Zumba, Red Squirrels and Treetops

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After living in Cumbria - stronghold of Englands' Red Squirrel population - for 3 years, I have finally seen my first ever WILD red squirrel! I cannot describe how excited I am by this fact, except to say that a small amount of victory dancing round the front room was required... I know it may sound a little sad to other people, but the fact is that basically everybody living up here has seen one at one point or another, and I was feeling rather left out. Even my parents managed to see one before me, and they don't even live here! So after seeing the gorgeous little creature on the table outside this morning I am now very happy that I can tick that particular box off the bucket list.

The forest that this camp is built in is beautiful. Besides the red squirrels (Whinfell is one of the best places to spot them in the country), there are countless other wildlife species to be seen, depending on the time of year that you go. We went for a walk around the forest yesterday afternoon, keeping an eye out for any early emerging Adders that may be basking in the sunlight. Unfortunately I was unlucky on this particular day, but I was quite happy just enjoying the walk with my family in the sunlight. Until of course Ocean decided that she didn't want to stay in her pram anymore and needed to be held instead! I tried to be tough and not give in but of course that's far easier said than done when you have a baby screaming at the top of her lungs! Eventually Jay picked her up and we then realised what it was she was actually upset about - she had dirtied her nappy and it had somehow travelled halfway up her back, soaking through both her vest AND dress. Mmmmm nice. Poor little thing had to wait until we could make it back to the center and some toilets before we could change her, luckily only took 5 minutes to get there though. I get the feeling she would have been far unhappier having to get undressed in the freezing cold forest! This is what I have discovered about taking babies out so far: no situation is ideal, so you just have to choose the option that she will be the most comfortable with and deal with it. I believe that if you accept this you will both be just fine!

By the end of our walk yesterday Mum, Sam (my sister) and I were all beginning to really ache. Not because we were not as fit as the men you understand, but because we had in fact been to an Aqua Zumba class that morning. To be honest we tried it simply out of curiosity, we've all heard of Zumba (Who hasn't?), but Aqua Zumba?? It turned out to be a very enjoyable workout, if you've never tried shaking your booty and jumping from leg to leg like a frog under water before then I reccommend you give it a go. Besides being fun it clearly worked the ol' leg muscles, as they were aching like anything by the end of the day. We left Ocean with the men while we did this and arranged to meet them in the pool afterwards. 15minutes late they eventually turned up and described how they were trying to get the baby in her swimming costume. Surely it can't be that hard you think? Apparently for two fully grown men it is a very strenuous challenge attempting to dress a baby, with mishaps ranging from putting it on the wrong way round, to getting two feet through an arm hole. Bless them, perhaps we should just do it ourselves in the future...

This morning's activity ended up being one that my mother would never forgive Jason for. I booked 5 of us in for tree trekking, as Jay and I had been to Go Ape before which is basically the same thing so I thought it would be right up his street. He however decided that he didn'y fancy it this time, so to save wasting the money my mum filled in for him. Bearing in mind that Mum is afraid of heights and the entire course is set 20ft off the ground in the trees, this was actually a very brave thing for her to attempt. So we got kitted out and attached to a wire so we wouldn't fall to the ground and began our journey through the forest. I went behind mum in case she needed a bit of encouragement, but to begin with she was trekking through the trees like a pro! The course basically consists of various pieces of wood, rope and tyres to create a wobbly assault course that really tests your balance skills. We made it to the halfway point without any mishaps, but when it came to a row of 4 logs swinging in the air that had to be crossed sideways Mum froze. I did my best to encourage her to go on, then the instructor came up to us and tried her best too. Mum just couldn't bring herself to get across that one though, so they lowered her down to the ground on a rope and she watched the rest of us complete the course. As soon as she got to the ground and reached Jay she gave him a slap just to demonstrate her feelings towards him at that particular moment. Like I said, I'm not sure that she'll ever totally forgive him...

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