enough, was kinda exactly what I needed to do.

Eleanor was very much in her element, and even got bitten by a really really tiny snake (it must've pre.tty small indeed, we couldn't even find it again...).  We didn't stay long, but long enough to make a little girl feel very happy, and a tired and tense mama feel a little more relaxed.  Huzzah.  

Upcoming...

During the Whooping Cough outbreak, things got pretty quiet around here.   We all did our best to isolate our babes and keep the outbreak contained, and I'm happy to say that my kids have remained Whoop-free so far (touching wood as I write).  A consequence of the isolation is that we all felt a little lonesome round here, and I have personally vowed to ensure we do plenty of socialising this coming winter.  I love the down-times, but a good balance of both is ideal for us.

 Autumn activities found at This Cozy Life Blog

So yesterday we had about the busiest Playcentre session I've been to all year.  It was a bit cray, but we did come up with some fun plans to make the upcoming sessions a little more fun.  The first of these was inspired by Rhiannon of Toast and Life, whose themed dinners have me totally smitten.  In our PC meeting, a friend and I managed to convince everyone that regular theme days would be a cool way to make Playcentre more exciting this term.  Next week we are kicking off with an Autumn theme, and we have been gathering ideas since then.  I'm thinking about making Pumpkin Soup for shared lunch, and will dress my kiddos in Autumnal colours, for sure.  I will also read all the children this adorable book (well... not much actual reading to be honest).

Project found at Filth Wizardry

The second thing that came out of our meeting was a bit of a Playcentre makeover, which I'm secretly very excited about.  Our centre is pretty cluttered and run-down, so I think a bit of freshening up would be awesome.  If you don't mind, I will be sharing some of the things we do on this blog, including the collecting of ideas.  

 Painted leaves found at My Owl Barn

Finally, yesterday I made the spontaneous decision to enroll Eleanor in dance classes this term (provided she enjoys the classes, of course).  A number of her little friends are in the class, and the prospect of an upcoming dance recital was more than my cuteness-alert-sensors could cope with.  I'm not too worried that she is a term behind many of the other kids, I think that will just make the dance recital even more cute and hilarious than it's already bound to be.  Now to find a Soccer club for her to join.

May

April was just a bit too crazy in some ways, and I was in no way prepared for how much quieter May would be.  I guess there's always an expectation that life will slow down as the weather cools, but we're in a weird interim at the moment, between the anticipation of a very busy June & July just around the corner, and this super quiet month of May.

This month has been made quieter due to a bunch of lurgy outbreaks in our hood.  Whooping Cough and Strep Throat, of which we are quite keen to avoid both.  So we have been laying low, and nursing our sore throats and sniffles with utmost care (and doctor visits, to be honest).  I have also, very recently (as in yesterday) decided to give up sugar.  Which makes life feel very boring indeed.

I want to say that I am loving the slow pace, and I'm totally living in the moment yada yada yada, but... I'm kinda not, that much.  I think that I am much more of a people person than I realised.  I think that I feel more energized when I have a good balance between social and solitude.  I think, also, my kids might be a little bit the same.  Because boy oh boy.  We've had some times.  

In the meantime, we are spending lots of time at my Ma's house while she's away (actually, we have literally moved in and set up camp), and try to pop down to the beach every day, and I'm trying to find it really exciting to sit on the sand for ages while they play.  And I consider it a huge success if I can convince myself that I'm having as much fun as they are, but if I'm honest, I feel pretty relieved when I know that we're all ready to head home (even though the journey home is always the hardest bit).  I think I need to take up crafting again.  For reals.

Mama's Day Picnic

Mother's Day was simple and sweet this year.  My guy packed a basket full of yummy treats, and we drove around the countryside until we found a spot where we wanted to stop.  The outing involved climbing someone's fence, scrambling down muddy banks, and perching on not-our-land (don't worry, neighbours of my pop, they would never mind) to eat our goodies.  

Afterwards, we climbed down the bank and dipped our toes in the water.  Our One Day dream is to permanently live on a plot of land that has a river running across it.  Both of us had this very privilege as children, and... well... dreams...

Meantime, there are plenty of creeks for us to visit, and beaches to run across, and all the rest of that country-ey goodness.  I really don't want to take this life for granted.  We are lucky, soooooo flippin' lucky, to have all these wide open spaces to explore.  

 Whereas this little guy has never known any different...

The Rockpools

I wrote about this adventure way back here, and finally I'm posting the photos.  You will probably recognise one of two of them...

 

In retrospect it looks like a magical day.  Funny.  Personally, I'm still breathing a big sigh of relief that the heat has finally dropped.  Autumn is a lovely season...