With a "Quack Quack" here and a "Baa Baa" there...

Waiting to feed the impatient birds

We love Coombe Mill as a family and taking Baby Boy there for the first time last week was a delight. He loves animals so we were pretty sure he'd love staying on a family farm where the feed run is a daily activity and there is also plenty of outdoor play space for our boisterous boys to wear themselves out in. This was our 3rd visit and we've stayed in a different type of accommodation each time. This visit we stayed in Honeysuckle, a three bedroom stone cottage with a lovely small garden out back and right next to the miniature railway, pirate ship and trampoline. I even managed to have a few bounces on the trampoline which made Big Boy very happy and we sneaked off for a go whenever we had a chance.

"Chickens !"

Of course the whole point of going to stay in Cornwall is that we love to spend time outdoors and the boys really did take to the whole farm routine. Me and Hubbie take it in turns to do the feed run with the boys so one of us gets a morning off to relax or go to the gym. As soon as we arrived we picked out some gear for the boys to wear. As return visitors we know that the reception room has plenty of waterproofs in all sizes that we can use during our stay. We also took advantage of the range of puzzles, story books and dressing up costumes which kept everyone busy.

My little tractor driver

The boys really enjoyed helping Farmer Nick and Farmer Amber to feed all the animals. As an old hand Big Boy also knew that he could volunteer to drive the tractor so he was first in line most days. It's a great incentive to behave if he thinks he won't get a turn to drive. Baby Boy was not keen to drive at all - hopefully on our next visit he might pluck up the courage to help with the tractor. Both boys really love to feed the animals and this visit Big Boy fed Sprout the baby goat with a bottle of milk. It's a responsible job and he was also very good at sharing the duty with other children.

Feeding Sprout

Baby boy has learned a lot of new animal sounds and keeps making loud 'quack' noises when he sees bath ducks which is amusing if a little ear splitting in the morning when I'm barely awake yet. There are a lot of birds including chickens, ducks and geese and some peacocks and a peahen - who was sitting on eggs while we were there - hopefully they will hatch before long. Last year they were stolen by an invader, possibly a badger.

"Quack quack"

One of other activities that really captured Big Boy's imagination was searching for and collecting eggs. He was so upset the first day he brought one back when it rolled onto the floor just outside the door and broke. He even asked Hubbie to replace it with one from the fridge so I wouldn't find out what had happened. To make up for it he found a duck egg the next day and was very proud of his special find.

Sunny feed run 

Of course being on holiday isn't just about working and we did take the boys to the beach on a lovely sunny afternoon. It was Baby Boy's first time walking on sand and in the beginning he found it a bit strange. He wasn't too keen on the wet sand and absolutely didn't want to go in the water, but he did like the feeling of sand and throwing it around. Until they both got carried away and it became a bit of a mission to get it out of his eyes that is - oops ! 

Beach boys

I hope that they boys have lovely memories of our family holidays in Cornwall - I know I do. 

This post is being shared with the #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill

   

Move aside make way, for a half term Fire Station visit

As you probably know we are big fans of the fire service and I had promised my boys a visit to the fire station during half term. It was all because the lovely guys from our local fire station had been in our street a few months ago and they had said to pop in any time to have a look around.

Is it Big Boy or Darth Vader ?

Big boy was so excited - even more so, because his friend A was coming along again and they are both big fans of fire engines. Baby boy was visiting for the first time and despite his initial reservations he got stuck in and had a drive of the engine too. Big boy wore his Fire Officer outfit to the station - it was so funny seeing him in the kit room surrounded by grown up uniforms wearing his teeny tiny Early Learning Centre version.

It was very rainy on the day we went, but the guys were amazing and let the children open the big doors of the firehouse and play with the hoses outside. I was very glad that big boy was wearing his waterproof outfit I can tell you !

It was this Fire Officer's first day - no joke !

As they drove the engine outside the children sat inside and were very excited to have a ride. At one point we were inside the control room and saw the engine driving off the station forecourt and I joked, "the kids aren't still inside are they ?" Apparently they were and as it disappeared from view I considered escaping for a cup of tea with A's mum and the baby siblings. As it turns out they were just taking the engine round to the back of the station to refill the hoses with water as they'd been so liberal with the target practice earlier.

