Boys' weekend

Mummy was away on the lash this weekend, so it was lads’ time.
I asked Tom what he’d like to do on the Saturday, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he said he’d like to go on a train ride.

Box train!

This actually worked out quite well, as we had to take Nik to Lancaster for her jaunt to Birmingham anyway. So, we said cheerio to her on the platform and hopped on our (rather full) train to Manchester Piccadilly. It seemed to stop almost everywhere and take an age to get there, but Tom was happy enough trying to write down the names of all the trains we saw en route - Pendolinos, Voyagers, blue trains, purple trains, freight trains… Miss Swindlehurst seems to think that his writing is very good at the moment, and he’s certainly improving in terms of how he forms letters.

We spent half an hour or so at Piccadilly watching the many comings and goings on the railway, before heading into town for a spot on shopping or lunch - I asked if he needed to loo as we passed the station toilets, he said he didn’t, and then 2 minutes clutched his nether regions and said he was desperate - he keeps doing this, and it’s really annoying. Straight to the nearest eatery then - Caffe Nero as it happened, where he went straight upstairs to relieve himself and I bought us some food and drinks. We got window seats, where he could look down on the world, shouting out bus numbers and makes of car.

Footballing in sunny Barbondale

After lunch, I happened to notice there was an Ian Allan book shop nearby, so we popped in and got a couple of books that list all the numbers of diesel and electric trains in the UK and, more importantly, their names - William Wilberforce, Penny the Pendolino etc.

We then had a half-hearted wander round the Arndale Centre, but neither of us was really up for shopping - my fruitless search for a cricket hat in my size continued, but we did manage to get Tom a spare cricket ball, for when we finally do lose his first one in the field behind our house.

I had promised Tom a tram ride back to Piccadilly, which actually involved 2 rides, despite the very short distance. A bit more train-spotting, and then back to Lancaster on one of the new Scotland-bound electric trains, which hardly stop anywhere and glide along very smoothly indeed. A Chinese lady sitting near us took a real shine to Tom and gave us a big steamed dim sum bun to share, which he ate about four fifths of. The rest of the journey was spent finding the names of the Pendolinos we’d spotted in his new book - quite good reading practice.

The drive home from Lancaster was horrible. They’re digging up the roads, and it took us 45 minutes to get from the station to the M6 junction on Caton Road. This meant Tom didn’t nod off, which I was hoping he would, but to his credit, he announced that he would have an early night instead - no argument from me.

Dinner was the pack of “Tom’s Ramen” that would brought all the way back from Yokohama in June. Very nice it was too. He did keep his word and went to bed fairly early. I can’t remember what I did that evening, but it probably involved TV and whisky.

Crossing Barbon Beck

Sunday morning dawned absolutely beautiful, so I decided that we would do something outdoorsy. I suggested Barbon, and Tom went for it straightaway. We took a football and his beach tennis set, and enjoyed mucking about in complete isolation. I always enjoy going there, especially in such perfect weather, as I always loved playing there when I was a kid. It’s been very dry recently, and Barbon beck was so low, we could actually walk across it to the other side. Needless to say we enjoyed throwing stones into the water. As always, I was ordered to find the biggest rocks I could and hurl them in to make a big splash, but with the stream being so dry, it was a bit disappointing.

Back home for a spot of lunch, before we had to head out for Adam’s party in Bentham. This was the most nerve-wracking part of the weekend for me, as I was charged with transporting Adam’s Lily Pad Bakery cake to the event. No incidents en route though, and everyone was impressed by the creation (a Canadian Pacific spiral tunnel freight train cake!), so a big sigh of relief all round.
As is becoming increasingly common in these parts, the party was organised by Enjoy-a-Ball Paul, who did Tom's party in February. His presence is always a guarantee of a good time, and today was no exception.

After the party, we had to head straight off to meet Mummy. The thought of enduring Lancaster’s traffic jams again was a bit too much to bear, so Nik was ordered to get a connecting train to Carnforth, which she managed (just). We had a joyful reunion in the car park, before heading home, stopping only at a nice Thwaites pub in Hornby for a good dinner.

All in all, a nice boys’ weekend. We both behaved well, I thought.

Star of the Week

Star of the Week

So Tom came out of school beaming on Friday.  He got 'Star of the Week', something else he never managed in Reception.  On the back of his certificate it said that he got it for "Amazing effort in all areas and super writing".  We didn't see that coming and are very happy.

