Easter Trail

On Sunday we headed towards our local National Trust property for the Cadbury Easter egg trail. I’ve been to Bodnant Garden only once before with my boys, it wasn’t too enjoyable an experience since Bear was hardly walking at the time so had to be carried – like many places in North Wales it’s pretty hilly ha!

It was a really fun experience even though Bear didn’t really play along with the hunting for clues and answering the questions – which was really the point in the trail. Fun was had all the same! We spent the entire morning there exploring all the different paths – we did end up leaving the trail completely but in doing so went around the entire property, we headed away from the formal gardens and headed towards the waterfalls and wooded areas. It is absolutely beautiful there, one of my favourite places!

Reading the sign at the very start of the trail

Gryffin clearly very excited! Taken minutes before he went skipping off down the path singing…

‘Which way should we go Daddy?’

The old Manor, still on the trail at this point!

Here we left the trail and headed off on an adventure – according to my boys!

Ooo water – we stopped and threw some sticks, naturally!

We had to check under this bridge for trolls before the boys would walk across.

I think these are all the same stream just at different points on the footpath. Apart from the ‘Oh how pretty’ my brain wasn’t terribly switched on, more just enjoying the moment!

Bear found the biggest tree in the whole wide world apparently – he HAD to have a photo! He looks tiny and you can’t even see the top haha!

We found the old mill that is now home to fish stealing otters and bats! Exciting! Then we headed back up to join the trail as little legs were getting tired.

Daddy is hunting for questions as well as carrying everything – silly mummy forgot her bag!

The last clue hid from us – it was on the wall at the back somewhere!

Bear ‘rock climbing’ since the tree he tried to climb beat him up – no joke, that is actually what he claimed happened! Must have been an Ent…

A very tired Bear waiting to collect his prize! Gryffin was far too tired for photos, he just wanted a snuggle.  Off home we headed with chocolate eggs and sleepy boys. Waiting for them there was a special treat I’d made for them – no chocolate from mummy this year!

Gryffin’s bunny.

Bear’s bunny.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Bodnant Garden, the Easter egg trail and our adventuring. I will definitely be doing the same again next year! Hooray for Easter!

A Bear of a birthday!

Today my very littlest man turned 4.

My baby is no longer so much of a baby.

While I’m proud of him in every way, I also feel rather sad that he’s getting so big.

I cannot for the life of me fathom why some parents wish away these years, if I could I’d keep him this age forever.

I know I shouldn’t feel sad, he had an absolutely fantastic day and rightly so – you can’t redo birthdays can you? They happen only once a year!

What should really have been a nice quiet affair with only the family invited – Nainy, Taidy, cousins and Aunties – turned into something more befitting of Bear. Silliness and no volume control reined supreme!

I’m so pleased he enjoyed himself, now I’m off to join my boys in the land of nod. I am shattered! I couldn’t care less that it’s before 9pm haha.

Early birthday treat

Well yesterday was a whole heap of fun mixed with a dash of crazy!

On Tuesday it is Bear’s 4th birthday, for a special treat he decided that he wanted the whole family to come with us to Chester Zoo.

After a lot of discussion the date was arrange for the Friday before his birthday – yesterday. I booked a  minibus – a 12 seater, we really did take the whole family haha – tickets were booked and paid for and we were all very very excited to be going. That was until we woke up to a rather snowy morning.

After my initial panic thinking that we wouldn’t be able to go out in case we got stranded – well Bear has to have got the dramatic nature from somewhere doesn’t he? – I called everyone to make sure they were still good with the plans and wanted to go ahead. My family must all be insane because go we did.

There were a few hairy moments when the snow got a bit much to drive through but the minibus was a beast and my dad is the best driver going – complete love for my dad here. I would have killed everyone.  Well maybe not since I wouldn’t have even tried driving in it but still…

When we finally got to the zoo I was so glad we stuck to our definitely mental guns, the faces of all the littlies was priceless! The zoo is always a treat but to have snow too? I think that was Bear’s idea of perfection!

You may think it would be completely pointless to go to a zoo when most of the animals would be hiding indoors – only a brave handful of them dared the cold – but to give credit where it’s due, Chester Zoo has some fantastic indoor attractions. The littlies were absolute captivated and we spent the entire day there. The hilly paths were cleared of snow at several points throughout the day and the the other footpaths were gritted so there was no worries of the little ones slipping and getting hurt!

Flamingos braving the weather!

At one point during the day we did think we’d have to head home, the snow was coming down really heavily so we’d all agreed to sit and eat our packed lunches – we are all definitely slightly deranged – then head back home. The staff at the zoo were absolutely fantastic, we were able to sit in the main cafe with huge heaters. All wet gloves and hats were dried out, tummies were filled then we headed back out as the snow had stopped – no reason to leave early!

Whenever we got too cold or fed up with Bear and Taidy constantly pelting us with snowballs we headed to a different indoor section.

After one last snow ball fight we walked to the gift shop then back to the minibus. It was a rather quiet trip home, the state of the roads was a little better and all the littlies were wonderfully worn out.

I sat next to my little Bear,  just before falling asleep he told me he’d had a great day and that the Zoo was the ‘bestest’. I’ve got to say I agree with the little fella, despite the weather we had an absolutely fantastic time.

Silent Sunday

Conversations in the tub

Just a short little something to warm the heart when the nights begin to get really cold. My two boys as usual of a night were splashing each other in the bath tub, bubbles flying, dinosaurs drowning and pirates rushing to save them. Then the chatter turned to something much sweeter. It went as follows –

Bear – ‘Mummy I love you’

Me sat beside the bathtub looking rather soggy and wet – ‘Love you too sweety’

Bear – ‘Mummy, Gryffin is my best friend’

Me – ‘That’s sweet, what do you think Gryffin?’

Gryffin puts down his dinosaur toys and thinks deeply…

‘Samuel is my friend.’

A lovely dramatic pause (he’s all about the drama my dear Gryffin you know)

‘But Bear is my best friend.’ – he even added a head bob here.

Me (smiling slightly) – ‘Why do you think that?’

Gryffin – ‘He is always there, we have adventures together!’

I hope my beautiful boys continue to have a lifetime of adventures together, best friends forever =)