After yesterday evening, Stephen was still felling unwell and not in the right headspace to work, so he spent most of the day sleeping and recovering.
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens finally reopened their doors a couple of weeks ago, so I headed there in the morning with the kids for some outdoor fun. In the new post-COVID world we’d had to book ahead, but we’d secured a two-hour slot starting at 9:30am. However, we ended up staying until 12:30pm as they weren’t fully booked and, frankly, we were having too much fun!
We started off the day by playing with and on absolutely everything in the playground. There was no-one else in there for the first twenty minutes or so, so we really maximised the playtime!
James was feeling particularly brave today. With lots of encouragement from Genevieve, he finally took on the big green slide all by himself. And surprise, surprise… he absolutely loved it!
The kids tackled the cargo net into the treehouse together. James has finally got long enough limbs to traverse the netting, but he’s not as well practiced at climbing as his sister. This meant that Genevieve was ahead of James on the way up, but she made sure that he still made it to the top OK.
After that, James decided to just hang around for a bit. He’s a right monkey at the best of times, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that he’s a natural at the monkey bars!
Having conquered the big green slide, James thought it prudent to compare it against the smaller metal slide. He concluded that it was still good fun!
Having exhausted all the options in the playground, we ventured into the woods to find the local yeti. This was in spite of me telling the children several times that he wasn’t out to play today (and I wasn’t joking – he doesn’t work on Fridays). They had fun shouting for him regardless.
Afterwards we attempted the maze. With all the rain and sunshine the hedges were a lot bigger than the last time we’d visited. The kids were very cute though and looked to each other for support when they inevitably got lost.
But we all made it to the middle in the end. To celebrate our successful traversing of the maze, we tucked in to some of Grandad Stephen’s “Not Cross” buns. Delicious!
When we’d arrived at the gardens, the kids were given a weekly challenge. The task was to make faces out of sticks and leaves. This was right up my street – I love a bit of ephemeral art! With the playground, yeti and maze done, it was then time to engage with the crafty artwork. We gathered suitable leaves, sticks and other items, and then got to work. Both the children were exceedingly pleased with their finished pieces – bravo!
It wouldn’t be a trip to the woods without some tree climbing, and today was no exception. Genevieve is definitely the more confident climber but both kids enjoyed scrambling up and around the branches. Stephen would be proud!
Although we’d failed to find the yeti earlier, we did stumble across an impressive den. Maybe this is where he’ll be hiding the next time we come back?
James had some some other thoughts about the den: “The gruffalo lives here and he’s hideous and scary and ugly.”
Entirely unrelated to the den, James then shared the following: “When I’m bigger I’m going to buy a monster truck and a racing car because I’ve got important places to go. Like working and the beach and the rollercoaster!”
I really would love to see inside his mind sometimes!
To end the visit, we enjoyed a selfie or two by the ornamental lake before heading home. It really was a beautiful day to visit the gardens.
Once safely back home and over the excitement of the morning’s adventure, I finally had a chance to phone the holiday company and sort out the accommodation details for next week jaunt to the Isle of Wight. Although the villa was all fine, they’re not going to have the swimming pool open during our visit. Oh no! That was out backup plan for rainy days or any spare time in the day. We’ll have to think up a plan B (or two!).
We had a special delivery during the day – an envelope containing three new Beaver badges for Genevieve. She was very excited to say the least! But it means yet more sewing for me – I’ll be a professional seamstress before too long.
While Stephen continued to rest upstairs, the kids and I played a variety of garden games in the afternoon. James had a very special way of making sure he won at pétanque – he just kicked my balls out of the way if they were closer to the jack than his ones. Cheeky little monkey! He had such a grin on his face though that I didn’t mind too much.
Late in the afternoon, the kids headed off to Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie’s for a sleepover and a day of fun on Saturday. They’re going to have a blast we will definitely both benefit from the respite. We love the little darlings dearly but we’re so grateful for the time and space.
We finished the day by watching the last couple of Tiger King episodes as we ate dinner. This has left us with a giant Joe Exotic hole in our lives – whatever will we watch now!
The Smiths Family Blog 