Little Adventures with Regatta

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As the world opens up a little, we are enjoying exploring somewhere different, visiting attractions that we have missed and seeing people, but we are still making time for the simple things, the little adventures close to home that were available all along and kept us going through the past year.  The beach is my favourite place to be and we are lucky enough to live within walking distance.

Whilst it is a fun summer day out, I have written regularly about how we enjoy the beach in all weather and this windy bank holiday weekend was no exception.  We met up with my parents and my nephews (they are a childcare bubble) at their beach hut and spent the day building sandcastles, eating chips and splashing in the sea.  Cora was sent a raincoat and wellies from Regatta's new Peppa Pig collection and whilst there were no muddy puddles to jump in, there was a sandy sea.

Cora prefers wearing wellies to shoes as she can take them on and off easily and it means she is always prepared for puddles and adventure (are you a parent if you haven't tried to prevent a child in inappropriate shoes not to jump in a puddle?).  These boots have an adjustable toggle so you can fit them snuggly around the legs which should stop water splashing into the boots on the biggest jumps too!

As the weather is warming up, the children are keen to ditch their bigger coats (as is the person who seems to end up carrying them most of the time), and we are looking for coats that protect from the elements without being too warm or bulky.  Cora's Peppa Pig raincoat is ideal for this, it protects from showers without getting in the way of climbing, running and sea splashing.

We are looking forward to a year of adventures closer to home (we haven't risked booking any foreign travel yet) and with the British weather so unpredictable I think wellies and a thin raincoat are going to be essentials!  The Regatta Peppa Pig collection is available  in size 12-18 up to 5-6.  Cora is a petite nearly 5 year old in age 4-5.  We found the wellies were generous sizing so don't size up!

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The Ordinary Moments - Another Day, Another Beach

I am really enjoying documenting the ordinary moments, our simple saturdays and everything else but I feel like a theme might become obvious.  We live to close to the beach, it has too many possibilities for us to ignore it and whenever we are struggling with something to do or the children need some fresh air and to run off some energy, it is where we end up.

I love the beach in summer when we can cool off in the sea, eat ice cream at any opportunity and soak in the sun but there is something so special about it in winter too, especially on a milder day.  There are hardly any people which means the children can have so much more freedom with where they can run to without having to worry about losing sight of them.  They love to draw on the walls with the chalk that is everywhere and we take buckets, spades and balls still.  The beach is where I see their imaginations emerging more as there is nothing but space.

On this visit, we did decide to try paddling in the sea although it was still super chilly! I asked the little ones to just dip in a toe and feel it but they of course understood this to mean walk in up to your ankles and jump around a bit.  We stayed down there until our feet got too cold and then went and found a warm cafe for a hot chocolate.

The children never get excited when I mention a visit to the beach, I think we go so much that the novelty has worn off but as soon as we get down there they just love it, they feel free and they play so well without any walls to bounce off.  It was another ordinary day for us, a different beach to the local one we walk to, but the same sea.

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Two and Two

The children are all really close in age, when Cora was born I had 4 aged 4 and under but the biggest age gap is in the middle.  They have always fallen into two pairs really, the bigger boys and the little ones (who until recently were referred to as the babies). Archie grew up faster to keep up with Dylan and the little ones seemed to even out somewhere in the middle, acting more like twins at times.  They have an amazing relationship most of the time (although they are more than capable of fighting too) and sometimes at the weekends now, we end up splitting the children so they can do different things.

These little ones still need to run around, they need fresh air and freedom and they are easier to handle outside the house rather than in it.  The older boys, whilst still only 7 and 8 can cope inside for longer and enjoy quiet time to do their Lego or play games.  Ed and I are very different here (which works well at these times) as I would always rather be out, and I opt to take these two usually and go exploring.  He loves being at home and has the patience for Monopoly with children which I am definitely lacking! It feels strange having such a gap in what they want to do when they are all so close but it is lovely having the opportunity to indulge them all too and we make sure to spend time as a family as well.

These photos are from a recent weekend where we drove to a different beach to normal armed with a bucket and a ball.  We walked around the town and stopped for pancakes with Grandma, their Aunty and cousin and played out until dinner time.  We had a wonderful day and I loved being out with them.  The bigger boys had an afternoon of board games at home and maintain that they had more fun! 

I know that this age gap grows and shrinks, that it may get bigger before it gets smaller again and eventually I will have four teenagers but for now I am enjoying being able to spend time with them in pairs doing the things they love.

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A Beach Clean with Frugi

I am trying my hardest to teach my children about how to look after their world.  We talk about reusing and recycling and they know about the problems with single use plastics and why we use alternatives when we can.  I think one of the most important things I can do is to give them the knowledge they need to do better and to lead by example.  

We spend a lot of time at the beach, especially in the summer and we are always disgusted at the amount of waste we find left by other people so a beach clean at the end of every trip has become part of our routine. Dylan worries about the turtles confusing plastic bags for jellyfish and Archie gets very cross that people can't put rubbish in the many bins and leave things next to them instead.  Finn and Cora aren't particular vocal about it yet but I always discuss why we are doing what we do and they love taking part.  We use our buckets to collect up little bits of rubbish that we find and empty them into the nearest bin.  

We headed down to the beach over half term with our friend Becky and her two small people and as always, the fun in the sand was followed by a walk around the local area looking for things that shouldn't have been left on the ground.  It wasn't as easy as usual thanks to the crazy fog but we made enough to make a picture with (before it was deposited in the bin) and the boys loved making a plastic crab. 

All six children wore Frugi puddlebusters or coats which as well as being 100% waterproof, are also made of recycled plastic bottles.  I made sure the boys knew this when we first put them on and they were really amazed that the coats were so soft when they were made from plastic!  The coats had handy reflective prints on the front and back which we really noticed in the fog and they kept the little ones protected and dry all day. The wellies are all PVC free and flexible for growing feet. We love how something so bright and practical can be made from waste and Frugi are all about sustainable fashion.  Finn's coat is age 4-5 and would have used roughly 10 plastic bottles to make which would otherwise be clogging up a landfill.  The unisex nature of this design means Dylan's coat will hopefully see us through all 4 children too! (we have some Frugi items that have been worn by three children already!).  

I am hoping that over the summer as the beach gets busier that our actions will inspire others to do the same and of course remind people that their rubbish needs to be taken with them! I won't pretend that we are perfect with our actions but we are constantly trying to do better and I love how involved the children are and how educated they are becoming about environmental issues.

There are so many pictures from our day at the beach that I wanted to share, partly because the kids look amazing in their bright blues and yellows!

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Frugi provided us with the children's outerwear for the beach clean but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.

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