On Wednesday, I had chosen a breakfast from Patrick Holford's meal plan in
Smart Food for Smart Kids - Easy recipes to boost your child's health and IQ
I am keen to gradually reduce the amount of sugar in our diet.
Yesterday we tucked into porridge and today we went for eggs.
Patrick suggests scrambled eggs on toast. But Matthew doesn't like scrambled eggs. I was not to be deterred however. I negotiated with him for a bit and we agreed that Sarah and I would try the scrambled eggs and I would try my hardest to boil him an egg in just the way he likes it, with a runny yolk. He didn't think I would be able to achieve this. But I did and I was well chuffed.
I called a friend to suggest a sleep over for Matthew and he and his friend spent some time discussing Minecraft before we sat down to breakfast.
Over breakfast we discussed the new school year and what the children would like to learn.
Sarah set about creating a detailed schedule for herself, which was fantastic.
Matthew suggested lots of outdoor activities, including learning to ride a bike.
It was a really good discussion and most uplifting to be sharing the decision making together.
Once again, the children put the guinea pig out into his run, dodging the showers and armed with an umbrella.
The children spent a lot of time playing lego again today and Sarah tackled some word searches in the June edition of her Aquila magazine:
After some heavy showers, the sun came out and we headed out to the village to look for blackberries.
Matthew wanted to take his bike, but decided to leave it at home this time, as we had to transport a load of rubbish and recycling up to the communal bins.
Sarah, however, took hers, and used the handlebars to carry a couple of rubbish bags, as well as a basket and pot she had found for the fruit...
Matthew lugged along a large piece of card for recycling.
He ended up using it as an 'aeroplane'.
The wind was blowing in gusts and he discovered that the force would carry the piece of card some distance away.
At one point, the card flew over a fence onto the grass and Matthew enjoyed climbing over to retrieve it.
After depositing the rubbish and recycling, we turned our attention to the search for fruit.
Sadly, most of the berries we found at first, were green.
It appeared to be a fruitless search!
We continued to an old tree, which the children particularly enjoy climbing.
It is one of those trees, which has somehow grown horizontal to the ground. It has a thick trunk and branches ideal for scrambling all over.
Sarah invented a sequence of moves, which involved pulling herself up onto the main trunk, using a slimmer branch, and then swinging herself round this branch back to where she started.
Matthew saw this as a challenge. I was enlisted to count. The aim was to see who could accomplish this feat in the shortest amount of time.
It became very competitive, until we decided they had both achieved the top score of two seconds!
Matthew, however, was certainly not satisfied with this outcome!
So I decided we had better move on rather hurriedly, before a fight broke out!
We discovered some rosehips in the hedgerow, which I added to the basket.
I made a note to look up a recipe for rosehip syrup when we got home.
I think it would be a good idea to return when the rosehips have ripened to a deeper red colour. But they would act as a reminder for now.
I think the children were fascinated by the idea that there were other fruits out there to harvest.
We carried on down into the village, where Matthew climbed into a field to chat to some rather handsome looking sheep. The children decided they were a family: a father with rather impressive, long, curly horns, a mother and a chubby looking lamb. They asked me whether I thought the owners would be willing to sell us the 'lamb'. I thought this was unlikely as they only had three and probably prized them very highly.
I climbed on the rickety gate and managed to reach a few choice blackberries to add to our meagre collection.
On reaching the church, we discovered it was locked. Sarah was however enjoying the ride on her bike, whizzing down all the slopes.
Just beyond the church, we stumbled across a large cattle lorry parked in a layby.
And this is where we were rewarded with a cache of juicy, ripe berries.
Despite my admonishment, Matthew was determined to explore the inside of the cattle truck. The ramp at the back had been left open.
As we were about to leave, our container laden with blackberries, we noticed two cheery chaps striding towards us down the middle of the road.
They turned out to be the drivers of the lorry, returning to their vehicle!
For some reason, they jokingly offered us a lift!
They were actually transporting the last of this season's sheep wool, presumably from the local farmers. I forgot to ask them where they were taking it!
We began a discussion about the price of a fleece and the different qualities available.
They told us that the coarser wool produced by some sheep was the cheaper variety and the finer, softer wool, from other breeds, might fetch about £3 and upwards for a fleece.
The best time to ask the farmers about purchasing a fleece, was at the beginning of the shearing season next year.
We stopped to watch them turn the lorry and waited as they passed close by. As I stood there, I thought about where on earth we would have sat, had we taken them up on their offer of a lift!
There was, of course, only one answer to that question!
To be shut up in the dark at the back, like animals for the slaughter, would have put Matthew off cattle trucks for life!
It really didn't bare thinking about!
We were definitely glad to be making our way home under our own steam!
Matthew enjoyed clambering up the bank and in amongst the hazel hedging in the lane. He loves this type of challenge.
Sarah cycled on ahead and reached home before us.
We wandered back more slowly, giving me the chance to scan the hedgerows for more berries and rosehips.
At the top of the driveway, Matthew got the chance to complete his mission to run up the steep, wet, grassy bank, without slipping all the way back down again!
After only a couple of attempts, he managed it!
And so ended the outdoor part of our day...
I hope that you enjoyed reading about our adventures.
Thank you for stopping by....
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Here is a TED Ed video about some of the effects of eating too much sugar:
To remind myself later, I am posting a video of how to make rosehip syrup:
And these:
A video about sheep shearing for very young children.
The Introductory Music is rather twee and the whole presentation may seem a little patronising if you have older children.
You have been warned!
But it's informative and the shots are great.
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