Last Day

Tom and Sandra

So, today was supposed to be Matt's day to decide what to do, but he looked very very rough when we woke up this morning, and quite frankly was capable of little.  We had breakfast (Sandra was back) and got some tea into Matt to try to revive him.

Tom the eel

It wasn't to be, he didn't want to do much, and I couldn't blame him, I know how he feels and it is pretty terrible.  Now one idea was to go to Santa Cruz to have a look around, but there was no way Matt could manage a bus ride and I didn't really want to leave him on his own for another lonely day. Luckily this morning we had sunshine so we reached a compromise, Tom and I spent the morning outside by the pool whilst Matt went to the spa again to try and steam himself better.  It was a good compromise, I taught Tom how to do sudoku and practised taking lots of underwater photos whilst we enjoyed the sun.  It was quiet, relaxing and educational.  I guess that really I needed some down time after the last couple of weeks and Matt certainly needs down time here, and as long as I can entertain Tom with something he is happy.  We only brought 3 reading books for him, and he has read them over and over and over again and is happy to continue to do so.

Matt came out of the spa with an appetite so we went into town in search of food and ended up with pizza again - there are a huge amount of pizzerias here.  Matt then went back to the hotel for a snooze whilst Tom and I went for a walk along the coast.  We found quite a few interesting spots, some cannons in case of invasion (not sure who from - probably us, it is always us!), a corner of the path which was littered with 100s of stone stacks where people have removed big stones from the beach and made pillars with them.  They made quite an impressive sight all together.

Black sand beach

Next we came to a rather lovely black sand beach where we stopped a good hour whilst Tom had a play.  He turned into a jumping frog, got wet in the spray, made a sand angel, and many more things, he certainly let his silly side go and had fun, all very good.  Once he was done, we continued on around the coast to Loro Parque, where we got the free yellow train back into town.  We then had an ice cream each - Tom is finally into ice creams, we have had to teach him how to eat them as he is missing an 8 year back story of being a messy eater with them (on the day we arrived, we all had an ice-cream and he ended up coated in it and getting a telling off as it soiled 1 of 2 jumpers I brought for him).  Today he ate one with not a drip going on his clothes - he took great pains to point this out to me too!!!!!

Sand monster

We returned to the hotel and had to wake up Daddy to get into our room as our key card had stopped working.  Now Matt NEVER falls asleep during the day - a bit like me, he has to be mega ill to fall asleep, so I guess that was proof enough, not that he needed to prove anything.

We had showers, baths etc then went to Hiper Dino to pick up extremely cheap chorizo to take home, returned home to play a card game before the last buffet of the holiday - today was ebi day - yahooo, Tom and I partook, but Matt didn't.  Then back to our room for a wind down before bed.  Think Matt can't wait to get home tomorrow!

Aqualand is the best

Humpity bumpily ride - Tom's fav

Matt didn't have the best night and was still feeling pretty rough this morning.  I wasn't surprised, I've been there and know how it feels.  Poor Matt is probably known as the local British hypercondriac as you can't even buy paracetamol from a supermarket here, but have to go to a Farmacia.  He is now well known by our local one and his bedside table is testament to most of his spending this holiday - he has certainly spent more on drugs than alcohol - you know he is properly ill when that happens!

Anyway, we had predicted this would be the case today, so Tom and I had booked to visit Aqualand in Costa Adeje.  He really wanted to have a day on water slides, there are two water parks in Tenerife, both in Costa Adeje, one, Siam Park has been voted the world's best and the second, Aqualand is a poor relation.  However, looking at the two parks, I figured that Siam Park would be heaving, and there would be lots of rides Tom wouldn't be able to do, so decided on going to Aqualand instead hoping it would be better for smaller children and less busy.

Fuel stop

We had an early breakfast and then waited outside the hotel at 8.45 for our ride.  It was only us and another lady who was going to Jungle Park, also in Costa Adeje.  It took 2 hours to get there - we went north and then across the island and down to the cost.  As soon as we got to the east side of the island, the sun came out, it was lovely to feel the sun on our faces and I hoped it would stay out for our time in the aqua park - I had plenty of towels and clothes with me just in case it was cold.

