Arts, Crafts and Activities

This is a Mummy type post for help, advice and tips. Alice is now 16 months and has naturally become more active and inquisitive about things, so I am going to start trying different crafty things with her ie. painting, play doh-ing etc.

The problem I have is that I am not sure where to begin and what sort of activities to try other than the above suggestions.

I would also like to take Alice to different places to discover new things or just simply go for a walk, we regularly go to the beach, budleigh, Bicton Park but would like to know what other things there are to do that aren't expensive.

So, I was hoping for suggestions from people for what to do craft wise and where to go when we want to go out and about.

Laura

Walking

As the weather is getting better and the temperature is rising, I have decided to try and get out each day and go for a walk to get myself a bit fitter and to also see if I can get rid of some weight.

This weekend is when I started, don't get me wrong I'm not walking far at all but its a huge difference to how I have been. I have so far walked 8 miles (since Saturday), an average of 2 miles per day. I will be increasing this as I do more exercise as it will become easier.

I think my main struggle before has been the motivation to actually get out and do it. But hopefully this is a new me and I'm going to be fantastic ;)

I am always happy for people to invite me for a walk and would love the company too, so let me know ;)

Laura 

Books in March

This month I have read 3 books. I really struggled to get time in the day for reading this month, I seem to have been feeling ill a fair amount, and Alice has been all out of sorts because of the dreaded teeth coming through as well as growth spurts.

I started the month off by reading 'Falling in Honey' by Jennifer Barclay. It was a book I had chosen as it was about a woman moving out to a Greek island just off Rhodes, called Tilos. I really enjoyed the beginning part of the book as she was describing about how she had travelled a lot as a child and then ended up holidaying around the different islands of Greece and she fell in love with Greece. It did start to drag a bit just after the half way point, but I felt I had to continue the book.
However, from this book, I now want to see what Tilos is like, it was described as an island that tourists rarely visit. To me that sounds quite attractive.

After I read 'Falling in Honey', my Mum gave a selection of different "children's" books to read that I hadn't before, so I then read 'Boy' by Roald Dahl. As a primary school student, I used to absolutely love Roald Dahl's books, but this one escaped my grasp.
When I picked up 'Boy' and started reading it, it took me back to being my younger self, and absolutely loving the way it was written, the way it looked and the way it put a smile on my face. I would definitely say to anyone who hadn't read it, to give it a read.

Lastly this month, I picked another book from the selection Mum had given me. I chose 'Skellig' by David Almond. I wasn't expecting to like this book, from first impressions. It's true what people say about judging books by covers, this was another brilliant read and I'm glad that my Mum recommended it to me. It was a real page turner, trying to work out what was in the garage...

I'm hoping that this month I will have more time set aside to read and manage to get more books read. I am still looking for recommendations from anyone and everyone.