Very quiet weekend

So Tom finished school on Friday and came back with lots of art work from school and a cough and plenty of snot.  Great timing Tom!

He wasn't too good on Saturday, and the weather was abysmal.  We asked him what he wanted to do and he said a train ride.  We headed to Carnforth and got the train into Lancaster as Matt was wanting to visit Atkinsons (a very old and lovely coffee shop where they do their own roasting in house so it has a very powerful aroma) we went along, it was full to bursting with people but Matt got his coffee.  We then decided to go to their cafe for lunch, but they didn't do lunch items, just cakes so we crossed the road and went to another cafe instead.  The cakes did look very good though, so we should return one afternoon when we are in need of tea and a bun.

Tom faded in the cafe and said he was very tired and wanted to go to bed, so we got the next train back to Carnforth and drove straight home.  He didn't fall asleep in the car so he went upstairs for a nap.  He didn't fall asleep then either, but had a good hour's rest and then came downstairs to watch some telly before we all put on our Sunday best and headed to Kirkby Lonsdale for Matt Young Translations Ltd Christmas Party.  We had booked seats at The Orange Tree where we had been recommended the steaks.  It looks quite plush outside so we were expecting it to be posh, but it turned out to be a rugby pub, not a problem, we had steak each and it was good (not as good as Miller & Carter) but good.  Tom had chicken nuggets but didn't eat huge amounts.

Sunday was another grey and miserable day.  Tom looked a bit better, but we didn't want to do too much.  We needed to do something inside that didn't involve any town centres.  I suddenly thought of Barton Grange Garden Centre - a place I've heard recommended in the playground and on Facebook. It was worth a try.

Tom and some dancing snowmen

We went the back way via Slaidburn in the Forest of Bowland - oops, bit of a mistake took us way longer than expected a good 1.5 hours.  We got there - wow!  It is massive.  This is a destination Garden Centre, but bigger and better than any other one I've ever been to.  It has a separate cook shop (full of great little gadgets I haven't seen anywhere else), a separate farm shop with the most amazing butchers and cake department, a restaurant and a cafe (where we had lunch - huge with good variety and good quality food), a hall full of Christmas lights, loads of Christmas displays as well as the usual garden centre stuff.  We were all really impressed.

They are proposing an extension to the area as well, with a leisure centre for the over 40's including indoor crazy golf, outdoor crazy golf and get this - a curling rink!  They seem to do everything with quality in mind, so it will be interesting to see if it is built (we are their target market after all!)  Anyway, we think this is a place both sets of Grandparents would like to visit next time they are up - so please remind us.

More amazing urinals

Amazing urinals

Matt and Tom went to the loo and came back very excited.  The urinals were flowers!  Don't they look great?  The ladies was very dull in comparison.  Anyway, we managed to spend quite a bit of money, but we all had a good time and it wasn't too full so no crowd rage.  It was the perfect thing to do on such a miserable day.  We came home the fast way (only 45 mins) and then Tom had fun making a den in the kitchen and making a paper chain before watching a CBeebies panto on the telly. Another quiet day, hopefully Tom is better tomorrow - don't want him giving his grandparents the lurgy.

Nativity

Nosh in our local

On Monday Grannie and Grandpa arrived ready to see Tom in his nativity play on Tuesday.  They came up by train and were here early enough to pick him up from school - they were greeted by a very excited Tom.I didn't go to Boxercise tonight as we decided to go out for dinner, however, as it was a school night and Tom was having a big day tomorrow we stayed local and went to the Wheatsheaf.  Tom and his grandparents had a great time being silly.  Tom somehow managed to get quite a big share of Grandpa's chips - and ate them all!!!

Angellic cow?

The full cast

Tuesday was the big day.  He had two shows - one at 2.30 and another at 6.00.  We went to both as did Grandpa.  Grannie only managed the early show.  It was very very sweet, full of jokes and all told and sang in 'Northern'.  It starred two classes - Tom's and the class above.  The class above had all the talking bits and Tom's class had dancing roles.  Tom was a cow.  Luckily I had managed to get hold of a cow onesie so Tom was looking good.  This year, unlike last year he knew all the words to all the songs, but he still didn't really add any volume to the show.  He did know his dance though and concentrated during most of the half hour show.

