What we did... Summer Holidays 2012 Day 4

It's not only the warmth that is special about hot summer weather, it's the light. Colours seem more vibrant, the blue of the sky is more intense and everywhere is bathed in glorious golden sunlight.

We are very lucky to be sandwiched between two swimming pools and with our family membership, Josie can go with a friend, Charlie can join the supervised swim and I can go to a class.

Between the trees and across the stream is the leisure centre car park. We can see the children's bedroom windows from the beach pool. Josie can even go swimming by herself.

It would be almost criminal for swimming not to be a big part of our summer holidays, especially on health and fitness day.

Other healthy activities today included roller skating for Josie, activities in the sports hall at the leisure centre for Charlie and plenty of running around with Nerf water guns for pretty much everyone who came in the garden.

As part of the healthy day I also made some rather delicious courgette cake for my garden full of children. As promised here's the recipe for Michelle.

Recipe for courgette cake

{Grate a medium courgette the day before so it dries out a little, or put it on a tray in the sun for a bit}

One medium courgette, grated

100g butter

150g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

200g flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together before beating the eggs in one at a time. Sift the flour and baking powder and stir in gradually. Finally fold in the grated courgette. This recipe can be made into cup cakes or a loaf or both. Bake in the oven at 170c until golden brown. Trick children into eating the cake by getting them to guess the mystery green ingredient.

For the more adventurous, try adding a bit of chilli. I sprinkled in a small amount of cayenne pepper before putting the mixture in the loaf tin. The fact that most of the cake was gone before I even thought about taking a photo indicates just how yummy it actually was, so here's a photo of the courgette plants instead.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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