Me and my Dad took a walk with Ricky and Robbie today on a road which goes up the back end of Castleward Estate near Strangford. It’s one of those places that noone knows about- so it’s always deserted- but it’s very pretty, with a pond with some ducks, a wood and a pretty little gatelodge which looks like it should be the gingerbread house in the Hansel and Gretel story- people still live there, the lucky pups!!
The dogs, Sophie and Bonzo (yes, I know, we tried to reason with my parents on the dog’s names, to no avail) ran on ahead and amused themselves as only they know how. Bonzo has a tail which looks totally normal when you’re in the house, but when out and about, it turns into this curly and wonderful tail which is really something!
Ricky loves the wood on this walk. There’s a favourite author of ours called Julia Donaldson- if you have young children you MUST have at least three of her books- and Ricky knows her book “The Gruffalo” off by heart. The woods at the back of Castleward look EXACTLY like the deep, dark woods in the Gruffalo. Ricky is certain that the gruffalo is a real creature, so every time we take this walk, he asks where the Gruffalo is.
Once I made the mistake of saying I thought I had caught a glimpse of the Gruffalo, thinking that this would spark his imagination and make him laugh, whereas it put the fear of God into him and he got scared- BAAAAD Mummy! 
Won’t be making that mistake again…
Anyway, this time he kept asking where the Gruffalo was, and I told him the Gruffalo was afraid of him and was hiding in the woods. He still wanted to see the Gruffalo, but didn’t get scared. Amazing, the power of cartoon drawings!!! 
Posted in Day to day guff, Family, Northern Ireland, Random, children, parenting | Tags: Ricky, Robbie, dogs, Strangford, Dad, Suzy, Castleward, Sophie, Bonzo, woods, trees, Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson, Hansel & Gretel
