Emily and Catherine's Day Out

Another lovely day. This just goes on and on. I can't remember such a lovely continuos spell of such fine weather in April with the temperatures into the twenties. What makes it perfect is the nice cold breeze that stops you over heating. Just perfect for the school holidays.

The morning was rather quite with everyone getting up late after the excitement of the failed sleep over. Nobody got up until well after nine. Catherine was the first to surface followed by Emily about half an hour later. They spent the morning doing their own thing around the house while they woke up. I just finished off some blog entries and relaxed until lunchtime. At this point we head out to enjoy the day.

Our first port of call was Northfield Farm to see the piglets. Emily and Catherine had missed out on seeing them with them being away and so this was make up time. It would also give me a chance to see how the piglets we saw being born with Lucy were doing. 

When we got to the farm we headed for the pigs to complete confusion as to which mummy pig was which mummy pig. There were two there with new born piglets. One with ten and the other with eight. In the end we had to ask the farmer if the mother of the piglets we had seen had lost some of her litter. It turned out she had lost two since we last saw her and that the other pig had given birth in the night. One of the piglets had climbed into the water trough and drowned and another the mother pig had laid on and they had found it dead in the morning. It seems it quite a problem. The mothers are so big and the piglets are so small and it just happens by accident. The mother with ten piglets originally had eleven. She had done the same thing to one of hers. It why the farmers keep vigil on them until the piglets are big enough not to get squashed.

After we finished looking at the pigs we went on to find the lambs and the other animals. The lams are so cute and Emily and Catherine loved them. Both them feed them straw and stroked them before cleaning their hands and going in to the farm shop. As always they we wanted to buy a cake. The cakes there are really nice, but the budget wouldn't allow such luxury. Well not to day at least. May be one day it will again. Before leaving everyone made friends with one of the farm cats. She was a slight black female and very friendly.

From the farm we headed out to Melton to get some food for lunch. The destination being KFC. It has been ages since we all had a KFC together. Sometime in November of last year if my memory serves me right. We all love them and it was nice to be able to have one again after so long. We just had a bargain bucket but there was enough to feed everyone. Rather than eat in KFC with heat inside the shop we headed off to the country park in Melton.

As soon as we arrived at the park we found somewhere in the shade to sit down to eat our KFC. It was quiet busy at the park but given the weather it was to be expected, but the spaces under the trees on the bank were all free so we settled there to eat. Lots of people seemed to be enjoying the sun while walking their dogs including the army who were there training their dogs on the grass in front of the bank. The army dogs were amazing and so well trained. After we finished  I gathered all the rubbish the put it in the bin and Emily and Catherine vanished into the trees to find the arial runway. I settled down to relax at one of the picnic benches in the sun that a family had just vacated. 

After a while I went off to find them. When I got to the arial runway area they were nowhere to be seen. In fact a single family had taken over the runway and everyone else seemed to be waiting for them relinquish control so they could have a turn. It didn't take long to find them when I remember the shelter they had built the last time they were there. They where rebuilding it but with much more skill than before. They weren't just leaning the branches against the trees but building walls by threading branches between the uprights. They were doing a great job.

Unfortunately the building came to a halt when Catherine cut the palm of her hand and she had to go and wash it. While it healed they returned to the area around the picnic bench and we just lay in the sun relaxing. It was so warm and lovely in the fresh area with the birds singing. I could have stayed there all day. However, all good things come to an end so I suggested they go and have a play before it was time to go home and off they went to the play area. Unlike last time the family had gone. The park had quietened down a bit and this time the got to play on the arial runway. When I went to get them they seemed to be having a super time and they wanted to stay longer but we had to go.

When we got home the girls settled down to doing there own thing for a bit before Charlie arrived to come and see Catherine. Soon they were planning another sleep over after last nights failure, but unlike last time and to maximize the chances of success it was going to happen at Charlie's house rather than here. Given that Catherine has been on a couple of sleep overs I knew she wouldn't be the one to call a halt to it. Emily didn't seem to mind being left out at all. In fact she was encouraging Catherine to go and have fun. So dinner was for three tonight and there was more to eat all round and a nice quiet house before it was time for Emily to go to bed.

It has been a lovely day both in terms of weather and in having fun. Everyone had a great day and it was so nice to fresh air and warm sunshine. It seemed so long ago that we had been to Melton country park and it was great to be back there. I can't wait until tomorrow when the weather is going to be be as nice if not nicer.