we’re trying to hike

OK, where were we? The vicar came by on Thursday night and roped me into being in a ‘mystery play’ during Easter Week. I go to rehearsals tomorrow to find out what it is all about. On Friday morning I took the girls down to the toddler playgroup in the Church Hall (which is about 10 yards away). I was the only father there, joining 12-15 mothers. We sat drinking a cuppa tea while the kids played all over the hall with the toys they have there. It was great fun. Barrow and Strummer were hesitant about interacting with other kids for the first 15 minutes, and then they were fully integrated. I met a few mothers who I really like a lot (I’ve got no pictures of the affair, except of the toilet posted on my other blog). Afterwards we ran home and ate a quick lunch before I took Barrow to her first (half) day at the nursery. It is a town rule that on the first day, children should be accompanied by a parent and only stay an hour. I guess that is in case there are any problems. No such worries with Barrow. I didn’t take a photo of the inside of the nursery (outside it looks like a double-wide trailer), but I’ll ask if I can next time. Except for the entrance room (with hooks and shoe cubbies for each kid), it is one wide open space with little learning/play pods spread throughout. Anna says that it reminds her of an IKEA in its layout. I can’t even begin to cover everything that they have there, but it is pretty amazing: an indoor sandbox, a drawing/painting station, a tool station (with hammers, screwdrivers, saws, etc), a toy kitchen, a bedroom, an indoor climber, three computer stations, an indoor library, a computer projected onto a wall with a touch screen, the snack area with sink (they must wash and put away their own dishes and brush their teeth with their own toothbrush). I could go on and on. Each little pod has specific learning activities associated with it, but the 18 kids are left to just go and do their own thing for the 2 ½ hours they are there. There is organized exercise at the beginning and organized story time at the end, but other than that the kids are free to do whatever they want. The instructors just roam around, helping out the kids as need be. And the teachers are awesome: totally kind, loving and engaged with the students. Of course, Barrow immediately jumped right in and had a great time. The teachers loved her and kept remarking how quickly and easily she fit in. When we had to go after an hour, Barrow didn’t want to leave. She is so excited about going back. It makes missing Children’s Hours much easier to deal with.

Friday evening I went back to the Church Hall for an auction that was being run as a charity for the Old Church. I met a few people, but mostly just enjoyed the scene. I was there for over two hours, but after being outbid on a set of golf clubs, I headed home.

 Today (Saturday) we had planned on hiking along the coastal path to Elie, the village a few miles over. Here is a pic of Barrow and Anna walking along the path with St Monans and the Old Church behind them.

 But by the time we got to the top of the first major hill, the winds were just too strong to continue. Little Strummer was getting blown down, so she went into the backpack. That is the ruins of one the castles behind us, with Elie is the distance.

 

But we did get one nice pic before walking back.

 

In the afternoon, we drove over to Pittenweem, the neighboring village in the other direction. We walked around town:

Visited the harbor.

 

And had a lovely tea at a tea shop in town, complete with scones and cream and jam. Delicious. On the way back, Barrow found this nice little bench built into the rock wall.

 

There is no fish-and-chips shop in St Monans, so a van comes every Saturday evening and parks next to the pub and does a brisk business. We walked over and got two bags of chips to go with our dinner. Not a bad life, indeed.

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