Days 102 and 103: 22nd and 23rd September 2017 "Feel the fear and do it anyway"

Friday

As the kids had worked well at school all week we decided to have a different focus on Friday. AJ is often very nervous about new things but we knew he really wanted to have a go on a Hobie Cat so todays school was to be PE at the beach. We packed a picnic and drove to the watersports beach on the way to Propriano to find very little wind. The boat rental guy said that  although there was a little wind inshore there wasn't much further out where the sailing area was. After half an hour of indecision and the kids getting soaked swimming we decided to hire one of the pedalos and go out and take a look.

Esmé was desperate to go on these pedalos as they had a slide on them!

After 45 minutes we were all pretty bored of the pedalo so we went in and swapped for a hobie cat. Unfortunately the wind had picked up a little too much and the kids were extremely nervous. Eventually we got them to sit on the trampoline and then Patrick and I got on and we were off. The kids flipped between screams of terror and giggles of laughter, however it really was a little too much for them so we turned round and came back in. The guy was really good and said we could come back another day for the rest of our time. As we were getting off a German guy asked Patrick if he would like to go out sailing with him so Patrick had a lovely hour of kid free time sailing with somebody who wasn't screeching!

Meanwhile Esmé and I joined in the craft session of some local school children who were learning to sail. They were having a whole year of sailing as a topic and were spending 1 day a week learning to sail as well as learning about sailing in class. We gave them our blog details and the teacher said that they would follow us. Esmé made a lovely flag and we promised to reply to any comments they make on our blog!



Saturday

An early start and the kids dressed in jeans as per the riding school's instructions, then top down on the car and off we went. We were supposed to arrive at 9:30 for a 10am lesson however we had got lost last time we went so we set off in plenty of time and arrived at 9:10 to be greeted by Cassie the dog.

I'm not sure Rory would approve of us going down this lane more suited to our Land Rover but needs must!

The riding school is a lovely place where old horses are retired and looked after, and the working horses are given plenty of space to roam around. By 9:15 the kids were being shown around and handed the equipment for their ponies before being fitted with hats.

We then went to collect their ponies. As we walked through the field of larger horses the kids were most amused when one butted me up the backside... I'm not sure I really like horses but I kept my cool in front of the kids!

The were shown how to brush their ponies and then get them ready for riding.

After that followed a 1 hour lesson where they learned to make the horses go, stop and turn. Later on they did some funny games and Esmé was brave enough to trot!

All in all they had 2 hours of learning about horses, and again trying something new. I was so proud!


Back to the house via the supermarket and the toy shop next door where I managed to secretly buy Esmé some glitter pens for her birthday. We had lunch and a bit of a rest before a walk along the beach to buy ice creams with the kids pocket money and collect sea glass.

Finally dinner and bed for the kids followed by a lovely skype call with my good friend Leonie. Lovely day!