Wacky Races

I am going to be entirely honest with you! The idea I had today for the DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS, was one of those ideas I thought would be a flop. It would thus provide us with an activity and me with a funny story - but actually it worked.

OK, So spring has not sprung, that was a lie from last week from the pit of hell. It was so cold today, the boys, one-by-one, went off like little time bombs with cold noses and painful toes.

Our focus for today was RACES!! I really didn't expect the boys, who are on average ranging from 18 months to 3.5 years to be that competitive and I didn't expect them to want to follow our 'race' instructions... I was wrong on all counts!

The first race we did was a scooter/bike/running race. It felt like the boys had every reason to call unfair advantages on their fellow race-ees but alas they went as fast as their short little legs would carry them... way past the finishing line and into the distance... they were fabulous and really got the whole concept.

Next we did the egg and spoon race. It was unbelievably hillarious. One of the mums supplied boiled eggs, and with a stroke of genius, a few ladles to carry the eggs... the boys were slow, focused and definitely found that participating was the name of the game as the timings of each boy to cross the finishing line was so completely different.

About 21 seconds after the Egg 'n' Spoon race, the boys lost the plot. The cold had been working its way from the youngest to the oldest, and enough was enough. We made our way to the cafe and then spent the next 20 minutes doing a chocolate egg treasure hunt for our snack and then made as much noise as we possibly could.

A lovely cold DC4B today!!

Treasure Hunts

OH SWEETNESS, GOODNESS & BLISSFUL AMAZINGFULNESS!!!!!! Spring is on its way!!!!! I cannot express more strongly how good it is to drink in the sun, photosynthesise and let my body start to adjust to daylight once more. Is it me or has this winter been a tough one???

A whole group of us met up with a far greater ratio of kids to adults, in the 'almost' spring sunshine!! A couple of us were looking after other peoples children so there really were not your average number of Mums and Dads to kids... it was great. The kids ran in a pack and felt so much more secure... for the first time since the DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS was birthed, we watched with joy as our kids ran, without us, over the horizon - confident and together!

We sat on some picnic benches and I handed out some camouflage notebooks. Please note: this was just a nice touch... your notebooks, if ever you do this activity, do not need to be camouflaged!!

We drew in each child's book, animals that they may find on our walk.... worms, deer, dogs, cows, snails etc.... the drawings were hilarious... my deer looked like a pylon and someone else's squirrel - bore the resemblance of a crab! Art aside, the boys then went on the walk with notebooks in hand, spotting the things we had drawn. If repeated, we would have added helicopter, tractor etc... but who knew we were to stumble across a tractor in the middle of a tiny country pathway!!! (I told all the Parents that I had hired it for the kids.... don't tell them I am liar!!! hehe!!!)

We dug for worms, held snails and really enjoy our romp through the English countryside! At the point of vague fatigue we hid a stack of chocolate eggs (thank you easter, for your early eggs!!!), to which the kids spent a while finding them and a brief time consuming them. 

Today has been a great success - my feeling is that the smallest idea - like a treasure hunt can transform a simple walk and in this case make us look up, down, out and around! 

Small Ideas, Big Adventures!

When I was a child, I would dread Sunday afternoons when we would hear the dreaded words "lets go for a walk"..... 'awwwwwwwwwww Mum! Dad! do we have too??!?!??!?!?!?!'

Its funny, walking was probably one of the most important things we do as families, it is chance to be outside get fresh air, stay fit and have chance to chat. I remember certain walks we had as kids and ALWAYS they were the ones that my parents had come up with an idea to turn a sunday boring walk into an adventure. I remember hiding in the Welsh hills playing an uba game of hide and seek, or in France seeing who could roll a ball the furthest down a long country lane.... or the time we built a wig-wam out of sticks.

With our little bunch of DANGEROUS BOYS and a lots of horrible winter rain, we did a very simple idea at the local zoo. We used the book 'Dear Zoo' as our treasure map, so to speak. In the book a child asks for the zoo to send them a pet, but all the animals are not quite right. The boys saw the same animals that they usually see when they go and they walked the same route they have probably done many times, but with a different emphasis because today they were looking for the animals they have read in a book which brought it all to life.   

Tiger got very excited when a snake came to say hello to him and took the opportunity to show him where he appeared in his book!! The snake was very impressed but couldn't stop for long because he was off to have BabyCino before going to have a chat with a mate... Tiger consequently said good bye nice seeing you Nake!!

Feeding Time at the Zoo

Snowed in and Loving it!

I LOVE the snow!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! This weekend gone, Ben and I were supposed to have a romantic weekend away without the kids. The only place in the whole country that was issued a severe weather warning was where we were... see the red dot.... and worse, the only motorway junction shut in the red dot was the one we were clearly not destined to go to. I LOVE the snow though and so being snowed in with our kids was still glorious and I felt so blessed to have our little patch of snow for 2013!!

THE DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS idea is one I have been brewing and really needed snow for.... most people didn't make it to the CLUB in the freezing conditions... But we met, all wrapped up warm. Our activity was so simple and great fun....

