September and October

Life was busy in September and October.  I have already done a few posts about some of the nice things we did and here are a few more.  Catching up slowly but surely ....

Baker Man

Danny loves helping in the kitchen especially if it involves baking.  So the other day when his friend, Jake, was visiting I decided to be brave and do a baking play date.  It went down really well and the two boys had loads of fun especially licking out the bowl.  While they each decorated their own mini cake I decorated some cupcakes for a cake sale at school.  I thought the spider webs came out really nicely!

Danny's friend's mum always whips up some rock cakes for the kids after school.  So I got the recipe and we tried it out too.  Apparently rock cakes are a traditional English treat and one of Harry Potter's favourite tea time treats.  They are really quick and easy to make so perfect to get the kids involved. You can make them 'healthy' by adding any kind of dried fruit or even fresh fruit like apple works well.  Eat just like that on the run for a little energy boost or serve them warm with a little butter as a tea time treat.  Can't believe I've never come across them before!

Rock Cakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 110g soft butter or margarine
• 55g granulated sugar
• 110g mixed dried fruit / currants / apricots / raisons / apple
• 1 medium egg
• 1 - 3 tbsp milk
• Demerara sugar for sprinkling
• Oil for greasing

Preparation:
• Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large baking bowl
• Add the softened butter or margarine
• Lightly rub together with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the sugar and the dried fruit and mix so all ingredients are well incorporated
• Add the egg and 1 tbsp of the milk and mix to create a stiff dough
• If the mixture is still dry add milk a tbsp at a time until required consistency
• Lightly grease two baking sheets
• Using a tablespoon divide the mixture into 12 mounds evenly spaced on the 2 baking sheets
• Sprinkle with the demerara sugar
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown and well risen

Lazy days are the best

Sometimes we do have lazy days with nothing planned.  One such Saturday we bumped into Dave, Tamsin and Gigi at the duck pond in Barnes.  We grabbed some snacks and drinks from the farmers market and had a picnic together.  The boys had a ball 'taking care' of Gigi!

Lovely Gigi

Later that day Danny insisted that it was a nice day for a braai, and it was, so we let him do the braai on 'his' weber (as he calls our small camping weber). Nicholas just sat by quietly and demolished a book. I love lazy days that are filled with spontaneity!

Laser Guns

Nicholas has a lovely class with lots of nice boys and nice parents too.  The trend is still to invite the whole class to the party and now that the boys are turning 7 we are entering into a realm of new ideas.  I love the birthday parties because it's like a massive play date for the boys.  They get to experience fun activities together and parents have a chance to catch up.  The first one for this year was a laser gun party in an indoor play barn.  Can you imagine 20 odd boys running around with laser guns? Yes, you are right, absolute chaos!  

With Nicholas' birthday less than 2 months away I better get my thinking cap on ...
(just shows how long ago I started writing these posts)

Rule Britannia

We like going to the Proms in the Park every September but this year the forecast predicted rain and now the boys are too heavy to carry home, so we decided to do something different for the Last Night of the Proms.  We went to a celebration for children in St Martin's in the Field.  The boys enjoyed waving their Union Jacks around while singing some of the old favourites like Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem.  Afterwards we did some brass rubbing in the crypt.  What impressed me about the outing is that Nicholas stuck his hand up to conduct the orchestra and then on the way home he joined in with a drumming busker in the street.  All the cheers from the crowd made him really shy!

Concentrating

Rule Britannia

Danny playing the fool

Nick conducting

Trying their hand at brass rubbing

And even some busking

Commotion at the Windmill

One Sunday in September, when we were driving home after rugby, we noticed a commotion at the Windmill on Wimbledon Common so we stopped to have a look.  It was kind of like a mini agricultural festival.  Most of all the boys enjoyed clambering on the tractors and the fire engines and, of course, going into the windmill to see how it works and to grind some grain!

The Devil's Punch Bowl

Phillipa is still the boys' favourite girl ever and they really miss having her just down the road.  We still manage to meet up quite often though, usually somewhere with natural beauty in Surrey, where they now live.  We spent the last day of the summer holidays with them. On this occasion we went for a long hike at The Devil's Punchbowl.  It is always a treat spending time with special friends like the Jacksons!

Happy to see their special friend again!

Common interest

The hike

Winkworth Arbortetum

We had another fun day with the Jacksons at Winkworth Arboretum.  It's a beautiful place and as the name suggests it has a fine selection of trees.  Every year in September they have a family day with all sorts of outdoor activities on offer for kids to try out.  The weather was appalling but we soldiered on and made the most of it.  Looking back it was a lovely day filled with lots of nice things to remember!

Hiking along the paths through the trees

And off the paths too

Hugging on the arrow island

Pony rides

Creatures out of the lake

Archery

Learning to make a fire with flint

Making a whistle out of a stick (it actually worked)

A dream catcher

Homeward bound