Best Friend Leia

Very elegant!

So I quickly repacked our bags and bundled Tom into the car.  We met at Dunham Massey - a National Trust place.  We arrived at the same time, Leia had her scooter so I got Tom's bike out and away they went.  Although they were both a little shy to start with, they soon warmed up and away they went.  The estate was lovely and huge.  We went to the formal gardens where Leia and Tom had to park there vehicles and do a trail.  We started off following the trail, but concentration wasn't the best and anyway, playing 'Chase Leia' was far more interesting and off they went - running around finding places to hide.

Posing

We followed ambling behind them - Tom even ran across a bridge with no sides crossing a lake?!  I tell you there is something about Tom and older women - he will do anything for them.

Anyway it started to rain so we decided to get something to eat, then we hit the gardens again.  Tom was getting tired though as he kept crying over nothing.  He and Leia swapped vehicles for a while but Leia didn't like Tom's bike and we had more tears when Leia demanded her scooter back.  We decided to call it a day and go back to Karen's home.  I thought Tom would fall asleep in the car, but surprisingly he didn't and there was no way I was going to convince him to sleep once we got there - a different house full of different toys and things to discover - he found a new lease of life and off he went.

Lover's Walk?

We decided to stay overnight - Karen had to work for the day, so it made sense for me to stay with Tom and Leia, especially as they were getting on so well.  We had a bad night - Tom tossed and turned all night complaining that his winkle was hurting and he was too hot and so on.  Tom wasn't looking good at all in the morning, so I decided to go take them somewhere sparse of population.  I decided to take them to a park - we had it to ourselves.  I discovered the problem of looking after two children - whatever one wanted to do the other didn't - so negotiation was the order of the day.

They seem happy...

Leia would only play football on the pavement because it "doesn't work on grass" whilst Tom wanted to play on the grass.  Leia wanted to play on the swings etc even though they were wet with rain - whilst Tom didn't want to get 'wetty'.  Oh well, through negotiations and bribes I got there and they did have a good time.

After Leia repeatedly telling me she was hungry and all my snacks gone, I decided to take them home for lunch.  They then played in the garden in the sun (?!) and then inside - Leia tried to convince Tom to dress up - he wouldn't but he was happy to wear high heels!

Riding

Anyway Karen came home at 4 and we made our escape to try to beat the traffic - I got lost as usual leaving Manchester - I have never got to grips with the inner city roads there - did a couple of circuits of the University before finding my way out but once on the road I made good time.

High heels

Once home we had a quick dinner, then Matt put Tom to bed whilst I rushed to the shops to do the weekly shop and came home to make cakes - this week was a very big challenge - looking after Tom full time and getting my cake orders done.  Not something I want to be repeated very often - especially after having a very bad night's sleep a day spent looking after 2 children and long drive, not a recipe for a happy Nik!

In bed with Sophie

The rest of the week was spent looking after Tom

and making cakes and getting stressed!  My birthday happened amongst this - but it didn't really register.  Luckily, Sophie, one of Tom's friends also got Chicken Pox so we spent a long time with her and Sammie her Mum which was quite good - I discovered that it is much easier to look after a child you know than one you don't - also I had more patience once I had a good night's sleep.