A cat, a cow and a sheep with Mary

It was great, I really enjoyed it as did everyone else.  I wish a video could be taken of it, as it is something I would love to watch again and again especially when I'm in need of light relief or something uplifting.  Oh hum, I will have to remember it as well as I can.

Christmas Weekend

Tom and Isabella

On Friday we had planned a Friday night at the Game Cock with the Shults and Bickerstaffs.  Unfortunately Jack came out in a rash, meaning the Bickerstaffs couldn't make it.  Boo!  Oh hum, we still went and we had a great time.  Tom and Isabella gave us inpromptu performances of their Christmas plays - it was very cute.

Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MukB8dcwm2M&spfreload=10

On Saturday, Matt headed off to Leeds for the day to meet up with some translator friends for Christmas dinner.  He offered for us to come with him and then look round the shops etc whilst he was having his dinner, but I figured shopping in Leeds prior to Christmas would he horrible so opted to stay in Ingleton.  (Good choice, Matt lasted all of 5 minutes in the shops and said it was horrible!). Tom and I had a very very lazy day, starting with a very lazy morning in bed, reading books and playing with soft toys.  I think we finally got up around 9.30, had breakfast and then slobbed around until we finally got dressed just before lunchtime.  Haven't done that for a very long while and it was wonderful.

Monster Dinner

We left the house in search of lunch and decided to go to the Falls Cafe - somewhere we never normally go.  We had the place to ourselves at the start, so I had a good chat with Sharon before ordering.  Tom went for a sausage sandwich with extra mushrooms (we were having a mushroom heavy day as Daddy was away) whilst I had my usual jacket with beans and cheese.  We then had a walk around the village, buying more mushrooms at the co-op for tea before retuning home to watch Aladdin ready for tomorrow.  Tom did quite well for him, managing to sit still for most of it, although he did cry during the scary bit - bless him.

Sunday we had a lazy morning and then headed into Lancaster for lunch in a pub.  Very nice it was too.  Tom had a child's roast dinner - it was almost as big as him, and he still managed to eat most of it - just leaving a couple of sprouts and half a roast potato.  We then headed to The Grand Theatre for PANTO.  What did we see - why Aladdin of course!  It was quite an amateur production, but that didn't really matter, all the good things were there: girl playing lead boy, man playing lead woman, a good villain, hiss hiss, boo, boo, comedy policemen etc etc.  We went Fred and his family, Finn and his, Matthew and his and Charlie and his so it was a good group outing and they all had fun (although they ended up on their Mother's knees at some point)  Not bad for £8 a ticket.  Think we will be back next year.

Super Tubing

On Wednesday Tom missed his last swimming lesson so that he could celebrate Finn's birthday.  Kate had arranged a tubing party for them all at Kendal ski slope.  We weren't that sure how it would go as it was 'something new' to do and all our boys seem to be adverse to doing new things at times.  We hoped that Tom's enjoyment of the water slides at the Landmark Park in Scotland would set him in good stead for it.

Tubing

Heading down the slope

We wrapped them all up warm and then they had a briefing on safety (yeah, right as if they were listening!!!!).  Basically they were all given an inner tyre on a lead, dragged it half way up the ski slope, stepped in and slid down.  It looked great fun, everyone had a first go, got to the bottom smiling and then ran back up to do it again, and again, and again.  It was obviously great, there were lots of smiling faces all round, even when children accidentally slammed into each other.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5H5JWt8mbE

and again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzd2iZZiiro

They even came down in twos, had a go on the bumps.  None of them showed any sign of tiredness even though it was straight after school.  At the end there were sad faces, the adults saw their chance though and grabbed the tubes, ran up the slope and had a go - it was fun.  

