And out of the egg popped a tiny but very hungry caterpillar

I love sunny days and picnics, I love climbing trees, paddling in a stream and rolling down hills. I love picnics with food and children sprawled over picnic blankets, I love it when the sun plays peek a boo with white fluffy clouds or sends its warm tendrils through the leaves of tall trees to where we lie and sit in the dappled shade of its branches. This summer is definitely a memory making one. We have had sunny day after sunny day, picnic after picnic. We have met up with friends, where the older children have played man hunt and the younger ones have hidden themselves in the leafy branches of the trees that cascade to the ground. An impromptu game of rounders using child 4's foam pink football and an empty juice bottle even had me running around the trees screaming with joy when I beat the fielders back to home.

We have watched dragonflies swoop and swirl in the heat, snails enjoy a slither in the early morning dew, spiders spinning their amazing webs and of course caterpillars of all shapes, sizes and colours. On Wednesday we played and picnicked and then visited a crafty spot for children where they made caterpillars out of milk bottle lids and pipe cleaners, Spiders from egg boxes and pipe cleaners and bouncy frogs out of concertina'd paper.  All the children have come out for the picnics, building sibling relationships out of the bickering, arguing, games and laughter. I am positive that when they are grown and they tell their children of what they did in the summer holidays they will remember these heady days of old fashioned sun and fun