Sunny Days and the Great Outdoors

Ken Ring may have gotten the weeks a bit confused but there certainly seems to be a ring of truth about our summer  - sunny days have finally returned and have enveloped us in a hazy heat wave. For this week anyway.

There is nothing like glorious sunshine to help promote carefully selected outings to engage wilful and reluctant teens.

So, raging toothache worthy of 'Marathon Man' movie status be damned, it is time to work on my Summer Bucket List.

The picnic bag was filled and all sorts of paraphernalia thrown into the boot of the car and off we went. Off to check one destination off the list; our beloved Powerscourt Waterfall.

Driving carefully along the winding country roads, with overhead bowers formed by leafy trees conjoining and the dappled sun shimmering through the gaps, we were soon at our destination.

We off-loaded the car, setting out our wares and taking over a picnic bench with a base on which to use our disposable barbecue and we sat back for a while, just relaxing, happily quiet in each other's company....

It was blissful sitting there in these peaceful surroundings, with a high rise of tree lines ahead and the gently gushing waterfall beside us and a light breeze wafting by. Whispering strains of the little poem I wrote the last time we were here floating through my mind.

Oh, I could live here forever.....

There is also nothing like the natural environs of Powerscourt with its sense of exploration, rock formation and trickling water to still the raging hormones within any tumultuous teen. How we always loved the tricking of water and the many pathways it follows and the patterns it makes....

Soon tummy rumblings impeded the quiet and it was time to eat. The scout got to work, optimally setting up the barbecue and whittling some helpful aids from tree branches to assist with the barbecuing of burgers and sausages in this stunning location.

We ate our tasty burgers - best barbecue ever, apparently - topped with chopped onions purchased en route as I'd forgotten to pack some. A good Scout may 'Be Prepared' but busy mums are one better and will always 'Be Prepared.... to Improvise'!

It was a lovely, chatty lunch, washed down with lashings of ginger beer refreshing Lilt and was thoroughly enjoyed by us both. The whole afternoon stretched lazily ahead of us as I languished on the sun lounger.

One short scouting expedition later, with wet runners and an internal clock switched eternally to Teen Time it was announced that it was time to go. We'd been here five hours already, at least. In Teen Time perhaps but only two hours in reality!

I've never seen the car 'packed' as quickly with everything. Well, everything except the picnic blanket that I lay on ...... and lay on ..... and lay on. I was not going home, a 'day out' consists of more than two hours after all. I put my foot down - in fact you could say I put my whole body down!

With a bit of cajoling here and bribery there I dragged at least another hour of it, ending with yummy ice cream purchased on our way out. Toothache be damned once more, it was totally worth it - all that creamy yummylicious-ness swirled onto a cone.

It's always a good day out that ends with ice cream.

So, home again to well-earned screen time and to consider the rest of my Summer Bucket List, which contains such potential delights as a Scouting week away - a whole week, yikes! - and a sleepover swapover.... among other things.

All coming to a blog near you soon.

Stay tuned!

xx