A New Hobby In The House

So my eldest son turned 8 at the beginning of January and with his birthday being so close to Christmas we (and others) always struggle with what to buy him.

This year we all gave him money but until recently he was unsure what to spend it on.

He had ideas of an iPad, (we didn't give him that much money) yet more skylanders to join the pile gathering dust in the playroom or other related tech items that he could while away the days on sat on his butt being lazy. I will be honest, I didn't want him spending his money on that as I think he already spends enough time on my ipad or some other handheld looking at minecraft videos or pretending to do his maths homework while watching minecraft videos.

So I looked on the internet for something and stumbled across Mountain Boarding. I am not sure what I was thinking, or if I even was, when I called him over to look at this snowboard on wheels and asked him if he wanted to have a go.

I should have thought it out more, this actually looks dangerous, but now on a quest to find something outdoors away from devices I hit up the internet to see if I could find anywhere local that does this. As luck would have it there was a centre about 15 miles away who teach mountain boarding among other things so I booked him in for a lesson and off we went.

Place all to ourselves

Not to miss out youngest tried grass sledging

We saw no other people for the hour we were there and both kids had a fantastic time bombing down the slopes. We did not feel rushed and Jake's instructor Alex was friendly and patient. Now I just need to work on getting the youngest to tow his own sledge back up the hill and I've cracked it.

Next on the agenda, to invest in the board because I think he is hooked!

We paid £11 for the mountain boarding session and this included rental of the board, helmet and pads as well as coaching from the instructor.

You can find out more about Another World Adventure Centre by clicking here.

www.anotherworldadventurecentre.co.uk



       

The joy of walking boots and what is on your doorstep?

Keeping your little ones entertained is hard work.

If mine could, they would spend hours playing minecraft, watching videos of minecraft on youtube or watching Phineas & Ferb on TV. As the worst mum in the universe - a title I have earned because I limit the usage and access to electronic devices. I have to find other ways to keep my little darlings busy, that doesn't involve the house resembling a war zone or bomb site. See examples below.

The books didn't want to be on the shelf

Apparently the Dinosaurs had an adventure

So off we go for another outdoor adventure. The weather wasn't fabulous so we stayed close to home, but it gets us out of the house and doing something a little more physical. This is where planning also comes in. I've found through experience that when walking with kids its worth the money to invest in a pair of walking boots for them.

When its muddy or wet you can guarantee their feet are going to get wet if they are wearing shoes or trainers. Puddles in case you didn't know, have a magnetic attraction for little feet and wellies while fine for splashing around in puddles and mud, I have found that they aren't very comfortable for little feet when walking over any distance they tend to slop on the feet and rub leading to very unhappy kids. (I learnt this the hard way with my eldest) As soon as i invested in a pair of walking boots the level of moan dropped considerably and  he could walk a lot further than I expected.

Walking boots for kids don't have to be expensive. Lets be honest you don't want to be paying a fortune for a pair of boots that won't fit them for long. I've also found that you can get away with up to a size bigger with a decent pair of thick socks. Mountain Warehouse do a great range for small feet with the added bonus that for really small feet they fasten with velcro so you don't have to worry about constantly unfastened boot laces. The youngest's boots cost me £14.99 and the eldest's were £19.99  for this pair if memory serves.

See? Another reason why our geocaching name is Muddy Monsters.

So what did we get up to to get the boots muddy? We didn't have to go far. We jumped into the car (now also muddy) and  headed into the nearby town of Guiseley. We hunted for clues in and around the town centre and came across an area we didn't even know was here, Guiseley Wells. Apparently the spring is the reason people settles in the area and it is mentioned as being a settlement area since Saxon times and is mentioned in the Doomsday book.

Typically of the 100's of pictures I got not one
has both boys with eyes open. 

We then headed out into the countryside to find tranquil fields right on our doorstep. A deserted pond and friendly muggle horses which followed us across the field. On this occasion it didn't result in the youngest having a melt down. He was clearly in a better frame of mind today. There are tons of footpaths right on our doorstep, which provide endless opportunities for fun with the kids. Many of the urban ones run near train lines (safely fenced off) and what young kid doesn't like to see a train race past? as well as seeing wildlife and finding treasure. We enjoyed our day our treasure hunting despite the lack of sunshine but in the words of my wise friend "There is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing"

The walking boots were purchased by myself and I have received no incentive for my comment's or review of them.

