Kayaking and Business Thoughts.

We actually have some SUNSHINE here in Poole this Bank Holiday Weekend (interspersed with cloud, but I'm not complaining!) and I saw Lucy advertising the hire of her kayaks to raise money for a Kilimanjaro Trek in aid of CLIC Sargent (a childrens cancer charity). Her page is here - please donate if you are able.

So - yesterday we met Lucy first at a very windy harbour with massive waves, and panicked a bit she agreed to instead follow us to the Poole Park Lake with the kayaks on a trailer, and we were ready to set off!

It was pretty cold to start with - and the lake looked deceptively calm. Isla chose the blue boat, and she and I were a team to start with. The paddles were pretty big and heavy, and honestly Isla was a menace with hers to start with - just getting it in the way of mine, dragging it behind us and nearly losing it. Iain and Lucas were in the orange boat, and their weight meant that they sat very low in the water! The children were fully waterproofed up (as you can see), but in a moment of madness Iain and I chose not to put on our waterproof trousers. Iain was sitting in a massive puddle within 5 minutes, and moaned more than a little about it!

We found the edges of the lake were gentle, and we managed a fast pace - but then midway across the waves and wind really kicked in! Lucas was happiest of all when we were paddling madly against strong currents, and the boats bounced and lapped and splashed. Isla made little half excited, half scared shrieks, but seemed cool. Wasn't long before we were reminded of how exhausting Kayaking really is - but it was fabulous fun. We had our picnic in the boat, so stopped and refueled.

Then was saw the sun, and it was really really amazing! Isla moved to the orange boat with Iain, and Lucas in mine. Iain and Isla disappeared round the lake investigating and exploring and I convinced Lucas to have a go at paddling (my arms and thighs were suffering, and I wanted him to try!). His coordination, especially across his body isnt great as he is missing parts of his midbrain, so I figured he should use just one side to begin with. He managed really well, and could feel his efforts succeeding when the boat moved faster. He took occasional breaks, but he was fabulous, and I havent seen him smiling and enjoying an activity so much for a long time.

 Isla was getting a tad twitchy at this point, so I brought out some bubbles which were a huge success flowing across the water. Then she had a go at paddling, and actually managed to do both sides, which was brilliant.

All in all, we had an amazing day - and may possibly be looking on eBay for 2 or 4 men kayaks for sale incredibly cheaply!

On a business note, whilst last year I was managing to receive enough orders through my FaceBook page alone to keep me busy, the changes in Facebook have lead to my posts not being viewed by many people, and a marked difference in orders, and so I am wondering about the next step. I am thinking that I should build a proper website to go alongside my blog, and it has been suggested that Twitter might be a good idea. I would welcome and thoughts or suggestions successful WAHM/D's may have!

I have also set up a Pinterest board showing some of my work and links to buy it,  as I get a lot of Pinterest traffic, so this is a new avenue to explore and I  have joined a lovely closed group of crafters on Facebook who are trying to boost each others and their own businesses, and have a new board showing their amazing work too. If you fancy having me pin some of your work, please do get in touch.

Love Sarah xx