Activities For Children

I have a thing about heights. I love them. There's something so thrilling about being high up on a mountain, looking down on the scenery below.

Until now though, I've never dared to drag the kids along...until last weekend. There's a mountain down near where I grew up called Knocklayde. It looms about 1600 feet high above the town of Ballycastle.

It seems we have at least one of every popular video game console in our house. Well, with the exception of the X Box. But we have accumulated a Nintendo Wii, an older PlayStation 2, two Nintendo DS-Lites. This in addition to abundant internet access and a weird kiddie-console thing that hooks up to the TV.

As the weather here improves, plans are afoot get a little more exercise into our routines. And possibly a slighty better diet, but more on that later.

It started as an effort to get the kids to school quicker - letting them take their scooters and bikes in the morning. Then last week, we gave the shed a clear out, dusted off the adult bikes, reinflated the tyres and headed back out on the road again.

Cycling is such a low-impact form of exercise. For me, after I've been running for a while, my leg starts to hurt terribly from the thudding about. Cycling avoids that.

After I walked out of my parents' house on Saturday, I proceeded to do exactly what I'd promised the boys. I took them out and we had an excellent day together.

I had taken Daniel to a little harbour round the coast called Portbradden earlier in the week. While the weather wasn't wonderful, we managed quite a lengthy walk that revealed some interesting little places along the coast. It was then that I resolved to come back at the weekend for further adventures.

Last year I had an idea that I'd like to read Jostein Gaarder's The Christmas Mystery to the children. At the time, I read it myself, but decided to hold off reading it to the kids.