Another Busy Weekend

Lakeside from Fell Foot Park

This weekend was very very busy.

Saturday looked like a nice day so we headed off to Lakeside and got the boat to Bowness.  Tickets are half price to residents at the moment so only £5 return which for a 40 minute journey each way I think is very good.  We were all togged up in thick coats, gloves, hats etc so we sat outside and enjoyed the view.

On arriving in Bowness we had lunch in 'Aunty Val's Tearoom' - spicy tomato soup for me, chorizo and emmenthal panini for Matt and sausage bap for Tom - it is almost as if they knew we were coming.  We left with happy bellies.

On the boat

Twilight cruise

We then went for a walk around Bowness exploring shops, looking for Christmas pressies (not too successful!) before getting the boat back to Lakeside.  On the boat back there was a large Japanese party.  Matt couldn't resist and did his party trick of asking in Japanese if a couple wanted a photo taken of them.  He got the usual reaction of disbelief, but the couple were friendly and they were chatting for the rest of the trip.  It's not often that Matt gets a chance to speak Japanese so he was very happy.

On Sunday we got up early and were in the car before 8am.  We were on a flying visit to Telford. Luckily the motorway were empty and we flew down (until we hit a diversion at Eccleshall which meant we had to go through Stafford!)  Not to worry we got to the ice rink dead on 10.30 - we were the second to arrive.

Hannah, Becca and Tom

Helen and Thomas

Having cuddles and kisses with Sammie

The gang

Sophie and Tom

Jake and Tom

We met up with loads of friends at the soft play area next door to the ice rink.  Luckily it was empty, in fact the whole time we were there I think there were only 5 other families which was great - we basically had the place to ourselves and it was clean and bright - much better than any of the others.

People turned up in dribs and drabs.  We had primed Tom earlier on who he would see.  He said that he didn't remember any of them, but as soon as they arrived he was off shouting their names and playing as if it was only last week that he saw them all.  He spread his love around, spending time with everyone.  It was a joy to see.  In fact I didn't play with














him at all - I just left him to it and chatted with my friends.  It is always so difficult to get round to everyone in such a limited time - almost like a wedding, you leave feeling that you haven't spoken to anyone really.

Leo, Lucy and Mae

Jessica, Olly, Seren and Tom

Time went by too quickly, within a blink of an eye 2 hours had gone by and we had to say goodbye to everyone.  Oh well, not a huge problem as we had a date with more friends in a pub.  We headed to the Two Henrys on the outskirts of Shrewsbury where we met up with our NCT friends.  We hadn't seen many of them since December last year - so there was a new baby to cuddle (Max - Seren's brother who is now 6 or 7 months) and the babies had turned into toddlers.  Oh and there was a bump to admire (Jessica is going to be an older sister next year)

We had two tables - one for the children and one for the adults.  The children are old enough now, that they sat really nicely with each other eating their lunch with very little incident.  This was fantastic as it meant that the adults could chat without much interruption.

The pub had a soft play area, so once we had all finished we all headed over.  Once again we more or less had the place to ourselves and the children went off and played whilst we chatted.  I actually felt at a loss at one point - I'm really not used to Tom amusing himself.  I figure school has had quite an impact on his confidence playing with other people - he just got on with it.

Around 4pm we called it a day and headed back home.  We all had a fantastic day.  Tom was asleep almost immediately and woke up in a good mood.  We had dinner at The Bridge on the way home which is always a favourite.  He ate up half of my lasagna (not surprising considering how much playing he did!)  A good day, we all went to bed tired and happy.

Weekend with Mummy

I've got behind again!  Oops.

Weekend before last was a little quiet.  Matt was up in Edinburgh having a reunion (piss up) whilst Tom and I stayed in Ingleton.

Chocolate cake!

Saturday I asked him what he wanted to do and was told that he wanted a bike ride in Morecambe so that is what we did.  We parked in our usual place and then cycled all the way along the main prom, past the Stone Jetty (cafe there is closed now) down to the nice cafe down the bottom, where I had a lovely (but stinky) bowl of homemade mushroom and garlic soup (I counted 4 whole cloves of garlic!) and Tom had a very naughty chocolate cake (he had cycled so well I gave him carte blanche on what to order)  The weather wasn't great: dull and grey, but we did manage to sit outside.

We then cycled back to the car in no time at all (fuelled by chocolate cake and a back wind) and headed home.  It was dark by the time we got home - hate these short days.

