Caught in the storm

This morning Nana, Hermione, Soo and Lily headed off to the Tees Valley Home Ed meeting. Miles and I went to soft play. Hermione was very lively when they came home having thoroughly enjoyed herself there as usual. I'm not sure what the organised activities were today, as I understand it she had been too busy running wild with the boys.

This afternoon we went to the Botanic Gardens. It started off well. We looked at the water features and some rather exotic plants.

We then headed down past the bamboo gardens towards the far out reaches of the garden. Suddenly, within the space of minutes the sky turned black and the heavens opened. We ran for cover in a shelter beside the bamboos. Thankfully I had a packet of oatcakes and a bottle of water in my bag which helped to keep the Hermione and Miles happy for a while. After ten minutes there was no sign of the rain letting up and Miles was desperate to be out so we made a run for it. It was absolutely torrential and the thunder was right overhead. By the time we reached the reception area we were all soaked to the skin. We had no coats as it had looked so bright only half an hour earlier. The drains were over flowing and the managers of the gardens were standing at the entrance watching the water rise and discussing sand bags. It really was freaky!

A very kind lady from reception came out and offered to dress the children in bin bags for our dash to the car. We accepted the bags although we were already drenched. Here we are, dripping.

All in all it was good fun although I won't be going there without the children's raincoats again.