A day together

There was a medieval family fun day at an old abbey today.  It was *hot*, 28 degrees.  There was a hog roast, delicious cakes, a few fairground-type games for the kids, bouncy castle, falconry, archery, face painting....
There were some beautiful sculptures in the grounds.  A series of them were called 'The Dancers' and they were lovely.  

Betsy liked another one, and said it looked like the sun.  Rob read the sign next to it, and it was called 'The Sun'.  Well done Betsy!

The falconry display was great.  Lots of birds of prey, including a kite, a barn owl, a kestrel and peregrine falcon.  There was a lot of talking and it didn't hold the kids attention all the time, so we had our picnic there so we could watch and eat.

(we have the classiest plates for our picnics!).

 We tried to win some prizes by throwing little balls into buckets, but the kept bouncing out (fairground swizz).  Betsy was disappointed as there were some little stuffed animals to win.  I promised her a toy when we go to the zoo tomorrow.
Freddie won 2 giant inflatable hammers for himself and Betsy by being a strong man and ringing a bell with a mallet.

The big kids had their faces painted.  The face painter was excellent.  Freddie was a cheetah, Betsy had a design to match her dress.

While they were queuing Meg played with Freddie and worked on her super-cool look with my sunglasses.

What was especially enjoyable was watching Rob hang out with the kids in the sun.  We don't seem to have done that much recently.  It made me very happy.