We were in luck, on arrival at the park, we stepped off the bus and it was warm and sunny.  It stayed like that for the whole day, in fact I got burnt, because I forgot my swimming cossie does a weird thing on my back and didn't rub cream into it.  My hunch turned out to be correct, the park wasn't full at all, meaning that we had a lovely leisurely time, the worst queue we had was probably about 30 seconds!

Larking around on the 'hot lava' ride

There were all manner of rides, ones where you have to carry an inflatable boat up the steps to ride back down in, ones which you do on your back, others on your front, some inside tubes, some outside.  There was even one where you lay on your back, went down a spiral tube in the pitch black and then got spat out onto a round 'coin spin' sort of contraption, where you went round and round until you dropped down the middle into a pool of water and then had to swim to the side.  I thought that was way beyond Tom's level of bravery, but he proved me wrong.  Twice.  I did it once and that was enough for me (I've become such a wuss since I had Tom, I used to be up for anything!!!!!)

Tom was the perfect height for the park as for the adult rides he had to be over 1.2m and for the kids rides he had to be under 1.4m and he is about 1.3m.  There was only one ride he wouldn't do and that was Kamikaze.  Now, I don't blame him as I wouldn't do it - it was very high and went directly down.  The only people we saw on it were Dad's being egged on by their children and wives, and quite often they came off having banged their arm or hurt their back.  This put Tom off, and I certainly wasn't going to push him to do it!

Thumbs up after a slide

Anyway, Tom was in his element, it took me an age to convince him to have lunch, he was far too busy, but in the end he submitted and ended up eating half a huge pizza with me.  We then did more rides and more rides and more rides.  There was a dolphin show at 3.30, but he wasn't interested, he just wanted to do more rides, so we did.  I think we were the only ones still doing the rides at that point, but it didn't matter.  The only thing that slowed us down was the fact that the ground was rough, and with no shoes on, it meant our feet started to get sore, (mine more so) to the point where nearly every step was painful.

Finally it got to 4.30 and we called it a day.  We got changed, had a look around the shop and then headed outside to get our bus back to Puerto de la Cruz.  We got picked up by the same mini bus, which took us to Siam Park where we got a coach back to the resort.  The coach was full of people who had been to Siam Park, it was chucking out time and there were hundreds and hundreds of people spilling out onto the streets on their way home, we certainly did make the right decision.

Racing along

The coach took us home the short and very bendy way, up and down lots of hairpin bends, with lots of horns being sounded at cars etc.  Tom fell asleep but was woken up by the bends, as we were all being thrown about.  Shame.  We did get to Puerto de la Cruz in an hour though, which was ace.  (It took 2 hours to get there the other way - via motorway).  We found a lonely Daddy in the hotel, he said it had been a long day without us, but he had managed to use the hotel spa, been for a long walk and found a good looking proper Spanish restaurant for us to have tea in.  He wasn't any better, but no worse, what a pants time to get properly ill!

After showers to get the salt out of our hair and a coat of aftersun for my back we headed out to said restaurant, El Camino.  Wow, the boy did good.  It was amazing.  The waiter was a larger than life character and a half, there was no menu - you had to go in to choose.  I went in, but didn't know what anything was, he told me it was all 'not tourist food' to which I said good!  He said we could do us a selection (with no olives or mushrooms)  He did us proud, it was wonderful home cooking and the waiter kept coming back to check on us 'the family' and Tom 'the boss'.  It was simply the best meal we have had here, couldn't tell you what we had, but it was all wonderful and the quantity perfect and the price ridiculous...it was so cheap it was almost insulting!

Inside El Camino

By now Tom was almost desperate to go back to the hotel for sleep, so we took him home.  It was a good day.

Hiking in the clouds

Breakfast of champions

So, Matt had an OK night's sleep but woke up feeling a bit rubbish.  I offered him a day off but he insisted on having a day out with us.  Today's plan was to do some hiking as Tenerife is well known for good walking trails, and I was getting a bit stir crazy being in a town for so long - it is official, I am a country bumpkin!

We had a leisurely breakfast and then headed to the bus station (a good long walk) to get the 345 to Aguamansa from where we picked up a trail to La Caldera a leisure area from which there were loads of trails in the mountains.  Considering Tenerife is well known for good trails, it was very very difficult to get any information on them, and even when we were on the bus we weren't really sure where to get off etc.  The bus was full of Germans and they were similarly confused.

