The RAD Color Run

A while ago my son started doing junior park run and I offered (foolishly) to run a 5k with him.

We rather liked the sound of the RAD color run held at Harewood House, so I duly signed up on the website and entered us both into the race.

What was I thinking? I am not built for running - unless it is to the bar or I'm getting chased in a zombie apocalypse. In which case I'm heading straight for Daryl from The Walking Dead, he's still alive after 5 seasons so he knows what he is doing.

I had in in my head that I was going to train and not show myself up too badly... I got distracted... That wine was just too damn good, so race day found me ill prepared for a 5k race with a speedy 8 year old in tow.

Start of the race before we got bombed by paint

We waited for the paint to fly and the gun to fire as we lined up for the first wave of runners.

Waiting patiently

and we are off

Personally i was fine for the first few hundred metres while Mr young stuff (Jake) bounced around all excited and tried to spur me to go even faster.

Personally I just wanted to be left to walk after the first 1km and even resorted to offering the walkie talkie over so he could meet his dad at the finish line while I ambled around/semi jogged occasionally, so that I didn't feel I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen.

Jake was having none of it and insisted on dragging my butt around the course as fast as I could go (this still involved a lot of walking on my part.

Blasting around the course

Not quite as pristine now

 

















As we headed towards the finish line it was a downhill gradient and I managed a respectable jog for the last 1/2km. It was nice Jake had waited for me and we crossed the finish line together and we had actually had a great time. So much so we have signed up for another one in aid of the local hospice in September. I best get training properly this time.

The Finish Line - we did it!

Climbing Pen-y-ghent

We have been planning a summit attempt on Pen-y-ghent since the beginning of the year when we received an email from a friend asking us if we would like to join them. The idea was that we would all meet in Horton-in-Ribblesdale in the morning and have a leisurely hike up the fell at our own pace. No racing, no time limits just good old fashioned family and friends time.

I've always being slightly concerned that our youngest wouldn't make the distance as he has only just turned 4, he was the youngest on the trip and to get him to walk 8 miles or so was always going to be a challenge, however we have had him in "training" this year by getting out and about geocaching and planning routes that got steadily longer and steeper.

Our eldest child, Jake is also going to use this walk to go for his first hike away badge at cubs so he was prepared to lead the way and packed his rucksack accordingly.

Be prepared!

 48 hours before we were due to set off, our first disaster struck - the weather forecast called for high winds and rain! Never a good mix with kids so to avert a crisis it was agreed we would delay 24 hours and hike on the Sunday as the forecast was better. This proved to be a good decision as despite the sun only occasionally peeking out from the clouds the wind and rain stayed away to make for more favourable walking conditons.

So off we set bright and early and having misjudged the amount of time it would take us to get there we arrived... 1 hour early! As we had the youngest team member with us we figured it would be wise to set off early and get a head start on the others knowing that they would have no problems catching us as you're only as fast as your slowest team member and we weren't in a rush. The idea was for us all to enjoy the trip so we had always anticipated it would take us a few hour to summit. We had the GPS with us and planned to grab the geocaches that were on the route as they made perfect pit stops for little legs to have a rest.

 We encountered a couple of seasoned walkers at the start of the path who expressed surprise that we were heading up with Bear and they wished us luck . Within the first 1/2 hour little legs was moaning about wanting to go home. Not a good start to the day.

"I want to go home, I'm tired now"

However the first geocache of the day was a couple of hundred feet away so we went to find that and stopped for him to have his first snack of the day.

My eldest son was with his buddy from school and they wee having a good old yomp all over the place running up and down the path and generally lapping us so we whipped out the walkie talkies to ensure they didn't get too far ahead or stray off the path without yelling the hill down.

On the path to Pen-y-ghent

Spot of scrambling

A couple of more stops up the hill to rest youngest ones legs and we were ready to hit the scramble up the "nose" of the hill. Some of these steps aren't really designed for little legs and with a couple of steep drops that head straight back down we stuck close together and gave a leg up or two to Bear as his little legs couldn't quite make a couple of the steps.

At this point the going was slow, but we were all still plodding on. This bit near the summit is a bit of a bottle neck and we were worried that we were going to start holding up the fellow walkers that were regularly catching us up. We needn't have worried as with no exceptions when they encountered our little man they all stopped to say hello and to give him lots of praise and encouragement. They were so patient, giving us plenty of time to manoeuvre Bear up the slopes and he loved speaking to everyone that stopped to talk, and congratulate him on making the summit.

Quick rest stop before the final slog

Heading up up up

As we looked below us after the final step up we could see our friends below us on their final climb. It had taken us about 3 hours to reach the summit and as we slowly hiked towards the trig point our friends (and their kids) caught us up and we all sat and had lunch together at the trig.

Panoramic shot on top of Pen-y-ghent

After a hearty lunch which we had to share with Bear - he'd eaten most of his on the walk up and he decided ours looked yummy we had the obligatory group shot and set off down via Hull Pot which our little man had been talking about going to see for days.

Group Shot at the top!

So summit conquered and its down the mountain via Hull Pot. Disaster strikes and Bear trips over his own feet and faceplants. A few tears and a couple of cuddles and the promise of some sweets in my pocket and we are back on track to continue the descent.

Now we are all together as a group the kids have seperated into a mini group and are running about jumping over ditches and bogs and generally have a great time together, while the adults have a catch up chat.

As we approach Hull Pot the others decide we will all go have a peek into what is apparently one of the largest open holes in England! We also have a travel tag from Mountain Warehouse whose mission is to get photographed at geocaches so we took him along for a picture (Hull Pot is an Earthcache).

Looking into Hull Pot

Mountain Warehouse travel tag visiting

The final leg was a leisurely stroll back to the starting point and the local pub for a well earned refreshment. Although the older children swore they weren't tired at all, Bear did say his legs were tired but after the initial whine at the start of the hike he had a fun time which he really enjoyed. 8.6 miles in total and the walking boots we've been breaking in all year did the job perfectly.

The boys at the trig point

* Sorry 1 of the boys is shaded out - he doesn't belong to me :)

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.