#CountryKids at South Lakes Safari Zoo

My parents treated us to a trip to the South Lakes Safari Zoo as an early birthday treat for my son. At the moment it is £5 per adult with children free so its great value. It was our first trip under the new management and my parents hadn't seen many of the changes from the last couple of years. The sky was almost a perfect blue for a backdrop to a Cumbrian savannah:

There was a Halloween themed trail but we didn't have a go just enjoyed the decorations:

It wasn't long before my son found the first of the animal statues that children can climb on to:

#CountryKids Fell Foot Halloween Parkrun

Today it was the annual Halloween parkrun at Fell Foot today and my son and I had volunteered to be tail walkers. So we really thought we had better dress for the occasion:

It was good to see that other folks had joined in the spirit of things too:

It was a big turn out with 276 finishers so it was a big briefing:

Then we had the award for parkrunner of the year which went to one of regular volunteers:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term #R2BC

I really can't believe its half way through half term and my last week as host for another month! It means that the lovely Michelle will be hosting again next week. Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Beautiful Autumn Days
On the days when the sun shines it really is glorious at the moment with all the Autumn colours. I had time to appreciate Fletcher Park when I came home the long, slow way from town:

2) Birthday Goodies

I have finally been successful in spending the last of my birthday money on a much better running watch. It has a longer battery life and tracks my steps as well as connecting to my phone! I just need to sort my foot out to be able to get running properly again:

3) Appreciating Nature

This lovely swan was cleaning itself on the shores of Windermere when we paused at Waterhead yesterday:

#CountryKids Wray Castle, National Trust

My son was asked which National Trust property he would like to be taken to by his aunt and uncle. It was no surprise to me that he chose Wray Castle:

We weren't the only ones who knew that this is the best place to visit with children on a wet, autumn Lakes day and it was very busy with a full car park. Luckily we managed to get in alright. There are plenty of things to occupy children indoors including building blocks in the Peter Rabbit rooms:

We also managed a short table tennis game before checking out the Steam Gondola room:

One of the most popular rooms (and now upstairs) was the castle blocks room. Lots of children building, balancing and having fun with the foam building blocks:

#CountryKids Yet another Pokemon Go walk around Kendal

Yesterday turned out to be a lot better weather than during Storm Brian so we decided it was a perfect chance to get out and hunt for the new generation 3 Pokemon! We are less than a mile from the castle so set off in that direction to add both distance and Pokestops: 

This little pathway is known as dodging death on Strava as it runs between two parts of the graveyard. I have to say I wouldn't fancy it after dark on my own:

The path comes out at the foot of the hill on which the castle is built. Its not the easiest route up to the castle but its rather beautiful through the trees:

SportsDirect.com Christmas for a Fiver Challenge #sdfiverchallenge

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I was challenged by BritMums to find Christmas gifts for £5 or less from SportsDirect.com. Being a sporty family this was a perfect challenge for me! There are plenty of gifts listed in their Gifts Under £5 section but there are always plenty of items around the site that were £5 or less too.

First of all for my son, who is growing rapidly, I first of all found some bargain shorts (£5) for all the sport he likes to do:

Then as he often has incredibly muddy football or fell running shoes I bought him a proper sports shoe bag which had been reduced to £4.99:

Review: Famous Five Adventure Game

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When an e-mail popped up in my inbox asking if I was interested in reviewing a new game about the Famous Five I jumped at the chance! These stories were some of my favourites when I was growing up and I have the entire series somewhere boxed away. As an 8 and 9 year old I was part of a group of 5 that used to act out the stories and have our own adventures. My character was always Dick as I was most definitely a tomboy! 

First of all we were sent modern versions of the first 3 stories to read and enjoy. It was wonderful to to be taken back to Kirrin Island with the exciting adventures. Modern children would never be allowed to go off in the way they did at 12 and under to camp on an island. Of course they are also a bit old fashioned with Anne playing house but they are still thrilling adventures:

The game was released on the App store today and we had fun trying it out. We only had time for the quick game so I am not sure what the full game is like. First of all we had to decide which of the children we were going to have as the lead, so of course I had to insist on it being Dick! Then we had to choose the 2 locations that the adventure was going to be in:

Then we went in to the adventure and discovered what mystery we had to solve. In this case it was missing juggling balls. The characters don't talk in English but the text below them is simple to read:

It was great to see Kirrin Island and the castle brought to life in the game including details like the Jackdaw Tower. We had to visit certain places and collect clues by directing a bicycle with finger swipes. Once we had collected enough then we could move on to talking to witnesses. The only way to get good answers was to speak to them nicely so we had to choose the right way of asking each time:

Reasons to be Cheerful: The Birthday Edition #R2BC

Where is October vanishing to? We have had a very busy time as it was birthdays for 2 of us! Therefore I have had plenty of reasons to be cheerful:
1) Birthday Girls
I had a special night out with my daughter to celebrate our birthdays. We went out for pizza and then mocktails at Slate. It was a lovely evening with my mini me:

2) Spoiled rotten

I was very lucky to be sent plenty of cards and some lovely gifts for my birthday. This was one of the wonderful birthday messages that made me smile:

#CountryKids on Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire

On the day that was forecast to be the best weather we headed to Freshwater East to let the children try out their bodyboards and wet suits. It is one of the safer of the beaches along the coast although the waves are not as big as on other beaches. It is certainly a beautiful setting:

The water was lovely and clear for swimming and for messing about on the water. The advantage of being in a large group was that there was always an adult willing to be in the water with children allowing the others to chill on the sand. 