The bus trip took about an hour to get up to the trails - it was probably only 10 miles, but very very steep and full of hairpin bends with coaches coming in the opposite direction.  Poor Matt was looking quite queasy by the time we got off.

Bearded trees

Anyway we got off once we saw an official walking sign and ended up walking an extra 1km to the start of all the trials - never mind it was a nice walk through the forest uphill along a carpet of pine needles.  Now in the literature we had been given we were told there was a restaurant to get food and beer, when we got there the restaurant was firmly closed.  Just as well we went to HiperDino in Puerto de la Cruz to buy some sandwiches 'just in case' before getting the bus, otherwise we would have got quite hungry.




After eating lunch in a picnic spot, we looked on a trail map and found a walk that was 2.9 km each way and decided on that, unfortunately there were no circuits.  Anyway the walk was nice enough, we were surrounded by thin pine trees, which had beards growing on them.  Not sure what the 'beards' were: leaves / roots, but they looked quite strange.  We were up in the clouds and every now and again, clouds would 'pour' in over us and obscure our views.  The terrain was very steep, although the path relatively flat, the rock shot straight up vertically from the path - it would have been nice to see how high it went, but the clouds were too low, in fact we didn't manage a good view point at all during the day, but we certainly enjoyed being in the hills.

On the trail

We returned to La Caldera and the bus stop around 3pm and got the next bus back to Puerto de la Cruz, it only took 39 minutes on the way down - shows how steep the roads were!  We got off by the pizza restaurant we went to yesterday and found ourselves a nice German cafe to stop at for tea and a bun.  We decided on a particularly lovely looking apple strudel as our 'bun' - it was delicious, Tom has added it to his list of favourites.

Tom with his volcanic rock

We got back to the hotel, Matt was straight back in the bath to ease his aching bones.  We had a quiet early evening and then headed into town for a short walk before heading into the buffet.  Rabbit stew and Valencia paella were the highlight for me today.  Then to reception so Matt could have his tea, and back to the hotel room for bed.  Matt was fading fast, faster than Tom!

Tomorrow, Tom and I are leaving Matt behind at the hotel and heading to the south of the island to experience one of the water parks...

Rainy, grey day

So today dawned grey and rainy - oh joy!!!!

Matt did have a good sleep, phew, but wasn't feeling great - aching all over!  He had a bath before breakfast to ease his troubles (I can remember doing the same a couple of weeks ago!), this isn't good.

So at Breakfast we were sat in Sandra's section again.  This is significant, as Sandra is a waitress who has taken a liking to Tom.  Tom gets all shy around her and blushes big time (we've never seen him blush before!!!!!)  Every time she walks past she pats his head, says 'Hola Tom', or gives him a tickle! This morning she asked him for a kiss, but he turned bright bright red and wouldn't give her one, this didn't put her off though and she still spoke to him every time she passed us.  He has pulled!!!!!

Anyway, back to the day, we had promised Tom that we would go swimming again.  Matt wasn't up for it, so I agreed with some trepidation - it was grey and cold outside.  Oh well, we are from Yorkshire and have done the same, going to the pool in Ingleton in the summer!  We had the pool to ourselves.  Matt came with us and read one of Tom's books on a sun lounger whilst just about not shivering.  Tom and I got in and I did many lengths to not get cold.  Tom went in and out and in again, I knew that as soon as I got out I wouldn't want to get in again so stayed in until Tom said that he didn't want to get in again.

We then went in for a hot shower to warm up.  As it was going to be a nothing sort of a day (there is very little to do inside around here) we decided to walk back up the hill towards the Botanical gardens to a restaurant we saw on Sunday - a pizzeria with a 18 hole mini golf course.  We thought it would be fun and not too arduous and we could do it in the rain if needs be.

We found a new nicer way to walk there today - a pedestrian alley away from the roads, with shops, restaurants and viewpoints scattered along it.  We found the restaurant again with no trouble and headed to a outside seat under a roof (just in case it started raining), we ordered 2 pizzas between the 3 of us - wow they were big!  We managed them though - what troopers we are.  We think this is the German enclave of the town as everything seems to be in German first, the waitress was German and everyone around us was German.  It's not often you are British and alone these days.

