We were out in the rain by 9.15 this morning, pretty good going for us these days! I was determined to get out of the house after yesterday so we put our wellies and macs on and drove up to Wimbledon Common. We parked at the windmill and then walked/ran/climbed/splashed for an hour! Before we had left I got the girls to make a leaf iDial so we spent a bit of time trying to identify trees – we managed to find holly, sycamore and oak trees before the girls became more interested in finding hidden pathways. We walked and walked and I had difficulty persuading them to start heading back in the direction of the car park as I knew they would soon start to get tired. Just as we were in sight of the windmill, D slipped in a big muddy puddle – she was caked in it! She was fine about it though and I put her in the bath as soon as we got back. The girls were tired but happy and I made them a hot chocolate to perk them up again.
Last time we went to the Common for M’s nature club we cooked bread dough on sticks over a camp fire. I promised M we would do it again so this morning I set the bread machine to make some dough before we went out then when we got back we wrapped some dough around the end of wooden spoons and cooked it over the hob. Not quite the same as a camp fire but it did the job and the girls loved it! M looked like she was in seventh heaven with warm bread and hot chocolate.
After they’d finished that I put a Tinkerbell movie on, knowing that I needed a couple of hours to myself to get a major load of cooking done in preparation for my parents visiting this weekend. I spent 2 hours making a massive batch of smoked haddock fish cakes. Sometimes I like the girls to help me with the cooking but sometimes I just want to get it done quickly! After the film had finished the girls played with the last of the bread dough while I finished the fish cakes.
Once the cooking was done, I got the paints out and suggested we could make an autumn display on our kitchen window using the leaves we had gathered while out on our walk. The girls did some lovely leaf prints using red, yellow and orange paint. M suggested using gold instead of brown – she does have some good ideas that girl.
A few thoughts that have come to me over the last few days is how much more enjoyable their company is since they finished school and nursery. They still bicker between themselves a bit and have the odd grump at me for something or other but generally they seem very settled, co-operative and joyful. In the past, school holidays would be spent waiting for M to reach her equilibrium (which would take about 3 weeks) before she became a human being again. Not very enjoyable. Now it’s like having two little friends with me, rather than a couple of irritating little blighters ;).
Educating Sausages 