The end of summer always puts me on a bit of a downer. I love autumn, but I have to admit that it takes a while every year for me to come round to accepting the fact the summer is truly over before I can start to embrace autumn. I’m really keen to do lots of lovely autumnal activities this year though - it really is such a lovely colourful season with so much to love about it, and we started off well with our trip last weekend.

 

 

01. We had a quiet morning on Sunday with no plans, and we ended up going to RHS Wisley. One of the things I love about Wisley is that it’s so vast that even though I’m there all the time, I’m always discovering new little areas that I’ve never been in before. This time around we headed down to the orchards and walked through the apples. Max had great fun playing football with the fallen ones, and it definitely had that crisp autumnal feel in the air.

 

 

02. On Tuesday, we visited Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park to see their sculpture exhibition. It was lovely watching Max talk to the ducks (mostly ‘hello duck!’), and do his duck impression (stick your arms out behind you and run around shouting ‘quack quack’ apparently!) I learned that he’s definitely a boy after my own heart, as he was perfectly happy to run around and explore the ornamental gardens (my favourite bit!), but I had to carry him through the whole of the woodland area. It was quite a long walk and I think I carried him for around an hour - my arm muscles are certainly not thanking me for that one!

 

03. I feel like I’ve got a burst of love back for my blog! I think all bloggers have ups and downs of motivation, and I’ve been feeling a bit down on mine lately. But suddenly I’m feeling full of inspiration for post ideas and can’t wait to get writing again.

 

04. We’ve developed a big love of Brio lately in our house - I think John and I are as into it as Max is! We’ve been feeling a bit limited with our track building capability, so this week I bought the Intermediate Expansion Kit - loads of exciting pieces, including splitters, so we’re now creating far more complex tracks. Unfortunately, I had to be told that my ‘epic’ track included a loop that, once you got in, you couldn’t get out of! I disputed this, and only accepted it with a full demonstration of the train going round the track and then getting well and truly stuck in my loop. Hmmm… guess my spatial awareness and track building needs some improvement! But I feel this Brio thing is a slippery slope - John is now making noises about the Advanced Expansion Pack - I’m not sure I’m ready!

 

05. I love taking part in #WhatevertheWeather - a linky run by the lovely Jenny at Monkey and Mouse, for any outdoor family posts - obviously right up my street! I won the monthly competition last month, and this week our prize arrived - a gorgeous blue enamel Burgon and Ball bird feed tin from Wiggly Wigglers. It’s lovely and I can’t wait to start feeding the birds with Max this autumn and winter.