Tom, plus bovine friend

Anyway, once we finished our pizza and then went to do the mini golf, just as it started raining - typical.  Oh well, we were expecting it and had our waterproofs, so being the stoical Brits that we are, we played mini golf in the rain.  Tom did way better than he has in the past, scoring only 6 more points than me (in the past he has been a good 50 points or so ahead).  Matt of course won!

We were going to go in search of some more gardens and play areas afterwards, but the rain was coming down enough to put us off, so we went back to the hotel via the pharmacy to get Matt some medicine and had a lazy afternoon (Tom writing thank you cards), Matt collapsed on the bed.  We then went out for a pre-dinner stroll, taking in the port of Puerto de la Cruz and the old town, not a huge amount to report, but Matt did manage to find a holiday T-shirt which he was happy with.

We came back, had another hot bath each and then played cards before heading down for tea - all the usual stuff, with cod, swordfish, entrecôte and turkey.  Sandra was there too - Tom blushed as soon as he saw her, she couldn't resist a pat on his head.  We then retired to reception so Matt could have his pot of tea and then back to our room for bed.

Zoo day

Hungry gorilla

Today, in an attempt to cheer up Tom, we decided to go to Loro Parque, it was voted Europe's best zoo and the second best in the world so we were expecting it to be good.  It was certainly the most pristine zoo I've ever been too, felt like it had only just opened as all the facilities looked brand new.

First of all we had to get there, what better way than on a bright yellow road train which was free?  It only took about 15 minutes, all up hill.  A lovely way to see the town.  We joined the queue for the tickets and then headed in.  We started off saying hello to the gorillas - who were very good to us, walking on 2 legs to get leaves from the middle of a bush - they must have been good.  The on to the penguins where we stood on a moving walkway to take us around.  Here they had real snow falling onto the colony where there were a huge mix of penguins: Marconi, Humboldt, King and others.  One of the keeper's jobs was to shovel the snow around the colony for the penguins - must be a bit of a surreal job to have on an island where it is never winter!  We really enjoyed watching them, and then noticed an area where there were puffins.  I have never seen puffins in a zoo before?  When you watch them diving under the water, they look exactly like penguins, just smaller.

Smiling sloth

Next stop was the sloths.  We were really excited to see them as they are Tom's favourite animal at the moment and we didn't tell him they were here just in case we didn't find them.  They were actually really good to watch, they were moving around their enclosure, albeit slowly, but they were doing things, and with their goofy grin, they really are endearing.

Next was the Sea Lions and a show which was very well done, all done to music and well choreographed (in fact all the shows were like that, which is probably why they are so high up the list of the best zoos).  We then found ourselves a German restaurant for lunch.  Meatballs for the boy, schnitzel for me and roast chicken for the the big boy - we all stuffed it down and then headed for the Orca show which was very well done, we sat at the back of the splash zone, thinking we would probably be OK.  We got a little splashed, but nothing too bad (Matt's camera got a bit wet which was worrying, but it seems to be working OK).  Tom loved it.

Orca show

Next we went to see the big cats including a white tiger, but we couldn't see it.  However, the dolphin show was just about to start, so we sat down for that (very well done again) and by the time we came out the white tiger was prancing around, much to our joy - both Matt and Tom love a big cat.  There was also a Black Jaguar, but it was hiding up a tree and was not going to come down!

We then stopped for an ice-cream.  Tom decided on an ice lolly, somehow the ice lolly got stuck to his lips (think of the effect of licking a piece of frozen metal).  I couldn't get the lolly unstuck by pulling etc so in the end had to lick his lips to warm them and the lolly up to get the lolly unstuck from his lips.  What a carry on, have you ever seen that happen to anyone else?!  Luckily he didn't get upset, he just laughed, but how bizarre.

Dolphin show

Next up was the Loro show, Loro meaning parrots which was fun.  There was a great sense of humour running through it which was quite an achievement considering they were doing everything in 3 languages.  I think this was my favourite show as the parrots and other exotic birds got to fly directly overhead us all, we could feel their wings flap as they zoomed past us.

