On Friday, before the kids got off school for another holiday, I spent some time walking around by myself, enjoying the sunshine. I finally got a coffee from Kaffe-O, which I’ve been meaning to try for years. I was always put off by how un-kid-friendly it looked, so it seemed like a good activity to do solo. I took my coffee to Botanic Gardens and sat and wrote on a bench. The summer flowers were all out and there were so many bright colours. I wish I’d taken better photos of them, but I got sidetracked and ran out of time 🙂
When the girls got home, we got the paddling pool out for about five minutes and filled it with warm water. I like the pool we got because it isn’t too big and it folds up. I can never be bothered inflating or deflating the pool so it works better 🙂 We had ice lollies and tentative paddling as if we were celebrating the arrival of summer, but I think we began a little too early 🙂
On Saturday, we went to Montalto. I like it so much better there when it’s quiet 🙂 We got some drinks and went for a wander and looked at the bluebells 🙂 Then I took the girls to the adventure playground and they did lots of climbing and sliding. They love the little wooden play area beside the pond too, with the tunnel and climbing frame.
Afterwards, we went for a walk around the lake. I love the reflections you can photograph in the water there. It always seems to be as still as glass and mirrors everything beautifully. We went to the little wooden hut to look for the swans, but there was no sign of them that day. We found our way back to the girls’ “den” – it’s a tree they like to climb on and hide under. We had the girls’ favourite kind of picnic – crackers, cream cheese, salami, etc. They always eat much more when they can assemble it themselves 🙂 We went for a walk on the history trail and looked at the views of Ballynahinch and the sheep 🙂 We finished the day with another trip to the playground and then headed home.
The girls decided to get out Spirograph and make some metallic pictures for family members 🙂 They started with the wheels and moved on to writing messages in silver instead 🙂
On Sunday, the girls made some cup holder sunflowers. I find coffee cup trays really useful for making flowers. They’re quicker to cut up than egg cartons and make more dramatic flowers 🙂 The girls painted them with poster paints, making dots in the middle. I think acrylics are more effective, but also much messier to clean up 🙂 Today they balled up orange and brown tissue paper and glued it with PVA glue in the centre of the flowers for some more texture. Then we covered cardboard in strips of blue tissue paper to make a sky. The girls painted green stems for the sunflowers that we cut out of cardboard too, so we attached them with tape. We will assemble the whole thing when it has dried, and I was thinking of adding clouds too, so I’ll share the end result 🙂
Today was incredibly rainy, so I got the ingredients for a fry. I find it the most comforting thing to eat on a rainy day and the kids always seem to eat it without complaint 🙂 I made one with just the components they eat in it 🙂 I love having hot tea and a fry and feeling cosy inside on a rainy day 🙂
I gave us all haircuts, which the girls seem to get excited about for some reason 🙂 Then I made some hot chocolate and we played Guess Who and listened to Happy Sad by Tim Buckley. I think it’s the perfect rainy day album 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 