Third week of the holidays

New car please

Saturday was a rainy day.  I was supposed to be providing the cricket tea for the cricket match.  I had made a banana cake, huge amount of flapjacks, sausage rolls and was about to start making sandwiches when it got rained off!  Oh hum, freezer is now full.  So, we had a day to fill.  We headed off west and ended up in Staveley at the rather lovely Hawkshead Brewery for lunch.  The rain was unrelenting so we decided that we would go into Kendal and see if we could find Tom a big boy bed (we've been promising him one for ages).  We found a bed shop so he tried out all the matresses and looked at all the beds and chose for himself what he wanted.  He has great taste as he went for exactly what I would have chosen.

Once the transaction was made, Matt and Tom went off for haircuts whilst I did a bit of shopping.  I quickly got bored, so joined them.  Then we headed to Costa for tea (coffee) and a bun before heading home.

Sunday was Car Fest.  This was held at Oulton Park near Chester, so we left quite early and got to the gates just as they opened.

Private Tom!

How's my position?

 We had a fab time. We saw a monster truck, the red barrows (very tongue in cheek), a couple of parades of cars.  I did some shopping (bought a skirt??!?!?!).  We had lunch in the big top watching a mini beast show (bumped into an old friend from Encounter Overland and her family so we were talking 10 to a dozen catching up).  There was an air show, lots of military vehicles to clamber on and over.  There were plenty car stands where Tom tried out various cars (he wants Matt to get an Aston Martin DBS next!) a motorbike stand where you got flung from side to side to understand some of what it is like to ride a race.  We had a go on the mini diggers (playing 10 pin bowling) and on the mini tanks (see here: http://youtu.be/0E5y2w4al_A).

Invading army

What a big head!

All in all it was a great day out, loads to do.  We didn't get round everything in the day we were there.  It was so well set up for children, that in a way it seemed it was more for them than us.  We had a dinner date in Manchester that evening, otherwise we would have stayed a little longer.  In the evening there were some big acts: Texas, Jools Holland and others I can't remember.  They provided some trailers with cushions for children, so if you wanted to see the acts, you could put your children to bed in the trailers and stay and watch them.  Great.  Something to remember for next time.

As I said we had a dinner date - with Karen, Adam, Leia and Rosa in Manchester.  Great dinner too - Adam makes a fab roast.  We had a lovely evening and the kids enjoyed themselves.  Sleep didn't happen for a while until Karen read them the riot act (you can see she is a teacher).  All went quiet and we were able to relax.

Rosa getting stuck in

On the beach

Monday was a gorgeous day - Karen suggested we go to St Anne's to the beach.  Her brother lives in St Anne's so we parked at his had tea and then headed to the beach.  It was perfect beach weather and the sand was perfect sandcastle making sand so the kids were happy.






We had a picnic, made some castles, destroyed some castles etc etc.  St Annes is a little like Weston Super Mare in that there is no sea (or you have to walk a long way to get to it)  As a consolation they have a great paddling pool on the sea front so we headed there, more to get the sand off them than anything else.

Sopping!

Building team

Concentration!

They had a great time.  Unfortunately we didn't have swimming costumes for them so they went in fully clothed and got drenched.  It was a joy to see them - pure enjoyment, the fun that hopefully gets etched on your brain as how good summer holidays used to be.   Luckily I had a spare pair of jeans and a jumper on me (you can never be too sure when you go to a beach in England) so he went commando and didn't freeze when he eventually came out.

We ended up coming home on Monday evening after dinner as Matt had been working on a particularly hard translation at their house during the day and needed to get back to his office with his equipment to get it finished.

Tuesday - sorry I can't remember what happened on Tuesday!

Wednesday was a grey, miserable day, raining, raining, raining.  I realised that this was our last proper free day before school starts so we went shopping for school shoes, uniform and pe kit.  (Ingleton Primary decided in their wisdom to have a pe kit next year).  It wasn't an amazing day, but it all got bought and now I don't need to worry about it.

Rory, Tom and Lewis

Thursday Neil & Sharon, Matt's friends from Dollar came to visit with their two sons Rory (8) and Lewis (6).  I haven't seen them since Rory was born, but Matt has at various reunions etc.  Rory and Lewis aren't the best of friends, meaning that Tom was Mr popular - a position he relished.  Matt took them out to do the Storr's Common Walk whilst I did some work on an anniversary cake I needed to deliver.  Then we had a bbq - and it was warm enough to eat it outside too which was ace.  Lewis and Rory slept with Tom in his room - a great idea, execpt they wouldn't settle, so Lewis (the chief trouble maker) was pulled out and all went quiet (Neil and Sharon are teachers, so have that tone of voice which works on Tom - maybe not Rory and Lewis).

Tom and Rory

Friday Tom had his swimming lesson so Matt took the others for the Ribblehead walk.  We caught up with them and then headed into Hawes for lunch.  We then went to the Dales life museum a little museum at the National Park Centre that we've not yet visited.  It was surprisingly good - there were eye spy nature sheets for the children to do and plenty of hands on exhibits to play with.  Not bad, especially as it was free for kids.  Before we knew it, it was almost closing time so we made our way home.  Tom, Rory and Lewis had a good time.  School has been great for Tom's confidence with other children, he made friends with Rory and Lewis in no time.  By the time they left, it was as if they had known each other for years.