By now it was getting on for 5.00, so we quickly did what was left, which was the alligators, more parrots and the aquarium.  However, Matt was beginning to feel really tired and washed out so we headed back to the entrance and got our little yellow train home.  When we got back to the hotel, Matt crashed, he said he felt really tired and he didn't look great to be honest.  He had a bath and then we headed down for dinner at 7.30.  Today we didn't have any alcohol as Matt was feeling so bad (he really must be ill), they had fresh calamari on which was really good, I ate loads of it with salad.  Tom did well too - he plumped for pizza and battered calamari.  Matt had a small amount of salad and calamari too.

White tiger

We then went to reception so that Matt could have some tea (he has been missing his tea - poor thing) Matt fell asleep straight after drinking it, we had to wake him up to take him back to the room!  Tom went straight to bed and Matt followed not long after after taking some drugs.  Let's hope he has a good night's sleep and is feeling better in the morning.

Sunshine and fig trees

Palm trees by the ocean

So, our first full day on Tenerife dawned with blue sky.  Hurray.  We decided to have a quiet morning, so first had a lie in (we have to as breakfast doesn't start until 8am!)  We hit breakfast and were met by a huge array of food.  Tom went for waffles, jam and chocolate doughnut, whilst I went for gorgeous artisan bread with cheese and hard boiled eggs, whilst Matt went for some rather dodgy looking bacon (you should NEVER try to eat bacon outside of the UK) cheese, chorizo and churros with chocolate sauce.  An eclectic mix if you ask me!

As the sun was shining and we had an excited boy who wanted to go swimming, we decided we HAD to hit the pool, so off we went.  We got our towels and reserved some loungers and got in the pool - it was a little on the cold side, but once we got in it was fine.  We even managed to do some sunbathing, in fact Tom took to it really well, lying in the sun reading his books.  Matt was hiding in the shade and still worried about getting sun burn whilst I was constantly searching for the sun as the shade kept enveloping me.  

By the pool

We spent a good 2 hours by the pool (really good for us) and then came back to the room for showers so we could head into the town to find some tapas for lunch.  We didn't have to look far, we ended up in a place called Cafe Berlin for tapas: grilled prawns, croquettes (Tom's fav), spanish omelette and calamari.  All very lovely and washed down with 0% beer (for me) and a huge glass of sangria (Matt - naughty boy!).

Life at the bottom

After a swift siesta at the hotel, we then walked up a very steep hill to the Botanical Gardens.  They were quite interesting, had a huge fig tree which was impressive, some other interesting things that I didn't know the names of, some cacti and other things, including lots of birds of paradise - of which there are plenty at the hotel.  After exploring fully we called it a day and headed back down to the shore, stopping for a 3pm ice cream on the way - very nice it was too.

We then had baths and played top trumps and managed to delay going for dinner until 7.30pm, which was a bonus as when we arrived the dining room was full to bursting, within 15 mins it had cleared out.  We didn't have to queue for anything.  Tom was tired by the time we left, but that works for us too, as then when we go to the room, he heads straight to bed and falls asleep immediately whilst we can do stuff.

Food wasn't quite as good today - no chorizo sausage and the paella wasn't as nice, but still we managed to go up 3 or 4 times for bits and pieces, Tom ate up well as well.

Amazing fig tree

So, Tom hasn't been himself for the last couple of weeks, he doesn't seem the happy-go-lucky boy that he has always been.  Nothing seems to make him happy or excite him, even his birthday didn't get him really happy.  Today we found he had bitten his thumb skin so it was bleeding.  We don't know what is up, we have tried to find out but haven't really got anywhere.  I am very aware that since I went on HRT, my mood hasn't been great - it is almost as if I don't have any emotions at the moment, I don't experience highs or lows, just nothing.  For example for his party, I should have been on a high during it as everyone was enjoying it, and then I should have been relieved once it was all over, but it didn't feel any of it.  I am now worried that my lack of emotion is rubbing off on him.  Once I get my MRI results, I am going to head to the Drs to talk it over and see if maybe there is another HRT I can try that might be better...

Long Day

Someone slept well

Didn't have the best night's sleep last night, never do when you have to be up early!  Gave up and got up at 5.45am, had a shower which woke up the boys so we all got dressed, checked out, took the car to the long stay parking and then the bus to the terminals (very jolly bus driver, which we found unusual, normally the car park bus drivers are mega miserable!).

