Sly fox in the kitchen after school #ordinarymoments #whatsthestory

We have had a bit of a re-jig with our hard drives recently and it has unearthed some real gems and i thought i would share some of them. This little bunch of shots made me smile. I can actually remember it like it was yesterday. It was in fact not long after our youngest was born. I think she must have been a couple of months and we were deep into winter.

This was after school one day when it was dark soon after we got home. Only two out of my five were actually in school then! It was one of those times before the extra activities had invaded our schedules as they have now and so when we came home from school it was down time and some snackage and play time.

The school kids were showing me a game they had learnt at school called sly fox and we were playing it in the kitchen and i kept turning round and taking shots as they tried to creep up behind me and  be the ‘sly fox.’ They thought it was hilarious when i didn’t turn round and they managed to get to me in time!

It feels like a simpler time actually without the crazyness that now fills our lives and all the running around. That is the nature of the kids getting older i suppose. Its fun to look back and see the kids all little too!!

 

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A walk of remembrance #countrykids

A few weeks ago was remembrance day and since my daughters have joined the Brownies and got invited to carry the flag in the church and on the parade. It was a gorgeous, cold morning and after a lovely service where the girls did a great job of carrying the flag (the one flag, between the two of them – you can see there might be a problem brewing there!), the whole bunch of them, the boys brigade, the girls, brownies and scouts etc all disappeared down behind the church and marched past to the sound of the boys band. It was lovely.

We did get a bit of a hint of some brewing sibling trouble as the girls rounded the corner..some serious, frowning faces and we discovered that someone had told the girls that they couldn’t ‘share’ the holding of the flag for the march. In the church we had worked it out that one of them could hold the actual stick and the other could hold the corner of the material, then everybody was happy.

But that all went south when someone didnt appreciate the delicate balance of asking two sisters to do the same job!!

I think next time it might be time for an independent effort!

But it was so lovely to see the kids marching in the november sunshine to remember those gone before.

🙂

 

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Searching for Autumn #countrykids

Weird post title right?

Well this weeks outdoor adventure had a bit of another purpose. I know the parks round here reasonably well but i wanted to check some of them for autumn colours…sometimes when i go with the family there isnt enough time to take things in. But i have a couple of shoots this weekend and so i wanted to scope out a couple of spots. So the me, the littlest one and the dog went on a quick jaunt around a few parks in search of autumn colours (that are suitable for being in a shot as well) By that i mean, a tree with all of its pretty leaves super high up and twigs below isnt going to look good in a shot. I want the trees that act like a beautiful backdrop of autumn lushness.

Managed to get in a few candid little girl shots as well. Aren’t little girls awesome. 🙂

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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be courageous and brave.

I discovered a blog a little while ago and was inspired by a linky that i discovered. In a nutshell and there is a link here so you can go read about it yourself. But basically it is about connecting a song or some music with an image. This rings so many bells with me. Music is something that is so much part of my life, i listen to music all the time and i am one of those people who can watch a series of images or a video without music and not feel a thing but add a soundtrack or some poignantly worded lyrics and i will be moved to the next week and blubbing into a tissue.

I had stumbled across this blog just when her suggested song for inspiration was a song by Rod Stewart called Forever Young.

Kind of a advice type of song to his son it would seem and it made me think of the crossroads that my son is at right now..leafing through iphoto (does anyone use that still?) where i used to store my images i discovered this image

This is my little boy just before he started school. He is just 4 in this picture, it was the summer before his first year in reception. So little we knew back then, the years of school runs, parents evenings, nativity plays were all alien to us. I miss those days of innocence sometimes. When we were his world and the influence of the outside was so minimal. When the thought of an afternoon watching trains was the best treat EVER and when he still spoke with a southern accent and not a northern one!! 😉

Things have changed so much. His hair is no longer those tight curls. He won’t let it grow long enough to find out. 😉 But there is still so much of what is real about him in this image that is evident in the young man he is becoming. He is still pretty open about whats going on with him, he is a heart on his sleeve kind of guy and i hope that doesn’t change that much. Im not naive though and i know it will to some element.

We were speaking to him about the secondary school choices recently as we have been since before the end of his last term in year 5, his face suddenly crumpled and he looked so young and unsure. I guess he was just overwhelmed with the responsibility of it all.

He is still so young and whilst we can’t protect him from the future, we can help to arm him with ways to deal with the things that are to come and be behind him every step.

The words in the song are a little cheesey but the ones that resound with me..are these in particular. 🙂

“May you grow to be proud,
dignified and true.
And do unto others
As you’d have done to you.
Be courageous and be brave


-Forever Young (Rod Stewart)

Motivational Mondaythe ordinary moments

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A-MAZE-ING! #countrykids #flashbackfriday

One of our favourite places to go that is local but good for a few hours of getting the kids outdoors is the National Trust property. It really is one of those places that we know inside out, its like a local park. But we love it. It has little hidden gems and is a perfect way of spending an ordinary weekend afternoon or a place to go with a group of friends and a large picnic for a special time.

I have to confess that we have only ever once ventured into the house. A lovely lady said that we could have a little handy hip shelf thing to pop our youngest on instead of using the buggy (there isn’t room). Which i did use, probably incorrectly as it was really uncomfortable and then we spent about 30 minutes running after lively toddlers and telling them not to touch anything. So i can’t really vouch for the house. Im sure its lovely. 😉

But we know the grounds really really well. Recently they have added a Maze. They have planted smallish trees and so at the moment the maze is actually quite handy as the kids run off and yet we can still see them and not spend hours trying to work out which corner they have gone round.

By the time the trees are going to be big enough for us to actually loose our kids in the maze, the kids will be old enough to not be bothered by it. I think its a fabulous addition to the grounds and the kids love it. Especially the bit where they get to the last bridge.

Our other favourite bit of Speke Hall is the fact that it basically backs on to the airport and we have, since my son was young, walked round the perimeter and watched a few planes land and take off. Lately they have added another walk which means that you can walk along side the works access to the runways and then sit on a disused part of the runway.

The new walk means that we can get down to the estuary, which was fun until we pretty much got stuck in a load of mud and had to make a swift about turn and get back to the track!

I love the new walk though. It feels a little unkempt and wild, which doesn’t really fit the house and the grounds that we know…but i think it really adds a new dimension to the place.

We still love it there and no doubt we will be back soon!

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