The holidays have begun

Our first three days of the school holiday have been lovely. A steady wind down easing us into the school break.

We had to go into town on Wednesday, generally mundane things needed doing, except for one.

Whether we like it or not out little girl is growing up and I have had a couple of very light hearted conversations with her along with the use of this book. After our first chat I asked her if she had any questions. Just one, how old do you need to be to have your ears pierced. 

I told her i had to wait until I was 10, but when I got mine done my younger sisters got theirs done too. I was more than a little miffed!

Anyway we had a chat with G about it and although he wasn't entirely happy about it he did agree she could.

We took S to Claire's Accessories where the staff were really good. The first choice S had to make was which flavour lollipop would she like for afterwards only after this important decision was made did she then have to pick which pair of ear-rings she wanted. She was given a teddy bear to cuddle whilst the deed was done, both ears pierced at the same time by two members of staff so it was all over in one hit. 

We were at home on Thursday. G's friend from work came over with his daughter. The girls played together whilst T, G and K sat around chatting. I ironed. Not exactly exciting but essential and now most of new clothes are in my wardrobe ready to wear.
I like T's flip flop fashion statement. After being in all day we spent an hour wandering along by the shore in the evening sun and for some reason T decided this was the way to go in the footwear department. And why not.

Yesterday was my mum's birthday and we took her out to Hillier's Arboretum. The four of us had a lovely day out there a few years ago, wandering around the gardens and finding the different sculptures in the art in the park exhibition they hold each year.

A lot of time was also spent at the treehouse. T and S playing 'it' and G and T coaxing S up the climbing wall.

From there we walked through the pine trees which led us to the bottom of this slope. T and S had a race up to the top and back again, then it was mine and G's turn. We didn't make it up very far! T ran back up again to meet us and he and I rolled part of the way back down. I couldn't do it for long as my head was spinning, but it was good fun!

I took loads of photos and wanted to include as many as possible to remember our day by.

Bees and butterflies were everywhere

Ever wondered what to do with all your plastic plant pots? These were huge and looked magnificent hanging from the branches of a tree quite near the entrance to the arboretum.

There was an outdoor art exhibition, subjects from the natural world made from plastics, wool and materials by art students from a local college.

This little wooden rope bridge was hung above a stream and T took great delight in rocking it to and fro whilst his nan and sister were making their way across, thankfully they found it just as amusing as he did!

Last time we were here I was amazed at the size of the gunnera leaves and this time it was mum who couldn't believe how large they grow.

These 'Rusty Poppies' are for sale at £25 each and they were one of my favourite things on the sculpture trail.

More metal flower seed heads,

These glass bubbles had models of butterflies and dragonflies inside.

There were lots of animal sculptures around the gardens, the deer was very majestic and if I had a spare £1,795 I would have bought the 'Steel Wool' sheep. I thought that the way the chains of metal had been used to show the shagginess of it's fleece was such a creative way to give the animal it's texture.

Whilst some of us admired the art, some messed about!

The children's educational garden was divided up into lots of different sections with so much to see. There was a pond dipping area and an allotment area where this rustic bench was set.

Much fun was had with this unusual water pump which the children used for cooling down by throwing water over each other.

T asked which one of these heads looked most like G but he said none of them as they all had too much hair!

Last set of photos contain some of the most amazing sculptures including two views of my absolute favourite. At just under £6,000 The Wedding Guest is one of the most expensive but she is also stunning and so elegant.
Which one of these works of art would you buy?