Rate a Park - Entry # 2

OK, it might seem we're blasting through these but while the weather is fine, we will. 

The park I chose today is in a small village a short drive from us, which we used to visit often when 1st and 2ndSister were tiny because it's that little bit different. It's enclosed, there's space to run around, the odd tree to climb and a few different bits of playground equipment including a roundabout you pedal round. 3rdSister took to it like a duck to water, the girls made friends with two other girls playing there and 4thSister just sat and beamed in the sunshine then had her nap on the drive home.

Happy summer holidays, and 4thSister is 4 months old today, has 2 teeth, lots of chuckles, and is determined to roll over sometime soon!

I don't think it's going to be easy to rate the parks we visit somehow - 2ndSister gave the park 25 out of 10, whereas 1stSister was unimpressed by the equipment she loved when she was smaller, but scored the 'cute' little girls they played with 9 out of 10 for company. 

They all enjoyed themselves thoroughly for an hour. Which was great considering 2ndSister had been so loud ALL DAY in the house and 1stSister lost it completely before we left over having no appropriate park shoes (ALL MY FAULT, apparently!)

Oh lovely leafy rural England....I love you when it is sunny but not too hot, and we can get out and about in the school holidays!

Rate a Park - Entry # 1

OK, so I'm blatantly stealing the idea from one of my favourite blogs/families ever, at My Child I Love You ~ or, perhaps you could say I was inspired, as I often am by Lindsay's posts about her family. I don't think there are as many parks round here as there are in Lincoln, USA, but as the most we'll be doing this summer is getting out to a playpark or two in the afternoon if the weather's nice, I thought I'd make a project of it. The plan is to visit our usual park haunts and also explore some new ones and revisit some we've long forgotten, take some photos and give the park a score out of ten. Simple. Ha! Let's see how long I keep it going for!

Entry # 1: Horse and Groom Beer Garden playpark

 I waited in with the girls all day until FabDad came home with the 'new' car. We've been without a 7-seater for a while, which has proven tricky but just about manageable, and now have a big secondhand Kia Sedona as our family car. The girls had asked to go the pub at the weekend and it didn't fit in with what we were doing, so it seemed a good idea, on the first day of the school holidays, for me to testdrive the Kia to the nearby village which has a lovely pub with a beer garden. The girls love to have a drink and some crisps and a sweet snack out of the machine, it's a real treat for them!

There isn't that much for the girls to play on, but there's space and some trees to climb and they basically make their own fun. I also ended up running round in a race and did some swing pushing. 4thSister was very obliging by falling asleep in her pram at her usual naptime while we sat in the sunshine. It's been either unbearably hot for me here or not fit to leave the house because of the rain, so it was really pleasant.

I honestly think it's best when the girls are left together to make their own fun. It's an interesting dynamic this holidays with an 8, 7 and almost-3 year old. They tend to need time doing their own thing, a little input from me, and in between coming up with their own ideas of games and silliness. It's noisy chaos, with the odd screaming match, but I could be having a worse six weeks :-)

(And how did the park rate? I would have to say 5/10....1stSister gave it zero because of the lack of play equipment and 2ndSister gave it ten because she had fun!)

Meal Planning Monday (on Wednesday!) 22 July

Yes, I know it's Wednesday, but I've been on an unplanned blogging hiatus and I need to get back on track! Hopefully things are back on an even keel now, especially since I'm now at home with four girls for 6 weeks...I probably won't feel much like cooking, and we will sneak in some extra baking, and I will try and be motivated to continue planning and posting menus :-)

Meat Free Monday ~ Ploughmans salad with French cheeses

Tuesday ~ Roast chicken and chips (plus peas and gravy - it was a rainy night!)

Wednesday ~ Farfalle pasta in chargrilled vegetable sauce

Thursday ~ Chicken salad

Fishy Friday ~ Fishfingers chips and peas

Saturday ~ Tapas with Spanish meats and cheeses

Sunday ~ Sausage, mash, yorkies and broccoli

Baking plans ~ a banana and pecan breakfast loaf, at least...

Join Mrs M at home to be inspired by and inspire other foodies!