We checked in very easily, all the Jet2 desks were open and manned and there was no queue, in fact we were the only ones in the whole of check in which we found strange, but lovely.  Then to security, we had about a 2 minute wait, and we shot through, no being pulled over for stupid things like we did last time in Manchester (I got pulled over because I had a pack of cards in my bag, and Tom because he had a tractor in his bag!)

Ice cream time

We had breakfast in Wetherspoons (Matt got very excited because they had Stornoway Black Pudding buns) bought our lunch from Boots (Jet 2 don't provide any snacks even without a charge) and then headed to the gate ready for boarding, we left early and after an uneventful flight we arrived a good half an hour early, which would have been great, except obviously the baggage handlers weren't ready for us so we had to wait a good 40 mins for our bags to come out, and then one of ours arrived and the other didn't, meaning it took a good while before we got to the Jet2 desk and our transfer. 

So, we were expecting a coach transfer, but no, it was only us and an old lady who were going to Puerto de la Cruz so we were in a mini bus with a driver who was having a nap when we arrived - it was siesta time after all! Oh and it was hot, really hot when we came out of the terminal building.  We weren't expecting that as the weather forecast has not been great.  We shot up the motorway to Santa Cruz and then went a very lumpy bumpy way across the island to the North coast and to Puerto de la Cruz where we are staying.  We were a little nervous at doing a package holiday, so decided to choose a resort that is lesser known and chose the best hotel we could here.  The hotel is very quiet and full of old people.  Our room, however, is way bigger than we were expecting - and we have been able to rearrange our room so Tom actually has a little corner all to himself meaning we don't all have to go to bed at the same time.  We think the hotel is a little posh, as it stipulates that men should wear trousers at dinner time - luckily Matt brought some with him.  Our room is on the sea side (which we asked for) and looks out across the palms to the Atlantic Ocean.  After unpacking, we headed into the town to get a feel for it.  We found lots of restaurants, touristy shops, and walked along the sea wall.  It was windy and much cooler here than at the airport, so we stayed in our jeans and jumpers, but once out of the wind, it did actually warm up - we ended up stripping off and having an ice-cream before having a little play on the beach. 

The Atlantic Ocean

Tom made a friend on the beach - a boy from London who had never heard of Yorkshire or Leeds even?!  Anyway, apparently Tom was the first English boy he had come across so he was very excited and the two played together on the black sand beach for a good 30 mins or so.  Tom was dressed completely incorrectly with jeans, jumper etc.  He got soaked, but it was good fun for him.

View from our balcony

We then went in search of a supermarket where we could buy cold beer, and found one on the second attempt.  Phew, we returned to the room, had beer and some crisps and then went in search for the indoor pool in the hotel (one of the reasons we chose this hotel - it has an indoor pool in case the weather is bad).  Turns out it is part of the spa, costs €12 each for 2 hours and children aren't allowed!)  Oh hum, we will have to use the outdoor pool regardless, Tom is desperate for a swim.

Tom hits the wall

We had showers each and then headed for tea.  We managed to turn up at 7pm, which we thought was very late for us - the place was rammed.  It opened at 6.30 and I think most people were there at 6.30!    Most people were old, there were some children, but not many.  The buffet they put on was pretty full-on, there was food everywhere, of all different types and it was pretty hard to see what was on where.  Tom went down the pasta route (as he always tends to these days) and had pasta with a seafood sauce, lasagna and some salads.  I had cous cous salad whilst Matt went to fill his plate.  I then went back and got some paella, roast lamb and plenty of salad.  Matt went back and found some chorizo - ooooooooh.  Anyway, we all did well and probably ate way more than we should have done!  Tom hit a wall and requested we went back to the hotel room for bed so we did so.

It had been a very long day after all.

School Report

Tom got his mid year school report this week.  We didn't get to read it until we got to the hotel in Glasgow, but we were very happy when we did.  Everything was good, nothing unexpected and lots very very positive.  The lack of concentration / easy distraction thing came up AGAIN, but I think it will always be so.  She said he is full of knowledge that he likes to share, but he doesn't boast, which is lovely.  He's ahead of the game for Maths and Science and where he needs to be with reading and writing.  What more can we ask? We were very happy, so Tom got the pudding of his choice as a reward.

