First visit to Santa and Poorly Tom

Hello Santa

Friday afternoon we picked Tom up from school, came home got changed into our warmest clothes and then headed to Newby Bridge and the Miller Beck railway where Father Christmas was in residence for the evening.  The place was buzzing despite the rubbish weather (it was freezing cold and raining).  Tom was very excited, we got the electric train around the garden to Santa's Grotto where the adults were fed mulled wine and mince pies and the children squash (They know how to look after the adults here!).  Tom only had to wait 5 mins to go in to see the great man.  They are really good here - as you are waiting the elves ask the children about themselves, this information then gets passed on to Santa, meaning he knows their names and their ages when they walk in and they get a personalised present.

Lake District mountains from Lancaster

Tom had his speech ready and he asked for a Eddie Stobart Road Train Truck - Santa was impressed, saying no-one else had asked for that but not to worry, he will get his elves straight on to it for him.  Tom was in awe - wasn't interested in chit chat, but managed a photo before leaving.

We then went to see the Christmas alpacas (which we fed carrots) before heading back on a steam train around the whole railway again.  By then we were all freezing even though we were all wearing very warm clothes so we bundled into the car and sort out a pub for hot food.  Lamb shank for me and fish and chips for the boys.

Another good evening out.

Chilly morning at Ribblehead

The rest of the weekend was spent looking after a poorly Tom.  He got a cold and was feeling quite sorry for himself which is unusual for him.  He didn't want to go to football on Saturday morning, and he was looking so awful we didn't question him.  We instead went to Lancaster - to the Farm Shop we found a couple of months ago to pick up some bits (sadly, our butcher closed suddenly this week) and then to Williamson Park for a quick walk and lunch.  Tom slumped on the sofa for the rest of the day.

Sunday wasn't much better - he had had a disturbed night so was tired.  However, we did go for a quick walk around Ribblehead - just to get some fresh air in him and he did cheer up and stop coughing.  The afternoon was spent watching Match of the Day and Eddie Stobart Trucks and Trailers.  He was in bed fast asleep by 6.30 and slept 13 hours - waking up much brighter and ready for school.

Child of the World

So Tom came home on Friday with a Certificate of Merit for being so knowledgeable about the world.  He also came home with a stinking cold!  It will be another quiet weekend.

Monkey Tom

And at the top!

Climbing like a monkey

We took Tom to the climbing wall in Ingleton last night after school for the first time.  We went with Finn and Kate who know what they are doing as they go regularly.  We didn't really expect much from Tom, but thought that as the wall is in the village, we really should try it out.  He astounded us!  He was really enthusiastic and happy to climb, he got to the top of 2 walls and half way up a bigger one.  He got the hang of abseiling down pretty quickly.  We couldn't believe our eyes.  Kate said that he did much better than the other boys she has taken.  He was completely at ease with it.  I think we have just found us another rainy day activity...

Star Pupil

So Tom has had a brilliant week at school this week.  This half term his topic is 'around the world' so obviously one he is interested in.  They are doing a lot about China at the moment (his teacher used to teach in Shanghai) and apparently he has 'blown away' Ms Middleton with his enthusiasm and knowledge.  He got Star of the Day on Wednesday and a special mention in his reading book and then came home with a certificate for great research on the Great Wall of China yesterday.  Ms Middleton says that he has really blossomed and engaged in the last week.  With our genes in him - he was always going to be interested in the world around him.  Just goes to show that when he is interested in the topic at school he does well.

He has his school assembly next week - apparently it is about China so could be interesting...

Wet wet wet weekend

Rain, rain, rain and more rain this week and this weekend.  So much so that football got completely cancelled!  They were supposed to have a match this weekend, but roads and football pitches were flooded - didn't make sense for it to go ahead.

That meant we had the full day to ourselves, but the weather forecast was solid rain.  Tom requested a train trip to Leeds, we didn't have any better ideas so off to Leeds we went.  

Small boy, big tart

We got there at lunchtime and headed to Bundobust - an Indian Street Food restaurant a friend had told us about.  It was vegetarian, and the best authentic Indian food I have ever had outside of India.  Unfortunately a lot of it was a bit too spicy for Tom, but we found enough for him to munch on (his favourite being okra - another new vegetable to add to his list)

We then did a targeted strike on Leeds city centre and did most of our Christmas shopping.  In fact we did so well, that we finished early, so found ourselves an independent cafe (quite difficult in the city centre) for a coffee and sit down before heading to Wasabi to pick up our sushi tea and the train station for some train spotting before heading back.

After an uneventful trip back we ate our sushi in the lounge whilst watching Dad's Army - perfect end to a soggy Saturday.

Sunday - Tom wasn't feeling well - complaining of a cold.  He didn't want to do much, including swimming which is our usual Sunday fall back on a horrible weather day.  So, we stayed in.  Tom played with Lego whilst Matt and I did some jobs we've been putting off for a while.  Tom then requested a 'cheesy' lunch so we braved the weather and headed to Hawes for a once round the tasting room and lunch.  The afternoon was spent cuddled up on the sofa watching Ratatouille.  Not an exciting day, but a necessary day.