3 Peaks are conquered

Grubby fingers

So, last week we were back to the usual routine.  Tom at school Monday to Friday, and Matt and I working - I had to get into the swing of a daily work routine again after quite a long time off.  Tom is also doing football on a Tuesday after school (this term with Finn and Matthew and Isabella which is great - he didn't have any friends last term) and swimming on a Wednesday after school.

So we are all quite busy.  Tom is getting used to doing more work at school, he is certainly coming back with more info about 'working', especially maths - I can't remember him ever saying that he did maths in Reception.

Typical that the weather cheered up as soon as he went back to school, and typical that both Matt and I are busy at work, meaning we can't enjoy it!  Sod's law of course!

Sleeping!

The weekend started with a bang, we met up with Rachael, Graham and Isabella at The Game Cock for tea.  Tom and Isabella had a ball.  After dinner (they shared a pizza over candlelight) they headed out to the beer garden and ran and ran and ran (well when they weren't stamping imaginary ghosts into the ground, or sleeping together on a bench etc etc)  We of course had a wonderful time watching them play, and stayed until it got too cold to stay out any longer.  A very good evening, just what Tom needed (he came home on Thursday with cuts and grazes on his hip, chest, arm and head after having been knocked flying in the playground and was sad all afternoon).  We call came home happy.

The Blea Moor Troll

Saturday was a nice day so we decided to climb Whernside (the highest mountain in Yorkshire) and the last of the 3 peaks for Tom to climb.  Unfortunately there were a lot of 3 Peakers on the mountain, making it a little congested, but this didn't seem to bother Tom.  In fact I think he bothered more people being so small and happily walking up the trail without missing a breath, while they were struggling and complaining!  Typical quote from the day, "Mummy, why are you making that noise?!" I try to catch my breath to tell him I can't breathe!

Tasty gold medal

The trail to Whernside is full of interest: the beginning of it is parallel to the Settle and Carlisle railway, then there is a troll bridge and an aqueduct to walk across, and then it is a gentle uphill walk up past a waterfall and a lake to the top of the mountain.  It is just over 4 miles to the top so a decent walk.  We had plenty of rests and got there in good time to have a picnic and Tom was chuffed to make it to the top and be called '3 Peaks Tom'!

The highest boy in Yorkshire

We headed back down the same way.  Tom once again didn't seem to realise he was doing any exercise and chatted the whole way down.  When we got to the aqueduct we bumped into one of his class mates, Lucy, her Dad and her little sister Katie who were just finishing a picnic.

Ministry of Silly Walks

They headed back to the road with us.  This was perfect, Tom might have slowed down and got whiny during this part, but he now had two girls to impress.  So what did he do...he ran the remaining 2 miles back to the car, not even in a straight line as he an Lucy were playing hide and seek with Katie!  All 3 did really well, so well that we all headed to the pub for a well deserved drink before saying our goodbyes.  We didn't really know Lucy until today, she is a real sweetie, her sister too.  I'm yet to come across a child I don't like in Tom's class, they all seem really lovely children.


Sunday Tom was pretty zonked from his exertions yesterday.  We were going to go for a lap around the Dales in the car, taking in places we haven't yet been, but just as we were getting ready, we heard from Jude that she and Craig were in the area and would we like to meet up.  We did, so we quickly packed up and headed to Ambleside where we met them (they had been to a wedding in Hawkshead).  We went for tea and a bun and then a little bit of shopping.  Tom wasn't exactly the life and soul of the party, but wasn't grumpy, just wasn't his usual lively self.

Prize Winners

Saturday we headed into Carnforth to meet up with a friend from Telford who is cycling from John O Groats to Lands End.  The route goes straight through Carnforth, he had been going for 5 days when we met up with him, we were the first people he met.  We took him to a pub for a pint and a lunch (a bowl of chips) before waving him back on his way.

We then headed into Lancaster for a look around some car dealers (we are thinking about changing cars in the next year or so) and ended up at Hest Bank watching trains (of course!)

Blackberrying

Splashing around

Sunday was a lovely day so we decided to head to Austwick to go blackberrying.  We thought we would head to Crummackdale for an explore.  This is a really lovely walk, before too long you are immersed in typical Dales scenery - so so scenic, and we had the place more or less to ourselves.  We stopped off at a stream and bridge for lunch and a paddle (it was very very cold and I was bullied to go in!).  We then came across some brambles and the blackberrying began.  We did really well, I think because it was a good 2 miles to the nearest road, meaning that the bushes hadn't been raided.  In about an hour we had collected over 6 pounds.