Flu

Slackliner at Malham Cove

If you were wondering why the blog has been a bit lax recently it is because I have been knocked out with what I think was the flu.  I've never said I've had the flu before, but this was something I've never experienced before and very nasty.  Started with hot and cold flushes and aching bones.  I spent a lot of time in the bath warming up and easing the aches.  I had no appetite until food was put in front of me and then I ate well.  I felt very very lethargic, all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball in bed, but of course, it was Tom's birthday and I had a lot of cakes to get out - typical.  The second week saw me coughing and coughing and coughing, proper horrible coughing where you use up all your energy, but nothing happens, I can see why young children and old adults get pneumonia as a complication.  Anyway, it was truly awful and took me out of circulation for 2 weeks.  Luckily I timed it so I was pretty much better by the time we flew to Tenerife - phew.

Anyway, a precise of what happened in those two weeks:

Fun day with the Mannings

The first Saturday I had a very very easy morning, whilst the boys went to Skipton for football with Caitlin and Rich.  They were gone quite a while and I was pleased to have the opportunity to just collapse and relax with no guilt.

The evening was spent round the Bickerstaffs babysitting Jack and Seth whilst Janine and Craig had a date together (something we had been arranging for months - the fact I wasn't 100% was not going to stop me!)  In the end they weren't very long (think they felt guilty me babysitting whilst ill, but the boys were absolutely fine and it really wasn't a hassle)

Sunday, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself.  Steph had been in touch and asked if we would like to go for a walk and have tea afterwards.  We jumped at the chance, they are a lovely family and we have always said we would like to see more of them (since this weekend, they have put in an offer for a house in Ingleton, so they will hopefully soon be almost neighbours which is great).  We met at Malham Tarn and did a walk down to the cove.  At the cove, some people had strung up a slack line and were walking across it (well trying too anyway).  We arrived exactly at the right time and spent quite a while watching them - there was a lot of falling off, but they were securely attached and bounced back fine.

Birthday lassi in Gargrave

We walked back up the hill to the Tarn and then went to their house in Stainforth for tea - a lovely rich lamb stew with beans, roast potatoes and veggies - very lovely too.  However, at this point, Tom who had been a bit off colour for the last couple of days, completely flagged, complaining of a sore throat.  Luckily Steph had some capol, so he got dosed up, but he didn't eat much which was a shame.

Anyway, it was a lovely day, with lovely company, and very nice to get out and about after being stuck inside for so long.


The following week was a bit mad.  Tom got worse, he cried on Monday morning when I asked him to open his mouth, so I took him to the Drs, fearing tonsillitis, but it was just a sore throat (phew!)  He had two days off school though which didn't help with a very busy cake week.  Luckily, Pat and Bob were about to come and help out.  They sat with Tom in the lounge and watched videos, whilst I caked in the kitchen.  It was a huge help, as otherwise I would have had to cake in the evening, and by 7pm I was pretty much exhausted, meaning I could collapse which was very much needed.

The birthday kids

Friday of course was a special day - Tom turned 8!  Wow!  A proper, proper age!!!!!  We got up an hour earlier than usual so he could open all his presents (thank you to everyone, he was very spoiled of course!) and then he scooted happily to school for the day.  In the evening we headed to Gargrave for an Indian at Bollywood Cottage (his choice), where we met up with Grannie and Grandpa with yet more presents.  He didn't cover himself in glory, pretty much didn't eat any food and didn't behave particularly well either!  He certainly wasn't himself which was evident in the fact he fell asleep almost immediately on the way home and went straight to bed on our arrival, meaning he didn't speak to anyone on the phone - sorry everyone!

