Baby it's cold out here

Sometimes, there's a reversal of roles. On a normal day, you will see me continuously trying to entice a reluctant 3 year old to move, put on her clothes, her jacket, jump into the car, eat her tea, move on, get places in time because we're running late.

This time however, it was a 3 year old getting rather annoyed with mummy not moving because she was taking rather a lot of photos.
Not an easy task either, while wearing a rather actively kicking baby and struggling to hold that lense still enough, or reaching just that perfect angle on the scene.

What can I say but that it was even more magical than these pictures tell.

A foggy and ice cold day in Linn Park spent with exploring kids and a camera. How lucky are we to be in walking distance of this gem of a park.

While I had my lense glued to ice crystals, the kids explored beaches, waterfalls, icicles and how to write on frost. The were fishing with sticks and putting on shows, letting their imagination run free.

I learned how the outdoors (and it doesn't have to be the "great outdoors", call it the "small outdoors" of city greenspaces) are a natural "yes" environment, a place where children can do, a place where parents for once can do without the ever present "no" of indoor spaces. Here the children can touch, can learn, can roam, can hop, can climb, can do everything without hitting constant boundaries.

It's transformational for both child and parent. We both relax, recharge and are able to reset the litany of setting and running into boundaries. A fresh start, a welcome reprieve, a space to reconnect.

And take photos of this special winter landscape of course.

And if you think you may have seen similar, if better, ice photos somewhere else, this is true and yet purely coincidental as we both live in Scotland. I'm just a bit slower uploading and editing ;) I can only recommend you hop over to Slugs on the Refrigerator if you want to see more of such winter goodness.

Parklands, a Feast of Colour and the Woodcutter

Over the festive days, we took things easy, let the days flow and went with it. There was a lot of lying in, with a baby who likes to sleep in the mornings, and a preschooler who likes to join us for a long lie in. It was lovely lazy and slow. We did make it outdoors regularly, to the parklands of Glasgow, which offer nature at our doorsteps. The snow has melted, and the whiteness has been replaced by the grey of the city, which only in the woodlands turns into fuller colours. How we all needed to see the lush colours of nature even in this season, because the city grey just does my head in.

Cubling was right into it, this is her wood, her Wald. She knows the way, she knows what to do with sticks, small or, in this case, big.

The last remnant of the cold winter was the ice in the furrows of a tractor track, well explored it was, and the last icy patches on paths in the woods that retained the cold that bit longer and made for rather a lot of sliding and slipping fun.

It doesn't take much to enjoy being outdoors. While in the house, Cubling often doesn't know what to do with herself and depends on adult guidance and interaction, outside, it is she who is in charge and leads the way. Entertained by anything that crosses her way. A fairy tree, a gruffalo den, a bear pattern on a tree, a heart shaped piece of ice. She'll reinact Little Red Riding Hood and she's the wolf, you know, daddy, you be the grandmother and mummy, you be the woodcutter.
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This post is part of Outdoor Challenge Monday, a day late but at least I made Tuesday right? You can join in at 5orangepotatoes if you like, head over anyway for more outdoor fun across the globe.

Outdoor Monday: Climbing Trees in Linn Park

This week, our outdoor fun took us to Linn Park. Believe it or not, the heat in our back garden was quite overbearing (at least if you're 37 weeks pregnant) so we decided to explore the leafy shades of one of Glasgow's urban park gems. Linn Park is really walking distance from us and runs along the banks of the White Cart water, south from Cathcart's picturesque Snuff Mill. The river has moulded a deep gorge into the landscape, and makes for ever changing views. It incorporates a golf course, play areas, large wooded as well as grassy areas. In spite of being landscaped it retains a  wild aspect to it, with lots of exploration in an easily accessible environment. It used to be my favourite running track, what with gentle slopes on one side and never ending steps on the other which made for an ideal short but demanding run.

On Sunday, the park with its woods brought a refreshing breeze to a hot day. The whole family came along and Cubling enjoyed playing hide and seek with her cousin and grampa, my little niece didn't tire of exploring the texture of falling leaves in the grass, and my nephew had a lot of space to impersonate Lightening McQueen or Buzz Lightyear (the confusion is all on my part, I'm sure nephew knew exactly who he was). There were perfect climbing trees, bugs, seeds and mushrooms to explore, and the accessible banks of the river make for perfect fishing with nets and rods.

The beauty of the park lies in it's spectacular setting which lends itself to ever changing aspects. It's big enough for it not to become crowded even on a busy Sunday afternoon. In a month's time, it'll be the ideal place for some brambling too. This time, we made daisy chains and double headed daisies, looked for fallen tree seeds and played a lot.

On Sunday, while the kids were busy having fun, we relaxed and watched, sometimes joined in, and had a perfect lazy afternoon.

 Linn Park will host a family fun day on 29th August, a perfect opportunity to visit if you haven't explored it yet.