Parks and more parks!

With Emily off out for the day at the "Art of Sound" event at Rockingham Speedway, which she won for being an outstanding science student, and I was determined that Catherine and Lucy weren't going to miss out on having some fun too, so I planned a mystery tour and a picnic. 

I picked up Lucy from her mummies early so we could make a day of it. Our first stop, after Catherine came home from her sleep over, was the farm to see how the pigs were doing. It was amazing to see how much the little things have grown in just over 3 weeks. The are so much bigger than they were when we first saw them. Of course we just had to see the goats too. Lucy loves the way they just follow her around. She always saying "come on goats follow me" as she walks around the edge of there little field and naturally they do as they are told in the hope she will give them some grass of something else nice to eat. We also stopped off to see the donkey and the small horse that Catherine loves so much and lets not forget the rabbits and other small animals on the farm.

Before we left the farm we popped into the farm shop to buy some homemade cakes for our picnic lunch. That was just part of the shopping we needed to do for picnic so it was off to the Co Op in Melton to pick up the rest of the supplies and a go on Clifford the Big Red Dog for Lucy.

As we were in the area the first of the parks we went to was the country park in Melton. There is stuff there to do for Catherine as well as little Lucy. It makes it an ideal place to take them and they all love the little coffee shop that is part of the visitor centre. Lucy seems to love the little park area and played happily with any child that would let her. She kept running over and telling me that they were her friends. It is lovely to see how they make friends so easily at that age. It never stops amazing me. After a bit we went off in search of Catherine who had headed off to the climbing area. She was happily going down the aerial runway with the biggest of smiles on her face. Lucy wanted a go after she made me have a turn, so I put her on Catherine's lap and off they both went again and again. It was sweet seeing both queue up to take there turn on the slide hand in hand.

After a while there both started getting hungry so it was off to the car too get the food. Two cakes had already gone but there were still 4 to share and all the other food to eat. We settled down under some trees away from the heat of the sun that had decided to grace us with a visit. There we watched the world go by as we ate our picnic and enjoyed the cool breeze.

After lunch, and a change of top for Lucy, it was back to playing for the girls. Full of new energy Lucy went back to the small park to make more new friends and Catherine went back to the climbing area. When Lucy eventually got bored of the small park we went to find Catherine who had secured the large swing. Lucy climbed on beside her and got me to push them with the words "Higher, Daddy Higher"

As we were leaving the country park I asked them what they wanted to do next. The choice was go to a "Wacky Warehouse" I had found or more parks and ice creams. Catherine, bless her let Lucy make the decision and she opted for more parks. So off we set again for a new park with Lucy having an afternoon nap as we drove.

We ended up at the adventure playground at Rutland water. The first port of call being the shop to get the ice creams and the change for the parking. Lucy was fascinated by the little ice balls that Catherine got from the shops. Luckily for Lucy Catherine was up for sharing.

After we finished the ice creams we set off for the adventure playground. Lucy headed for the swings and Catherine for the trim trail. On the swings Lucy made friends with a little French girl and charmed her mother while Catherine did the chain walk. At one point Catherine dragged me and Lucy away to show me the fantastic climbing tree she had found. We got our own back after Lucy had found a small camp fire arrangement of sticks which added too. She insisted that Catherine came to take a look. After they had enough of playing at the adventure playground we set off for another park after stopping off to look at the fish and terrapins. Catherine mentioned as we left the first time we saw what is a now a shop and an aquarium. It use to be a butterfly farm and she remember the first time she went there and how much fun that day was. I was surprised how much she remembered of that day.

Next we headed off to the secret park we first found back in April. It is much smaller than the adventure playground but the climbing frame is big enough of a challenge for Lucy and still fun for Catherine. Having spent most of the time at the other two parks we didn't have much time there but there was enough time for Lucy to make yet another friend and get them following her around the park and for Lucy to start ordering her about. As always when we left she said goodbye over and over again to her new friend and waved madly. 

There was just one thing to do before we finally got home. That was a quick shop in Tesco's to get something for Dinner and all the things we needed to make our Sunday Lunch. Lucy as always wanted ice lollies which I got for her and the girls for pudding.

Both girls had a smashing day and it was good for them to spend some time together without there big sister.