camping with friends.....

one great bit about being back 'up north' 

is that we've been able to link back into our

home-ed group in bristol and re-connect with lots

of lovely friends, and make lots of new ones too.....

we were able to join in the annual camping trip to the

forest of dean recently and had such a lot of fun.......

even if the sun did decide to only put his hat on for 

short bursts of time and allowed the pesky clouds 

and rain to take up the rest of the time.....

never mind the weather though..... 

it certainly didn't dampen our enjoyment of our time away.....

the kids and i borrowed a tent from friends and made

our little home in the field along with everyone else....

i felt a little bit of bunting was in order to jolly the car up

and make us feel all holiday-like.....

so what did we do to fill up our time?.....

well, there was a full-on sword fighting tournament for starters 

with spectators, rules, an arena and lots of enthusiastic competitors.....

isaac opted to be the 'firer-of-the-starting-pistol' for each match.....

that way he didn't have to move his posterior from his chair.......

the deal was that you had to hit your opponent's foot to win the round.....

evie was doing her best to win this one......

there was our resident, on site bowyer who was very busy during the weekend.....

there were many weapons to be made and many battles to be fought.....

a particular one involved the kids vs the dads......

there were lots of battle cries, much thrashing about and breaching of 'walls'

(and lots of laughter too......)

here's a bit of 'battle crying' happening.......

there was a bit of time for some archery practice......
testing out the bows made by the resident bowyer......

and there was the 'toasting-of-the-marshmallows-over-the-bbq-embers'

which happened every evening and involved lots of adults as well as 

kids it has to be said......

(i was even introduced to a quick and easy way of making smores.....

take two chocolate digestives biscuits, with the chocolate facing

inwards, and pop the toasted marshmallow between them.......

yum.....)

there was even time for games of draughts and chess with friends.....

not to mention lots of leisurely meals shared with friends........

the kids had such a lovely time romping through the forest making up games

with friends, going on an exploritory expedition to the caves and searching

for, but not finding, the river and practicing their archery and fencing skills....

11 families, 35 kids, a forest, 

lots of laughter and precious memories....

thanks y'all......