Wednesday 12 December 2012

Two poorly children....

After proudly telling someone last week that our kids never get ill and are extremely healthy (!) both of them came down with one of the many bugs going around at the moment....sore throats, coughs, headaches..... and two miserable kids! I really don't like the idea of packing them off to the doctors to be dosed up on antibiotics so went for the homemade route instead....

Our first stage was to make Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey drinks   - 1tsp vinegar, 1tsp honey and warm water. The kids are quite used to this as it gets foisted on them whenever I think a bug may be on it's way!! Both of these ingredients are great for loads of things so well worth having this anyway.   

As E's cough just doesn't want to go away we tried a really simple Onion and Honey Cough Syrup - sounds weird but actually seems to be pretty effective so far. It's so easy to make it's ridiculous... 1 white onion sliced, pop it in a jar, pour honey over the top to cover the slices, cover with muslin and leave overnight. In the morning, take out the onion slices and use a tsp at a time. Funnily enough, although you can tell it's had onions in it you don't actually really taste it, just lovely sweet honey with a bit of a oniony aroma on the side! The kids aren't too impressed but they have both managed to take it without too much fuss and they're both asleep and not coughing so that's a result!!

We have had to dose them up with paracetamol but I guess that's a lesser evil than antibiotics, we'll see how it goes......       

Saturday 1 December 2012

The Forest Beckons....

We have had some weird weather here recently, pouring rain, soggy ground, weird glowing skies, rumbles and flashes and even a mini earthquake apparently!! A few days ago the sun was shining and it was one of those lovely cold, crisp days,my favourite kind, so we got over to Grizedale for one of our planned walks which had been postponed about four times this month!
 
Going over Windermere on the car ferry - see the snow on the mountains....COLD!
  We decided we would break ourselves in gently and start with the shorter walks first so we chose the Millwood Trail, only about 1.5 miles under the Go Ape course.
Start of the trail

Go Ape - can you see someone way up there in the trees?!



























 It was a lovely walk of contrasts, the adventure and occasional screaming (!) from the Go Ape course above our heads mixed with the quietness of the forest on a still cold day mixed with the sound of flowing water from the streams.  Just lovely! Once we left Go Ape behind us and headed up into the forest we met very few other people, the forest belonged to us for a couple of hours. We stopped at the top for some 'cowboy' lunch (baked beans and bacon- weird I know but the kids love it, and it's WARM!) and had great views down to the Visitors centre.      
Looking down over the visitors centre
High Street, Grizedale
A hedgehog?



















Along the way we passed different sculptures, some hidden up little paths to discover.....


These wood markers show you where to explore..

Didn't know the name of this one, kind of like a half built shelter!




 












































 Then it was down for hot chocolate and a play before we all got far too cold and headed home....