Turning two!

On Thursday Rio turned two. We spent the morning visiting both sets of Grandparents and then headed out for the day to Brodsworth hall. Rio has always been grown up and forward for his age but I feel like over the last few days he's changed even more, he really has been a pleasure to watch.

The weather held out and was glorious on Friday too, so we took advantage of Craigs times off and ventured to Clumber Park for a picnic and kick about!

 
 
 

We pondered over the idea of a party for a while, but Rio really is the outdoorsy exploring type so it seemed silly to not have a day that would really make him happy. I think the parties will start once he's in school and he can really remember them.

He was pretty spoilt in the present department but its all things that he will get good use out of and love! He also got his first scooter, which he loves scooting about on. And as he'd actually asked for a fish..he got one of them from my dad too! He loves feeding it every morning and watching it swim around.

 

Whilst at Clumber Park we added a National Trust membership to our collection so hopefully our spring/summer will be full of new family adventures!

A sunny day at Sundown

Flicking through my parents old photo's of us as a child, we often come across ones of my sisters at Sundown Adventure Land..or Pet's Corner as it was then. I don't think I was even born but for as long as I can remember its been on the list of 'places to take Rio'. Today the sun was out so that is exactly what we did..

 

 Inside 'the three bears' house..

 It was a very different day out, the story board village was my personal favourite but..

as you can see.. Rio was far from amused!! He hated that everything including the farm, was all pretend. He hated the loud noises and sing song activation. And most of all.. he hated getting wet on the water ride! Naughty daddy!!

I think its fair to say Rio is more of a nature/wildlife exploring kind of child..I think he would of much preferred a national trust/Yorkshire wildlife destination instead..or failing that a football over the field!! But we got outside to make the most of a beautiful day as a family, and that's all that truly matters.

Cheap and cheerful family fun

We've done the drive to Asda countless times, nothings ever caught my eye. Suddenly during a stop at roadworks I see a little brown sign, and in mummy world that means a possible day out! I did a little asking around and it turned out that little brown sign was for a nature reserve. For a few weeks I thought nothing more of it. A nature reserve in the middle of this busy chaos? Today I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and im so glad that I did!

We pulled into Potteric Carr Nature Reserve and it just seemed like a huge office building, I thought my suspicions were confirmed. Instead of getting Rio straight out the car to explore, I left him with Craig while I went on the hunt for leaflets. I wanted to know what was here before I paid up! The leaflets looked promising and the price was even better..turns out it was only going to cost £8 for all of us! The lady was so helpful, she could of just handed us a map but she didnt..she also lead us to a big one so that she could show us which routes were pushchair friendly and where the cafe and toilets were. We bought a few drinks and off we went.

Rio gets 5 points on the leaflet for spotting a squirrel

Every so often there is a hut for you to look out over the reserve to watch for birds etc. We were most of the way around when I noticed a sign on one of the walls that stated the carpark closed at 5. Well..it was 4.15 and it had took us over 2 hours to get to this point. I've never seen Craig push that pushchair so fast in my life! We were greeted by a superb member of staff once back, he was really helpful and informed us that in future if we used the overspill carpark theres actually a different way out and you can pretty much stay as long as you like until its dusk. We recieved such good service and had such a lovely day that we purchased an annual family ticket there and then!

If your in this area or have a wildlife trust near you (theres lots around) i would highly recommend giving one a go. Their ideal for the little explorers & a fun way to slip in abit of education!

Im linking this post to Coombe Mills  country kids linky

Yorkshire day at Castle Howard

Apparently yesterday was Yorkshire day, being from Yorkshire I should of really known this but I didnt. I could lie and say that we went out to Castle Howard to enjoy it for this very reason, seems as though they had yorkshire day food festivities etc on, but we didnt so I wont. We went purely to enjoy the garden in the sunshine.

However we decided aginst paying that bit extra to also go in the house because;

- I couldnt justify paying more money to be inside on a lovely day when we'd just been stuck in  traffic on the way.
- Last time we did at Chatsworth, Rio got bored very quickly and had to be taken outside to play football by Craig..leaving me to be a tourist on my own!

It cost £19 for two adults into the garden only. Rio is under 5 so he went free. If we wanted to go into the house too it would of been £28. Further details can be found here: Castle Howard prices

Rio loved exploring the woods and i noticed some of the older children taking advantage of the hill near the house cafe. Rolling down it looked so much fun, i can imagine Rio doing that when he's older!

Finishing the post with these pictures of Rio. Who knew a 15 month old could be such a poser?

Clumber park, and yet another picture of Rio playing football.

Seems as though me and Craig have the same week off together we're trying to make the most of it and have as many family days out as the weather allows. Clumber park is an old favourite of ours, and little Rio likes anything that has enough grass to kick a ball about so we're all happy chappys really.

..we'd be even happier chappies if we'd booked that last minute holiday like we'd planned but oh well, least the current bun is making an appearance. Hey maybe it will stay out long enough to take Rio on the beach for the first time at the weekend? Bucket and spade at the ready courtesy of nanna the easter bunny.

 

What a terror!!  In sports direct the other day they had balls right near the ceiling and it took him 0.2 seconds to locate them. He has some kind of sixth sense for balls/balloons. It took me about ten minutes of handing him rugby balls, basketballs etc before he got mad and pointed to the ceiling and growled "FOOTBALL", that i realised. Silly useless mummy!! ;)

Strawberry picking

Strawberry picking has become a little yearly tradition for me and Craig..at times we've been abit immature and its ended in a sly food fight but generally its just a really nice day when the suns out. This year was even better because Rio is at an age where he can enjoy it too. And enjoy it he did..he certainly tried before he buyed anyhow!! Sneaky child ;)