Sunday Riding

Here are a few pictures from Hannah's ride yesterday!



Ready to go Playing with Cracker!

In the Saddle

Riding in the (very hot and dusty) school

Walk - The Hamble Rail Trail

Yesterday Hannah and i joined a local home education group to walk The Hamble Rail Trail. It was a beautiful day and our walk took us over 4 1/2 miles of open parkland and countryside, woodland, coastal heath and along the pebbled shoreline, (where we picniced and paddled) until we reached Royal Victoria Country Park where we stopped for cool drinks and ice cream. Hannah and her friends then played for a little while in the playground there before setting off again to walk back to the train station.

The route we walked.
Ice cream stop!

Hannah coped with the walk and the heat surprisingly well and made it along the whole route - she said afterwards that she loved the whole day and made some new friends too.

Home Education Group - Solar System Week 2

This week's session was all about the moon. Hannah learned what the moon looks like, what the atmosphere (or lack of) is like on the moon, and also about the astronauts who have visited space and landed on the moon.

Flying paper airplanes - the children discover how hard it must be to leave the Earth's atmosphere and fly into space.

They watch footage of the moon landings.

and find out what a space shuttle looks like.

Hannah enjoyed this session, and was fascinated by the close up photo's of the moon. Thank you Karen for organising it.

Crabbing at the Pond

Today was a lovely hot sunny day, so we packed up a picnic and went to Canoe Lake to try crabbing. We had never done it before, but Hannah's friend Oscar (Homeschooling Wonderboy) was game, so we thought we'd give it a go.


Hannah and Archie looking for crabs. Seagulls looking for crabs too!!

Hannah, Oscar and Archie

Yes, they did catch some crabs, and some little fish too!

After a little while the children set the crabs and fish free and headed off to the splash pool for some playing, and Hannah and Archie had a lovely time climbing the trees around the park.

Thank you to Oscar and his mum for the fishing equipment and for a really fun day :-)

Girl Guiding Charity Show

Yesterday Hannah performed in a charity show organised by her Rainbows troupe, the Brownies and the Girl Guides. The girls had been practising dance routines for the last 4 weeks and Hannah was in two numbers. She was nervous but excited and really enjoyed performing, so much so that this morning she asked if she could do it all again!


'i'm not nervous mummy...........well not too nervous anyway'
'5,6,7,8.................Steps'

'Saturday Night' (i think Hannah may have been the only Rainbow who remembered the moves to this one lol - they were super cute though!)

The girls got to choose which charity their event would support, and they chose a Dog Charity - well done girls :-)

Father's Day Trip to Bursledon Windmill

On Sunday we had a lovely family trip to Bursledon Windmill, near Southampton.

Bursledon Windmill is Hampshire's only working Windmill and was built in 1814. We had a tour of the windmill, discovered how it works, and saw the different flours that the mill grinds.


We watched the damsel fly's over the wildlife pond,

and Dean and Hannah tried their hand at grinding grain in the Chineham barn using the ancient saddle quern and the medieval rotary quern.

Hannah was just tall enough to be allowed up onto the platform to see the sails close up.

The windmill is in a lovely location, very peaceful and with beautiful views down to the sea and the Isle Of Wight. We'd definitely recommend a visit to anyone.

Happy Father's Day.................

................we love you very much!

Happy Father's Day daddy, I love you lots and lots and you're the best daddy in the world. Love From Hannah xxxxxx ooooooo xxxxxxx

Wild Flower Walk

Today Hannah and I have spent the whole day with a new (to us) home education group. We knew a couple of families from other events which was nice - it's always good to see a few familiar faces and it certainly helped Hannah to join in as one of her friends from Portsmouth was there.
We joined the group for a guided wild flower walk this morning which was fantastic. The guide was really informative, and the children were all very comfortable with him, asking questions and exploring the area looking for flowers and insects. Hannah really enjoyed being with the other children and it was so nice to see her gaining confidence and joining in as she had been very nervous earlier in the morning.

After the walk we all had a picnic lunch together before spending the afternoon at an open air paddling pool where Hannah had an absolute blast!! She splashed, paddled, played and swam all afternoon, and then even managed a quick trip to the play equipment before heading home.

We are definitely intending to join the group again and look forward to seeing everyone soon.

The Solar System Project

At our home-schooling group yesterday the children started a project about the solar system and gravity. They learned what the planets looked like, and where to find them in the solar system and discovered the rules of gravity.

After the session we went to the park for a picnic and some play .It was glorious weather and Hannah loved being out in the sunshine with her friends.

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Today we have had a day at home - i would like to say it's been quiet and relaxing, but unfortunately the building work is ongoing so it really hasn't been either of those things!!

Hannah did get a bit of work done though -

(i know, it needs turning around but i can't figure out how to do it!!)

Tomorrow we are going on a wild flower walk with a new home ed group- we are very excited :-)

Splash play and Butterflies

It was another lovely day today so Hannah and i went down to the splash pool to meet our friends for a picnic and play. We also admired the beautiful flower displays on the seafront,

and checked out the butterfly house. There were many,many butterflies today and Hannah was thrilled as she had only spotted one or two on our last visit.

Then this evening she was off to Rainbows for a dress rehersal before next weeks dance show. It's been a busy day :-)

Riding Lesson and Gymkhana

Hannah has a riding lesson every sunday morning now, and is really enjoying them. We have also been reading lots of pony stories together, her favourite being Jill's Gymkhana by Ruby Ferguson, so imagine her excitement when we suggested going to watch a real gymkhana after her lesson yesterday!!

Denmead Gymkhana

Hannah loved the jumping competitions and asked so many questions about them - she is very keen to be jumping herself one day, (although mummy is not so keen and prefers her to ride slowly on a lunge rein whenever possible!)

It was a lovely afternoon and brought back a lot of memories of my own ponies, the pony club and the gymkhana's of my childhood and i'm really pleased to be able to share them with Hannah.