Sunday picnic

Today we planned a picnic and gathering in the forest - we changed the location from the New Forest to Hundred Acres Wood in the forest of Bere as there is a great play area there, so there would be more for the children to do.  We arrived first, perhaps a little shockingly, and grabbed a picnic bench and table.  Again it was very windy, but this time instead of the gazebo we brought along a windbreaker that we staked into the ground next to the table - this allowed us to have a couple of the camping chairs set up out of the wind.

The playground was a bit like a mixture of what we found at Moors Valley country park and at the local Riverside Park, lots of solid wood structures with either wooden planks or chains to climb on, cargo nets and swinging baskets.  I took a few pictures of the boys (notice how they are dressed for the English summer):

Ahhh, lovely brothers

Ethan is a basket case!

Owen is a cheeky monkey!

They played hard and then it was time to eat the picnic and meet with the various folks that had arrived while we were playing.  The play area was relatively sheltered, but the picnic table and bench were exposed to some very cold blowy conditions.  After the picnic we went for a long walk in the forest to try to stay warm and out of the wind!  When we got back grandma had a drink and a snack for the boys and cups of tea all around for everyone! (We took along a single-burner stove and camping cook set so that we could boil water for tea, great planning!)  The kids had great fun and even built a makeshift teepee/wigwam structure:

Isabelle, Alex and Ethan in their wigwam

After such a busy day and long walk we felt sure that Ethan and Owen would fall asleep in the car on the way home, but amazingly neither did.  Unfortunately this meant that they were very tired and grumpy when we got home and in much need of a bath.  We had tried to arrange meeting with my sisters again and the plan was that we would go and meet with them after we got back.  However, due to their need of an early night, it was agreed that Alison would stay behind to feed and bath the boys and put them to bed while I went to meet my sisters.

I had a nice evening with my nieces and nephew, and my sisters and brother-in-law, they had cooked chicken wings and potato wedges which we had with salad (and a beer for me :-) ). Time flew past as we chatted and also tried to make arrangements for the coming days.  Before I knew it, it was time for me to leave so that I could come home and go to bed.