Open Morning at Lily Pad Bakery

On Monday, I decided it might be a good idea to have an Open Morning for Lily Pad Bakery on Friday to try to get some more orders for Christmas.  I sent out a Facebook invite on Monday morning and then set to work, doing my orders for the week (7 gingerbread houses and a Frozen cake) as well as getting samples ready for the morning.

It was a little stressful getting everything ready on time, but I got there.  I got up at 6am to give myself enough time to set the kitchen up for the 9am start.  I had samples for all of my Christmas Fayre, hot fruit punch to drink in the slow cooker and a chocolate cherry cake and gingerbread biscuits on offer for a small donation to Children in Need.

Christmas Table

Other table with wedding cakes and tasting cakes

I was lucky in that I had 3 waves of people turn up - meaning it wasn't crazy.  As soon as one wave left, another arrived.  In all 15 people turned up.  Everyone ordered something which was great, including one who ordered over £60 of goods - she really made my day which brought me almost £300 of orders.

We also met a lady in the village whose son currently lives in Japan!

Note for next year: do a 'alternative flavour cake' for a small donation to charity.  This will mean people will sample something different to vanilla / regular sponge and might encourage them to order more exciting flavours of cake in the future.

Don't bother with gingerbread biscuits - just personalised people and a couple of others but nothing more.

Advertise more widely next year, to try to attract people who don't know me, and don't do it on Children in Need day as there was an event at school for Nursery and Reception meaning many people didn't make it.

Maybe do it on a Saturday morning as well???

Weekend

It was a wet weekend, so we didn't get up to anything that exciting.  On Saturday Tom had football on the all weather pitch as the football field was flooded.  The all weather pitch wasn't that much better - the children were slipping and sliding all over the place. A good result was that football finished early, meaning we had enough time to get to Ribblehead and on to the Carlisle train.  We had a picnic on the train and arrived in good time for some train spotting for the boys and a good look around the cake shop for me.

Country gent & a very loud engine

We then hit the 'big city' and did our usual 'big city shopping' diving in and out of the rain.  We then had an early tea in one of our favourite Carlisle restaurants.  We visited 3 before we found one with some space - the people in Carlisle go out early!  We found space in the last one we tried, the atmosphere was completely different to that during the day: very loud music, quite dark etc.  We ordered our food ate up and left.  It wasn't exactly the best place to take a six year old - a little too adult!  Think next time we will have a late lunch rather than an early tea!

We got back to the station in time for more train spotting before heading home.

Remembrance Day at the War Memorial

Sunday was Remembrance Sunday.  Traditionally the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorer Scouts go to church at St Mary's in the village for a service.  We think this was Tom's first ever time in a church and he was very very well behaved.  We had explained to him that it would be a solemn occasion and there would be a silent 2 minutes etc etc, he took it all on board.  He was sat on the front pew, whilst we were towards the back - trying (sometimes in vain) to follow the service and learn new hymns.  We went outside to the War Memorial for 11 o'clock - when it started raining - all the children were very well behaved again.  They read out all the names of the village's fallen men - we didn't recognise that many 'village' surnames but did notice a huge amount of them had double barrelled names.
 

Lots of water

When the service finished, we headed back home, got changed into something more comfortable (we dressed up for the church, to find everyone else in jeans!) and headed into Hawes for lunch at the Wensleydale Pantry and then up to Aysgarth Falls for a little walk and to see the water crashing over the waterfall.  Then back home to batten up the hatches and keep the awful weather at bay!

Wrapped up warm!

Busy Weekend

Ready for trick or treating

Saturday started with Tom playing football - just a practise this morning.  I headed off to Settle to deliver a cake and got back just in time to watch him for the last half hour.  He is definately progressing.  He gets stuck into the mob now and will tackle, but he still waits for the ball to come to his area before he gets involved.  He is certainly getting it though and as a team they are getting better and better.

Once Tom had had a shower (he was covered in mud) we decided to head down to the Falls Cafe for lunch.  Matt then did the Waterfalls walk, whilst Tom and I headed back for a quiet afternoon and yet another Thomas film.  Tom then got changed into his Halloween gear (bones t-shirt, witch's cape, wizard's hat and pumpkin bucket and torch) and we headed to Bella's for some face painting before going to the pub and being sent on our way around the village.  Tom was straight into it this time and got quite a good haul of sweeties.  Bella too.  We then headed back to the pub for our pies and peas supper.  It wasn't as well organised as last time, meaning there were no tables for us to sit down on.  Luckily, it was quite mild and we were pretty comfortable sat outside and the children were more than happy running around on the grass so all was not lost - except some customer loyalty - there were plenty of grumbles around! We ended up having a good night and took a sleepy boy home for bed.

Wizard and witch(es)

Sunday, it was miserable again so we headed to Hornby to go swimming.  Tom was ace again - he did 10 lengths and lots and lots of diving to the bottom of the pool to collect sinkers.  We all had a great morning playing in the water.