Had mushrooms and pasta for dinner (whilst Matt is away we have mushroom fest: mushrooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner - I got told "Mummy next time Daddy is away can we have this again - mushrooms are yummy!"  That's my boy!)

Sunday we had a very lazy day.  With no alarms on - I slept through to 9.30am!!!!!!  That's the longest in a very very very very long time.  When I realised what the time was I got up immediately to see Tom.  He was quite happy lying in bed reading his books.  Didn't seem to realise it was 2 hours later than usual.  As a result of my lie in the rest of the day was out of sync.  We headed off to Lancaster and Williamson Park.  Tom took his bike and did some cycling and then we went to its rather good cafe for a sort of lunch (it was 2.30pm).   Tom had a sausage roll and I had a child's cheese on toast.  We then went for another play before heading to the station to pick Matt up.

It was a quiet weekend, but Tom couldn't have been better company.  He was so well behaved and fun that I was sad when it was over and he went back to school on Monday, I would happily have kept him out and carried on playing with him.

Very busy weekend

After a busy half term the pace didn't slow this weekend, in fact it was full steam ahead!

Friday evening found us in our new local foodie pub with some friends and their boys.  It was a good evening out - didn't get back home till quite late (8pm ish)

Saturday was a horrible day in Ingleton so we decided to escape and used our Dales Rail Pass for a cheap ticket to Carlisle (normally £24 return, now only £8 return).  It takes 1hr 45mins to get to Carlisle but it just flew.  Tom really enjoyed himself - he even happily did some school work on the way.  When we got there Tom and Matt hung around the station doing some train spotting (nerds!) whilst I went in search for the re-located cake shop.  I found it - it was huge.  I spent a happy half hour looking round and picking up all the bits and pieces I need in the near future.  Called the boys - they weren't quite ready, so I some more shopping before meeting them for lunch at a rather good cafe: The Old Engine House.  We found this cafe last time we were in Carlisle - it is a great place.  Really good and imaginative food, service with a smile and very reasonable prices.  The only problem is that the cafe is too small so we had to wait, but it was worth it.  We also brought down the average age by about 20 years - seems like all the oldies in Carlisle have found it and haven't told anyone else about it!

So being a proper trainspotter - Matt took plenty of videos.  Here's one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciwkBn3jPug

We left with very happy bellies and then walked down to Bitts Park for Tom to have a run around and a play.  Oh I have to mention that the weather was great.  We were all wrapped up warm, expecting rain, gloom and misery, but when we exited from the Blea Moor tunnel we were welcomed by bright sunshine and it stayed like that for the rest of the day.

We then headed into the city centre for a spot of 'big town shopping' before heading back to the station for more train spotting and then our train back to Settle.  We decided to try out a new pub in Settle on the way back for dinner and found another gem (there are so many good pubs out here!).  And then on to home and bed.

Sunday dawned a beautiful day - clear blue skies and not a breath of wind.

The View from Fleetwood

Michelin Woman and Tom

It was the last day of the Blackpool Illuminations so we decided to go.  We packed the car up with Christmas goodies for Kitridding Farm which we dropped off on the way and then headed down the motorway to Blackpool, stopping at Booths in Garstang for lunch (guaranteed a good lunch there, pretty much guaranteed a bad lunch in Blackpool!)

Searching for the perfect stone

Throwing stones in the sun

Found a free parking space almost on the prom at Blackpool and then purchased some rover tickets for the tram and decided to go all the way North to Fleetwood - just because we could, not because we had heard anything about it.  We travelled through some pretty drab neighbourhoods and were sort of dreading arriving in a miserable yard, but we were greeted by a lovely beach (sandy with some stones that could be thrown into the sea = boy happy), with magnificent views - we could see the Lake District mountains, the dock yard in Barrow, the power station in Heysham and even Ingleborough (although at the time we had our bearings wrong and couldn't quite work out what anything was!)

Like Father, like son

We must have spent the best part of an hour there (and would have spent longer if it wasn't for the fact it was beginning to get dark).  We got the tram back to Blackpool and the Pleasure Beach.  Tom almost fell asleep, so we headed to get tea and a bun somewhere.  We found a tacky family bar on the South Pier and had a drink.  We then explored the fun fair - we had promised Tom a ride.    We then went to the very good 'Tom's Donut Hut' for a bag of doughnuts during which time the illuminations were switched on.  