Crummackdale

We then headed back home because we had to get to the Ingleton Horticultural Show.  Yes this year we had decided to enter a number of classes to see if we could penetrate the Ingleton mafia.  Matt entered the photography classes and a jam class.  Tom entered the lego model class and I entered the quiche and scone classes.

We headed straight to the children's room and found that Tom's lego model had won 3rd prize.  Pretty good considering there were quite a few models and the ones that came 1st and 2nd were obviously kits whilst Tom's very much wasn't - he made a Ghibli style fantasy plane which I thought was ace.

Tom and his plane

We then went into the home baking room.  I failed!!!  Not even a mention.  I think maybe I went too off piste with my quiche as it was goats' cheese, red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes and caramelised onions and ALL the others were bacon.  There were other cheese scones though and mine didn't get anything.  Oh hum, we enjoyed cheese scones for lunch and breakfast and Tom and I enjoyed my quiche (which I thought was rather good) for tea.  Matt had entered some jam - his being the best of our jam made so far this year - but that didn't get placed either.  The winning jam was raspberry but it was a bright bright scarlet red not the deep claret red of Matt's.  However, Matt managed to get a 3rd place in the photography competition - quite something as the same two names came up again and again as the winners, so he has managed to break through there.  Matt has declared that he will make a loaf of bread for the competition next year.  We will get Tom to enter a couple more classes as well (especially a 'home baked goodie by the under 9s' as that only had one entry this year!)

Anyway I had two happy boys one of whom was extremely proud walking around with his rosette.  Well done boys x

Back to School

School boy

Wednesday Tom was back to school, with his new teacher - Miss Swindlehirst in his new classroom.  He was very happy to go.  We took him to his classroom, he found his tray, put his book bag in it and shot straight out to the playground.  Nearly all the other children and parents stayed to look around the classroom. I guess that's Tom though, far more interested in the outside than the inside.

He came out happy at the end of the day and the teacher didn't look too traumatised!

On Thursday AND Friday he came home with a sticker - wow that already means that he has done better this year than last year!  The sticker on Thursday was for spelling London correctly when writing about his holidays.  The sticker on Friday was for walking into the room quietly.  Long may this continue!

Last few days

Friday morning was the last session at Ingleton Swimming Pool.  It wasn't a lesson, just a play in the pool.  I went in with him and was surprised that I was one of the few mums that went in, all the others were watching - a little strange considering most of the children can't swim!  It was grey and rainy so it was actually warmer in the pool than out of it and I was a little upset when we had to get out.

The afternoon wasn't that interesting.  Tom was tired (we didn't get back until 9pm last night) so he stayed in and watched a film whilst I went out to Settle to get in some provisions.

Saturday was another nothing day.  In the morning Matt and Caroline made plans to meet in the park, but they were at crossed wires and were talking about different parks, and anyway it rained.  Matt played cricket in the afternoon.  We tried to meet up with Caroline and co in the afternoon, but we promised Matt we would watch him bat and by the time he did so we had missed our opportunity.  Oh well, never mind.  We had macaroni cheese and then early to bed for Tom.

Pirate Tom

Tom on a pony

Sunday, I was feeling rubbish - a combination of a stomach upset and a cold.  Matt confined me to home - worrying that I would infect the whole village with my cold.  As a result he and Tom went out  for the fun day for the Splash Park (the people who run the pool are hoping to install a splash park next door to it but it will cost quite a bit so they are fundraising).  They swam in the pool (first time Matt has been in it), then Tom had his face painted, rode on a pony, had a go on the bouncy castle and they both enjoyed hamburgers from the local butchers.  I meanwhile worked on a wedding cake for next week.

In the evening Matt and Tom went to Jack's party (he share's Mum's birthday) - a disco for 7 year olds.  He was one of the youngest there, but was fine, he knew everyone from school.

Adam and Tom (Tom dressed himself!)

Monday we meet up with Adam and Eli to do the Oxenber Wood Walk.  It was good fun, Tom and Adam get on well and although Adam had a little wobble on the way up to the top, they both completed the walk quite happily.

At the end of the walk is a stream and bridge and mud!  Both boys paddled.  Adam had a great time, going completely naked and literally wallowing in the muddy puddles.  Eli and I had a great time laughing at him - he was completely coated at one point.  I'm not sure we will ever get Tom to that stage where he will happily get as muddy as possible, it was great to  watch.