Meeting Father Christmas in the Caves

On Saturday we got up earlier than a school day - ouch!  Why?  Because it was the annual pilgrimage to see Father Christmas at Ingleborough caves.  It is a big day out - I think our party was over 30 strong.  Because the group was so big, and it is a mile's walk to the caves, we set off early - at 9.30 to walk up the nature trail to the cave.  It took an hour (quicker than last year - but then everyone's a year older aren't they?!)  We had to wait a while as the caves didn't open until 11am but we were the first to arrive so definitely the first group in.

Tom and Fred

Because the children were all a year older they were quieter, which meant that we got to hear the story of the goblins, elves and Father Christmas in the caves.  The caves are decorated out with loads of lights and candles and Christmas decorations.  We were met by an elf who started the story off, and then transferred to another elf who continued the story etc etc.  At the end we met Father Christmas who saw the group together and then asked everyone what they wanted.

Tom was very animated with Father Christmas, answering all his questions whilst the others were very quiet and in awe.  Father Christmas said that he would like a small helping of Glenfiddich.  Tom of course piped up - "That's OK, my Mummy and Daddy can take me to Scotland so I can get you some".  Have we educated him well?   He was the only child in the room who knew what Glenfiddich was!  Last year Tom fluffed his line when asked what he wanted for Christmas (mainly because he couldn't hear properly then) this year his arm was up in the air and he put forward his list very confidently.

Tom, Sierra and Blaise

He then got to go to the present table to choose something.  They don't wrap presents here, they just have a table with a myriad of gifts on for the children to choose.  All very well, but if you are first up, the choice is almost too much to cope with.  It took Tom ages to choose, but in the end he settled on a big plastic fire engine, having refused the Lego and Meccano I pointed out to him (oh hum, what do I know?!)

We then walked back through the caves to the entrance.  Matt and I then left Tom in the company of the gang whilst we power walked back to the car as the group were descending on us for mulled wine and hot dogs.  So we rushed home and got the stove on for lunch.  We were almost ready when everyone turned up.  It was mega busy (I think we had about 24 back as some had other engagements).  However, it was a warm, friendly atmosphere and NO tears from any of the children.  The food and drink went down well.  After the house being turned into an absolute bomb, everyone left, we tidied up and then collapsed on the sofas in front of the telly (too much mulled wine!).

Next time: get disposable glasses in from Wilkos for mulled wine - they are sturdy enough, 2 sausages per adult, one per child, crisps and dips and 1 mince pie per adult (Tom was the only child who would eat one!).

Eating crisps - serious business

Sunday, we had a quieter day.  It was Harrison's birthday party at 12, so we vegged out beforehand, in fact Tom didn't get out of his pyjamas until past 11am - what a slob!!!!!  Harrison's party was fancy dress - Tom went as a spaceman - his outfit just about still fits him.  Harrison was a rather splendid looking Agnetha - complete with blonde wig and blue flares.  Apparently he loves Mamma Mia and thinks Agnetha is the best.  For his birthday he wanted an Agnetha costume and a party.  They had to look pretty far and wide to find something, but they did well - he certainly made a great Agnetha.  It wasn't the usual crowd for the party as Harrison only moved to Ingleton school this year and his mum has been doing some child minding, meaning that most of his friends are pre-school age.  However, Tom made himself immediately at home.  It was obvious that we weren't needed, and as we didn't have the usual mums to chat to we decided to go to the pub (just round the corner).  Very handy as we didn't have lunch sorted for us, so we sat in front of the fire and had mulled wine and a light bite each. We returned to the party with half an hour to go.  Tom hadn't missed us at all and was fine.  We found some people to chat to and gossiped whilst they finished off their party games.  Harrison's parents are both teachers and so decided to do the party themselves, very brave considering Susan is over 30 weeks pregnant with twins and having to use crutches to get about!  Tom was very happy as he won the last game - musical chairs.

With the man himself

Afterwards we decided to go for a drive in Bowland, hoping for some good views of the 3 peaks in the golden twilight.  It wasn't to be, it just went grey and then dark.  Oh hum, we went home and cooked a roast instead.