The Big One

Suitably restored we walked north back up the prom taking in the lights - they weren't as exciting as further north, so we decided to get a tram back up to Gynn Square where the interesting lights start and then walked up taking them in.  We got to Bispham much quicker than last year and managed to get a seat straight away at the big fish and chip restaurant there.  So haddock, chips, mushy peas and a slice of bread and butter for Matt and me and scampi and chips for Tom.  All very Blackpool.

The Sun

Tom and a Spaceman

We then got the tram back to Gynn Square and headed back home.  It was almost 9pm before we got home - a very late night for a school night - ooops!  Oh well, it was our last chance so we had to take it.

Half Term - Part 3

The cake

Wednesday it was dreary but not raining - so can't complain too much.  The morning saw us in Giggleswick delivering the 2 tier anniversary cake.  One of the most detailed cakes I've done in a while: it was a Rocky Horror themed rollercoaster animal print cake.  Believe it or not I had the most trouble with the zebra print on the cake than anything else - you would think it would be easy to do zebra print - but not so - I was painting it on, and it just looked wrong all the time.  I decided in the end that the black zebra stripes are thick and the white thin.  I got there in the end, but it took much longer than it should have done.

Anyway, we delivered it and the recipients were happy with it which is always a relief.  We then went to the tip, I popped into the soft play area with some marketing material - they had contacted me as they often have requests for fancy cakes and there isn't anyone in the area who does them (well that's what they thought until they found me).  We then headed into the town for a quick look around the shops before stopping for lunch at a different tea room, Poppies which was very nice - same prices as The Naked Man, but better quality food.

In the afternoon Matt worked and I took Tom to the library for a special children's session: making witch hats, pumpkin plates, rockets etc etc.  Normally these things are particularly well attended.  Not the case here - it was heaving!  We bumped into Caroline, Fred & Frank, Lynne, Matthew & Tom and others there.   Tom had a good time and to my surprise showed more of his new found confidence and actually went up to a librarian and asked her a question about some red gunk they had made.  We all went outside to see a 'rocket' launch (bicarbonate of soda and vinegar in a bottle) - the librarians made a huge fuss about it saying it was going to explode and to stand back.  After 15 minutes we were sure it wasn't going to do anything!

Tom in his cinema seat

Wednesday evening I spent making wedding cupcakes which were being picked up on Thursday morning.  They were a disaster!  Same batter went into yellow and orange cupcake cases.  The orange ones were fine, the yellow ones decided to peel off?   I have no idea why.  I then had two batches of buttercream: cinnamon and custard flavour.  Both made from the same batch of buttercream.  The custard buttercream piped fine, the cinnamon buttercream didn't.  Why oh why?!  It wasn't a pleasant experience, the cakes were being collected first thing on Thursday so I couldn't make any more.  It was a horrible experience.  As part of the order I had to make some vegan cupcakes.  These turned out absolutely fine - typical.  So I added more of those into the order than were needed to make up for the duff other ones.  I hate making substandard cakes, and am frustrated because I really don't know why things went wrong.

Thursday the bride and groom turned up to pick up their cakes.  I was completely honest with them and explained what had gone wrong.  They seemed fine and pretty relaxed about it.  Let's hope they tasted ok.  In the afternoon Matt and Tom went with Big Tom and Sam and Co from next door to see Turbo at the cinema in Lancaster.  It was Tom's first time (he's always been nervous about cinema environments in the past) - he did really well.  He's not heavy enough to keep a seat down, but apart from that he had a good time.  Apparently he concentrated and didn't fidget too much which for him is pretty good.  I got back into baking and made up the batter for 5 more gingerbread houses and then did some computer work before they returned home.

Wizard Devil

Isabella and Tom

Thursday was Halloween.  We had been invited by a friend to join them in Austwick for a village wander organised by the local pub.  We bought Tom a better costume in Settle when we visited and dressed him up: Wizard's Hat, Devil's Mask, Witch's Cape and pumpkin holder.  We got to the pub - it was full to bursting with every kind of Halloween character you can think of.  This is a pub with a 'French Kitchen' and the bar was groaning with huge plates of proper French Charcuterie and cheese - all free.  Yummy! We ate as much as we could without looking greedy.  We then headed out for our wander.  At the first house Tom wasn't really sure what to do.  He accepted a sweet and then handed one back to the rather surprised house holder.  Very sweet!  At the next house he happily joined the crowd and collected a sweet and then he was off down the street racing to the next house to get his treats.  He certainly enjoyed himself.  That is, until the heavens opened and the rain poured down on us.  We all got drenched.  Tom wasn't impressed and cried.  Oh dear.  Luckily I had some dry clothes in the car for him, so once he was in those he was happier.  The kids then got free hot dogs and we had a pie, peas and chip supper.  We didn't leave the pub until 8.30ish, we were having a good time and Tom and Isabella were happily playing with each other and a couple of other children they knew in the pub.  It was past 9pm when Tom got to bed!

Tom and a Donkey

Friday we had made arrangements to meet with Adam and Eli at Docker Farm Park.  The boys got on fine again, although it was freezing they had a good time - mainly playing on the pedal tractors and go karts.  We did go for a walk and see the animals, but mainly it was the pedal tractors which were the main attraction.  Before we knew it, it was 3pm.  Eli and I were completely frozen (we should have played on the pedal tractors too) so we went to the cafe to warm up.  We found the cafe was actually quite good serving decent food - unusual in these sorts of places - normally it is greasy cheap food.  The cafe is open to those who don't want to visit the farm too - so will keep that in mind for a lunch one day - especially as it has a nice roaring fire and comfy sofas.  Tom was asleep within 30 seconds of me telling him to do so - phew - he was in dire need of a sleep.

Friday evening for me was spent out with some girls at the local foodie pub.  It would have been a good night, except everyone seemed to be coming down with a cold - so it finished quite early - oh hum, it was nice to get out though.

Octonauts and a Tom in bandage

Saturday was going to be a long busy day.  We had a birthday party and we had planned to meet up with Karen, Leia and Rosa in Blackpool for the illuminations.  However, the weather forecast for Blackpool was horrible, so we knocked that on the head and just went to the birthday party instead.  The morning was spent in Kirkby Lonsdale buying a present for the birthday boy.  We then had lunch in Avanti (bit posh for lunch, but it was a miserable day and we needed cheering up).  The birthday party was an Octonauts one - something Tom is not in to at all.  Oh hum - he decided to dress up as a spaceman instead, and didn't really stand out as not in theme (spaceman / deep sea diver = sort of the same?)  The party (Charlie's party - a boy from his class at school) was fabulous.  I have never been to such an organised, well planned party.  Turns out Alice (his Mum) and Pete (his Dad) are both teachers and it showed.  The children listened to everything they were told and followed instructions impeccably.  The games were very inventive and well planned.  (Pressure, pressure - there is no way I could even begin to do something as good as that!)  As a result the children were very well behaved and completely engaged.  Even the party tea was underwater themed with blue juice, blue jelly with fish in it, fish shaped sandwiches etc etc.  I couldn't believe it and was very very impressed.  Tom came away very very happy and we were all glad Blackpool had got cancelled as we would have had to miss half the party otherwise.

Steam Train

Sunday we thought we would have an easy day.  The weather wasn't supposed to be up to much so we headed off to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway for a play on a steam train.  The line isn't that long (15 mins) and there was only one engine working, but we had a good time.  We did 3 return trips, sat in different seats each time and happily watched the countryside speed past.  Tom fell asleep on the way home which was good.  Then curry and rice for dinner and early to bed for Tom - school tomorrow.

Half Term - Part 2

Revolting lunch

Nik was busy caking on Tuesday, so Tom and I decided to head out and do something train related for the day. I wanted to visit the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, which we still haven't been to, but the steam trains do not link up at all with the trains from Ribblehead, and we would've spent much of the day hanging around Keighley station.

So, a trip to the National Railway Museum in York it was, especially as they are currently having the "Great Gathering" of all six surviving A4s. We drove up to Ribblehead and got the 10:15 train to Leeds. It was absolutely revolting out there - freezing cold and pouring with rain, I did wonder whether it would actually start snowing. Fortunately, the train ("William Wilberforce" - his favorite train on this line) was bang on time, but nearly full, so we had to share a set of four seats with a nice elderly couple who were on their way to London. Tom did a very good job of charming them and being generally entertaining, but most of the train emptied out at Skipton, as is usually the case, and we had most of the coach to ourselves for the rest of the journey. After about 15 minutes at Leeds, we caught a "blue train" up to York, which didn't exactly hurry along, but we got to York at around 12:30.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

We headed straight to the museum upon arrival, but my heart sank when we turned a corner and noticed an absolute sea of people outside the museum waiting to get in. One of the crowd marshals reckoned it would be a wait of about an hour, and suggested that we went somewhere for lunch and tried again later. So, we headed back to the station, where I discovered that despite being a large and busy station, the choices for food are limited and extremely disappointing. In the end, it was either Burger King or Pumpkin Café (which served very little other than Ginsters stuff). Anyway, I had a cheese and ham slice and Tom had sausage roll (both microwaved to about 10,000°C), which we at least managed to eat on the platform so that Tom could watch the trains going past. Luckily, the railway activity managed to distract him from the fact that the food was truly revolting. He managed about half his sausage roll, and I didn't have the heart to make him eat any more of it. Still, some Kettle Chips and a banana helped to cleanse our pallettes.

In any case, the marshal was dead right, and we only had to queue for about 15 minutes (under blue skies) to get in. As soon as we were in the Great Hall, Tom remembered exactly what was where, and made a beeline straight for the model railway that had so enchanted him last time we visited. In keeping with the event, all the trains on the model railway were also expresses pulled by A4s. In all, we made five trips into the model railway, but to be fair, he did wander around all the other exhibits too, and queued patiently for another 15 minutes or so to go into the cab of "Bittern", where he listened patiently and intently to an ex-A4 driver who regaled us with tales of driving those engines back in the day.

Model railway

All six of the locomotives looked absolutely immaculate, as if they'd been built yesterday, and there were predictably large crowds gathered around each one, especially men of a certain age (considerably older than me). We had tea and a bun mid afternoon so that we could rest our tired legs, and then had a wander round the rest of the exhibits, before spending a bit of money in the shop and heading back to York station.

Tom insisted that we take a Voyager, not a blue train, back to Leeds, so I obeyed orders and found us a Penzance-bound train that fitted the bill. After getting ourselves some sandwiches, snacks and drinks for dinner on the train back to Ribblehead, we hung around the station for a bit before getting on our train.

Mallard

We actually started dinner before the train left Leeds, mainly in the hope that he would be able to nod off and have at least a little nap before we arrived in Ribblehead. Fat chance. He was still really excited from all the day's activities, and wouldn't entertain the idea of sleep at all. Having said that, his behaviour was exceptionally good all day, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was very proud of him, he's definitely growing up and more able to deal with long days out without getting tired, grumpy and naughty. Roll on the next trip.

Half Term - Part 1

So I completely buggered up half term.  I took a couple of orders at the beginning of the year thinking that in October Tom would be at school and I would be able to do them easily.  I didn't think to look up when half term is?!!!  So, I had a 2 tier 20th anniversary cake to do and 60 wedding cupcakes - both for mid week delivery, meaning they had to be done during the week.  I also had my first Christmas delivery to make to the local bakery: 12 gingerbread houses, 12 walnut whip figures & 30 tiffins in various sizes.  Doesn't sound much - but it took me A LONG time to get them all ready - Huff!!!!!

Tom and Matthew at Greenlands

Monday - we had a family day.  It wasn't very nice, and we had arranged to meet with Lynne and Matthew (one of Tom's school mates) at Greenlands in the afternoon.  I iced and covered the two tiers for the anniversary cake first thing and then we headed out for lunch.  We ended up at Carnforth - had a look around the shops (great second hand bookshop there) and then went to the Brief Encounter tea room for lunch.  Tom as usual went straight to the Thomas room for a play.  However, there was another boy already playing in it.  Normally this would mean he would go silly and shy and refuse to play unless I was with him.  This didn't happen!  He went straight into the room and made friends with the little boy and then played with him.  Neither of us could believe our eyes!  We basically lost him and had to drag him out of the room so he could eat his lunch.

In the afternoon we went to Greenlands, I was half expecting Tom to be silly and shy again with Matthew as I haven't really seen him play with him outside of school, although he has had plenty of opportunity during the Summer swimming season and meeting at the park etc.  However, he happily went off with Matthew and his much older brother Tom (11) who did a sterling job playing with them both.  Matt, Lynne and I just sat and chatted - a whole new experience for me - there is normally some clinging and silly shyness for me to contend with when we go to these places.  We left almost at closing time with a happy and tired boy.