Exploring in the woods (Harry, Tom, Charlie and Florence)

Down on the beach

Tom and Florence

Big stone

Tuesday we met up with Alice, Pete, Charlie & Harry, Caroline Fred & Frank and Ruth, Florence, Blaise and Hugo for a last day out before school.  We headed to Bolton Abbey for a walk up to The Strid and then down to the river for a picnic and then a play in the river.  Once again the river bit was the most fun - all children stripping down and getting wet and mucky.

Once the kids had become blue from the cold water we all headed to the ice cream farm nearby for an ice cream and a play.  Tom, not being interested in ice cream shot straight off to the play area - we didn't see him until we went home.  He was content playing by himself.  Meant we had a lovely relaxing time.  He was zonked by the time we went home.  Nice and ready for school!

6th Week of the Holidays

It's a nice harbour - but where are the trains?

Saturday we decided to head to Bekonscott Model Village in Bucks.  This is a model village set in the 1930s.  It has everything, a game of cricket, a circus, a fayre, a farm, village centre, a house that keeps catching on fire, a harbour, a cable car, factory, quarry etc etc etc.  However, best of all - there was a model railway going round it.  It didn't matter how much we pointed out the detail, the only thing that interested Tom was the railway, he ran around with it and squealed whenever he saw it.

That's better - more trains

Tom did really enjoy it.  He happily trotted around the village for a circuit and then we sat down and had our picnic lunch in the sun before going around again.  Once again Tom only had eyes for the trains.  Once we had walked around again he got a go on the ride on railway - a short layout, but he was happy.  He went on once with Grandpa and then again with Matt.

As we were weren't far from Rusilip and we had plenty of time we decided to head over to see if it had changed much.  It hadn't changed much, the Wimpy surprisingly was still there, there was a Nero and and Costa which were new, the old greasy spoon had gone, the old fashioned department store was still there (we never understood how that survived in our day let alone now).  We showed Tom our old flat, he wasn't really interested, I'm not sure he can fathom out what we mean when we tell him about our life before Tom!  We found it interesting none-the-less.

There's a giant in the village!

Guess what - a trip on a train!

We both decided we were very happy to not be living in Ruislip very much although were surprised at how reasonable the house prices were.

Down a long slide

Sunday all 5 of us headed to Battersea Park for the day.  This is something that Pat and Bob had found out about quite by accident.  It is a huge park with an adventure play area and a boating lake.  On arrival we headed to the adventure play area - where Tom had a good play on the various pieces of equipment.

Next we played tennis.  Bob and Pat had bought a tennis set and Tom was desperate to play with it.  He was very very keen, but not particularly good.  His closed eye pout came into play again - great for photos but rubbish when it comes to actually hitting the ball!

Bum in the air balancing

He got us all off our feet though.  We were all made to play tennis and then I remembered French Cricket.  This is something we used to play in the close in Chipping Sodbury.  The rules didn't come back immediately, but as we played they did.  The hardest thing was trying to get Tom to stay still and not move (not easy when you are programmed to be in perpetual motion!)    

Hitting the ball!

We were beginning to get a little hungry so we headed over to the other side of the park and the cafe by the boating lake. By now the sun was out so we were able to sit outside and enjoy our food (pasta for the boy and paninis for us).  Tom was very excited by the boats, so was promised a ride if he ate a good lunch.  He did so he and Matt (I nominated Matt!) went for a paddle on the peddalo.  Tom really enjoyed himself, he was blowing his whistle for most of it and even did some pedalling whilst Matt sat back and enjoyed the sunshine. 

We then had an ice-cream each and headed back to the adventure play area for a quick run around before heading home.  It was a lovely day, enjoyed by everyone.

Not hitting the ball!

In the pedallo

Monday was a really nasty grey and rainy day.  A perfect day for being inside.  It was Bank Holiday, but we decided that we would brave the Natural History Museum.  We had to go as they had a special

2 boys and a mammoth

Mini boy with mini mammoth

exhibition about Mammoths on.  We had to pay for this, and got special timed tickets.  These turned out to be a real god send as it meant we could walk straight past the huge queues and into the museum.

Uncle Syd????

We enjoyed the mammoth exhibition (of course!), don't think we learnt anything new, but we enjoyed seeing all the models and Lyuba, the frozen baby mammoth.  We stayed a while trying to read everything (quite difficult with an excited 5 year old) and then headed into the museum proper.  First stop was tea and a bun (quite nice but very very very expensive).

Boy and a blue whale

We then went to see the Blue Whale and all the big animals in the huge gallery there.  I think Tom enjoyed this - he was able to engage more and understand and learn more than he has before.  I still wonder how much he takes in and remembers though.