We went to the tea rooms in Wray for lunch before heading back home to get dinner ready as the Ellershaws were coming round for roast.  I did the full works and was pretty pleased with the results - best ever roast potatoes.  The girls and Tom played beautifully together and everyone ate up very very well.  Rich being Rich came with beer - not just a couple of beers but a good 12-14 beers, so we ended up having a tasting session.  Dark evening, roast dinner and plenty of beer with well behaved children - what isn't to like?  Think it was almost 8pm before they left (and on a school night too!)  Another good day.

1000th Post: Half Term Part 2

So Matt pointed out to me that this is my 1000th post on the blog.  Wow!  Feeling quite good with the achievement, although as usual I am behind with my posts and playing catch up.  However, if you had told me 6 years ago that the blog would still be going (albeit weekends and holidays only) I would have been surprised!

Our Handsome Boy

First things first, Matt took a gorgeous photo of Tom in Ullswater on Tuesday so here it is blown up for you to enjoy, certainly worthy of our 1000th blog post.

Glenridding

Yes Tuesday was spent on Ullswater.  We had Tesco vouchers which gave us all Rover Tickets for the day.  It was the most gorgeous day - blue skies and autumn leaves.  Not a breath of wind, meaning a still lake and we got to sit outside on the boat without getting cold.  In fact our hats, gloves and scarves which we diligently packed didn't come out of our bag! We even sat outside in a beer garden at Pooley Bridge for lunch (where the photo was taken) and didn't get cold.  We didn't do a lot to be honest other than sitting back and enjoying the scenery, weather and company.  Not bad for a free day out.  Of course the day came to an end earlier than we would have wished, but that was because of the clocks going back, not because we weren't enjoying ourselves, once the sun had gone behind the mountains it got cold and we couldn't see anything, so we came home.

Pooley Bridge

Wednesday was quite different to Tuesday in that we had rain all day!  We decided to have a quiet day.  We went swimming with Lynne and Matthew in the morning.  Wow!  Tom completely surprised me.  When I took him swimming during the Summer holidays we fell out as he constantly cried and clung to me.  I gave him a good talking too before we left this time.  He couldn't have been more different.  Not only did he not cling to me, but he decided that he was going to do 14 lengths, and off he went and did them.  I couldn't quite believe it, but was very very pleased.  So much so that I took him to Ireby Farm Cafe for lunch so he could have a smoked salmon sandwich as a reward.  I think we MUST have turned the corner with swimming now, surely he can't go backwards from here?!  The afternoon was spent slobbing out in front of the telly watching a Thomas film (Tom still loves Thomas the Tank Engine)

Tram in the lights

Thursday started off rainy but it had cheered up by lunchtime which was good as we were heading to Blackpool for a day of good ole British tackiness.  Once again Tescos had come up with the goods and we had vouchers to go to the Sea Life Centre - just as well as it was crowded to capacity, full of pushchairs and people.  It wasn't a relaxing visit, but we enjoyed ourselves and managed not to get too much crowd rage and we managed to be near the shark tank just as the talk was happening so we got to learn some bits and pieces.  We were glad to leave though and we were glad we didn't pay full price.  We came out to bright blue sunshine, so we revelled in it for a while and even managed to find a nice and trendy bar with an outdoor space to have a drink and sit down.  Once we had recovered we headed to the pier amusements to waste some money on the 2p slots.  It didn't take long, we were more rubbish than normal at it (must be because it was so busy with it being half term that all the machines had been hit big time before we got there).  We then got ourselves a bag of donuts (we are very boring when we come to Blackpool these days, always following the same pattern of things to do).  As we munched on the donuts, the illuminations came on so we finished up and walked up towards Bispham.  It seemed to take a fraction of the time it took last year - I guess our (Tom's) legs are getting fitter (and longer).  We then headed to Bispham Kitchen and had fish and chips with bread and butter.  The perfect end to a day in Blackpool.  Great fun.

Huge spaceman

Friday - once again it rained in the morning, so Tom and I spent it trying to tidy the house up (not hugely successful).  We had lunch by which time it had stopped raining and then Kate and Finn dropped by.  We were going for a bike ride together up in Chapel-le-Dale, just off the road to Hawes. It was a good rugged, muddy and wet bike ride with plenty of puddles.  Tom had to get off his bike and walk with it a couple of times, but on the whole he did really well (remember Finn is an Ace Mountain Biker - he does jumps and all sorts of tricks!) and more or less kept up with Finn.  It was a lovely afternoon - the sky had cleared so we had blue sky, the boys got on really well and the scenery was magnificent as we were between Ingleborough and Ribblehead.  Unfortunately for you I was enjoying the afternoon so much that I didn't take any photos - sorry!  We spent the evening around Finn's house, the boys played and we nattered.  Tom was well fed with a chicken stir fry.  Matt, not wanting to be lonely on a Friday night, headed to The Old Post Office and found some friends to share a couple of beers with.  We ended the day with a take away Indian.  Not a bad day.