Ingleton Christmas Parade

Reindeer

Tom in the "snow"

Friday evening was late night shopping evening in Ingleton.  Beavers, cubs and scouts start the proceedings off with a lantern procession, they were followed by Father Christmas on a sleigh being pulled by two reindeer.  This year, Queen Elsa was also present..."Let it go, LET  IT GO"... "I HATE FROZEN" says Tom!  There was a good atmosphere, we found free mulled wine and mince pies in one of the shops - always good.

Finn in the "snow"

Lots of small children

The best thing though this year was the snow machine above one of the shops.  This meant that it snowed.  All the children played underneath, we took photos, put them on Facebook and managed to dupe quite a lot of our friends that it really was snowing.  (Hummmm, should we tell them the truth?)

We were also able to go and say hello to the reindeer - did you know they have fur on their antlers?  Tom even got to stroke them.  

3 out of 5 ain't bad!

Enjoying ribs

Tom then had a go on the tombola - 5 tickets for £1, those ending in a 5 or 0 won.  He pulled out 3 winners so got 3 Christmas presents to unwrap!!!!!!  We took them to the pub and he unwrapped them as we waited for our dinners.  It was a nice evening, the village was full, the atmosphere was great and we discovered the old post office is being turned into a whisky, wine and tapas bar.  Matt can't wait for it to open next week!

Meet up with NCT friends

 Sunday we had a lazy morning.  We had breakfast with Suzanna and her family in the hotel and then took Tom swimming in the pool.  What a difference, he did a couple of lengths with no floats and no tears and no clinging!  Hurray!!!!!

The gang

We then headed to The Lamb in Edgmond where we met up with Rachel, Phil, Mae & Lucy, Lou, Andy, Jessica & Alex and Errol, Ollie and Leo.  The pub had changed since we last went and now has a play barn area.  This was perfect.  The kids went off and played and the adults had adult conversations.  How very grown up.

And again

The children clicked straight back into being friends again.  The only upset was Tom who lost it twice with being pushed etc.  I hope that was because he was tired, rather than anything else.  We all ate in the playbarn but we got to eat half decent pub grub which is a big difference to the average playbarn.

A good time was had by all, Tom showed himself off to be a massive eater again and before we knew it, it was time to head off home.  We said our goodbyes and headed home.  Tom was asleep in minutes and stayed asleep for 1 ¾ hours - wow he was tired!  We had fishfinger sandwiches for tea and then Tom went straight back to sleep again.  The sign of a good weekend - complete exhaustion, but he was happy, it was a fun weekend.

Wedding in Telford

The Cake

On Saturday we got up earlier than a week day (poo!) and packed the car with a 3 tier super hero wedding cake, 50 individually decorated biscuits, posh clothes and ourselves.  We drove slowly to the M6 and headed south to Shifnal.  Suzanna and Mark (friends of mine from baby sessions) were getting married at the Park House Hotel.    We left ridiculously early in case of any disaster.  There wasn't a disaster so we arrived ridiculously early.  Oh well, it gave us time to set up the cake (it arrived perfect), hand over the biscuits and then we walked into the town for tea and a bun (it was going to be a late lunch and we were up early as it was).

We then got changed in the leisure club and headed to the bar for a drink.  We thought we had the wrong bar as we were by ourselves for ages, but then bit by bit people arrived and eventually someone we knew walked in so we knew we were in the right place.

Happy Family

Fashionably late we were asked to leave the bar and head to the room where the wedding was to take place.  Everyone was looking lovely - in fact all the children seemed to be in posh frocks and suits - Tom was the most casual - in a posh shirt and smart jeans.  All the others were in ties???!!!!  I guess living in the country has rubbed off on us.  The children were all very well behaved, Tom sat quietly, but as soon as Suzanna entered the room he started holding himself, oh yes, great timing Tom, he needed a wee, even though only 5 minutes before he was insistent that he didn't!  Oh well, this was the one wedding where this didn't matter (the couple getting married have 2 boys - one the same age as Tom and the other 2 years younger).  He lasted for the important bit and then Matt took him out during the photos.  Oh one faux pas from Tom, when Suzanna and Mark walked out of the room hand in hand he said in quite a loud voice: "I thought Suzanna would be more prettier!"  Hopefully no one heard him!  We were shocked and he had a very quick lesson in etiquette on a wedding day and anyway, as Matt said she did look beautiful - Tom obviously didn't know what he was talking about.

