"Passion surprises. One doesn't search it. It can happen to you tomorrow."

Day 101-102:

Yesterday seemed to fly by and I didn't take a single photo so I'm lazily adding these two days together. Last year we visited Attingham park a few times around this time of year in search of the Lesser stag for Opeies photo collection of found beetles. Each visit we came away with some photos of some interesting new beetles but sadly never the Lesser stag. As we walked home yesterday through the woodland near us, we turned over logs looking for beetles and there she was, sitting there waiting for a photo. I love how things like this can really make our day and we can now cross off Lesser stag from our list. Next up... we still haven't found Opeie's favourite, the elusive violet ground beetle.

"For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature's finest balm."

Day 27:

It's so bizarre how being outside of the house just feels wrong at the moment. That awkward vibe in the air is making me feel uneasy at times when we go for our daily allotted hour walk. Because of this (and the fact that everyone seems to go out late afternoon) we have started taking our walk first thing. This morning we were up bright and early so we headed out at 7:30 for a stomp around the woodland that we are lucky enough to have on our doorstep. There's barely anyone around at this time of the morning and the people we do see are the same ones every day, who always say hi and are respectful of the social distancing. Going out this early is such a nice start to the day and as the sun comes through the trees along the way, the birds tweeting and the sheep happily baaing in the fields make it a really peaceful hour to get you in a decent headspace for the day.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

At least once a year I write about one of our favourite hidden adventure spots in Shropshire. It's not very often that I find a place that I want to keep going back to, but Shropshire has some really interesting places to hang out and has been perfect for Opeie's homeschooling. A friend of ours introduced us to Cosford Grange a few years ago and as soon as we turned into the secret looking drive that leads up to the B&B I was completely hooked by its curious sculptures and interesting looking trees.

The woodland walk sign doesn't really prepare you for what you are about to find as you walk down the steps. The over hanging rock face (if you know the area) doesn't seem like it belongs there, which makes the place really interesting. Add that with the interesting statues, hidden play house and various paganesque and other religious trinkets and you've got yourself a pretty amazing place to visit.

What I love most about the place though is how peaceful it is. In all the times we've been there we've never seen another person, apart from the chap who runs the b&b and because it is so quiet the woodland area is rich in interesting wild and plant life, making it the perfect place for a spot of drawing/painting which we had planned for that afternoon.

After walking along balance beams to get across the pond the boys found a quiet spot under some huge leaves and let their artistic flair run wild. I love those quiet afternoons when hardly anything is said because we're all busy doing something fun and are content in our surroundings.

I'm not sure if Cosford Grange woodland is extremely well thought out or completely random. The trees with all the shoes nailed to it does make me think the latter. Which ever it is though, it really works. Our arty afternoon was so relaxing and again not another person to be seen at all. Just us our canvas' and paint. It is local places like this that really make me feel lucky for being in Shropshire now. Since the day I moved here this place has felt like home and this very special place is the perfect place for adventuring with my two special boys.

The word 'seek' means to go in search of, try to discover, try to acquire. It requires an active, assertive approach to life.

It's getting to that time of year again where we have a slightly better chance of sunshine and I'd like to think that we are taking full advantage of that. Our garden is looking the best it has since we moved into our home and the bright warm weather and long light evenings have been putting a smile on all of our faces.  The great thing about the weather being lovely is that we can take the home-schooling outdoors more, which for me, is what it's all about.

Last year we started Geocaching with the boys and the 4 of us had some seriously fun adventures. Many in lush weather like this but there were a few where we were out, hunting around woodland in the pouring rain and the weather didn't make it any less fun. We'd not been for quite some time but last week Opeie asked if we could go again. I had the perfect place in mind with Geocache sites scattered all over a huge piece of farmland and it meant that we could take the Micro scooters with us to get from cache to cache. Opeie named our day 'cowboy adventure day'.

Turns out you can't wear a cowboy hat while wearing a helmet, so we briefly discussed a collaboration with Micro scooters about cowboy hat shaped helmets for us both (we may have to pitch it to them at some point).

If you've not tried geocaching before it is a must. With thousands of hidden caches to find all over the country you can fit it in pretty much anywhere you go, using the geocache app which you can download to your phone. It's a great way to get the boys out and walking on a nice day and if you pick an area with lots of caches to find, the excitement of each one is a great distraction from the actual distance that you have walked (or in our case, scooted).

Hunting for hidden treasures is so exciting for the boys and some of the geocache sites really test your navigational skills and creative thought. You sometimes really have to look hard at a seemingly plain looking environment. We found this one inside the post of this road sign after removing the rubber cap, genius!

Some of the locations make us chuckle, this one was simply called 'cluck' and was located in a tree next to a chicken run. The list to sign, to say that we had found it was in a plastic cooked chicken. Full on entertainment in the sunshine.

One of the things I love the most about Geocaching is that we get to see places we would never think of going. Last week we found an old derelict mill in the middle of some fields and woodland. It's fascinating how many interesting places there are hiding in areas, not too far from home. We also get to see lots of lovely animals on our expedition. 

We couldn't scoot everywhere so there was a fair bit of stashing our scooters in some long grass or chaining them to a tree while we went off adventuring. At this point in our family days out we would be completely lost without our Micro scooters with us. They've opened up th world to the boys, taking them off of their feet and getting them moving about even more productively.

Opeie's excitement is contagious and with each find, there is more motivation to get to the next. From a home schooling point of view, geocaching is obviously great for map reading and learning about direction but is also great for learning higher numbers and counting backwards. Most importantly though is the learning from experience and being able to fully enjoy and learn from our surroundings.

Opeie loves how little things are often left inside by the previous finder and he takes a bag of small items to trade, every time we go. This little outing bagged us a new hat for rose the cat, so Opeie was very happy. 

