Swing Batter Batter Batter Swing

A few weeks ago I took Brown Bear to the school uniform shop to buy his sports kit for next year - they were celebrating an anniversary and offering low prices so it seemed worth doing early. While we were there we noticed that sports equipment was included in the offers so I bought some swimming goggles for school and as we were going to pay we spotted a softball bat and ball set. Now Hubbie is a huge baseball fan and in the pre-children days we used to play in a softball league (not well for my part I admit) so I thought he'd love that for Father's Day. I bought a kit each for him and Brown Bear.

We came up with the idea of spending Father's Day playing softball and having a picnic. I swore Brown Bear to secrecy and he found a kiddy baseball set to practise with Daddy in the garden after school on the rare sunny days. I called Uncle Neil - a long time baseball fan and softball team captain  - and we had our players in place.

Then last week I found out about National Picnic Week and the lovely folks at Thomas J Fudges offered to send us some treats to jazz up our picnic. You may recognise the packaging if you shop at Waitrose - the illustrations are great and the flavours unusual. Charcoal hearts, melty cheddar wafers and savoury shards are amongst our favourites and I often treat Hubbie to them as a Christmas gift. With a nice cheese selection they make quite a posh and very tasty gift. I had no idea that they do sweet treats too and these Florentines are just too good to share. I've hidden them from the boys and will be troughing them when no one else is around.  The Punchy Jalapeno Wafers will probably be a bit strong for the boys (I think so anyway) so me and Hubbie will enjoy those.

Whenever we have a day out planned I have my go-to picnic kit. It's been with us to Peppa Pig World, days out at the farm, to Ben and Jerry's Big Sundae and days out at the seaside. We have a coolbag rucksack, a hardy picnic rug and some cool packs. Hubbie lugs the bag and I search for the perfect spot to sit and enjoy our outdoor victuals. I had hoped to share our picnic photos today with some action shots of the softball too, but unfortunately rain has stopped play. We will reschedule when the weather is nicer and if the Thomas J Fudges last that long I'll pack them too.

If you are celebrating Father's Day today I hope you have a wonderful time.

Disclosure: We were sent some treats by the lovely bakers at Thomas J Fudges to make our picnic even more special.