Quiet Weekends

Swimming this week - Tom managed 2 whole widths of swimming on his back without any help.  It's amazing what a good teacher and some peer pressure can do...!  Well done Tom.

Lion (s?)

Grey Crested Crane

So, after a busy couple of weeks, we have had a couple of quiet weekends.  Last weekend we spent Saturday at Dalton Zoo.  Matt wanted to visit before the entrance fee went up, especially because the new areas have opened, meaning taking photos of the big cats are much easier.  We had yet another good day out there and the jaguar cubs came out again for a play which was good.  We even bumped into one of Tom's classmates there.  Anyway, a good day was had by all.  Here are a couple of photos Matt took.

Marmot

Jaguar and 2 cubs

A winter's threesome

On Sunday we asked Tom what he wanted to do - the answer as usual was 'Train Ride' so we decided to head to Carlisle, especially as it was raining quite hard - not a day for going out.

The journey was as lovely as always and the weather better in Carlisle than Ingleton.  We tried out the third restaurant in the funky chain that we have found in Carlisle - called 'The Last Zebra' - it was fab - the best of the three I think with lots of imaginative dishes on the menu.  My sweet potato and pulled pork hash with coriander and chilli being a case in point of being really rather yummy.

We had a quick look around the shops and then headed back home on the train.  Tom and I played Uno - he thrashed me big time - humpfh - think it ended up 354 vs 56 - bit embarrassing.  Oh well, it is good for his maths.