Cornwall, Day 4

Ok, ok, final entry on Cornwall I swear ;)

In the morning we checked out of our lovely tipi and went to Trevathan Farm again for breakfast and a bit of fruit picking..Adam's raspberry picking there..funny how long it took to fill up that punnet no matter how many raspberries we've been picking..

oh there's why! (but i don't blame him, they are delish freshly picked!)

Then we drove to Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes..

had our last bit of seaside play before we go home..

i'm missing the sea already..hmm i wonder if you can still have a beach day in Ramadhan?

from St Agnes we drove home...and on the way we stopped by at this lake (another spot found from the Wild Swimming book). Oh according to Adam you can find a jellyfish just about anywhere if you look really closely :)

Big beautiful lake that you can swim in..

ok that's it...our Cornwall summer adventure...hmm..good times.

Adam at summer school

I have yet another entry to do on Cornwall, but today I want to write about Adam. For 3 weeks now Adam has been going to this nursery, for their summer play scheme. This nursery is different from the usual children centre that I take him to, because here we are supposed to leave him and come back to pick him up later. Originally I went here to register Adam for pre-school, for when he turns 3 (in theUK the kids start pre-school at 3 yo) and then the managers told me that they have a summer playscheme, if i'm interested. It's a fee-paying scheme but Adam got a sponsored space. Normally I would prefer to take him to the children centre, so that I could be there for him , play with him, teach him things and watch his development. But in summertime the children centres are closed for a few weeks. Plus it is Ramadhan now and Adam doesn't do too well if we stay cramped at home for long periods of time. He'll end up watching too much tv and then he'll start to get cranky. So I decided that it would be a good idea to send him to this play scheme. At the same time he will get some time to get used to this nursery, which will be good for when he attends it in January. The session is from 9.30am - 12. and the play scheme runs for 6 weeks only, through summer.

The activities there are great - sand, water, painting, toys etc...the same kind of activities you can get from the children centres. I noticed here that small children are not pressured into learning their ABCs or 123s, it's mainly about learning through play which i think is amazing, and is how it should be. But I'm really anxious about leaving Adam there....

The first week either me or my husband stayed with him. The second week we leave him for 10 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour and gradually in the third week leaving him for longer time. each time we leave we tell him clearly that we're leaving for a while and we'll be back later. We don't leave until he's happy to let us go. I like that system, don't you? well eventually we did leave him for the whole session but....i think we suffer more that he does...we keep worrying and thinking about him when we leave....everytime i leave him i feel like crying...let me paste here my husband's facebook status from yesterday when he dropped Adam off:

At Adam's school..

Me: Ok Adam, Daddy pegi work ok
Adam: Ala..Adam angis..
Me: Sorry Dam. Ok Daddy wait sekejap ok (i almost broke into tears)
Then few kids came..
Me: Adam main dgn friends ok..
Adam: Hmmm..ok

Then he salam and kissed me before i left to work with feeling guilty. But i know that i have to do this for his own good. Miss him already & love u Adam! Can never imagine my life without him..

I was so worried when my husband told me this...felt so sorry for Adam..Later when I came to pick him up, as i walked in, I saw him playing and having so much fun with his friends. He was really enjoying himself and fitting in well. It was such a relief to see...and also...a bit sad...i mean...my boy is growing up...

Adam, Mommy love you so miuch..

Cornwall, Day 3

We started the day by having breakfast at the Trevathan farm nearby. More about this farm tomorrow..

Then we drove about 45mins in search of this hidden bay - Porthcothan Bay (my guide book for this holiday - Wild Swimming - Coast! another great book by Daniel Start). This beach is just a small little cove, with very few people around. It's very beautiful, and safe for children..

There was a little stream running down the side, the water coming from the river upstream. Day 2 after freezing himself cold swimming at Daymer Bay, Adam swore he doesn't want any more swimming. But as soon as he sees this stream, I had to practically drag him away from the water to get him changed before he jumped in.

Mia was also in a good mood. She doesn't like it when it's too hot or too windy or there are too many people around..but this beach was not too windy or hot or crowded...it was just perfect. It was definitely my favourite beach so far. There was a wonderful sense of serenity here, aaah...blissful...writing about it now is making me feel like going there again..

Adam had the most fun. Here he is 'swimming'. He played in such glee and happiness, until he was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the sand, in my lap. Oh..that was a good day..

I don't know if we're ever going to Cornwall again, but if we do, I'll definitely want to come to Porthcothan Bay again...

Cornwall, Day 2

pics from our second day...

beautiful Daymer Bay, a very kids/family friendly beach..

bliss..

rowing a boat at the lake at the tipi..

swimming in the lake..

my husband cooked a barbeque that night..

most yummy burgers and hotdogs i've ever eaten..

Cornwall, Day 1

Selamat menyambut Ramadhan Mubarak...

Finally I have time to update on the holiday in Cornwall..

We travelled at night and slept over at a friend's house in Bristol (thank you Kak Faz !) and in the morning we drove to Cornwall (jauh, total about 5-6 hours drive from London). We arrived around 12pm and checked in to our tipi. Love the place, and the tipi is nice and roomy, enough space for Mia to crawl around...we were upgraded to a large tipi (thank you Tipi Holidays!) Come to think of it, ever since we had Mia, for every holiday we have been upgraded to a bigger accommodation for free! Rezeki adik lah dik...

So after settling down, we drove over to Port Isaac, a beautiful little fishing village. The views there are just spectacular..

this si Port Gaverne, next to Port Isaac, you can swim here at this little cove, but we went somewhere sandier...(there are plenty of beaches to choose from in Cornwall)

to Polzeath. A huge sandy beach nearby. It's mainly a surfer's beach though, so the waves are rather strong, so we explored the rocks and small tidal pools. Adam caught quite a few little fishies..

after a nice sunny day at the beach, we went back to the Tipi...my husband this warm little fire by our tipi..a great finish to a wonderful day..

We're back!

We just got back from our Tipi holiday. It was wonderful, full of days at beautiful beaches, amazing views, quiet time at the lake and open fire by the tipi.

I'll update later with stories of our holiday adventures..

It's good to be back, to the warmth and comfort of home. Alhamdulillah...today has been all about resting, getting ourselves ready for the magical month of Ramadhan...

Hope you all had a good weekend..

The River Test

On Sunday we went to this place, in Houghton, a small village near Stockbridge. Through the village this river runs, but the riverside properties are private (how lucky they are!) except for this one small public footpath where you can bathe and swim in the river. The water is absolutely clear and beautiful, you can see through to the bottom of it. It wasn't easy to find this place, it is so secluded and hidden that only the local people would know about it. I don't know how the author of that book found it.

The view of that place totally took our breath away. There are so many fish in that river!

We were practically the only ones there for most of the day. Some local kids and a couple other families came to swim for a little bit, and there are local people passing by on their walks..but that was it.

Can you believe how clean the water is?

Adam had the most fun...

Under the bridge the water is deeper and you can swim against the current. This little daredevil jumped off the bridge! cool!

Mia is breastfeeding in the water. Like it's the most natural thing in the world. Which of course, it is.

Awesome, awesome place. We definitely want to come here again..

p/s: Tonight we're going on another adventure. Last few wild swimming trips has been day trips but this time we're going on a short break. This place is definitely a little different than what we're used to. There isn't going to be any electricity, or internet (maybe i can still facebook on my mobile, as long as my battery doesn't run out!). Let's see how we cope...hehe..this one is a really back to nature holiday. I'll be back next week with blog updates. Wish us luck!