Father and Son - looking smart

Elton Tom?

The next couple of hours were taken up chatting and lining up for photos.  We then sat down for the wedding breakfast at 3pm.  The children were on their own tables - fantastic.  This meant that we were able to have adult conversation and relax whilst the children enjoyed themselves, working their way through a huge box of stuff that Suzanna had got ready for all of them - stuffed full of sweet treats and things to do.  It worked wonders, we rarely had to get up to see Tom and during the speeches he and Jake were very happy working together on some activity bits (join the dots, colouring in etc).  Oh, yes I meant to say, it didn't take very long at all for Tom to click back into his old friends.  He was very friendly with Jake - the son of a very lovely friend of mine.  Suzanna knew this and put Tom and Jake next to each other on their table, they spent the whole day in each other's company and were very content.  I guess there are some special friends where the bond is quite deep.  

Rock legend?

We had a very lovely dinner, listened to the speeches - I welled up a couple of times, what is it about weddings and crying?!  We were then asked to vacate the room whilst they set up for the evening, as it was 6pm we decided to head to our room for a little lie down.  None of us slept but it was good to take the weight off our feet for a while.  We then headed downstairs, just in time to see Father Christmas - Tom got another gift!  Then it was disco!

Father Christmas?

Sweaty Angel

Now Tom hasn't really shown an interest in dancing before, but there was no stopping him tonight.  He was constantly up on the dance floor showing his moves.  At the start he was with Jake, but Jake went home early.  This didn't stop him.  It just meant that I had to be on the dance floor with him.  He discovered a new move where he slides between my legs and then I flick him up.  He demanded I do that with him again and again and again and again and again!  He certainly had fun, and he got very hot and very sweaty!

Does my head look small?

Dancing King!

Suzanna had organised a photo booth with lots of silly props for people to go in.  Basically you dress yourself up really funny and take photos which are developed instantly for you to take away.  Great idea and great fun.  We went in there quite a few times.

Anyway, we stayed up until 10pm then Matt called it a night with Tom - and took him to bed.  I stayed up a little longer and then headed to bed as well.  I was really suprised to find Tom already fast asleep.  He didn't stir, even though the hotel room had a very squeaky door.  He had obviously worn himself out.

Oh, in the morning we all went swimming together in the pool.  Tom was doing lengths quite happily and he was out of his depth for most of them.  Yahoooo!  His phobia is sorted, hopefully we won't have tears, clinging and shouting in the pool anymore.

Miller Beck Illuminations

Illuminations

In contrast, this weekend we were mega busy.  It started on Friday night with a trip to Miller Beck for their Christmas illuminations.  Miller Beck as I'm sure you remember is the private garden railway in the Lakes that opens for 8 weekends a year.

Happy Boy

They had gone to town on the illuminations with many many Christmasy figures all lit up.  Tom ran to the trains, no waiting, he was desperate to get on.  We got a train to ourselves, which was great, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride past all the lit up figures.

Mary Christmas

We got off at the farm house and were greeted by the main man, Arnold dressed up as I guess Mary Christmas - he was in full drag in a green dress that lights up (a Christmas tree dress)  We were treated to rather potent mulled wine and mince pies whilst we waited for Father Christmas.  We were ushered in, or rather Tom was ushered in.  We went with him, Father Christmas then told us to move away as he and Tom had private business to attend to.  We did as we were told and Tom and Father Christmas had a chin wag.  Tom was at his limit of being over whelmed, but he kept it together and was able to tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  (Luckily the same 3 things he told us)

With Father Christmas

He was then given a present and said goodbye.  We had a little look around the yard, including saying hello to the lamas (the nearest they could get to reindeer) and a go in the lucky dip and then hopped on another train for another ride around the gardens before arriving back at the start.

