Striking Mums: Setting Out

I have decided to join in with Kate On Thin Ice's Striking Mums group to help motivate me to improve my life and my children's lives! Each week she is giving us prompts to ponder on. Here I go with this week's ones:

Are you match fit as a mum?

Well having stood on the scales on the last day of the school holiday I would have to say no! I need to lose a fair amount of weight to be healthier and to be able to keep up with the children.. My running took a major back seat during the school holidays and it is showing in my weight..

So now we are back in routine (although its a new one for me) I need to get running again on a regular basis. I also need to take more care about what I am eating and drinking to help shift the extra pounds.

Luckily I am up to date with all the health checks that I qualify for so its a case of just doing my best to get that healthy weight range. Its going to take planning and organisation but its all feasible.

Let's hope I can squeeze in more runs like this one around my training:

What baby step can you take towards your hopes and dreams this week?

Well I took a huge step and started my teacher training course. One week in and I am surviving so far. Its taken a long time to reach this point so I had better make the most of it...

Who can help you on your journey

I wouldn't be able to do the training without a huge amount of help from my parents and other local family. Having people around to share the load when it comes to school runs and even over night stays is worth its weight in gold. So grateful that my family are fully behind me on this big step. 

Hope other mums join in and support each other.

Reasons to be Cheerful Back to School! #R2BC

Thanks to the wonderful Jo at Ojo's World for hosting in August and taking good care of everything. The hosting is back to me for September so its time to share my reasons to be cheerful:

1) Mintfest

This weekend was the Mintfest Street Theatre festival in Kendal. We enjoyed lots of fun over the Saturday and Sunday. There were oh so many reasons to smile:

2) Back to uni!

Twenty years after completing my MA I officially went back to university this week. It's both exciting and nerve-racking to be starting teacher training at my age but on a campus like Lancaster and at a lovely village school there are plenty of reasons to be happy:

3) Being lucky

I won a Facebook/Twitter draw this week from our local shopping centre. So now I possess a deluxe art set and I've been enjoying spending my voucher at Rymans on stuff for uni! Just goes to prove that these competitions are genuine.

Keeping this short and sweet as I am shattered after starting my course... Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

<center> <a href="http://beckywilloughby.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Reasons to be Cheerful" src="http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o585/LakesMum/6894b786-0238-4650-8556-714fdbb64aa2_zpsef0827cd.jpg"/></a></center>

#CountryKids at Martin Haven

One day whilst we were in Pembrokeshire my son wasn't very well so he and I had to miss the 2 trips out to Tenby and Folly Farm. Instead we drove a little way around the coast to Martin Haven to see the local wildlife. Its a lovely spot adjacent to Skomer Island. The car park is National Trust so that saved us £5.

This is where you can get boats to the island to see the sea birds which at certain times include puffins. My son would not go in the boat so we had to make do with the land based birds:

As it was a lovely but windy day we hiked up onto the headland to see if we could see Skomer:

#Mintfest2014 Sunday

After the fun of Saturday at Mintfest we headed back into town for a second batch of street theatre on the Sunday. First up we came across a flock of flying pigs at the Birdcage:

Then down at Abbott Hall park a young couple were dancing off on an adventure:

Saturday at #Mintfest 2014

It was just an ordinary Saturday lunch time in Kendal.... but on the streets strange things were going on:

As we walked down the road they got even stranger: