Tom's first picture of Mummy and Daddy

Here are Tom's first pictures of Mummy and Daddy which he did at nursery today.

Apparently it is really unusual for a young child to draw a neck - but he insisted.  If you are wondering the big round thing in Daddy's stomach is his belly button!  Do we really look like this?

Mummy and Daddy

We are on our way to Ingleton

At 7.30pm yesterday we got notification that we have exchanged contracts - yahooo.  So we are completing on Monday 11th Feb, and moving on 14th & 15th Feb, can't wait to live in a warm house again.

Oh and our favourite coffee shop in Ingleton has just taken on some of my new lines in chocolate treats.  Certainly won't make me rich, but I'm hoping the exposure will pay dividends. We will see...

Snow

Clapham Station

On Saturday we woke up to a winter wonderland.  After moaning about being the only part of the country without snow, finally we got ours.  It was a good 4 inches deep and very fluffy.  Unfortunately we had planned to go to the Railway Museum in York today as it was supposed to be a horrible grey day (how wrong could that be - it was glorious - deep blue sky).  We would have delayed it but Matt had arranged to meet up with a friend there to talk ITI stuff.  So away we went - the main road was OK, but when we hit the road to Clapham station it was deep in snow and the station car park was completely untouched.  I was very worried we wouldn't be able to get the car out again when we got back - this is a problem as Clapham Station is in the middle of nowhere.

We had checked the train was on time before we left.  However, it didn't turn up.  We called the signal box in Settle and they were surprised we hadn't seen it as they thought it had been and gone?!  It eventually turned up 25 minutes late.  The Guard on board asked us where we were going, when we told him he basically told us to give up as the train was going to get later and later.  We did.  We dug the car out and Matt did some nifty manoeuvring to get us out of the car park.  We then headed to Neptis for a coffee and chat before heading back home.  In all, I think we were all happy we didn't get the train, the snow looked far more fun.

Leia the snowman

First thing we did was build a snowman and through snowballs.  Tom enjoyed himself (we were wondering as he hasn't really enjoyed the snow in the past).  He named the snowman Leia (not sure why - he didn't look anything like her!) We then got the sledge out.  Last year he refused to go on it.  This year he was a little more receptive to it, but it still took him a couple of goes and some time watching Mummy and Daddy doing it to warm him up.  However, once he did it once, you couldn't keep him off it.  We started going down the track by the side of the house, not exactly steep but it acted as a good nursery slope.

Learning to sledge

We then went in for lunch.  Afterwards we decided to go into the field for better sledging.  Tom wouldn't go in to start with (he's a little scared of the sheep), so he climbed the gate and watched Matt and then watched me.  He was then ready to go into the field to watch from closer up.  Then he had a couple of goes with Daddy and then he was brave enough to do it himself.  He had a whale of a time, he LOVED it.  We took it in turns: Tom by himself, Tom with Daddy, Tom by himself, Tom with Mummy, Tom by himself with only sporadic chances for me or Matt to have a go by ourselves.  When we did he would run behind us.  He didn't just sit on the sledge, he learnt to steer it too - he looked quite the expert by the end of the afternoon.  He expended so much energy - we expected him to keel over at some stage and want to finish, but no, he just kept on going.  If it was up to him he would have spent all night out there as well.  We didn't have any food in for dinner (we were supposed to be eating out in York) so we headed out to Avanti for pizza for dinner.  A great day.

Quick video of Tom sledging:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx9p1lBTVqg

Can you believe it when we woke up on Sunday, all the snow had gone!  Leia was still around, but she had lost her head and was looking quite poorly.  The field in which we were sledging had turned back to a bog with a pond.  How disappointing.  And it was raining.

We racked our brains on what to do today.  This area is wonderful in good weather, but hard work in the rain, there is very little indoor entertainment.  In the end we decided to go to Hawes to the Wensleydale Creamery.  We had a really good time, it was only £2.50 for the 3 of us (special offer).  The museum was small but informative, there was a video room and Tom happily went in and watched it. A huge leap for him - normally he would whinge (at best) or cry (at worse) when faced with a cinema set up.  I think maybe he might soon be ready for an outing to the cinema which is good.

We learnt loads, the Creamery almost went under a number of times, finally being saved by a management buyout in 1992.  Best of all we got to watch the cheese being made which I found very interesting (I always find factory processes very interesting - even when I worked in one)  I could have stayed and watched for hours, but the boys were getting hungry.  We headed back to the main building where there was a Cheese Room.  This was a fantastic room - full of tasters.  There was no hard sell, so you could eat as many of the samples as you wished.  This was a good ploy, it meant we tasted all of them and then ended up purchasing £22 of goods (some of that was beer I hasten to add).  If they had done the hard sell, we probably would have got one at the most.  The shop was great as well - full of Wallace and Gromit merchandise which looked good as well as loads of locally made things.

We then went for lunch in the coffee shop - cheese on toast for me and sausage rolls for the boys???!!!! Next time I think we will try the restaurant - every type of cheese dish you can think of: macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, rarebit, cheese burgers, cheesecake, jacket potato and cheese etc etc.  Anyway a good outing.  We then headed home and watched Curious George - Tom's favourite film - he choose it when we were all ill and loves it, he will sit still and watch the whole thing through by himself, he giggles at the funny bits and cries at the sad bits, he certainly follows the story - another reason why we think he is ready for a trip to a cinema.

Oh Tom's counting has become really good recently - he counted up to 28 without error the other day and recognises numbers up to 50, although he gets the 30s a little mixed up at the moment.  One of his favourite places to practise is Asda - he shouts out every aisle number with glee - shame they only go up to 38!

Naughty Boy

Matt went to pick Tom up from nursery today.  He was told that Tom had spent some time on the naughty beanbag today.  He and Lily had got a cup of water and some playdoh, taken them to the toilets, locked themselves in a cubicle and dipped and licked the playdoh????????!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently Clare was at great pains to point out that Lily was the main protagonist, which makes sense as Tom would never have thought to do that by himself.  I couldn't keep a straight face when Matt told me about it (not great as Tom was in the room - but it was funny)  Anyway, he has promised me not to do it again - what a naughty boy!

Horrible colds

Fashion Victim or True Style?

We all came down with colds this weekend.  Tom had his mid week, I got it on Wednesday and Matt got it on Thursday.  It is unusual for all of us to be sick at the same time, but in a way it was quite good as none of us really wanted to do anything and we were all happy to mope around, huddle under the duvet in the lounge etc.  In fact Tom keeps telling me that he's tired all the time all the time now - this is because he wants to lie on the sofa with his duvet, not because he's tired!

Saturday Matt felt well enough to go to York for a translators do.  Tom and I were going to go as well and head to the train museum for a day out, but I felt terrible and knew I would not relish a 2 hour trip on the train and then time in the museum, so I decided not to go with him (sorry Tom!)

However, we still needed to get Matt there, so as we were having a lazy morning, I bundled Tom up in his pyjamas, dressing gown, cosy socks, slippers and hat and put him in the car to take Matt to Wennington Station.  It's a very cool outfit don't you think?  He thought it was a fantastic game.

I asked Tom what he wanted to do today and he requested a bike ride in Grange.  So we headed to Newby Bridge for lunch at Cafe Ambio (it's becoming a regular with us now) and then a circuit of Grange.  Being out in the cold helped me - I could breathe for the first time in ages.  Tom promptly fell asleep on the way home, so I then spent the next hour in the car on the drive waiting for him to wake up.  Then it wasn't long until we picked up Matt from Wennington.

Ruskin's View

Sunday, we all felt terrible.  Matt's eyes were very red and he looked terrible.  I looked better, but felt bad and certainly didn't have any motivation to do anything.  We decided we had to get out, so went to Kirkby Lonsdale.  We did our usual walk to Ruskin's View and then decided to carry on to see what else we could find.  It was a good walk in the end, took us through a little wood and took us to a field by a stream - perfect football / cricket grounds, definitely a place we could go with a picnic in the summer.

Tom and his sheep.

We then headed back to Kirkby and went to Emily's for lunch, then a quick stop in Booth's before heading home.  Once we had got back home, we were all feeling pretty rubbish,  Tom said he wanted to watch Totoro on the telly, we all thought it was a good idea, so we got out the duvet, mulled wine, crisps and soft toys and lazed on the sofa for the rest of the afternoon.  It must have done us good as we all felt a lot better on Monday when we woke up.

Sick Day

School again

Down by the river in Kirkby Lonsdale

So I took Tom to school again on Tuesday.  I warned him that I was going to settle him in and then leave him, arriving to pick him up again after lunch.  It worked, maybe too well!  As soon as he entered the classroom he said, "You can go now Mummy"  I had bearly sorted out his coat and book bag.  He told me again to leave, so I did.  I remembered afterwards that I forgot to do registration with him.  Oops.

I then hung out at Neptis doing some work and went to collect him at 12.  He was very happy, came zooming out and spent the rest of the day chatting about what he had done.  Something about painting a Polar Bear and then feeding it porridge.  Anyway he was very happy and buzzing with excitement even though he has come down with a cold.

We went into Kirkby Lonsdale afterwards for our usual river walk before coming home, it was such a beautiful day, snow on the hills and blue sky.

A walking weekend

Saturday we decided to go to Greenlands Farm as it is free in January.  It's a strange place Greenlands Farm.  The soft play barn there is great - well maintained, clean, okish food, reasonably friendly staff.  The farm shop is good and the cafe very good, but the actual farm is quite disappointing.  We went there in the Summer with my parents and thought it overpriced. Today it was only just worth a free entrance as there were very few animals, the play tractors were all broken, it was pretty disappointing, don't think we will go back until next January.  We were done in half an hour, so decided to head off somewhere for lunch and another activity.  We decided on Arnside which is on Morecambe Bay.  We were pleasantly surprised.  First stop was lunch which we found at the Rambler's Cafe - an extensive menu - you name it they had it, and very very good quality.  Tom had the biggest cheese scone any of us had ever seen.  Will certainly be back for more.  There were a couple of really good independent shops as well selling lots of unique items I've not seen else where, certainly a great place for future birthday presents.  Matt was also very happy as there was a viaduct here which takes trains across the bay to Grange-Over-Sands. We then discovered a walk along the shore, we walked about 1.5 miles away from the town and then turned round and walked back again.  It was a really nice walk, but not sure if it is there 24 hours a day, there was a lot of water and mud around giving us the feeling that at high tide walkers would have to dart up the cliffs to keep dry.  Anyway a good time was had by all and we will definitely be going back for a longer walk at some stage.

On the common

Sunday saw us in Ingleton again - doing another walk.  This time it was by the river, up onto a common, across the main road and then through some fields until we met the main Ingleborough path.  It was cold and muddy but Tom did really well.  He now says he 'loves walking' and I think he genuinely does.  He never whinges or complains and just keeps going.  He may say he needs a rest or a drink, but that is mainly because he likes sitting on benches more than because he is tired.  We ended up in Neptis as usual - had lunch during which we met someone who lived in The Smithy in Lupton in the 70's (she then moved to Clapham and lived next door to Alan Bennett) .  She was able to describe what The Workshop was like originally - basically the kitchen and dining room was the Smithy and the lounge a workshop - all very interesting and quite a coincidence.  I tell you everyone passes through Neptis at some stage.

First day at school

Ready for School

So today, we had another milestone, Tom had his first day in his new school.  I've had 3 hours free nursery education a week that I haven't been using for Tom since we got here, mainly because I haven't been busy with work and thought it mean to send him somewhere else when really there was no reason for him not to be at home with me - and anyway most days I enjoy his company.

However, with the move to Ingleton imminent, I thought it wise to enrol him in the pre-school there (attached to the Primary School) so he (and I) get some friends and get to know more people in the village.  So as of today he is a school boy in school uniform albeit only for 3 hours a week.  He looks so grown up doesn't he?

By all accounts he had a good day there.  I thought I was going to have trouble leaving him as he was clingy - I tried to get him involved in some activities but he was insistent on holding my hand whilst doing them.  Mrs Jefferies, the TA saw this and managed to draw him away from me with the promise of some trains, I then ran.  I felt a bit mean leaving him there by himself, however, he told me that he likes the teachers and he knows Fred from Smile, plus he's had two trial sessions so it's not as if it is completely alien. (Probably a case of me over worrying from all my first days as a new girl!)

Deciding it's a waste of time to go home and then come back I thought I would head into Settle as it is market day there.  However, it was also very grey and rainy so I didn't really enjoy it.  In fact I ended up speaking to Mum on the phone for an hour and then Rachel for half an hour.

I went to pick him up at 12.00.  I was put in the new girl position as all the mums were waiting outside and chatting away to each other whilst I hung around with a stupid grin on my face trying to look friendly.  I will always hate that feeling!  Anyway Tom came racing out and said he had a good day.  Mrs Colledge said he was fine all day and even sat still for storytime.  Tom said goodbye to Mrs Colledge by trying to kiss her - she managed to swerve to avoid it and gave him a friendly pat on the cheek instead!  Now that's one to embarrass him with later!!!!!!! (He's never done that at nursery!)

So a good day.  I haven't really got much out of him about what they did - one minute he said he played with 2 girls all day, then he said he played with Fred all day.  He definitely played with trains and cars and the story was The Three Bears.  Lunch apparently was Japanese sauce and potato - hummmm.  He finished off by saying he is now ready to go again when he is 4!  Well he'll nearly be four when he next goes...

First ride of the year

After an horrific week of rain, rain, rain and more rain (the poor sheep in the field next door have very little room to graze at the moment as there is a huge lake in it) we managed 2 dry weekend days.  I wouldn't say that they were beautiful clear days, but no rain equals good in our book.

Friday night we decided to go out for dinner.  We went to Whoop Hall which is on the A65 just outside of Kirkby Lonsdale.  We were disappointed (for the first time since we arrived here).  The food was OK, but nothing more than OK but the service was appalling.  I was curtly told off for not noticing the pie of the day was advertised on a blackboard around the corner from where I was sitting and then had an argument over whether anything served with the moules?  It was a polite question, 'Could you tell me if the moules comes with anything?' but the owner took offence and started shouting at me - I was stunned.  One good thing, when the moules arrived, I gave some to Tom and he ate them up and asked for more - I was so pleased, he preferred them over Matt's burger.  How many 3 year olds would try moules the first time they saw them and like them?  

Interesting light in Morecambe

On Saturday we went to Morecambe because I wanted to visit an appliance shop.  When we finally buy our house, we will need to buy a new oven as the current owners are taking theirs.  The whole in the kitchen is 90cm, so we will need a range cooker (yippeeee).  I haven't been able to find a shop locally with expertise in range cookers, but found there was one in Morecambe which is only open on Saturdays at the weekend, so I dragged the boys there.  Typical, they had just had a sale and most of their display cookers had just been sold off, meaning there were lots of holes in their display.  Not to fear I found a salesman who knew his stuff (wow) and grilled him.  I think I now know what I want.  Obviously I can't do anything about it until we exchange.  I also need to revisit the kitchen to check on colours etc.

Biker at the end of the Stone Jetty

Once I was out of questions we headed to the seafront and Tom got his bike out for a ride.  He did really well - and yes Granma he can ring his bell whilst riding with little problem.  He LOVED ringing it, at least people could hear him coming and get out of his way.  We took Matt to the Stone Jetty as he hasn't been there yet.  Unfortunately the cafe there was closed, but it was a nice walk (fast - trying to keep up with the boy) and very little wind.  We went to the pub in the old station for lunch - was a cheapo pub with average food but very good service and great architecture so would happily revisit.

Matt decided to leave us at this stage, wanting to stretch his legs and walk to Hest Bank.  Tom and I went back to the car and drove to Hest Bank and spent a good long while watching trains thundering through.  We then returned home for the afternoon and took all the Christmas decorations down.

Little walker

Little runner

Dales Scenery

Sunday Matt looked at the weather and decided it would be better to travel East so we headed to the Dales and Ingleton.  He had found a 2.5 mile walk in a book for us to do.  We have done it before, when Tom was in the rucksack but couldn't remember it that well.  It takes you across the rivers and up a hill across fields, back down again to Thornton-in-Lonsdale where there's a pub which has 365 whiskies.  The going was quite difficult - ie very soggy and muddy with the odd stream to traverse, and lots of sheep but Tom didn't whinge once, he was so good and a delight to have around.  He actually walked much further than Matt or me as he kept running between the two of us.  He was a little frightened of the sheep, but as long as he could hold a hand he was fine.  We were very proud.

We arrived at the pub, clogged in mud and found a welcoming pub.  Unfortunately it has changed owners twice since we last visited, so the whisky collection had gone - Matt was a little sad.  We had lunch whilst our boots dried out in front of the fire.  Unfortunately again the food was quite poor - £5.00 for a supermarket bread sandwich with poor quality filling, but the service was good.  We then continued on our way back to Ingleton.  Tom had a play in the playground and then we headed home.  We stopped off at Crunchy Harvest to see if the butcher would cut us some shabu shabu style belly pork - he did - yippee again. 

We thought Tom would nod off on the way home as he had exerted himself.  Although the guide book said the walk was 2.5 miles, Matt's iphone mapped the walk as 4 miles long which means Tom probably did about 4.5 miles with all his to-ing and fro-ing.  He didn't, he didn't even look vaguely tired.  We then had a lazy afternoon, and early dinner.

Tom the student

What's Tom Doing Now?

Tom's current quirks:

1) Hooks  - he is obsessed by hooks on cars at the moment.  He gets ridiculously excited when he sees one, and is always scanning the roads to find one.  You can imagine what he's like in a car park!  Living here we see plenty.  He has learnt to recognise Land Rovers now and knows when he sees one that there will be a hook. 

2) Eating slowly - this is a really annoying trait.  He has got himself into a rhythm of eating really really slowly.  He will chew and chew and chew and chew, swallow, sit back and do nothing until you tell him to take another mouthful.  This means that meal times can take forever.  We aren't sure how to stop him doing this.  We have sent him straight to bed when he has been really really bad, and no videos after dinner if he is bad.  I've asked him a number of times why he does it, but he can't give me a reason.  The thing is we know he can eat nicely as he ate very very well at Karen's.

3) I love you - he has started saying 'I love you' to me and Matt on a regular basis.  He knows we melt when he says it.  It is lovely to hear but at the back of my mind I'm wondering what he wants.

4) Train book at bedtime - Matt bought a ladybird book on trains in Sedburgh a couple of weeks ago.  It's a 1970's edition so not particularly in date, but Tom loves it.  He demands it every night before bed.  He really is a train nerd.

5) What you doing Mummy? - an infuriating question at times.  Tom loves asking me and Matt 'what you doing?' when it is plainly obvious what we are doing.  For example I'll be putting out the wet laundry - and I'll get 'What you doing Mummy?' to which I say 'What do you think I'm doing Tom?' and he'll say, putting out the washing.  Why does he say it then?  I don't mind the odd one, but some days he says it again, and again and again.

6) Wanting to write numbers and letters - as you can see from the photo above, Tom is beginning to look like a student.  He has shown interest in numbers and letters recently, so I bought him a wipe clean book with numbers, letters, vehicles etc in it, with lots of dots for him to join up to make the letters, draw the pictures etc.  He loves it and will quite happily sit himself down and practise.  He's got noticeably better in the week or so he's had it.

7) What's the time? - Tom's got really interested in the time recently and is always asking us what the time is.  He knows his o'clocks very well.  I've tried to teach him half past the hours but he hasn't got it yet - won't be long though.

8) Race you - for dressing / undressing  - I've known for a while now that Tom can dress / undress himself, but he is inherently lazy and always makes me help him.  I've recently discovered though that if I turn this activity into a game he will do it happily by himself.  So in the morning and at bath time I'll ask him if we should race to see who's the winner to get undressed..'Ready, steady, go......'  It works pretty much every time and before too long I have a grinning Tom in the room declaring himself the winner - he pretty much is always the winner as his clothes are all laid out for him whilst I have to find mine.  Anyway it works and saves me a job:0)

Manchester

Happy New Year everyone.  This year we celebrated it in style: for the first time in 4 years Matt wasn't ill so we actually stayed up to toast it in and then continued to stay up until 1.45 - that is almost a record for us - helped by Jooles Holland Hotenany and chatting to our friends Richard and Chananja in Holland via Facebook about Jooles Holland (they get BBC over their too - Adam and the Ants were on which is Richard's favourite band)

I then had the best sleep I've had in ages - woke up in the same position I fell asleep in which is always a good sign.  In fact I had such a good sleep that it took me a good while to get going. Plan for today was to go to Manchester to see Karen, Adam, Leia and Rosa.  (We haven't seen Karen and Adam together for roughly 2 years for one reason or another)  We were feeling very privileged as we are their first over night visitors to their new house.  They are living at the same address but have had a 2 story extension - it has made such a difference that it is pretty much unrecognisable and fabulous - I would have suffered from kitchen envy if it wasn't for the fact we are about to move to a house with a similar kitchen.

We decided that as we were visiting 'The Big City' we would take the opportunity to go shopping to buy things we can't get at home.  So, first stop was Wing Yip to do an Asian Shop.  We were quite successful including an electric table top stew pot so we can make Shabu Shabu - yahooooo.  There was also a toy shop which had a number of Totoros in it - so we bought one for Leia.

We then went for lunch at the on-site restaurant - 'The Glamorous'.  Dodgy sounding name, hey?  We walked - it was huge and full of Chinese - a good sign.  It was a busy place and we were a little lost for a while - there was a regular menu but also what looked like a bingo card on the table for which we couldn't work out its purpose.  Then ladies pushing trollies came up to us - they didn't speak very good English and carried menus with them which didn't really make much sense.  Someone came with some dim sum but we really didn't know what was going on so sent her on her way.  Then someone came with a trolley full of steamed buns.  We asked for some, the lady gave us a 'are you mad stare' but went to get them - we were mad as I think we ordered enough for a family of 10.  One portion was about 4 big buns, not one bun which is what we thought. Luckily the lady had a sense of humour and sorted us out.  We tucked into our buns and watched the activity around us and worked out what was going on.   The idea was to take a little of everything from each trolley - next time we will do so.  We did manage to get some gyoza though which was great.  A fantastic fooding experience - we will definitely be back.

Great fun on the Helter Skelter

We then headed towards Salford and the Komorowskis.  We stopped off at one retail park that had a huge Go Outdoors so we had an explore.  They had an indoor tent area which had about 100 tents pitched up.  Tom and I went to explore.  Tom went mad - running around, in and out of the tents.  He was so excited.  He always gets like that around tents.   We got a good idea of what we need, but decided not to do anything as we have to move house again yet and there really isn't any point in adding to the stuff we have to move.  We are planning to do some weekend camping this year - we are in such a beautiful area that it makes sense to explore it some more and we are keen for Tom to camp, it is a great gounding thing to do and also with him being an only child it gives him more opportunity to find and make friends whilst on holiday.

We finally got to Salford at around 2.15 and were greeted by Leia.  She and Tom were straight into friend mode and played together without needing us.  I felt like a loose end.  Tom took a particular liking to Leia's two vacuum cleaners and promptly vacuumed the whole house.  (Such a shame they don't actually such up the dirt).  One funny moment was when Leia got out an ironing board and iron and Tom asked her what it was.  Says a lot about me doesn't it!

Hugs

Around 4pm we headed out for a walk.  Adam and Karen took us to a city square with an ice rink and a helter skelter.  Leia really wanted to go on the helter skelter so Adam took her on it.  Tom didn't want to go on it, but after seeing Leia having fun he decided he did want a go, so off he went with Matt, and down he came with a huge grin.  He enjoyed it so much that when he went up for his second go, he tried to get on it by himself, Matt had to hold him back so that they went down together.  We then watched the skating and headed back to the house.  Karen made spag bol for dinner - Tom wolfed it down in seconds flat, asked for another portion - ate that and then had another portion.  What does Karen put in it?

Leia and Tom then had a bath together and went to bed, they were both spark out in minutes - it had been a busy and exciting day.

Sleep Over

We had a lazy morning, Leia, Tom and Rosa decided to have a sleep over in the lounge whilst we got ourselves ready.  Then we headed into Manchester.  Matt went off to do some electronics shopping whilst Rosa, Leia, Karen, Tom and I went to find Primark so I could get Tom some jumpers - he has suddenly grown out of all of his.  Get this size 3-4 was too small so I got him size 4-5 - that is the first time since he was 3 months that he has got ahead of himself in the clothing stakes.   We then walked in the Manchester drizzle to (Museum of Science and Industry) MOSI where we met Matt, had lunch (a fiasco - no food, staff not knowing what to do, ridiculous queues = let me at them!  I wonder if it is still BaxterStorey, if so their standards have got very low)

Tom and a train

We then had a play in the experiment area, before heading to the trains in the Powerhouse, where Matt and Tom did their stuff whilst Karen and I tried to make a bridge out of paper and straw for Leia (not great, but Leia was happy).  We then headed back to Karen's house and said our goodbyes and came home.  We were tired but happy - a good time was had by all.