Snapshots::

W, up a hill, taking it easy (and ignoring Miss T pooing in her knickers. Twice. And Toot and I having to clear her up with one tissue until a helpful and much amused Random Dad stepped in with a packet of wipes and a nappy bag. Bless you kind sir).

 Waiting for the Cascade

 Paddling at Chatsworth. I wanted to do this last time we went, but we weren't allowed. So Much Fun!

 Rolling...

Textures...

 

Cable cars...

Holes to peer through...

Princesses and castles and...

Knights and swords and axes and...

Cavaliers.

And a cracking Indian meal, a terrible (worst ever!) Chinese meal, a very fine steak and stilton pie, some fabulous homemade cakes and afternoon teas, warming soup, bacon and eggy breakfasts, coffee coffee coffee and six great nights sleep, aided by one bottle of peaty loveliness that is Laphroig whisky.

Holidays...aren't they great?

x

Snapshots::

The Secret Garden...x

Holibobs

I am staying at Papa and Toot's with the bears for a week. The bears are being truly Wild, but still, we are having a LOT of fun!

X

Ups and downs with Miss T

When my youngest child is not being deeply naughty she is tremendously good fun. Yesterday I was quite out of temper with her due to the flooding of my hallway with the entire contents of a LARGE bucket of dirty mop water, a trip to Tesco which would have been easier to have done with a load of baboons, and the need to clean the downstairs cloakroom (the whole thing- not just the toilet- the walls, the floor, the door too) not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES due to her pig-headedness in refusing to ask for assistance when she needs a poo.

Hmm.

Anyway, I was sitting here feeling Extremely Irritated, looking at my photos from the last week and suddenly I realised I was not cross anymore. Because you know what? Being at home with my children is good fun most of the time, and who wouldn't rather be doing this:

or admiring this:

than working?

x

Lovely Lion

My smallest nephew has his first birthday this week so I made him this:

This is the Sleepy Lion by Irene Strange. It took me AGES to make because the mane was so fiddly. In the end I did a major nine hour stint, followed by three hours the next night and got it finished. I am REALLY pleased with the result- I just hope my scrumptious nephew likes him.

*****

Unrelated:

Today W, Miss T and I went on another bike ride- twenty miles! Along to the nature reserve, then back the other way, aaall the way to the other end of the seafront, stopping on the way for a ginger beer and a packet of peanuts at the pub. Hurrah!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend...x

In the saddle

Today W, Miss T and I had a Big Bike Ride. The big three were in school, the sun was shining, so we hopped on our bikes and headed down to the seafront for breakfast:

Oh yes!

This was my view:

We rode the entire length of the seafront (about five and a half miles) to get to here:

A lovely bit of beach that we don't normally visit as it's a bit of a pig in the car. I had forgotten how beautiful it is.

Miss T fell head first off the ramp and put her teeth through her lip- much blood and many tears ensued. But, my brave girl was calmed down with the promise of an ice cream.

The fence goes out for really long way into the estuary. I think it is the remains of the one they built in the war to stop the U-boats coming up the Thames.

I got some really daft tan lines on my feet, due to the overly technical strapwork on my sandals.

Altogether we cycled about twelve and a half miles today, and I am feeling pretty pleased with myself, because I did it with a small person on the back of my bike too. Though I did run out of steam half way up the hill to get back home. I got off and pushed for a (short) way. The shame!

We have been doing some Ooh-I-wish-I-lived-here local sightseeing too:

The house on the right here has an orangery. I want an orangery! No simple conservatory will do now- there needs to be an orangery in my future!

The world from a bike- wonderful. Such a great morning! x

Quick camping

Doesn't the week fly by when you're doing a proper job? Sunday night already- I can't believe it! I've been filling my few quiet moments with crochet. A bit of one WiP here, a bit of another there. I need another big project to sink my hook into so sometime this week I will probably start my Summer Breeze cardi. I've been looking forward to it for so long!

The bears have been away at Papa and Toot's for the last few days, so W and I have caught up on sleep and relaxed a bit, whilst seriously missing them. The house feels far too big and quiet without my noisy, sticky children haring around.

Anyway, they got back yesterday and have just been pinging off the walls ever since. Today was beautiful and sunshiney, but W and I had quite a few jobs to do, so it was a housey day. I decided the bears should be outside, so I made them a tent.

For ages I have had grand plans of sewing them a lovely lined tent or teepee, all very complicated and unlikely. Today I seized the moment and grabbed an old duvet cover (W's sister's college one, it turns out), split the long seams and hung it over the washing line. Job done and a quiet afternoon followed during which all of my kids and then all of my sister-in-laws kids too, played and picniced merrily in the tent.

Splendid!

Hope you had a fab weekend too...x

Day off!

Hello! Even though I have had a busy week doing a Proper Job this week, I still managed to have a jolly nice jaunt out with W and Miss T while the others were at school. We went to our local country park for a wander, sank up to our ankles in the saltmarshes then had prawns and a shandy on the beach. We just had a fab time in the sunshine- makes up for being stuck with no sunlight when I am at work, that's for sure!

Look:: a SNAKE! W and I were mega excited! It's not often you see a snake in the wild in the UK, is it?
Miss T brought home a selection of grubby fevvers (feathers), a mangled daisy or two and a beautiful yellow buttcup (buttercup, thankfully), so she was happy too.

I hope we have more of this lovely weather to look forward to. What do you reckon- school holidays and good weather? 

Don't get my hopes up right?!

x

Babysitting

Hello! The sun is shining and all is well. Miss T and I have spent the last three days at my sister-in-law's house, looking after my Niece-who-has-no-plan, my Naughty Nephew and OK, while my brother-in-law ran the Rome marathon.

We have had a great time, despite the fact that Miss T and my Naughty Nephew are the same age and equally wilful, thus behaving at all times like evil twins. They both repel and attract each other like small, sticky, violent, magnets.

Anyway...

Here's a bit of what we did:

So lovely!

Hope you have had a wonderful few days too. x