Deer Shed

Best ride in the festival

Friday - we were bad parents and took Tom out of school for the last day of school.  We were upfront with Tom's teacher and were surprised to get a telling off!  Apparently it was not a good idea, it didn't look well upon Matt as he is a Governor, we would have to write a letter to get permission etc etc.  We then asked the Head Teacher who told us not to worry, not to write a letter and to enjoy ourselves!  Not sure why Mrs Clements was so funny about it - she didn't actually 'teach' anything in that last week - Tom came home saying they weren't doing any work, and they didn't.  Monday was rehearsals for the show, Tuesday was the show, Wednesday they played games, Thursday was swimming gala and more games and Friday you could take in a board game and they were having a picnic.  Tom actually did more work at Deer Shed on Friday than he did at school in one week!  Humpfh - rant over!

Work horse

So, it was raining on Friday morning - not a good start!  We packed the car and headed over.  First stop was Leyburn to pick up some beer (in cans as glass not allowed) and tea and a bun before arriving at the site around 11.45.  Wow!  The site was already full!!!!!   How????!!!!  We arrived around 11am last year and it was still empty!  We actually struggled to find a space for our two tents (we were meeting up with another family and they had given us their tent to pitch because they wouldn't be able to get there until late).   We did manage to find space, and got both tents up, it was windy - so it really tested us as we held on to the tents for dear life to stop them blowing away as they went up.  By 1pm we had them up, so we put all our stuff inside and headed to get our wrist bands and into the arena to find some food.  The food at Deer Shed is normally amazing and reasonably priced (well for a festival anyway).  We weren't disappointed.  I started the festival off with falafel with feta and roasted red peppers with tsaziki - it was super yummy.  Tom had a crepe with lemon and sugar and Matt took advantage of no queue at the pizza stall and had a Hoisin Duck pizza.  We were all very happy.  We had a look around the bar area, in the merchandising area (they do a great line of t-shirts and jumpers but sooooooo expensive that we can't possibly bring ourselves to buy any!)

I then looked through the programme and noticed that Sam Sam Bubbleman was on stage at 2.45pm so we did a little more exploring and headed over to the big top to watch it.  He was brilliant as he always has been, and because it was Friday afternoon on a school day, the tent wasn't overcrowded, meaning Tom could get to the front and the bubbles held.

Festival crowd!

Afterwards we headed back to the tent, to finish sorting it out and have a bit of a relax before heading back down to the craft area where Tom decided to make a willow and paper lamp.  It was a team effort in the end (well once Matt turned up - he sampled the bar on the way in and turned up with some cider and beer).  At one point I worried if we would ever be able to do it - especially when seeing what other 'children' were doing (for 'children' substitute parents), there were some amazing complicated star shaped lanterns happening, we went for the classic pyramid and actually did a good job.  Tom did well when he concentrated - pity he was distracted by everything going on around him! If I prodded him he was OK, but left to his own devices, we wouldn't have managed any of it - usual story then!

We were just enjoying a sit down after finishing the lantern when we found out that the Leighs were about to arrive.  So we went back to the tent and up to the car park to find them and lead them to their tent.  They were travelling very light, so it was just the one trip for them to get everything to the their tent (it took us two trips - but then we did have a tent 3 times the size, with camping table etc).  They got themselves quickly sorted and then we all headed to the arena for tea.  The Leighs were starving and stressed: this week they had moved house and Fabian had his last day at Primary school.  Roz was having an interview for a new job on Monday in London (they live in Sheffield) so Deer Shed was a welcome distraction to the chaos going on around them!

Before the rain

Food: I had Tibetan spinach and chickpea curry with a vegetable momo.  Tom went for Whitby fish & chips and Matt had chicken and mango korma.  We were all very happy with our menu choices.  We set ourselves up on the hill and enjoyed the music playing whilst the kids played and we chatted.  We stayed to the end of the last set - a record for us.  The kids went for Churros right at the end, so we had a almost midnight snack of them.