It was pretty good sand for fun too, especially when you have a willing volunteer to be buried in it:

It was good for making sand castles too:

#CountryKids in Tenby (Dinbych-y-pysgod)

On a grey and damp day a group of us decided that the best option was to head to the seaside resort of Tenby (in Welsh Dinbych-y-pysgod which means fortlet of the fish). It is blessed with 2.5 miles of beaches one of which is South Beach:

The children raced ahead down the steep and slippy steps from the town straight down to the beach:

Despite the cold and rain they were all keen to get in to the water paddling away. The adults stood at a sensible distance wrapped up in raincoats! A few children got a bit too enthusiastic and got completely soaked... 

We decided against paying to get up to the fort on St Catherine's Island, although some of our larger group later told us it was fabulous, and headed into the town itself. One mum had to take her children to buy dry clothes and the rest of went in search of a restaurant with enough seating for our large group. Eventually we struck lucky:

As it was a seaside town the children all wanted to play in the arcades so we then spent ages on the 2p machines:

Eventually it was time to head back through the old medieval walls (not too many of these remain):

We made the most of the shops to buy wet suits and bodyboards for future adventures! I would love to return there on a warmer, dryer day but I guess it would be incredibly busy..

#ReasonsToBeCheerful Harvest Festival, Going Retro and Breeding Giants #R2BC

The autumn lurgy has struck me down for the last few days so I need to focus on the positive stuff to lift me back up! Although in some respects being forced to take it easy is positive thing...
1) Harvest Festival
For the first time since my son changed schools I made it to his harvest festival. With it being his last year at primary school I am trying to get to as many events as possible. It was a fabulous celebration with songs from years 1-6 in our wonderful Parish Church:

2) Geek!

My son let me buy his school book token off him and I used it to start my new collection of Dr Who Mr Men books. Of course I had to start with my Doctor:

3) Blasts from the Past

On Sunday I had no energy at all and I needed to spend virtually all day lying down in bed. Luckily I had Amazon TV (Affiliate link)  films to stop me going stir crazy. I went back in time to watch old favourites including Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Dirty Dancing, Footloose and the Bodyguard. Nothing quite like a bit of Alan Rickman to make me feel better:

#TheCoopWay The Co-op and One Foundation

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I was very happy to be offered a free lunch in return for promoting TheCoopWay and the Co-op's donations to the One Foundation and the Global Investment Fund for Water. My lunch was delivered to my home in a box insulated inside with wool:

I had been offered choices from the £3.50 meal deal which included a choice of potato or vegetable crisps:

With the aim being to promote the water charities I chose one branded and one own brand water. For the Co-Op own brand they donate 3p per litre to the One Foundation to help end water poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. For the branded water they donate 1p per litre to the Global Investment Fund for Water:

#FitnessFriday a wet and muddy week

The one problem with walking everywhere to get fitter is that it reduces the amount of time you have for every thing else! So this post is late as I couldn't fit it all in yesterday... This week I have been experimenting with live videos whilst exercising as part of practising my video skills! So apologies for lots of heavy breathing and sweatiness...

I have had no weight change this week - although at my Well Woman check I weighed 3 lbs less than I do at home! So what has gone well or badly this week?

1) Diet

It has been a bonkers week and my diet always does wrong when I am busy! I had very short notice for a day's supply work and ended up with Peperami and crisps for my lunch as that is what my son likes to eat... I really need to improve on this part of being healthy!

2) Fitness

My foot still is not right so I have been a bit cautious. On Wednesday I had a chance to try it out on the Helm as I wasn't needed to help. It wasn't ideal conditions:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Something Old Something New #R2BC

Yay its October which not only means the month with the most birthdays in my family (including mine!) but hosting is back to me! Impressing myself on week 1 by actually writing the post on Wednesday night - will I keep that up? Thanks to Michelle for hosting in September and I hope I look after things well until November. So here are my reasons to be cheerful for the first week of October:
1) New discovery
Whilst out trying to hatch Pokemon eggs I discovered a wood on a hill that I didn't know existed! A lovely little spot to escape too: 

2) New parkrun shirt

I am very lucky that the backlog of parkrun shirts was resolved only 9 runs after I completed my 50th. It is also great to know that picking the next size down from my old shirt was the right decision as this one is not too tight:

3) Old chair

I inherited a Victorian or Edwardian chair from my granny years ago. However I haven't had anywhere safe to put it since we moved to Kendal so my parents have been looking after it. Since I have re-arranged my bedroom it fits nicely and it is well away from the children!

Lego: Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

My son enjoyed recreating events from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films so I bought him a few of the smaller Lego sets so that he could recreate them. Unlike me he doesn't enjoy building Lego so I have always had the fun of building them all! When we moved into this house the Lego was all jiggled about and things had come apart. Yesterday as part of getting his room a bit more respectable I decided to re-build as many of his sets as I could. The Tolkien themed ones were mostly in one container that made it easer to re-assemble (not got all the instructions so had to use Google). Now these are old sets the prices are much higher but I have added my affiliate links if you are a fan:

I can't remember the last time Shelob actually had all her body parts attached:

The hook makes it possible to set her up for a proper attack:

Pokemon Go: Mewtoo and Suicune Raids

My son and I have decided we need to work on our YouTube channel and hone both our videoing skills and my video editing skills! Yesterday we took part in the first Mewtoo Raid in Kendal and as my son was using my phone I filmed the action. After the raid I learned that the new iOS 11 enabled video capture of the screen so we tried that for another new Pokemon to us Suicune. I had problems getting voiceover so its pretty quiet:

I had a better voice over go: