Between Christmas and New Year

Splat!

Anyone for whipped cream?

Sunday, the sky was blue and there was a weird looking yellow circular thing in it?  Anyone know what it is?  We were very perplexed!  We headed into Kendal as we needed to meet up with Jude and Craig on their way home (we forgot to give Jude her birthday presents!)  We did a bit of sale shopping - getting next year's stock of Christmas cards and spending Fat Face vouchers.  We had lunch and then headed to Crooklands to meet up with J&C.  We then headed to Kirkby for a quick walk before heading home.  On arrival back home, Tom insisted we got Pie Face out - so we spent the rest of the afternoon being splatted with whipped cream - euch, but very funny and Tom got splatted more than us!

Mother and baby highlanders

Monday, we had a day out in Malham and it didn't rain for the whole day - the first rain free day in ages.  We went via the Settle road and were rewarded with a herd of Highland Moos roaming the moorland up there.  They didn't pose for the camera as we wished, but it was fab to see them.  We parked up at Malham and then walked to the cove the back way, up the steps, across the limestone pavement, up and over a hill to Gordale Scar where the waterfall was in full force, across to Janet's Foss and then back to Malham.

The boys

Tom and a waterfall

It was a good 5 miles in all and a good walk.  We got back to Malham at 2.15 and immediately went to a pub for a slap up lunch.  We chose the wrong one, (The Buck Inn), it took them an hour to get our food to us!  When I questioned them why it was taking so long I was told that I needed to appreciate that they were busy!  I got the hump, they should have told us it would take an hour - it wasn't particularly busy when we arrived.  We won't be going back as the food was only average when it finally arrived.  Lister Arms it is from now on - better food and much better service.  The pub ruined what had been a good day - so much for trying to support local business!  We went back home via the Highland Moo road - this cheered us up as there were quite a few on the road side.  They were all beautiful in a muddy, wild and snorty fashion.

Tuesday was a beautiful day, but we had the Dentist booked for 2pm - so we couldn't really enjoy it.  Matt ended up working for the day.  Tom and I went to Stacksteads for a swim in the morning.

Christmas

At The Old Post Office

Christmas Eve

The weather wasn't too bad, so we decided to go for a short walk.  We headed up to Ribblehead to do our usual one under the viaduct and round in a circle.  The rain just about held out.  We then headed to Inglesport for lunch and then round the village and back home for a play   The evening was spent in The Old Post Office eating platters and drinking beer / wine / G&T.  A good evening was had by all, and Tom was spoilt, as he was given a fish platter with raw smoked salmon on it - they got it in specially for him.

Christmas Day

The tree and presents

We had a good Christmas Day, although a slightly disturbed night.  We were woken up by a tearful Tom at 2.30, crying because Father Christmas hadn't been!  Apparently he had looked at the foot of his bed for the stocking and not found it.  The stocking was a foot from his head, in exactly the same place it has always been left.  There was also a sparkly present, shining in the night lights!  We pointed them out but it took a while for him to calm down and be left alone again, what a chump!  He was up again at 3.30 because he couldn't get to sleep and again at 4.30 because he had a hurting foot.  Not a great sleep.

Totoro and a Truck

After a late breakfast of scrambled egg, posh bread and smoked salmon, we got all the veg ready in time for when Pat and Bob arrived and then spent a good while opening presents.  Guess who had the most?  Tom did very well, but his favourite was the Totoro onesie that Auntie Jude and Craig had found for him.  He put it on immediately and stayed in it all day and all Boxing Day!  It was way too big for him, but he didn't care, and he looked fab in it anyway.  Think he'll be wearing it still in High School!  He got a lot more clothes, some silly games (thanks to Uncle Martin he got the game of the year - Pie Face!), lots of books as well as the huge Bruder truck and Baymax we got him. We'd told Tom beforehand that he needed to say a proper thank you to anyone who'd given him a present, but he took this to extremes and shouted "THANK YOU!" at the top of his voice, before he'd even taken the paper off, even if the donor was on the other side of the world.

Matt making friends with Baymax

Dinner was pretty easy to cook - rib of beef, of course - (refer to Dec 2014 and 2012 for cooking instructions) and loads of veggies, Yorkshire puddings etc.  We sat down at 2pm for the spread.  The beef was perfect and delicious.  Once full up we retired to the lounge, watched Stick Man and then had pudding.  Bob and Pat then headed home to feed their cats, whilst we collapsed some more.  Craig and Tom played for most of the evening whilst the rest of us put our feet up (thanks Craig).  No more food passed our lips - we were officially stuffed!

Thanks to everyone for our presents - we were all very happy bunnies.  I got a fab new camera from Matt, which means I no longer need to keep borrowing his.  It is waterproof and shock proof so I should have trouble breaking it (I hope).  I am also the proud owner of a cake stand - you would think I would have already have one wouldn't you?  Problem is I don't want to eat the Christmas cake that is in it as it looks too pretty!

Boxing Day
Boxing Day Jude and Craig headed off towards Durham pretty early.  We had a quiet morning and then headed to Settle to Bob and Pat's for Boxing Day lunch - they had got some smoked salmon fillets in specially for Tom.  Tom took his Meccano and the two of us got to work making a Meccano crane - which went well until the final stage where it took me and Matt a while to fathom out how to finish it off.  Lunch was good, we then went into the leaking lounge (it was raining outside and the rain was coming inside!) to relax, read a book etc before realising that all the roads were filling up  and flooding again and we might have trouble getting home, so we said our goodbyes and headed back via Horton.

The evening was spent round our neighbours at a open house.  The Bickerstaffs were there too, so we hung out for an hour or two before heading home for bed.

Grannie and Grandpa Move up.

Wow!  We have had a busy couple of weeks, so I'm afraid this is going to be a summary rather than a full description of what we have been up to.

Visiting Santa at Ingleborough Caves

Frank, Finn, Fred, Tom and Sierra

So on Sunday 13th, a gang of us went on our annual pilgrimage to Ingleborough Caves to see Father Christmas.  This is the 3rd time we have done it.  Usually we get there dead on 10am in time to do the walk up to the cave and be first in the queue at 11am.  This year, many other people had had the same thought so we weren't the first and we did have to queue.  Not a problem though, the children were in good spirits and didn't seem to notice they had to wait.  The Santa experience here is very good - first of all you have the walk up thorough the nature trail to the caves and then elves take you through a story of what Santa has been up to etc as you go through the caves.  The children then get to meet Father Christmas who is very good and choose a present - which means they all get something they want.  Anyway it was a lovely experience.  We ended up in the cafe in Clapham for lunch before heading home, then a quick tidy up before Matt and Tom headed to Oxenholme to pick up Grannie.  Unfortunately her train got delayed, so they were stuck waiting for her on the station for a while, but she finally arrived and got home just in time for roast chicken.

Walking Indie

Grannie and Grandpa Move Up
Grannie came up on the train because this was the week when Grannie and Grandpa were moving up to Settle.  Finally all the paperwork was in place and they completed.  Bob stayed behind in London to supervise the packing up of the house, whilst Grannie elected to come up to us to stay away from the chaos.  I had lots of work to do (my last week to get Christmas orders and a big birthday cake finished), so Matt took Grannie out on Monday.  They went to Settle so Matt could show her around and she could familiarise herself with the town as it had been a while since they went house hunting.

Golden Wedding dinner

On Tuesday I managed to clear my work schedule so we could all go over to Settle to help.  Bob was driving up from Warwick, the removal men left London early in the morning and we were on standby waiting for the phone call to say that we could collect the keys.  By 10.30 we hadn't heard anything but as we were all hanging round we decided to head to Settle so we were at least in place when the phone call came.  We got there, went to see the Estate Agent, no joy so we went for tea and a bun.  As we were tucking in, the removal men phoned to say they had arrived and the Estate Agent phoned to say we could collect the keys.  Hurray, so we quickly finished our snacks and headed to the house.  The house was in a better state than I was expecting, they had at least vacuumed downstairs.  However, first hurdle: no electricity and no heating.  It took me and Matt quite a long while to get any electricity to work - all through trial and error but we got the lights on and some sockets working.  We had no luck with the boiler at all, but found a note with a name and number saying to call if any post addressed to her arrived, so we gave her a call.  Turns out she was the last tenant - from New York of all places, she turned up pretty soon after we called her and showed us around the house, telling us all about the quirks it has.  She tried for a long while to get the boiler working - but with no luck.  So, no hot water and no heating.  She did know of a heating engineer though who agreed to come out on Friday to have a look.

The lads

In the meantime the removal men were keen to start unloading and also Bob turned up - he hit the ground running as we were sorting out boiler, electricity and talking to the American lady all at the same time.  The removal men were very good and unloaded the vans pretty quickly.  Matt went back to Ingleton to collect Tom from school whilst I unpacked the kitchen stuff.  By 4 o'clock, we had got as far as we could, so we said our goodbyes, went to Booth's to get a quick dinner and Bob and Pat booked into the B & B across the road.

The rest of the week was spent finishing off my orders and helping Pat and Bob.  Matt went over to Settle on Wednesday, he and Bob then went on a mammoth trip down to Warwick to get the cats on Thursday whilst Jude and I went to see Pat.  Pat and Bob then got a call from the heating engineer saying he wouldn't be coming after all on Friday!  On arriving home, I got straight on to social media and asked for help.  Loads of advice came my way and by the time we went to bed we had an electrician heading for them at 8am Friday morning.  Friday we both stayed at home - I had people dropping by all day to pick up their Christmas orders.  Friday evening we headed back to Settle as it was Pat and Bob's 50th Wedding Anniversary - so we all went out for dinner at The Craven Arms - very nice it was too.

Dressed up

We had a quiet weekend, then on Monday we all headed down to Southport for Shelm's funeral.  It was a quiet and understated affair, but the grief was all too apparent, it is never nice to see loved ones upset.  Luckily Tom wasn't upset, so he helped cheer up people and was an easy talking point / ice breaker with members of the family we haven't seen for a long while.  We then headed back up the motorway, we dropped Matt off at Caton, and then Tom and I headed up to Penrith and Center Parcs at Whinfell Forest where we were sharing a house with the Bickerstaffs. It was past 6pm by the time we checked in, dropped off our stuff, parked up and walked back to our lodge.  Luckily the Bickerstaffs were on cooking duty and curry was on the table was we walked in.  We were very happy and dug in.  It had been a tiring day - emotionally.  I got changed out of my black clothes, Tom played with Jack and Seth and we all relaxed.  The boys went to bed pretty well and we weren't too far behind them.

Tom, Seth and Jack at Center Parcs

Tuesday was spent pretty much all in the pool.  Tom loved it and did it all:  the slides, the wave pool, the rapids and just general larking about.  We kept bumping into people we knew which was funny - Lauren and her family were there and another family from school who I recognised but don't know.  I think we were 5.5 hours in the pool in the end, stopping only for lunch (chips in the pool cafe) and children's activities: blow up speed boats for Tom and Seth and underwater jet pack for Jack.  All good, we all had fun.  We then went back to the lodge via Santa's grotto which was beautifully laid out - lots of fairy lights, real reindeer, etc etc .  I was on cooking duty - so a big bowl of mac cheese and veggies was made and demolished, the boys watched a film, went to bed and once again we weren't far behind.

Wednesday we packed up and then went back to the pool for more fun.  We had lunch and then parted and headed home.  I got home about 1.5 hours before Jude and Craig, just long enough to get the kitchen straight before they arrived.  Christmas had officially started as we had guests.

Great Swim

Today was Class 3's musical performance - they've each been given a musical instrument for the year (a guitar for Tom), and today was their first "concert". The cellos went first, and were quite good, and the violins weren't bad either, but the guitarists and keyboard players seemed to get a muddled. Still, it was good fun (their class assemblies always are), and they all sang a song together afterwards - the Brontosaurus Song. I recorded it as an audio file, and I can e-mail it to anyone who'd like it.

Also, after trying really really hard at swimming recently, Tom got moved up a group - yahooo!  He was really chuffed, as were we.  Next time he'll be doing only lengths, it won't be long before he is swimming faster than us! Plus, he's back in the same class as his friend Lauren, and they're both very pleased about it.

Shelm

On Sunday evening I got the sad news that my Great Aunt Shelm had passed away.  Although not completely unexpected, it was a bit of a shock - especially as Matt and I were talking about how to visit them over the Christmas holidays (we knew Shelm was ill - so it was a case of how to visit her without stressing her!).  

She was a lovely lady with a heart of gold, a naughty sparkle in her eye and an infectious laugh.  A gentle spirit who we will all miss.  

This is my last photo of her - taken last November after a day out in Southport.  Both Shelm and Bob were in good spirits - being silly and loved up as usual.  Shelm and Bob were very young at heart and were still completely crazy about each other we had a joyous day out, I am glad that is my last memory of her.  I will miss her. 

Wet wet wet weekend

It has rained a lot recently.  This weekend it rained more and more.  Saturday the rain was torrential.  The roads around here flooded last week, and as the ground is so saturated, it wasn't long before the roads were flooding again.

Tom had football Saturday morning - in the scout hall as the school playing fields are water logged.  We took the opportunity to go to 'Uncle Brian's', the amazing toy shop here and got him his Christmas present.  Matt then went to pick him up.  The weather was so atrocious that we drove everywhere in the village and still got drenched!  

The Greta in fine flow

We decided that as the weather was so bad we would head straight into Lancaster as we were going to see the panto in the afternoon.  We got out of the village OK, but before too long encountered some deep deep puddles.  We carried on through, but then came across a sign saying road closed, a 4x4 coming from Lancaster told us that the water on the road (this was the Hornby road) was up and over his bonnet.  His car was a lot taller than ours!  We turned round and headed towards Kirkby and the A65, once again we encountered lots of floods on the road.  It was going to be another 6 hours before we returned from Lancaster, the forecast was heavy rain, it was going to be dark as well on our return.  We decided to call it a day and return home.  Tom was beginning to get nervous - saying he wanted to go home.  It really wasn't worth getting stuck in Lancaster for the sake of three panto tickets.  We headed home and were really glad we did as the news reports came in of flooding in Kendal and Lancaster, we would have got stranded had we gone, and there was a massive power cut in Lancaster that evening.  We were very thankful common sense had kicked in and we made the right decision.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the fact that we were safe and warm from the weather.  We had a warming chilli at Inglesport and then got ourselves a Christmas tree from the local farm - an absolute whopper - the biggest tree we have ever  had and spent the afternoon with Christmas music on decorating the tree.  Tom went round to Harrison's house for an hour or so (Harrison was supposed to go to the panto too).  We then had tea on trays in the lounge watching Dad's Army.

Sunday we decided not to move too far from the house.  Luckily Tom had the Craven Wanderers' Christmas Party to go to in the afternoon.  The morning was spent watching Match of the Day, playing with Lego and watching cookery programmes.  We went to The Wheatsheaf for lunch, returned home, did some more chores and then headed to The Bottom Club for the Christmas Party.  Wow - they are brave having that many children for 3 hours.  It was very noisy and very loud but everyone enjoyed it.  Tom was immediately off with his friends and joined in with all the activities: dancing. magician etc and  Father Christmas arrived with presents for all the children.  A good time was had by all (although Matt left early - something to do with a hangover and sore throat).  A good bash and free - fantastic value.

Tom happily went to bed early whilst we ate stew and watched telly for the evening.

VIP Tom

So Tom came out of school very excited on Friday as they had just had a Praise Assembly and he got VIP.  We aren't really that sure what VIP is, Tom said he got it for always saying hello back to people on the playground when people say hello to him.  Hummm, that is something I've been asking him to do for the last couple of weeks (he normally ignores the hellos that come his way!)  Anyway, it means that he gets to wear a badge that says VIP and he got to stand up in Assembly and be applauded, so that is great.  He certainly was very excited about it, he didn't get it in Reception or Year 1, so he's obviously developed in some way, just not sure which way...

Weekend with Granma and Pop Pop

Racing Finn

We had a busy weekend even though the weather was terrible.  It all started on Thursday afternoon when Mum and Dad arrived for their 'Christmas Weekend'.  Unfortunately it rained the whole time they were here, but we made the best of it.


Tom is doing 'China' as his topic at school at the moment.  We have been asked to bring in any nik naks we may have.  Although Matt has visited (and I have been to Hong Kong) we don't have nik naks - just photos and hard copy photos at that!  Mum and Dad, however, have a whole house full of nik naks and pretty much brought the whole lot with them.  So, on Friday morning, Mum, Dad and I walked down to the school with bags full of stuff, having school Tom in what they were all and written a comprehensive list for Ms Middleton.  We then left him to it and headed home.  It was a dreadful day weatherwise so we stayed in the village.  Went to Daleswear looking for Black Friday specials but didn't find any.  Spent the rest of the morning in a tea room, nattering and avoiding the rain.

At the summit

At 3pm Tom had his school assembly so we all headed out and got the best seats in the house.  It was a pretty comprehensive assembly: everyone had at least one line to say.  They sang a song in Mandarin, did a ribbon and fan dance, and acted out the Willow Pattern Story (Tom had one of the starring roles in this - playing Chang who fell in love with Koon-she (Caitlin) and had all sorts of adventures escaping unhappy parents.  This was a complete surprise, Tom hadn't told us about this at all - what a Romeo he is.  Anyway, it was a good assembly and we all learnt something - the kids have really got into China and showed real enthusiasm for it all.

Saturday Tom had a birthday party engagement at the climbing wall in Kendal.  Matt took him whilst the rest of us had a nice slow breakfast.  We then all met up at Hawkshead Brewery for lunch.  We then headed into Windermere - as it was still raining.  Tom, Mum and Dad went to The World of Beatrix Potter whilst Matt and I had a potter around, we then all headed home.  When we got home Tom was pottering around fine, but then burst into tears saying his eye hurt.  He was inconsolable, in the end he had a bit of a lay down whilst I finished off dinner.  Within 5 mins he was fast asleep (quite strange).  We had to wake him up, make him have some dinner and then he went straight back to bed again - all the while being quite miserable.  Not sure what was up with him, but he went straight back to sleep and stayed asleep the whole night.

With Granma and Pop Pop

Sunday morning Tom came into our room and the eye which he said hurt yesterday had completely blown up - we were both quite shocked!  So something was wrong with it - but Tom said it no longer hurt.  It was still raining, so after a lazy morning we decided to head out to Carnforth for lunch at the station.  We did our usual mooch around, then had lunch 4 x soup and 1 x smoked salmon sandwich (can you guess who had what?).  Then back home, for a play on the model railway and cuddles with Pop Pop.  We then left Mum, Dad and Tom behind for dinner at home whilst we went for a bit of a pub crawl and dinner out in Kirkby Lonsdale - the best use of a bad weather day.

Monday morning Mum and Dad took Tom to school and then packed up in the rain and headed home.  Was lovely to spend time with them, we all had fun despite the weather.  Maybe next time we will be able to go outside somewhere nice with them.

The three fearless leapers

Matt here. The party at the climbing wall in Kendal was quite a revelation. Tom tried every single climb there was, including several that were just too big for him - his arms and legs simply weren't long enough. He really gave them a go though, and he got to the top of every climb that was his size. I think being in the company of a dozen of his good friends gave him the confidence to try anything. It was a joy to watch - they're such a terrific bunch. The real surprise came at the end, however. The instructor asked asked who wanted to do "The Big Jump", without explaining what it was. Only 3 of the 12 put their hands up (Tom, Finn and Matthew), and they were led to a special area, where they were kitted up. They were then told they would be jumping from the 3rd floor straight down to the ground floor (attached to an auto-belayer). I was 90% sure Tom would get to the edge and think better of it, but no, straight down with almost no hesitation. I was stunned, and very proud. I really didn't think he had it in him. You can see the plunge here: https://youtu.be/WhRvNHa3uEU