Busy Weekend

Near Ewloe Castle

It was a busy weekend this weekend.  We got Tom from school and popped him in the car and drove to Longlands in Carnforth where I delivered a wedding cake.  We then headed down the M6 towards Chester.  Now this is when living as far north as we do works out, the motorway was jammed heading north, but we happily drove down an empty road, only slowing down when we joined the M56.  We got to Saughall and the Watsons in just an hour and a half, which on a Friday evening is remarkable.  Great for Tom - meant he had more playing time.  True to form, Cameron wasn't at home (he was in China) but that didn't matter.  After a good nosh and more play, the children went to sleep and we drank wine and chatted.  All the way to midnight - how very naughty of us!

Beachcombing

In the morning we had breakfast, visited the local farmer's market and were then on our way to Mold to visit Auntie Jude and Craig.  After an explore around Craig's house, we headed out to Wepre Park where there was a play area and a very reasonably priced cafe.  So after a play on all the equipment, we headed to the cafe for lunch.  As seems to be usual, the smallest person got the biggest lunch - Tom opted for omelette, which is quite strange for him and unbeknown to us, it came with chips - so he had a huge plate of food whilst the rest of us had a sandwich each!  To be fair to him he ate most of what was on his plate.  We then headed off through the woods to Ewloe Castle - a tumble down castle on top of a hill in the woods.  We clambered around and then headed back.  After a cup of tea for the adults at Craig's place we then headed into Mold to visit a rather good sweet shop to find a treat for the lad.  It was a busy place with a mind boggling number of sweets on offer - too much for Tom to compute so he ended up getting a lucky dip bag (as did Matt - he's a child at heart!)  We then returned to Craig's house and were treated to wonderful smells of dinner being made whilst we watched the rugby (Tom really got into the rugby).  Dinner was pot roast pig with huge Yorkshire puddings, roast spuds and parsnips and carrots, followed by a very good apple, pear and blackberry crumble.  It warmed us up and gave us happy bellies - thanks Craig.  Tom went to bed around 8pm and we tried to stay up, but with the fire burning bright and a glass of wine in us, we struggled and all ended up going to bed around 10 - rock n roll!

Running the dunes

On Sunday, Craig gave Tom a choice of things to do, and he decided on a visit to the beach so after a hearty breakfast we headed off to Talacre.  Considering I had never heard of it, it was a really nice place.  A big sandy beach with dunes behind.  We walked down to the shore, paddled in the water and collected lots of shells.  After playing on the dunes, we explored around an old lighthouse before returning to the car.  It was a lovely day with blue skies, was lovely to stroll in the sea air, in fact we felt quite windswept by the time we returned to the cars.  We then headed off to Abakhan - a textile and craft shop with a cafe and play area - oh and a huge ferry which has been beached and is slowly rotting away.  It was a night club for a while, but the owners ran out of money and it is now derelict and rusting in the sea air - a strange sight.  We had lunch, I went ribbon shopping and then we said our goodbyes and headed home.  Even though Tom had heavy eyes he refused to sleep so it was a quick dinner and straight to bed for him!