Yesterday we went to play and picnic in a local park with 4 other HE families, making the most of the (reasonably) nice weather. I know mid-November is not the usual time for picnics, but let's face it, the weather has been nicer recently than it was in the summer, so why not?!
In the morning I had intended to get up a bit earlier than usual so that I could get everything done before we left without having to rush. Unfortunately what actually happened was I set the correct time on my alarm clock, but failed to actually twizz the button on the top so the alarm never went off. However, we still managed to get dinner in the slow cooker, make our packed lunch and set off to the Post Office to withdraw cash for bus fare in plenty of time. We even had enough time for me to relax and go with the flow when the sprogits did the classic "you underestimated just how s...l...o...w...l...y we can walk" thing, rather than having to cajole and hurry them along.
When we got into town we went to the opticians to pick up Little Clanger's new glasses. She doesn't need them all the time, only for reading, computer and TV, but she's very excited about being "like mummy" and wearing glasses. I tried to tell her that I hate wearing glasses and if I could get away with not wearing them I would (and in fact did for about 14 years until my prescription worsened to the point of daily migraines), but she wasn't having any of it! After she'd had them fitted to her, we popped into the Cancer Research shop for a quick mosey. We found a brown striped jumper for Small Clanger; a pink top for Tiny Clanger; and a black dress with butterflies all over it for Little Clanger; all for the grand total of £5. There was also a raffle for a giant bear about as big as me, and a lucky dip. I gave the kids the option to one either the lucky dip or the raffle. Little Clanger chose raffle tickets (as did I), and the younger two chose the lucky dip. Small won a soft toy tiger and Tiny won a little bat with zip up wings and velcro on his feet so he can hang upsidedown.
So then we walked up and met up with some of the others in the bus station and got the bus over to the park together. The bus driver looked suitably horrified as a big loud gaggle of 4 adults and 10 children got on the bus. I tried to show him my ticket and indicate who it was for, but he looked terrified and said we should just get on. When we arrived, there were squeals of delight at the mountains of autumn leaves as we walked to the park entrance, followed by mass screaming when we went through the archway and were greeted by a big waterfall.
We ambled slowly up to the lake, stopping to locate various children who were lost in the bushes (aka, secret passageways according to Small) and met up with another family in the playground, where the kids played until lunchtime. We managed to clear the playground of all the other families while we were there, and there was only a minimal amount of falling out/smacking others in the face/etc etc (not none, but minimal).
Once the sprogs started announcing they were hungry we all lined up on the benches and ate our lunches, and then went on a search for some toilets in the a Art Gallery. After that the kids all had great fun playing around some fountains - there was leaf throwing and spies and all sorts. We then had a wander around the park - Little was adamant there was a "bonic garden" with a stream in it, which she wanted to show everybody so we went to find it. It took us rather a while due to the splendid amount of leaves on the ground which had to be rolled in and thrown and kicked on the way. When we got there (and there was indeed a stream as Little said) the kids had lots of fun throwing leaves in the stream, and hopping over the little waterfalls where the stream narrowed. This was definitely the end though as a couple of the younger ones went in the stream and got water in their wellies and everyone was starting to get a bit tired and fractious. Tiny Clanger also lost her bat (called Batty) somewhere - she said she put him down on the floor and despite us all searching for about 20 minutes we couldn't find him anywhere so we had to go home without him :(
All in all, it was a lovely day - really good fun. And it was great to come home and open the door to the smell of our dinner in the slow cooker!
Can't wait for our trip out next week!
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