June 2006

Cherita, Maxine and I organised a trip to St Leonards at Esholt. It was the last day of the Mother and Toddler group, as the schools were breaking up for the summer holidays. We were told to bring a packed lunch for the trip.

When I arrived at Keith Thompson Centre (KTC), I helped Maxine get wristbands sorted out for the toddlers, with their name and number on just in case any of them got lost. After that, we installed car seats and booster seats and then we all set off. The kids were really excited when we arrived. We all walked down to the farm, each holding hands with two children. We went in to a barn where we saw goats, a little ginger pig called Ginger, and some Shetland ponies. Maxine bought food for various animals so that we could feed them. I took a camera and took pictures of the children holding some of the animals. The children were amazed that some of the animals would take food from their hands. It was a very hot day but the barn was lovely and cool and shaded. After we came out of the barn we walked on a bit further and above us was a bridge where we saw three goats - a father, a mother and a young one - it reminded us of the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and we wondered where the troll was! We saw chickens in a pen - one was called Likka and another Nuggett! Cherita and I had a laugh about the names.
Lunchtime arrived, so we gathered up the mothers and toddlers and went to the picnic area. Cherita, Maxine and I went to the car park and got everyone's bags. Most of us sat in the shade under a really big tree, while the others sat on benches under umbrellas. It was very hot and difficult to keep cool. After lunch we walked round the rest of the farm and there were barns where the children could play, including one where there were tunnels made out of bales of straw. The children took off their shoes and disappeared into the tunnels. When they came out the other end, one of the younger ones decided he wanted to have a go and crawled off inside the tunnel. When he didn't emerge from the other end I went and had a look but couldn't see him coming out and I panicked because | didn't know where he was. Cherita decided she would go in to the tunnel and find him, and when they came out she was covered in straw and I laughed because I thought she looked like Aunt Sally from Worzel Gummidge! Then some of the others decided they would have a go in the tunnel, but I didn't want to, but instead waited at the end in case any of the children needed helping out.

By now it was nearly home time, so we made our way back to the mini-bus that Whinfield Centre had lent to us, and Janet drove us back to Keith Thompson Centre. Before the toddlers went off home, Maxine gave them all a present she had bought them. It had been a really good day out and we had had lovely weather as well!