Everybody loves jumping in muddy puddles

Yesterday we were all in a bit of a funk. Ian's been off sick with a horrid throat infection, and the soggy weather has been keeping us cooped up in the house a lot. To turn things around, Audrey and I decided to take a late afternoon ramble in the Hermitage.

We put on our warm coats and our wellies and went to catch the bus down the road. Audrey insisted on sitting up on the bus stop bench like a grown up.

When we're feeling stuffy or low or stressed, this place never fails to revitalise me. Something about the mud and the water and the trees overhead, combined with the freedom to just let Audrey run and play and splash without worrying that she'll get run over or fall on a broken beer bottle.

When she's old enough to learn how to ride a bike, I imagine her riding it here.

Yesterday was all about the puddle jumping.

We saw lots of logs and tree stumps, some naturally fallen and some cut by the wardens. Some were mossy, some dry and crumbling, some wet and smooth. Audrey told me what each of them were - a dinosaur, a dragon, a horse, a dragon horse ROAR-NEIGH!

I love these little glimpses of her developing imagination.

The walk was just what we needed to recharge. We came home just as the street lights were coming on in our road, and just as it was starting to rain.

Perfect.