Rolling tongues

Next stop was the mini beasts (he's been doing mini beasts at school so we thought he would enjoy this).  He took it in his stride, but I don't think he learnt anything new.  By now the crowds at the museum were just horrible.  Neither Matt nor I enjoy crowds and they were too busy for us so we decided to head on our way.  Tom requested a go on the escalator through the world before we left, so we did that and then we headed back through the crowds to the nasty, grey outdoors.

We walked back to South Kensington and found ourselves lunch in Wasabi - a Japanese fast food place I've only ever seen in London.  We bought a big selection box of sushi thinking it would be enough for us all - but a certain little boy got overexcited seeing Japanese food and ate more than his share.  Matt had to go back to get some more!!!

Me in a skirt!

We then headed back to Pat and Bob's.  Tom needed an afternoon nap as he was down on sleep and as we all know he can't cope without his sleep. Also he had an important evening as he was going for fish and chips with his grandparents whilst we were going out for curry in the West End to celebrate our forth-coming 10th Wedding Anniversary.  So a relaxing afternoon was had by all and then I was made to put on a skirt and headed out into town.  We went to Covent Garden initially for a look around but it was so wet and miserable that we spent all our time in pubs before heading to the restaurant for a very pleasant evening eating curry.  I managed to order the very biggest starter I have ever seen, but apart from that it was trouble free and very lovely to spend the evening with my hubby.

Eurostar

Tuesday was another grey and miserable day.  Matt, Tom, Bob and then Pat went to Stratford to shop and spot trains and I headed to Oxford Street to go shopping at Pepperbery.  As you can see from the photo, the boys saw the Eurostar.  I had an interesting time where my bank card suddenly stopped working so had to go to a bank and get a cash advance.  It all got sorted out and I managed to get the shopping I wanted.

I even managed to meet up with Matt, Tom and Bob at Liverpool Street and went for a couple of bus rides before heading home.

Wednesday was a better day.  We decided to have a day out to ourselves and spent the day riding around on the new Routemaster buses in the crammed streets (our idea of a traffic jam is more than one car trying to get onto the A65!).  First stop was Covent Garden where Tom and I watched a mediocre street performer whilst Matt went browsing around the shops - he's been after a pair of Dr Martens for a while (he tried them on and found them to be quite uncomfortable!) and of course there is a big Apple Store there.

Me and Tom on the wobbly bridge

St Paul's

We then had lunch at TGI Friday's (not what would be my first choice, but our first choice (a pub in Covent Garden) didn't allow under 18s in.  Only the second time in Tom's life we have come across a pub which doesn't allow children in.  

Me and Katherine

After a surprisingly pleasant lunch we got on another Routemaster bus to St Paul's and then crossed the wobbly bridge to the South Bank for a pleasant stroll along the river back to Waterloo.  Then back home - another nap for Tom and a relax for us.  I then went out that evening, back to St Paul's to meet up with Katherine, an old friend from Wokingham who just happens to be the best friend of the girl friend of one of Matt's old university friends (it is a small world).  It was an interesting night, catching up on years and years of life since we were 16 and also talking about people we both know quite by chance.  We had a great night, and I think we will be seeing more of each other in the future.

Eye on the ball..

or not!

Thursday we came home.  As it was a nice morning, we spent the morning in Richmond Park, playing tennis and plane spotting - the planes are very very low over Richmond.  

We discovered a new favourite pastime in London this visit.  As Pat and Bob's house lies on the flight path to Heathrow you can quite easily spot the planes.  With the help of an ipad app which will tell you what the plane is, where it has come from, model name and number etc, you can keep a small boy employed.  Given a choice of reading a story book or reading the city a plane has come from, it is the second.  Tom's reading of foreign place names got better and better as the week went on.  I even got out a map out to show him where all these places were.  Oh the fun.  In fact even once home we can carry on as we can open the app up, and pretend we are still at Grannie and Grandpa's house and carry on spotting planes - although it isn't as much fun when you can't actually see the planes.

Catching with Grandpa

Plane spotting

We had fish and chips in Richmond before heading back to Mortlake, to pick up our bags and head to the new Kings Cross where we met with Pat before boarding our train back home.  We met a nice family on the train on the way home with two girls: 6 and 4, they and Tom made friends and the journey flew, before we knew it we were back in Yorkshire.

It was a pleasant trip to London, just a shame the weather was so bad.  I think next time we go we will plan a bit better what to do.