Our Secret Den

It's fair to say that as far as this blog is concerned... I've been pretty useless lately.  Thankfully it's just in terms of the blog.  With everything else I am doing pretty well!  So:

• my house is relatively clean - as clean as any house is where it isn't top priority and you have a dog and two small children.
• the laundry is done
• the children are happy
• I am happy
• I am very busy with Scout tasks various.

But I am resolved to get the blog back on form too.

 Back in January we started going to our "secret den".  I wanted to wait until Bug was confident enough on her feet that time spent in the woods wasn't going to involve too much time tripping and stumbling.  In the woodland alongside the golf course, there is a magnificent shelter.  I think it was made during a project on the Clearances by the children from the village Primary School, but it's also been expanded and used by "Mucky Pups", the local after-school club.  We wander along (with two small ones it's about a fifteen or twenty minute walk), and then spend up to an hour just playing in the pine woods there, using the shelter (sorry, "secret den") as our base.

Since it's pretty cold at this time of year I always take a flask of soup and wrap them up warm, but I'm also teaching C about hide-and-seek, and Tag and other good running around games, and we do lots of balancing and climbing too.

This is what I envisaged when I wanted to have children.  Lots of time playing outdoors, regardless of the weather!