kidsandstuff: June 2012

A day trip to Ukraine? Sounds unlikely, if not impossible, but that's what we did last week!

We were lucky enough to get tickets to see England v Sweden in Kiev (just me and my husband - the boys were looked after by my ever obliging Dad - they were not happy to be missing out though...) - and what an experience it was! leaving Gatwick at 05.30 was a little exhausting, but we didn't mind - then a day in Kiev (where it was a lot warmer and drier than the UK) mingling with fans of all nations.
Contrary to media reports, we found no problems with racism obviously apparent, and the atmosphere was very friendly, with lively banter enjoyed by all countries, but no trouble at all. The cuisine was, erm, interesting, and the architecture imposing. The people were friendly and polite, and the weather was good - what more could you want?
The game itself was amazing - great result for England, but we feared all was lost when they went 2-1 down. The next two goals proved us wrong, and we went away happy with a 3-2 victory - incredible! The stadium was dominated by blue and yellow, as sweden had far more supporters than England, and Ukraine national colours are also blue and yellow, so the neutrals were largely dressed in Swedish colours too, but England supporters sang well, cheered loudly, and made up for their relatively small numbers with enthusiasm!

Furniture Village are running the Great Garden Moments Competition at the moment - the prize is a fantastic garden table and chairs set, as well as £250 Waitrose vouchers!

So here's my entry:

Well, if I'm honest, the garden is really my husband's domain - I enjoy sitting in it and soaking up the sun (when we have any) whilst admiring the beautiful plants - but he does all the hard work!

He spends any spare time he has in the garden, and the results are definitely worth it - we have a fantastic array of beautiful flowers, a lovely green lawn, and best of all, some rather tasty fruit and vegetables to eat! Another bonus is that the children enjoy growing their own fruit, and can even be persuaded to eat their own veg... and of course the lawn comes in handy for a spot of football and cricket practice!

My favourite garden moments have to be those when the weather's warm and fine, the kids are playing happily in the garden, and I'm relaxing with a good book whilst sipping something cool...
My husband would say that his favourite garden moments are those when he's busy digging, pruning, and planting.
My children say that their great garden moments are when our friendly squirrel comes visiting, or when they're picking their strawberries ready to eat, or when they're watching the birds at the bird table, or maybe just when they're having a game of football with their friends - so many great moments to choose from!

We're really that we have a lovely garden to enjoy- it's not the biggest in the village, but we think it's one of the best!

Here's a few photos of our garden and the things we enjoy doing in it - sometimes looking lovely, sometimes (like when we did our extension) looking less than lovely!