Country Kids Like Water and Outdoor Time

I haven't joined in with #CountryKids in weeks, but our 2014 outdoor time, after a Christmas (and December) hibernation has begun in earnest.

Our first morning back at nursery last week, our first early start after weeks of lie-ins, began with a baptism of fire, or should I say water!

We left here, both with hoods up, in the rain.  Aaron on the balance bike and me walking.  We go out in all weathers, so the rain didn't phase either of us.

However 5 minutes into our 15 minute walk and we were being hit in the face by hailstones AND we were both soaked through.  We called Daddy and asked him to hop in the car and come rescue us.  He'd been looking out the window so said "thank God you called".

Anyway to cut a long story short our way to nursery - by car - got blocked, so I kind of wish we'd carried on. After trying 2 alternatives routes, we eventually found a way.  Sometimes walking is more convenient - apart from when mother nature steps in of course!

Imagine my surprise, when the thing that made our morning hell, then made our afternoon a pleasure.  It really brought home the saying "every cloud has a silver lining" which I feel like re-penning to "every cloud has a puddle" and this puddle was like a toddler lake!

As you can see, when I collected Aaron from nursery, he let me put on what has become his signature fleece hoodie (a TK Maxx great buy) but did not let me put a jacket on - it was unseasonably mild for January!  He noticed the blossoms on a tree and tried to smell them.  You can see how varied the sky was, as you can see blue sky and fluffy white clouds in the picture of him with the blossoms, yet when I zoomed in, for the next pic, you get a dishwater grey (clearly a different part of the same sky).

He was absolutely thrilled when I let him cycle through that puddle BUT in that last photo, when he is busy looking at his foot, he is telling me that his foot is wet.  I don't believe him, as I say "that's what wellies are for, to keep your feet dry", but turns out that they did indeed have a hole, despite me only buying them on 30th November!!!  Like the fleece they were from TK Maxx where I get a lot of stuff for Aaron (and a lot of it designer brands, I wouldn't otherwise know of).  We took them back Thursday and exchanged them for Robot wellies.  They did the exchange no problem, as I knew my statutory rights and also know about the rules regarding wear and tear on footwear given that I did 6 years working for a footwear manufacturer and distributor which included managing the Customer Services Team (which included the returns department).

During the above, there were no accidents whilst he was on the bike in the lake puddle, yet when he got off it he fell on his knees and hands - no harm done:

Anyway, we have had a lot of outdoor time since school (nursery) returned.  In fact all 3 days that I collected him last week, we went somewhere afterwards.  It's been great to have more outdoor time and long may it continue.  We both really benefit from it, and it gets me away from this here computer.

Oh another thing I want to say is, every day last week it was incredibly mild.  I think there were days it was as high as 12 degrees.  When Aaron and I went to the shops on Saturday, he only had a fleece on all the way there and back, despite it being 4 o'clock on our return.  In fact he was trying to take it off on the way home, saying he was warm!

But Saturday night we had custard and no cake, and at 1900 hours I popped to the corner shop for those tinned steam pudding cakes, and couldn't believe how cold it was (after being SO incredibly mild during the day).  I looked at my phone as it felt FREEZING and sure enough, it was MINUS ONE.

Sunday, it was even like that during the day, as we both took Aaron to the park, and we came home, not just because it was getting dark but also because my hands were numb despite having gloves on.

After an incredibly mild week I think the BIG CHILL has begun, so maybe it will snow on my birthday after all.

Last year it snowed in April. Do you remember it?

Liska xx