Mini Olympic Fun

One of the mums from our homeschooling group thought it would be fun for the local homeschooled children to have their own Mini Olympics, so she hired a hall and gardens and organised a brilliant day of events for all the children!
There was long jump, running, cross country, sack race, egg and spoon race, obstacle course, bean bag race, skipping race and over and under race, plus lots more that i've probably forgotten!

The children all received certificates for entering, and gold, silver and bronze awards for the races and everyone had a great time!

Thank you so much to Vicki for organising it all :-)

Summer Fun

This week has been lovely! We've had beautiful, hot sunshine and have spent lots of time having fun with our friends.

We had a really nice day out in Southsea with our friends Elly, Melissa, Oliver and Sydney on Wednesday. We started at the splash pool and even arrived before it opened, but we didn't stay long - it was crazy, crazy busy!!

Somewhere in there is a pool!!

So we moved on to crazy golf ! The crazy golf was really quiet and Hannah loved it! She'd never played before but thought it was super fun and wants to go back soon!

 After golf we walked across the common to the Rock Gardens where the children explored the pond and had a picnic,

 and then we walked all the way back to the other end of the seafront. It was a long, hot walk so we stopped in a cafe for ice creams and a rest.

Hannah was delighted when Elly asked her to hold Sydney for her - she loves her so much!

We finished our day with some beach play, mostly paddling and collecting a huge pile of seaweed.

As there is no sand on Southsea beach the children entertained themselves by packing our finished coffee cups with seaweed and turning in out to make seaweed castles - very inventive!

Wildlife Watch Bat Walk

Last night we went on the bat walk organised by the Wildlife Watch group that Hannah belongs to. The walk started at 9pm and was due to finish around 10.30pm - 11 pm and I was a little worried about whether Hannah could stay awake and walk for that long! She wasn't worried at all and was sure she could do it so after a talk about bats (and glow worms) and what to look for we set off through the wildgrounds. The wildgrounds is a nature reserve with mainly grasslands and small woodland area and a large Lake at the far side of the reserve, Our walk took us through the woods to the lake and then back via the path along the grasslands.

The first wildlife we saw was a fox. He was completely unfazed by a group of people wandering around so late and posed for a few pictures!

 By the time we got into the woods it was too dark to take pictures, but with the help of our bat guide and his handheld bat detectors we were able to find a great spot to see the bats. It was amazing to watch them zipping over our heads, perfectly silhouetted against the darkening sky.

By the time we arrived at the lake it was this dark!!

But we were able to see a few more bats here. We also spotted glow worms, 32 of them to be exact! They were so cool! Hannah had never seen one before and was completely enchanted by them!

The bat walk really was one of the best things we've done ! Hannah was afraid of the dark until the night before when she finally braved the garden after dark in preparation for the walk, and she learned so much on the walk. Wildlife Watch is fantastic!!!

Fishbourne Meadows

Quite by chance this week we came across Fishbourne Meadows in West Sussex. Fishbourne Meadows is an area of low-lying damp meadow next to the harbour at the top of Fishbourne channel. It has never been ploughed so it has a wide range of plant and insect species. Freshwater streams flow through the meadow and there are some beautiful flowers, butterflies and birds to be seen and heard.

We started our walk at Fishbourne Pond, where Hannah was a little concerned by the over friendliness of the ducks!

Don't let him peck me Daddy!!

Actually they aren't so scary if I waddle like a duck!!

Isn't this a wonderful view!

 Next we followed a foot path along the stream and discovered the meadows at the bottom of the path.

 The water was so clear and so tempting that as soon as Hannah spotted a Ladybird that needed rescuing she jumped straight in!

 She fished the Ladybird out and was delighted to find it was still alive!

 Then we went on through the meadow and, as it was a warm sunny day, we saw butterflies, ladybirds, grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, a buzzard and also a skylark singing away over out heads.

 Finally we walked through the woodland path and back over the stream to the village.

 Definitely a place to visit again!

M.I.A

I know it's been over a week since I posted - did anyone miss me ??!! So, i've not had the best week mentally. Hannah has been her usual lovely self and we've done lots of fun things, but I've been a little over stressed and anxious.
I'm not enjoying running our home education group anymore and have spent a lot of this week worrying about problems with the group rather than concentrating on Hannah. I've been ready to hand the reins over to someone else for the best part of the last year, but no one wants them damn it!! Anyway, I am really glad this week is over and the summer is finally here Yaaay!!!

Now, back to posting fun stuff Hannah has done now............................

Southsea Castle

Yesterday, between torrential rain showers, we visited Southsea Castle with our friends Lynn and Finn. We had coffee in the lovely coffee shop there, and then the children explored the castle. Hannah wouldn't go into the tunnels as she thought they looked too dark and scary, but she did go up to the top of the tower to look at the view.

We all threw pennies into the wishing well and made wishes!

And then Hannah and Finn played on the cannon until the next rain storm hit and we ran for the car!!!

For anyone interested in castles here is a little bit of information about this one from their webpage -

Built in 1544, the Castle was part of a series of fortifications constructed by Henry VIII around England's coasts to protect the country from invaders. Barely was the work completed when Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, tragically sank in front of the Castle. During the English Civil War, nearly a century later, the Castle was captured for the only time in its history, by Parliamentarian forces.
Over the centuries, Southsea Castle's defences were strengthened so that it could continue to protect Portsmouth. In the 19th Century a tunnel was built to defend the Castle moat. Visitors can still enter the tunnel and see how the Castle would have been defended against invaders.
The Castle has had many other uses besides defence. For a while it was a military prison. A lighthouse was built in the 1820s, and is still in use by shipping today. In 1960 the Castle left military service. It was acquired by Portsmouth City Council, which restored the Castle to its 19th century appearance.

Fun Friday

Today we went to visit our lovely friends in Fareham. We have known each other for about four years, they also home school and have a daughter the same age as Hannah and a two year old. Hannah had a wonderful day playing with the girls on the trampoline, swinging from the apple tree, picking raspberries and mint and playing games. I had a lovely day chatting to my friend, relaxing and catching up on all the news.

Dean picked us up this evening, and as we were really close to Hannah's favourite woods we went for a evening ramble.

 All the rain we've been having recently meant that the little stream (which is often only a trickle) was actually a big stream, with some nice deep areas and was flowing really fast!

 Hannah had so much fun splashing around, playing poo sticks and exploring the deeper pools and stony shallows.

 It was so peaceful, and lovely to have a little dappled sunshine to enjoy.

A lovely end to a beautiful day :-)