Till next time x

Ooooohhhhh Dinosaurs! (Dinosaur Zoo)

I've been a bit slack and neglected the blog recently as life got a bit away from me and I've been busy, busy, busy! So its time to catch up.

During the February 1/2 term - seems like a lifetime ago right? We were invited by friends to attend the theatre to see Dinosaur Zoo at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. This sounded like great fun to entertain the kids and get them out of the house but I did wonder about how my youngest would cope having to sit in a packed theatre without causing havoc for an hour or so.

I wasn't feeling confident after a trip to the cinema the month before turned into a game of musical chairs and constant demand for more snacks, more drink and trips to the toilet. I can only thank my lucky stars that the cinema only had 2 other people in who sat so far away from us that I hope the ants in his pants and constant question asking went unnoticed.

I'm glad I said yes - after arming my pockets with enough sugary treats guaranteed to quieten the loudest of tantrums. The kids (young and old) had a wonderful time. The show was long enough to hold the childrens attention and short enough that they didn't start getting ants in their pants.

Interactive Dinosaur Puppets!

The puppets clearly seemed very realistic to the children - as seen when one was called onto stage and when asked if he'd like to be fed to the dinosaur promptly exploded into tears - I know I'm a bad mum for finding this a teeny bit amusing but no children were actually harmed during the entire show (honest). 

It gave just the right amount of information on the dinosaurs to keep kids interested but not overload them with info and there was enough audience participation to keep us all engaged.

 Best of all we got to meet the dinosaurs at the end. A big thank you to my friend for arranging the visit (you know who you are). 

  I would definitely recommend the show for kids who love dinosaurs and will also no longer be afraid of theatre trips with the boys. 

What To Do With A Moaner!

So today we went for a walk.

Normally this wouldn't pose that much of a problem, as we have the GPS preloaded with geocaches to keep the boys entertained on the route. Only this time it didn't.

We have been invited by friends to walk up Pen-y-Ghent in May as a family group, so one of the reasons for the walk was to ensure that the youngest Muddy Monster could cover the distance and we thought we would start with a local 2-3 mile walk that wasn't too arduous to "break him in" gently. He has covered this distance before with no problem and in fact walked further over steeper terrain last weekend!

Elder Muddy Monster was dragged away from his tech to accompany us - although I have no doubt he is quite able to jog up the hill when it comes time and he soon proved why we are called Muddy Monsters by promptly getting mud pretty much everywhere including in his eye, within 5 minutes of hitting up the bridle path.

There is a good reason why we are the Muddy Monsters

So the first mistake I made was letting my lovely husband get Bear ready. This resulted in no hat or gloves to start the walk and as it's only about 4°C then the moaning started pretty much as soon as we left the car. To distract him I put him in charge of the GPS to find the "treasure" boxes and this did help to curb the whining for a while. However after 2 geocaches it started up again, not helped by the fact that the 2 caches we had found were soggy log books in film canisters not capable of holding any swaps. Next we tried distraction with a pine cone but this was too prickly so in the end we settled on a stick with various branches just like big bro was carrying.

Jake demonstrating stick antlers and mud.  

This was working a treat and distracting Bear from his various gripes about being tired/cold/wanting to go home until daddy made the fatal mistake of throwing the stick away. This resulted in us then taking about half an hour to walk across one field due to tears, runny noses, more tears because of the runny nose, an inferior replacement stick and to add insult to injury all the noise attracted the attention of the resident horses in the field and naturally came to investigate who was getting tortured, thus resulting in more offence taken and tears at the fact these equine monsters dare follow us and investigate our rucksack!

Equine Stalkers!

So we can take a couple of lessons from today's disaster of an expedition. Double check your other half has dressed your little muddy monster in suitable attire for a yomp. Don't let them chuck away the stick that said muddy child is happily entertaining himself with. Give them something to do to on the walk and finally if all else fails... Offer to walk ahead and retrieve the car and double back to pick them up to give your ears a rest!

