A sunny Saturday

Hurray for sunshine for first time since Tuesday! We had a few chores to catch up on but at lunch time we did a few bits in the garden whilst the sun shone. Getting rid of some dandelions but not a lot made a start on the wild borders!

Then we dug out our scooters and headed to the river. Not been out on mine for a bit but going down hill was fab (did get jeered by the teenagers at skate park over the river though!). It's lovely along the banks of the Kent for a family to travel:

As a bonus in the distance we could see the kite festival at Kendal Castle (must get up closer tomorrow!):

We grabbed a take out McDonalds and I nipped to the library before whizzing down to our local cinema at the Brewery Arts Centre to watch Epic. This is a good eco film as its about preserving the forest! As we had missed a lot of lovely weather watching the film when we came out we made the most of soaking up some sun in the beer garden:

We scooted back home and the children then indulged in a water fight with the neighbours' children! Think we made the most of the sun whilst it lasted..

Easter Family Fun and Fitness

Like many parents I a) have less time to exercise in school holidays and b) worry that my children don't get enough exercise when not in school. So over the start of the holidays I've tried to combine getting/staying fit with some family fun.

First up now I'm running for around 30 minutes non-stop its actually easier to go out with the children. I just need to workout a route that is feasible on their scooters (i.e. not too many road crossings or steep hills) and that has a bribe at the end of it. Luckily Kendal is fairly good for this as we have routes along the river and old canal bed. The bribe at the end was a trip to Abbot Hall park playground. This was the resulting mapped route from MapMyRun:

Yes it was a little bit extra jiggly as I had to retrace my steps a few times to chivvy along a reluctant 6 year old! I also had to run round the park several times at the end to finish the run as my children were about to go on strike so I called a halt to the proceedings for them and sent them to the play area. The run was anything but a steady pace with having to look after the children but my split times weren't bad:

The children enjoyed a good play in the park with a quick picnic whilst I recovered (amazingly its getting easier much quicker!). Then we all needed to warm up so nipped into the cafe at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery (see yesterday's post!). It was then a team decision to cross the courtyard and visit the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry as we had never been. It cost £5 for me but the children were free so an inexpensive visit. We all enjoyed looking at the recreations of historic shops, industries and homes:

Shoe samples

Victorian Chemists

Bobbin Making from Staveley

16th Century bed

Arthur Ransome's sketches and notebooks

I will have to back sometime on my own as the children didn't let me read a lot of the information as they kept rushing on to the next exciting display!

Afterwards we did some shopping in Kendal (have you ever tried buying gloves in March - apparently its the wrong time of year!). The children had their last Christmas book tokens to spend so we spent forever in Waterstones. A minor miracle occurred as I came out without buying a new book for myself!! I did attempt to run part of the 3 kilometers home but the 6 year old went on strike so I had to content myself with walking.

Today we met up with the extended family and with 3 children and a dog needing some exercise we again mounted up on the scooters (this time I took mine) and headed to the park from my parents' side of town. Once again the old canal path is perfect for this kind of expedition:

It was a bit chilly at the park but the children still had plenty of fun on all the equipment:

We could also just see the Kendal kite festival up at the castle:

And there were plenty of birds enjoying the River Kent:

The scooting looked so much fun that we even persuaded granny to have a go on my scooter:

Then it was a return leg along the canal path and my son spotted this cheeky little thing in the tree:

Later we rewarded ourselves with a yummy Easter tea:

Next challenge is the annual Easter egg hunt at Sizergh but I'll have to get the children to scoot across town first so that I can get in a run!

Get Fit Feel Epic Week 3: #GFFE

Well I was really hoping that this week my weight would continue to drop after the previous 2 weeks but I always dread stepping on to Caytie's scales! Somehow I start to feel really flabby the nearer it gets to my turn... So it was really nice to see that another 1.5 pounds have come off. I am nearly back to the lightest I got last year and sneaking up on that all too elusive 2 stone award...

So what did I do to achieve this? Firstly on most days I kept my calorie intake below 1,500 calories. Some days I went over but it obviously balanced out. Investing in a 3rd hot food thermos has helped as having a hot picnic is much more filling. On days when I know its a manic evening I'm eating my main meal for lunch. Yes I am still eating junk sometimes but on the whole my diet must be going right.

As for exercise I threw a couple of new things to increase the number of days I am being energetic and also added to the variety. I am now the proud owner of a grown up scooter:

I have had a couple of trips on it from my maiden voyage on Saturday to a full trip to church and town on Sunday. I may have got some funny looks and been laughed at by teenagers but its a super fun way to whizz around! I just need to force my right leg to scoot as well as the left.

Then yesterday I took up running and I have challenged myself to work up to a 10 k run on May 18th! I've already signed up and paid so not backing out now... Just need to keep on working my way through the podcasts to build up my stamina and speed... Watch out in the local area for a red faced, panting, plump woman pounding the pavements! Apparently I need to run 3 times a week so I should be able to squeeze that in around my other commitments.

Let's hope I can keep up the momentum into week 4..

A Snowy Scoot-Walk Round Staveley

No more snow here so a chance for my son and I to have some fun outdoors in Staveley whilst his sister went to a party with her friends. Nice to be able to have time just the two of us. First of all we went to the Recreation Ground where we were almost on our own except for one other brave foolish mum and her pre-schooler. At this point my son gave me a brief lesson in how to use my new scooter:

The whole park had a coating of snow on it:

but it was still possible to have a lot of fun as long as we kept moving around! My son enjoyed having virtually everything all to himself and even told me what to take photographs of him doing like these ones:

After a while even he got cold so he gave me another scooting lesson to get us to Wilf's cafe. There we tucked into fresh soup and sausages on toast respectively:

Yummy! To keep us going for the next stage of our expedition we also had some cakes whilst reading several picture books between us:

Suitably fortified we went out to look at the weir and the river though good old health and safety kept us further back than normal:

Then it was time to head down to the Miles without Stiles path on the far bank of the Kent:

There was time to have a quick game of Troll bridge:

After further scooting practice we headed up the river path to check out the weir:

The path was a real bonus to people with buggies or wheelchairs after it was completed in 2011. So many people were involved in making it look so fabulous:

It was a tad icy for scooting but it didn't stop us from stopping to take photographs as we wandered along. My son took some nice ones himself:

We then headed back through the village and as we still had a while to wait before my daughter was returned to us we spent our last bit of time together in the Duke William pub for a coffee and a juice. It was nice to warm up by their stove:

Reasons to be Cheerful XXVI ( #R2BC )

This week's guest host is Clare at Seasider in the City. It's been a mostly cheerful week this week so here we go:
1) School Trip
For the first time ever I managed to go on a school trip with my daughter. Until now I was either working or had her little brother to look after when ever there was one on. I struck lucky and got a trip to Manchester. The photographs from the day featured in this week's Gallery. We went to Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and Manchester Jewish Museum both well worth a visit.

One of the lovely stained glass windows

The children on the trip were all very well behaved and it was such a pleasure to spend a whole day with them. I look forward to going on another trip sometime soon!
2) Operation 3rd Bedroom
For full news on this read this post but needless to say finally getting everyone in their own bedrooms for first time is a reason for all the family to smile! The children no longer have to share and get in each other's way. I can get my daughter to bed at a much more reasonable time as I don't have to wait for my son to go to sleep. One of the strangest reasons to be cheerful is that I can now get out of bed on both sides as my bed is no longer tucked up against a wall! My daughter is now on a Hello Kitty spending frenzy and turning her room into a girls only zone: