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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Kidwelly Castle revisited

Following our disastrous first attempt in January, Matthew and I returned to Kidwelly Castle today for a day out. This time the weather gave us a nice, rather than nasty, surprise and it was warm and sunny all day with barely a cloud in the sky. We were able to go on the train, which Matthew enjoyed (even though it meant a much longer round trip), which meant a walk through the town on the way to the castle which gave Matthew some fresh air and exercise.

We spent an hour at the castle, and could have been there longer as there is plenty to see. Matthew enjoyed playing hide and seek, so it will be somewhere to revisit when Daniel is old enough to play. He was even able to hide in the oven! Unfortunately the visit ended on a sour note when Matthew fell while running around the dungeon - my fault as I should have stopped him - but there was no major harm done aside from a minor graze to the knee.

We then had a nice lunch (Matthew had a bacon sandwich) before catching the train home.

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Castle explorer

Another morning out today - I took Matthew to two ruined castles within 20 minutes drive of each other, Dryslwyn Castle and Dinefwr Castle. Id not visited either castle before to my knowledge (I may have been to Dryslwyn when I was very young) and so it was an adventure for me as well.

Both castles required a steep climb, and Dinefwr especially took a while to reach from the car park. Matthew did well to make it to the top without much moaning, and we both felt tired by the end. We also made it to the top of the highest tower at Dinefwr - Dryslwyn doesnt have any accessible towers to speak of, but we were able to have a good explore there as well.

Matthews favourite castles so far have been Kidwelly and Carew Castle (which he visited with my parents), but he did enjoy Dinefwr which has run them close I think.

Made it to the top!

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Beach and castle trip

I took Matthew for a day out in Manorbier today, visiting the castle and beach. The castle was better than I had expected, and Matthew enjoyed exploring it. To add to the interest, there were some mock up figures and even toys in some of the rooms - Matthew enjoyed putting on a knights outfit, sitting on a throne and finding what looked like a treasure chest. We played a brief game of hide and seek, and then went to look at a Falconry Display, which Matthew quite enjoyed initially but also was a little afraid of the birds so we left.

After the castle we visited the beach and Matthew had fun as usual jumping in the sea. We attempted to build a fancy sandcastle with a moat, but found it difficult to fill the moat with water using the bucket as the sand kept absorbing it and so tried to build a channel to the sea to collect the waves. Unfortunately the tide was on the way out and so the best we could do was half-fill the moat - and gave up to go for lunch. Matthew destroyed the castle, and of course shortly after this a huge wave crashed over the remains which would have nicely filled the moat!

Matthew enjoyed his lunch of pasta followed by strawberry ice-cream while I tucked in to mackerel pate on toast. We then purchased a kite in the shop, but unfortunately I couldnt get it to work when we got back to the beach and it ended up in a tangled mess! Matthew was brilliant - he didnt seem to mind at all and was happy to splash in the sea again. We then climbed over some rocks and had a look in rock pools before going to collect Daniel from Grandmas to visit the dentist.

The dentist gave Matthews teeth a clean bill of health although did say that he needs to brush the bottom of his teeth and gums a little better. I asked about the colour of his teeth (which Louise had expressed some concern over) and was reassured to hear that it is perfectly normal - especially for his new adult teeth, which naturally have more of a yellow tint than baby teeth - although if he can brush better they would be slightly whiter. Matthew had a Spiderman sticker for his efforts.

This week for the first time Ive noticed Matthew has a few freckles. I was surprised as I thought they would have shown by now.