Just checking out the dials

We were invited back on a sunnier day to have lots more fun with the hoses and I was advised to bring a change of clothes for big boy in case he got carried away.

I can highly recommend a visit to the fire station as the officers are so kind and always really happy to see children and to show them around. It's definitely something we'll be doing again.

This post is being shared as part of the fab #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill.

  

Scooby Dooby Doo it's an Autumn rainbow adventure

So, this has been our first half term holiday. My boy has had two weeks off school so it's been a bit of a mission filling the days. The first week we went to visit grandparents and he stayed over with them. This week he met Scooby Doo, did some Halloween themed crafts and had a spooky face tattoo:

The best thing of all, however, was the visit to our local fire station. My boy is obsessed with fire engines and wants to be a fireman - I may have mentioned this one or twice before. We went with a few of his little friends and as it was such a nice sunny day - in October, I know !! - they let the children have lots of fun learning to use the hose and creating rainbows. Did you know that firemen can make rainbows ? No we didn't either, but they can. The staff at Croydon Fire Station were absolutely amazing and made a real effort for the children.

Training with a real fireman

It's a real rainbow !! 

Making sure the hose is really empty

This has been, by far, the most enjoyable out of everything we've done this holiday. My boy has plenty of special memories to tell his class about on Monday at school.

I'm sharing this post as part of the #countrykids linky with the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill.

  

Secret spaces in South Norwood

I'm always going on about how there are lots of lovely outdoor places to play in London. I grew up in a suburb with a house and a garden where there were nice parks to play. When me and Hubbie were looking for a family home a garden was a 'non-negotiable', but proximity to open spaces was pretty important to us too. We've lived in this area for almost three years now and this weekend we discovered spaces we've never been to before practically on our doorstep.

Beautiful pond and garden

Firstly we went to an open afternoon at South Norwood station where they have a community garden that used to be a disused area behind the tracks. Volunteers have worked hard to make this a beautiful garden where children from local schools can come along and learn about gardening and grow flowers and plants from seeds.

Exploring the garden

Checking out the plants 

For those who don't have a garden it's a great opportunity to learn about gardening and growing as well as to just sit in a quiet place that is nice to look at. The event was hosted by the British Transport Police who have assisted with the garden development. The officers also shared safety tips and we met a London Transport Teddy who our boy was very taken with.

Transport Police Teddy

Reused station seats

After the station visit our boy was still itching to enjoy the sunny afternoon so Hubbie suggested we explore South Norwood Country Park. We weren't entirely sure where it was, so armed with phone maps and a vague idea of where it was we headed off. Miraculously the park is almost next door to where Hubbie and the boy go to watch Croydon play football, but it is like a little secret place hiding so much fun stuff to do. 

Fireman practice

He's the hot stepper 

As well as a picnic area and a pitch and putt they have a great kids playground for younger ones and a more adventurous one for the bigger kids. The screeches of joy coming from the park showed how much fun everyone was having. There are places to climb, to swing and to ride on and a small shop selling teas and ice lollies - what more could you ask for ?

Round and round he goes

I see no ships

There is a mini 'henge' - not entirely sure what that is about and a double swing that me and the boy had great fun riding on together. In fact a lot of the playground was being used by overzealous 'competitive dads' who were encouraging their kids to climb higher or use the zip wire. It was not easy to persuade the boy that it was time to go home for dinner with so many tempting things to play on.

Hubbie on the 'henge'

Double swing fun

Taking our boy out and about is one of the things we all love doing. Now that we've discovered a country park so close by I'll be going back in the summer holidays with my boy. Hubbie has said that on a Saturday afternoon when the football gets a bit dull he might be tempted to take him here to play golf instead :)

Jiggles on a wrecking ball (tee hee)

In a moment of silliness Hubbie decided to do a Miley Cyrus tribute using Jiggles the bear on a 'wrecking ball.'

This post is part of the fun #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill