Lilly's party

Last weekend, Tom went to his first party since we moved up here.  It was Lilly's birthday - Lilly is his girlfriend from nursery, they are apparently inseparable during their days there, although I think it is a little one-sided from Lilly.  Lilly is actually bigger than Tom, so I was quite surprised to find that she is only now turning 4.

Tom was down on sleep this week, so after a morning re-doing the alphabet trail in Ingleton, he went to bed for a rest - to our amazement he did actually sleep, in fact we had to wake him up and were late for the start of the party - thinking his rest was more important than being on time.    

See Saw

When we got there, the party was in full swing.  It was held at Barbon Village Hall which has an outdoor play area so all the children were scattered in the park, on the bouncy castle or doing crafts outside.  It was a wonderfully understated party: none of this yummy mummy competitiveness that seems to be the norm these days.  Music was adult music (Muse etc), adults were greeted with Pimms on arrival, there weren't any party games and no party bags, now that is my type of party.  I did make Lilly a cake, but it was for at home with her family - there were homemade cupcakes for the party - fantastic.

It was a beautiful day, I hardly heard any tears or raised voices.  Food was a hot dog each and crisps (as I said it was understated)  just goes to show that you don't need to overdo it to have a good time.  

It was a Tinkerbell themed party. (Tinkerbell is the fairy from Peter Pan for those not in the know).  Allison (Lilly's mum) had handmade both Lilly's and Nancy's fancy dress (Nancy is Lilly's younger sister) - I think they were the best looking dresses I've seen in ages.

Big Hug

When we arrived I wondered if Lilly and Tom would play with each other as parties are very different environments to nursery and all of Lilly's friends were at her party.  So I was happily surprised to see Lilly running towards Tom when she saw him arrive.  They then spent pretty much the whole party playing together.  It was very lovely to watch.  Just as well really, because Matt and I did't know anyone, but of course pretty much everyone else there knew each other, so we were pretty much alone. It didn't matter.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONkmYWeok1s - video of Tom and Lilly playing in the park.

Bank Holiday Monday - the sun disappeared, but it didn't rain until quite late.  We had heard that a steam train would be crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct so we decided to do a walk up there, keeping close to the railway line so we could see it.  It was a lovely walk, and the steam train arrived right on time.

Ribblehead Viaduct

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgVjB3oLU4 - video of the steam train

We then headed out to Hawes for a cheesy lunch at the diary there, and then home.  Tom fell asleep in the car so Matt stayed with him whilst I went in to cover Simon and Clare's wedding cake.