We then headed to the Masons Arms pub not that far away.  We have been there for a drink and lunch before but not dinner, the food has always looked good, so we were keen to try it out.  I had a wild boar and damson burger (very tasty), Tom had a bowl of macaroni cheese, and Matt went for mango and stilton sausages.  We all ate up well.  Tom opened his lucky dip present - Wow!  The lucky dip was only £1 a go and he got a £5 activity book - very good quality.  I reckon his Christmas present is probably very good, we have kept it for Christmas day.

Quiet Weekend

So last weekend we didn't do that much.

Saturday we hung around for the whole day.  We have been having our exterior windows painted, the guy doing it wanted to finish them off on Saturday, meaning someone had to be in the whole time.  It wasn't a disaster - luckily Tom had been invited to a party in the afternoon, so he and I went to that.

Shiver me timbers

This was an interesting party for a number of reasons.  First of all, the whole class had been invited, so it meant we got to see how the class interacts etc, obviously in a different environment to school, but nevertheless we got to see how they work together as there were very few 'other' children there.

There were entertainers there who organised various games including pass the parcel.  One of the girls, Kiera, put it upon herself to make sure everyone was treated fairly.  If the parcel landed with someone who had already had a go, she made sure it was handed to someone else who hadn't had a go.  She was pretty bossy about it, but very fair and the children quietly accepted her authority.  The entertainers certainly didn't know who had had a go and who hadn't, so well done Kiera.

Secondly, although it didn't say so on the invitation, this was a drop off party.  I had no idea (I haven't been to a party where you drop off and leave before) and I had brought Fred with me on the understanding that I would stay with him, so I couldn't possibly leave.  Interestingly the only parents who stayed were the boys' parents.  ALL the boys' parents!  We were discussing why this was so: are we more protective than the girls' parents, are girls more independent and boys more needy?  Do we enjoy spending time with our boys more?  Maybe a little of everything, but the only person to get upset was a boy (Finn - he didn't like balloons popping), the only children needing help to open their packets of Haribo were boys (Fred and Tom), the only children who were shy and needed encouragement to join in were boys (Finn and Harrison) the only children needing someone to look after their stuff were boys.  Of course we were there to be used, but it's interesting isn't it...

Freya and Tom carrying Lucy's presents in.

As I said this was an opportunity to see how the class works together.  One of the games was a piñata, when it opened the children dived on it.  Well when I say the children dived on it, the girls dived on it, all the boys were at the back, didn't get into to the scrum and didn't get any.  It took just one word from one of the adults and all the girls who had more than one packet of sweets were looking for those without and shared them.  Not questions, no fuss it was just done.

There was no bickering, no fighting.  Everyone got on and had fun playing together.  It was good to see.

On Sunday we had a free day to do what we wished.  We asked Tom and he said he wanted to go for a bike ride in Morecambe.  It wasn't raining, in fact it was a nice clear day, so we loaded ourselves up and headed over.  We parked right at the top of the prom in Bare and cycled down to the Breeze Cafe for lunch.  Normally this would take us a little while as Tom would stop at all the parks for a play on the way down.  Not today, today he was focused on just cycling, and this he did with his head down and a glint in his eye.  We got to the cafe in no time at all, so had an early lunch and then headed down to Heysham, which once again we got to in no time at all.

Getting wet!

On the way we came across some fountains which you can cycle through.  In the past Tom has not wanted to ride near them in case he might get wet.  However, this time he thought it was great fun and spent ages cycling through them, getting wet and not caring.  Hurray!  He had two turns playing in the fountains and in the end it was us dragging him from it not the other way round.  Success, we think maybe his experience in Scotland has helped here.  In the end he was quite wet and soggy and really didn't care, even though it was a cold day.

Fun in the fountains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKqnioFcO7s
And again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVO0hiAZEA4

Stone Jetty

On the way back we cycled to the end of the Stone Jetty, from where we could see the peak of Ingleborough watching over us, and then all the way back to Bare, this time also not stopping at the parks.  Tom did need one rest stop, but considering the whole trip was 10 miles, he did really well.  It was a good day.