Today marks the start of Autumn. It has arrived here with a bit of a drizzly start – bleugh! I had definitely got used to the dry, sunny, warm spell that we had been having. We have been ticking things off our Autumn Bucket List, (be sure to check it out if you haven’t already 😉 ) and really enjoying spending time together as we do so. Since J and S started school and pre school, life has definitely gone into 5th gear and so it is nice to take time to ‘do things’ as a little group of 5.

On Saturday we headed to Botanic gardens in Belfast for the Autumn Fair. We had a great wee day. It seems days out with the littles are getting a little bit easier, the bag that I need to bring is smaller, we aren’t watching the clock as much as we used to for naps and snacks, emotions don’t run just as high when we have to ‘move on to the next thing’! 🙂

There was lots to see and do at the fair, with things for all ages and interests. Like I said, the weather was beautiful and allowed us to enjoy a lovely picnic and appreciate the beautiful gardens in Botanic. We met my mum and dad when we were down there which was great. It’s always nice to have an extra pair of hands in the crowds. One of the highlights from the day for me was getting to see how J’s confidence has grown in the last wee while. Before he would have been a bit unsure of trying new things on his own and would have looked for my help or reassurance, but on Saturday he was keen to give things a go independently and really had a ball!

Come and have a nosey at our day…..

We decided to get the train down as we knew parking would be a bit of a nightmare! Plus, it always makes a day that little bit more of an adventure.

First stop was a picnic and some interesting dance moves from my little rascally chops!

As we were sitting enjoying the sun and some tasty delights from M&S, (they know how to make food, right?!) I heard the distant sound of my past – a bit of Crazy Frog!! Ha! There was a dance group for the kiddies to enjoy just around the corner. I was sure my 3 would come over all shy, especially J, but no – they were dead keen to get onto that grassy dance floor.

Another big hit with J was this obstacle course. The first time the lady didn’t put the hard hat on him as his head was too small, this however meant J wanted to do it again…with the hat on. I was so surprised that he was willing to give it a go – it wasn’t a tiddly little obstacle course either, what with having to spin around a brush shaft 5 times and crawl through an army net…the boy did well 🙂

There were rides to be enjoyed and would you believe they were working…all working, we didn’t need Daddy’s special money, or come back another day when they were fixed. On Saturday ALL the rides were working 😉

AND FREE!!!!

Now, when Granny and Granda are there, there’s bound to be treats! This was a highlight of the day – the giant candy floss, the length of their arms! The P1 teacher got told about our ‘day at the Autumn fair with the giant candy floss”….seems like the rest of the day was wasted! 😉

For the adults there were fabulous fruit and vegetables and flowers to oooohhh and aaahhh over. And the teacher in me loved it for a little bit of extra language development for the 2 year old and phonic work for the 3 and 4 year old!!! You can take the girl out of teaching, but you can’t take teaching outta the girl….poor kids!    

My lovely husband grows Bonsai trees. He entered a few into the exhibition and came 1st and 3rd in some categories. Proud wifey.

Home we came on the train, with 3 tired little children, all wanting to snuggle with lovely memories made.