Mix food colouring with water in a spray bottle and then decorate the snow with it. It is super effective and really artistic and unusual to look at. The boys did need a bit of help using the squirter through their gloves but it was hilarious... particularly when they sprayed themselves blue!!!

Our second activity was BRILLIANT. We used an old camping mat and pulled the boys around the snow till they fell off... admittedly, we (the adults) got SO exhausted we had to do some pretty sharp turns to make them fall off, but all in the name of fun and they thought it was marvellous!!

After this the boys sat down for a BabyCino Alfresco and we went home, freezing cold and VERY happy!!!

Tiger on an Adrenaline Ride

Boys have Balls

The words 'Balls' makes me laugh. I am not quite         sure why... I am sure I am being infantile and silly but there is something comic about it. Right, that out of the way... on to our DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS!!

Today was a spectacular day. With threats of the    whole of the UK being blanketed in snow, we were overjoyed to wake up to brilliant blue skies and a cold winters frost. The puddles (which confusingly Tiger calls Cuddles) were frozen  over.

    The start to our Club today was a little bit   fraught. We were chased by a groundsman in a pickup truck which seemed to freak the boys right out... wherever we went, he went, giving us the perfect opportunity to confront our fear of the stalking pickup man... the screaming lessoned each time he drove past and he actually got a few waves..... the boys later seized the day and highjacked one of the groundsman's other vehicles at a later point - they looked most triumphant!!!

Also one of our lovely DANGEROUS BOYS fell straight in a very cold and icy Cuddle and was drenched... HORRIBLE cuddle!!

Once everyone was dry and not screaming, we played with the balls, throwing them up and down the hill and generally chucking them all over the place. It was great... simple, easy and the perfect activity for a group of 16 month-3 year old boys.

A snack in front of the manor house and a delicious babycino to warm up our numb hands finished our CLUB off nicely. The boys were so amazing and they are definitely getting more used to the weather conditions, the mud and the possibility that at any moment they may accidentally fall in a gigantic Cuddle... I mean Puddle!!!

Brunel and the Boys

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

I don't know about you, but for me Christmas is a delicious frenzy of activity, joy and occasional gluttony!!! New Year can be soooooooo depressing but for me I LOVE January. I love the that you can sit down, think of your year ahead and think of some genuinely good ideas that you, at that moment, genuinely want to keep... I am going out tonight with my gorgeous husband Ben to go and think of things that we want for 2013. 

THE DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS... had its New Year start today and I felt that same excited feeling as we brain stormed ideas and watched our cute little boys play with each other.

So here is my DANGEROUS CLUB New Years Resolutions

1) Try to get more of the Mums involved in running activities

2) Push the boat out more in what we do

3) Try to thrill our boys as much as possible!!

Our activity today was to walk over the very high Clifton Suspension Bridge and see what we could see. We saw.... A police man on his horse, an orange lorry, some big buildings, a steam train, no boats, the sea ('apparently'), postman pat and a wood chopper that looked like it was a van having a pee.

It was blustery and cold and perfect. This bridge means a lot to me as it was the place Ben and I first kissed and where he proposed to me several years later in front of a few hundred Japanese tourists who decided to arrive at the moment of 'would you marry me...'. The cities we live in have so many things we can utilise whether it is trying to make the cars beep at you from a motor way bridge to crossing one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world.

Have a great January and don't forget to dream dreams!!!

Chocolate Snacks in Park after Bridge Walk

Lions and Reindeers

Happy Christmas everyone and a fast approaching Happy New Year as well!!! I know for sure that I will look back at this year, and a highlight will be the birth of THE DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS!!!

Today we had a festive CLUB by meeting up at the Zoo to go and feed the Reindeer. We all met by the lion enclosure and the boys got circled and eye-balled by a rather ferocious looking female lion. Fearlessly they stood and shouted at her.... "Hello Lion.... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! You off on Olidays? where you going... RAAAAAAAAAAAAH.... come get me LION!!!!!"

I love it.... haven't we trained these little men well?!?! Eye to Eye - they genuinely asked the Lion to come and get them (Thank God for 10 inch thick glass). The smeared paw prints on the inside of the glass were enough to make me shudder!! She never did tell us where she was going on her holidays either! Bit Rude!

Reindeers are beautiful creatures. Jingle and Belle let us feed them, each boy with his mossy Laplandy bag of shruby goodness!!!

After a very successful turn around the zoo the boys were starving. We then had a very busy lunch at one of the Mums Houses!!! Serious Gold Stars for her as all 12 boys sat around the table, soaking up the Christmas Season and eating a feast.


As we left Tiger indulged in a hilarious red biscuit that made him look like he was bleeding/dying as it slowly smeared its way across his face and said to me... "Mummy I love the DANGEROUS CLUB FOR BOYS"!

Wilber turned to me and said... "Mummy, wo liegt nördlich von hier würde ich gerne an der steigenden North Star aussehen??" (Yes....we still think he is German!!).

What a Delicious Morning!!!!

Blog you in the New Year!!! Bye Everyone!!! xxx