  

The Search for Old Jacks House

Ahhhh Staithes...

I have kind of fond memories of this place. I first visited when I was at middle school on a residential trip and stayed in the cabins at the top of the hill. The cabins are still there but I am not sure if they are still used as a site for kids outdoor adventures. We crabbed in the harbour, spent time in Whitby and walked to Sandsend nearly getting cut off by the tide in the process. That was 26 years erm... several years ago.

Since having muddy monsters of my own, I have been tortured subjected to a variety of children's TV programs to view, a recent one is a CBeebies creation called Old Jack's Boat, which is filmed on location in Staithes. The youngest muddy monster being 3 years old quite likes watching this program and was very excited to hear that we could possibly visit Old Jacks house - if we could find it.

Having checked out the geocaching map we discovered there was also a rather lovely multi-cache in Staithes ,which required us to explore off the beaten track, round some of the old footpaths to gather information and find the final spot. This served a dual purpose - more of a chance of finding Old Jack's house by wandering about and the incentive of finding treasure if case we failed.

If any of you are familiar with Staithes you will know that access to the village is very limited and parking is at the top of a very steep hill with a yomp down to the sea (and back up again to get your car) so i have to give brownie points to the youngest muddy monster, Bear who traipsed up and down the road and around the many footpaths without complaint, no mean feat for a 3 year old.

We headed straight down to the harbour front and worked our way across the village and eventually back up to the top of the hill. Our first stop was Captain Cooks cottage where he lived as an apprentice and discovered his love of the sea.

Not Old Jacks House but it was Captain Cooks

 On the harbour front we discovered this art installation. Neither boy quite knew what to make of it and Jake found then "scary". Bear wanted to know what was in the girls bag.

The boys weren't sure what to make of these

 There is a geocaching clue facing the sea, just around the corner of the bench.

Harbour front

 Barometer clue in the wall think it needs checking as the time was wrong and the weather was more "stormy".

another clue.

 We finally found all the clues needed for the geocache when a kindly gentleman overheard us discussing where "Old Jack's House" could possibly be and he pointed it out to us. Its actually situated on the rather steep "Cowbar Nab" but the boys had no problem rushing up there to see it in close up.

Old Jacks House!

Outside Old Jack's

Not the real Old Jack and Salty I'm afraid.

Outside the wonderful Lifeboat station Jake was a bit gutted it was closed.

 We spotted this lovely Noah's Ark artwork above a garage near the lifeboat station.

Artwork

Staithes

So that was our wonderful afternoon in Staithes. We found Old Jack and Salty's abode and discovered all the clues for the geocache by having a lovely stroll around the old houses of Staithes. We will leave the collecting of the actual cache for another time and the tide was in which would have hindered our path to the treasure somewhat. We will have to visit again.

A Morning In Whitby.

So... we have left home for the weekend while Mr MM is off practising his parallel turns and "working" on a ski trip while I have escaped to Whitby for the weekend with the boys.
After nearly getting blown off the cliff tops at the Abbey yesterday, today we have ventured down to the seafront to try a spot of geocaching. for those of you that don't know its basically treasure hunting with a GPS. There aren't that many in Whitby anymore but the few that are there are great fun. First up was one called The Hobbit. you won't know why its called that until you get get to the last set of co-ordinates.

This is where First set or co-ordinates takes you.

                     
We probably wouldn't have discovered some parts of Whitby without geocaching and that goes for a lot of other places we have visited too.
After starting here we had a walk out towards the harbour walls. The closer we got towards the sea the less protected from the elements we were and I did consider ducking into the local Mountain Warehouse shop for some climbing rope to attach the boys to so they didn't take off.
Here are a few pictures of our wander around the new town side of Whitby.

Boys wanted to visit Captain Cook Museum but it was closed.

Half the beach had blown onto the road and it wasn't even 11am.

Taking shelter in the Bandstand.

Choppy Seas

Checking out the Lifeboat.