This years Geocaching outings have also bagged us a new recruit and Opeie's friend Kiera has also been coming with us and has really been getting into the hunt. Its always great to have an extra pair of eyes too. While I was searching along the inner bank of a stream with one cache, close to getting soaked, Kiera found what we were looking for high up on top of the bank because she was being a little more creative with her search.

We're now looking forward to getting Kiera's parents involved too for a double family Geocache outing. There is so much adventure to be had.

"We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act."

Sometimes we have a quiet weekend where we just spend time together around the house playing, reading and enjoying each others company and Other times (like this one) we have the kind of weekend that will be permanently etched into the boys memory as two days full of fun and adventure. It all started Saturday morning, we were up bright and early and it was one of those mornings where everyone pulled together to get everything sorted so that we could get out of the door on time, I really wish school days were as effortless as that. 

Our plan for the start of Saturday was to spend our morning at Delamere forest, high up in the tree's. We had visited both Wyre forest and Cannock chase and both times the boys were mesmerized by the children at Go Ape walking through the trees above them. If I am honest (and I feel so bad for thinking it now) the only reason I had not booked us on the course before was because I though that Seth would back out at the very last minute. We had attempted an indoor course similar when we were in Florida a few years back and as soon as Seth had walked up the starting steps he had a meltdown and we had to come back down. I guess I didn't want to put him in that position again.

We arrived at Delamere forest and it was freezing, Mrs M wasn't attempting the course due to her fear of heights and I wasn't sure our camera lady was going to last long outdoors as she really feels the cold. When we arrived at the main cabin a lovely lady called Laura booked us in and took us through the health and safety list, before sending us on our way towards the Tree Top Junior course.

 I'd just like to point out first that the staff at Go Ape are amazing, friendly, welcoming and most importantly extremely patient when it comes to the kids. A very friendly chap call Joe got us fitted with a harness each, explaining what he was doing and then walked me and the boys around the safety course. The boys really paid attention and when they were quizzed before going on, about the amount of climbers on a platform at a time etc, Seth jumped in excitedly to answer. So, the moment of truth, we walked towards the stairs and despite the excited faces on them both I was still expecting Seth to have a freak out and change his mind, I couldn't have been further from the truth.

Seth, without a care in the world didn't even give himself time to think about what he was about to do. He was off like a rocket, I really thought his muscle issues would hinder him slightly but there was nothing slowing that boy down, I was so proud of him. Opeie surprisingly did not want to go and started to get a little upset. I did my best to get him to attempt the first step but he definitely wasn't going to budge for me, he just wanted a cuddle. Then like some sort of tree climbing super hero Joe calmed Opeie right down by attaching himself to him with a Carabiner. He was still a little dubious about what he was doing but Joe talked to him all the way round. It seemed like Seth had been waiting for ever for us at the Zip wire, he must have whizzed around the course. At the zip wire another member of staff (unfortunately I can't remember the guys name) explained what to do and again Seth just threw himself off, It was awesome to watch. Opeie had a bit of a wobble again but then 'DER DER DERDER... Super Joe to the rescue again to talk Opeie in to feeling confident, what a guy. Opeie was soon shooting down the wire shouting 'WOO-HOO'.

 

*Mrs M saved the day right before Zipwire #1 by popping to the Go Ape store to get me some gloves, I had managed to pack some for the boys but not myself and my fingers felt like they were going to snap off, Go Mrs M!!!

Time to hit the course again, this time though I was going to be the super hero and when asked if Opeie wanted to be attached to someone again Opeie said "No I'm going to go on with Daddy", take that super Joe! Seth disappeared in a blink of an eye which was fine as he was securely attached to the course and I think it did him some good for his confidence to not have me checking he was okay. So the moment of truth, Opeie and super dad on the first obstacle....  Sadly he wasn't going anywhere again, I used to think I was good at those father/son motivational speeches but here I was up in a tree going nowhere. Yes I bet you can guess what happened next, below us on the ground came a voice. Super Joe was at it again and managed to talk Opeie across the first 2 obstacles, was there no end to this guys powers? After that it was smooth sailing for me and Opeie and he was having an amazing time.

We made our way to the end of the course again and hit the zipwire like a pro, Well Opeie did, I ungracefully hit the ground like a sack of spuds every time, dragging my bum through the dirt.

It was clear at this point that Seth was eager to attempt the harder course, so while me and Opeie went round the easier course again, Seth with this new found confidence set about his mission. As me and Opeie went around the course I was watching Seth and he was doing great. He did manage to loose his balance early on during the course and was sitting on one of the platforms but he picked himself up and continued along, what an awesome kid.

Me and Opeie completed the course again and he let me know that he had had enough. There was 10 minutes left of our visit so I was going to call it a day and just watch Seth. I spotted two kids get on after Seth that looked like they were eager to get round the harder course and Seth looked like he was in a spot of bother so I clipped on to the harder course and followed them round thinking I could at least calm Seth down a little if he got stressed out. There was one obstacle that Seth really struggled with because of how wobbly the platforms were and he ended up on his bottom again. I think he'd have been fine getting up if he had been left to his own devices but the two boys behind him were putting unnecessary pressure on him to get moving which made him struggle a little more. Thank fully Super Joe was on hand again to climb across and help him up. Seth got round the harder course and that little twitching smile in the corner of his mouth told us that he was really proud of what he had achieved and rightly so, he had blown me away and I was so proud of him.

It was an amazing morning for us and the boys didn't stop talking about the experience all day. For confidence building and excitement I cant recommend Go Ape enough. The course was fantastic but aside from the excitement and pride on the boys faces, what really made it for me was the staff. Go Ape is definitely an experience we want to have again soon.