With the clocks about to go back, we’ve been trying to get in some after school adventures while we still can. Sophie has been quite keen to go on a hunt for “autumn treasure” and the combination of a rare free evening and autumn sunshine one afternoon was irresistible.
Langley Park is always a good place for an outdoor adventure. Stopping at the café first for an ice-cream seems to have become a tradition now too, even when the weather is getting colder. This time of year it also makes me think of our impromptu afternoon out there with Jessica when her heart surgery got cancelled. Maybe Sophie was remembering it too as she chose a mint chocolate chip flavoured ice-cream “because it was Jessica’s favourite flavour.”
As Sophie enjoyed her ice-cream, I thought about all the happy times we’d had here with her and Jessica. Now we are making memories with Thomas. It won’t be long before he’ll be running around, exploring with Sophie, and enjoying having his own ice-cream instead of just getting an occasional lick!
I knew we’d manage to find plenty of autumn leaves to fill Sophie’s buckets, in so many different shades of orange, red, yellow, brown and green. Autumn really is such a beautiful time of year. It always takes me a while to resign myself to its arrival but once I’ve finished mourning the end of summer, I find I quite like autumn too!
This time of year there are also lots of different types of fungus to spot. I’m not very good at identifying any of them although we did manage to spot some “fairy toadstools” (fly agaric toadstools) in the arboretum which Sophie was quite excited about.
Sophie had fun collecting acorns and chestnuts, and various other natural items that she wanted to take home for some autumn crafting.
She also enjoyed running through some of the big puddles from all the rain we’ve had recently.
“This was a good idea of mine, wasn’t it, Mummy?” Sophie said as we started heading back towards the car park. “Going on a nature hunt is fun. Best day ever.” Love how little moments like this bring so much joy.
We had just enough time for a quick visit to the playground before we had to go home. It’s so lovely that Thomas can now start to enjoy the playground with Sophie. He’s too little still for the slide and the seesaw but he loved going on the swings with Sophie and sitting inside the tunnel with her.
It was just lovely to be out in the autumn sunshine, enjoying a walk and taking a closer look at nature. Spending time together, having fun and collecting little treasures along the way. We had fun with those the next day too when we did a bit of autumn crafting. Sophie particularly enjoyed making a mask with some of the leaves she collected. We’ve also painted some of the acorns to use in crafts too.
What a brilliant afternoon! So simple yet so much fun. I love mint icecream too… And both Thomas and Sophie look like they were really enjoying themselves there! Lovely photos!
I’m the same with autumn, it takes me a little time to get over that summer is no more. But when the weather is good, autumn is really so beautiful and much fun with all the leaves, acorns, fungi etc! xx #CountryKids
PS. That mask looks fab too, great idea to use an orange base I think, very effective!
Thank you Malin. Autumn is beautiful, and now that I’ve resigned myself to it, I’m certainly enjoying it – and the children are too 🙂
Such a lovely time of year for exloring in the countryside. Lanley park looks perfect for an impromptu visit. Just enough to keep little minds busy. I bet next time you visit Thomas will indeed be running around too, and wanting his own ice cream! Everytime I see acorns I think of how many we have falling here, I keep feeding them to our pigs who adore them. #CountryKids
We love Langley Park – it’s always a fun place for an impromptu outdoor adventure. I didn’t know that pigs liked acorns – you learn something new every day! 🙂