After our wander around the old and new parts of the town of Whitby we headed up to the cliff top as the boys wanted to check out the whalebone arch and Captain Cook statue (Free parking here as well as other parts of Whitby till 1st March). This also resulted in a million questions directed at me about where the whalebone arch came from, what it was and questions on the life and times of Captain Cook! I managed to dredge most of the information from the dark recesses of my brain that weren't busy with ensuring the kids were kept safely attached at ground level and not flying through the air like the umbrella that managed to photo bomb my arch picture!
For those who wish to know the whalebone's are the second set to be displayed at the top of the West Cliff after the first set were deemed unsafe due to the weathering that has taken place over the years. The first set were a gift in 1963 from a shipping company in Norway to mark Whitby's whaling past and came from a 113 ton fin whale caught in the Antarctic. They were removed in the 1990's and replaced in 2002. The new whalebone's came from one of Whitby's twin towns - Barrow, Alaska and are from a Bowhead whale caught by native Inuit.

Whalebone Arch with Whitby Abbey in background.

The Boys trying to keep their hats on by Captain Cook.

Looking stormy.

After our adventure in Whitby gathering the final clues for The Smugglers Quest geocache situated in town it was off to see if our maths was correct and to see if we could find Ground Zero. I am happy to say our maths was indeed correct and the final co-ordinates were attained and the log book signed.

Goodbye Whitby. you have been windy but fun.

If you want to know more about geocaching check out www.geocaching.com its free and a great way to get kids out in the fresh air walking.

 

Our First Adventure of 2015

So its a New Year and new adventure in the Muddy Monsters household. Mr MM had disappeared on a "work" trip, which just happens to involve a few days skiing in France so I'm home alone with the boys. What is a mum to do?

Well... I didn't want to spend the whole weekend at home with the boys glued to the TV or various technical devices that suck conversation out of the room, so I plotted a trip away for us. Now as a family we love a spot of camping but its January... and there is snow on the ground... and its windy so getting the tent out is a no no. But I did find a fabulous alternative.

In some of my misspent youth, I did stay in one or two Youth Hostels in my day. So I decided to look on the website and see what they had to offer. Gone are the days of dark dorms with rickety bunk beds and chilly tiptoeing down corridors to visit the loo. Instead hosteling as a family we had a private en suite room which has key card access, sturdy bunks and room for our belongings. The Boys loved it!
We chose the hostel in Whitby because its only about an hour and thirty minutes from our home base in Leeds, it is right next door to Whitby Abbey and in fact our stay included free entry. There is free parking at the hostel but space is limited and on a first come first served basis. There are passes available for some spots a 2 minute walk away and the Abbey car park is a further 5 minutes away.

The boys chilling out on their bunk.

                                             
From the novelty of a wonky staircase, a large friendly playroom with lots of toys (and a new friend for my youngest) to the horror of having to wash and dry our dinner items by hand for the eldest, the whole weekend was great fun, and gave me and the boys some lovely quality time together. I "may" have been given a wifi code at reception by the friendly staff manning the desk, but I must have accidentally on purpose misplaced it as none of the tech was logged on for the weekend and instead we immersed ourselves in a few heated rounds of battleships.

Battleship Wars! Game on.

Near the top of the wonky staircase, it does seem to lean.

Hot Chocolate in the self catering kitchen area and practising our reading.

The hostel does have a restaurant for breakfast and evening meals but on this visit we decided to do it ourselves. You just plonk readily available stickers on your food and pop it in one of the fridges or freezers handily dotted around the kitchen. We had no problem finding room anywhere, although I did make the rookie mistake of putting all our fridge items in a freezer by mistake which resulted in ice milk for my cup of tea and having to defrost the hot dogs before serving up the boys dinner - oops!

As for Whitby itself we happened to visit on a VERY blustery weekend. On our arrival at the hostel after we checked in and dumped our gear we attempted a walk into town but Bear was blown over twice and we were in danger of taking off into the great unknown "Wizard of Oz Style" so quickly headed back into the safety of Whitby YHA. 

This is how close the hostel is to Whitby Abbey. Wrapped up warm.

Jake is holding on to the telescope to stop himself taking off.

We stayed at Whitby YHA at the end of January for one night and you don't need to be a member to book.

 www.yha.org.uk/hostel/whitby