The Yellow Submarine cake

Saturday, Tom didn't go to football, as we were worried he still wasn't 100% and with his party coming up on Sunday, didn't want to over exhaust him.  So we had a quiet morning.  I went up to have a chat with him, as he still wasn't a happy boy.  Turns out that he and Harrison had fallen out at school over something.  He cried and said they weren't speaking and he didn't like it.  I got on the phone to Susan, they were around so we walked down to see them (Harrison is the eldest of 4, so their house is always a little chaotic but full of fun, with Susan and Terry always very very welcoming)  Anyway, Harrison and Tom made up immediately, and were gone playing almost immediately.  The Wards were off to the zoo that day, they had one seat left in their car and offered it to Tom - Tom jumped at the chance, so off he went with the others for a lovely day out!  Matt and I were left to ourselves, so went to the pub for lunch and then I had a delivery to do at Billy Bobs near Skipton - a 2 tier rainbow solar system cake (not at all complicated?!) for a 5 year old!  We delivered it and then went to Keelham for a quick shop before returning home.  Tom had tea at the Wards so we went to The Old Post Office for a quickie before picking him up.  He ended up having a great day, all because he and Harrison fell out!


Sunday was Tom's joint birthday party with Caitlin.  He had asked me for a 1960s disco party so I booked a children's dance entertainer to do a 1960s portion with Tom and a more contemporary half for Caitlin.  Her communication skills weren't the best meaning I went into full panic mode when I couldn't get hold of her, but her party skills were absolutely amazing.   She did some great dances: one for Hey Hey We're the Monkees, one for Twist & Shout and another one, which I can't remember.  She also did party games, and brought proper presents for the children - Tom got a book about The Beatles and a piece of film from The Monkees with full certification etc - we weren't expecting any of that.  She played loads of 1960s music as well, all through lunch.  We did frankfurter hot dogs and crisps and pineapple and cheese on sticks - all of which went (calculation was 1.5 hot dogs per child and I think we had 1 left over which I snaffled down).

Tom and the Hubble telescope - thank you Martin

I did a yellow submarine birthday cake for Tom (lemon - his favourite at the moment) and a chocolate and cherry cake on the side just in case there wasn't enough - it was a full class party so almost 30 children, we came home with very little.  I, as usual didn't do party bags, but got everyone a pair of blue John Lennon specs which they got at lunchtime.  They went down very well, so much so that about 5 children turned up to school wearing them the next day!

Anyway, the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, and Elly the dance person was AMAZING, she had the kids hanging on every word.  I would have gladly paid her twice the rate she asked for, she definitely has oodles of that special something that gets kids attention.

We got home, unloaded and then Tom spent half an hour opening all his new presents.  He got loads of Lego, so he'll be busy for a while and loads and LOADS of money - wow, he has more than us at the moment, although we have encouraged him to put some into the bank.  Thank you to everyone, there are some very generous people out there.

Gourmet Weekend

Sleepy in Mold

Last time we saw Jude and Craig (just before Christmas) we arranged a meet up for January to sample the culinary delights of Mold.  They have had a couple of restaurants win awards etc and as Tom is a relatively good eater, thought they should introduce us to them.

So on Friday we picked Tom up straight from school and headed over to Mold.  We made good time and got there around 5.30 after no hold ups, which is ace considering we had to go through quite a few busy motorway junctions. We more or less headed straight out to their preferred Indian, Parivaar. They had some interesting dishes, I went for a fish curry which was delicious and everyone else was happy with theirs too.

We got home, put Tom to bed and had a whisky or two before retreating ourselves.

Craig and Tom getting into the spirit

Saturday morning we had a quiet time, headed into Mold to experience the market, I had a look around a sugar craft shop and the boys found a rather strange toy shop to browse.  After a lunch of homemade soup we headed to Loggerheads for a walk, where we did some cave exploration, before having tea and a bun in the cafe before heading home.



The evening saw us in El Tomate, a tapas restaurant, where we indulged in many many tapas - all very lovely.  We probably ate too much and drank too much, but hey if you can't enjoy yourself from time to time why bother?

Tom did get a bit tired in the restaurant so we headed home, put him to bed and indulged in a bit more alcohol and a roaring fire before retiring ourselves.

Atop Moel Famau

Sunday morning we thought we should do a proper walk so headed to Moel Famau - the tallest hill in the area.  It was a good slog up, but the views made it worth it and the weather wasn't too bad.

After a good lunch at the cafe at loggerheads, we headed home, tummies full and happy, souls lifted by the scenery.  Thanks Jude and Craig, what a great way to spend the weekend.