So in the middle of the night the heavens opened and it rained, rained, rained.  Wow.  We were all wrapped up and cosy in our tent and our tent was amazing - not one droplet of water entered it!  Also the rain meant that people making noise in the camping field went to bed and the white noise of the rain on the roof helped me drop off to sleep.  It was a win, win, win situation, plus although it was raining, it didn't get cold at night, making the sleeping in a tent thing all the more comfortable.

Water rocket

We got up around 8am the next morning - Tom of course had slept through everything.  We discovered that the rain had made the festival field very very muddy, true festival experience for us this year then.  We started the day off with some crumpets from the 'Crumpets from Scrumpets' stall - this was Matt's favourite of all the food stalls - nothing to do with the dress sense of the Scrumpets - no really!!!!  I had a crumpet with red pesto and herbie mushrooms - very nice, whilst the boys went for butter and cheese (very boring!).  We then got ourselves ready for the day.  We went to the science tent, made a water rocket, paper airplanes, had a go on a marble run, and took part in the Street Science games held by Newcastle University - Tom was pretty good and was able to try to explain some of the science he was experiencing which was fab.  We saw a magic show which inspired the kids for the rest of the festival as there was a magic stall and they all bought tricks which they worked on in the evening.

Fabian and Tom on the Ferris Wheel

After lunch of Macaroni cheese x 3 we headed to the sports field for a game of cricket which Louis and Tom really enjoyed.  Louis and Roz then split from us, Matt went back to the tent for a lie down and Fabian, Tom, myself and Andy headed back to the main arena so Fabian and Tom could have a go on the Ferris wheel.  They waited patiently in queue a good 40 mins and had a fab time on the ride - especially so because they got longer than average as the operator was busy putting together a roll-up!

Tom and I then split from Andy and Fabian to do some arty crafty bits, but when we got to the area, everything was closing - oh well, we went back to the tent to see Matt instead. We had a little down time before taking the chairs to the hill in time for King Creosote, an artist Matt knows and likes.

Gorgeous light over the camping field

The rest of the evening was spent on the hill listening to music, drinking and eating: Fish finger sandwich with cheesy beans for Tom, veggie curry from Gandhi's flip flop for me and a posh pie for Matt.   It was lovely and warm until about 9pm when it suddenly when cold and windy, then we enjoyed a magnificent sunset until at 10pm the heavens opened and it chucked it down with rain.  This was at the same time as the headliner Kate Tempest came on stage - she's a poet, who reads poets to music.  Her second sentence included the word 'fucking' which wasn't great as Deer Shed is full of families, so we decided to head back to the tent.  By all accounts she put on a great performance, but we weren't prepared to get wet!  Guess we aren't the hardened festival goers after all!!!!!!

Dry stone wall and owl

It rained quite a bit in the night, which meant I managed a pretty good night's sleep (well for sleeping in a tent anyway).  We got up, shook the water from the tent and headed down for breakfast - I found a stall doing smoked salmon, avocado and scrambled eggs and very good they were too.  By the time we got back to the tent it had dried off, so we packed it up and took everything back to the car (it took 3 trips this time - but we couldn't get hold of a trolley as everyone was doing the same).  We then headed to the Wilder Wild, where there were outdoor themed activities: den building, blacksmithing, dream catcher making, scouts and cubs and a clay modelling workshop.  Tom took part in the clay modelling - they were supposed to make faces, but he ended up making a dry stone wall and I made an owl to go on top.  We met some lovely huge Newfoundland doggies and we chatted to the local scout leader for a while - he had a blanked full of patches from around the world.  I would have stayed chatting for a while, but Tom ended up dragging me away - how rude!!!!!!!

In the Wilder Wild

Once done there, the Leighs decided to go home as they had loads to do.  We headed to the arena for lunch: Tibetan for me, Fish and Chips for Tom again and Satay for Matt.  As black clouds were rolling in, we decided to make it a day and head home as well.

It was a good weekend, felt like we only scratched the surface of the activities, there was so much going on.  Was great to spend it with the Leighs, who seemed to enjoy our company - much better than last year!  Hoping we go back next year...

Last week at school

My new friend

Tom had a very busy last week of school:

Monday:I spent the day at Dalton Zoo being a zookeeper for the day (birthday present from Matt).  It was a glorious day, I spent the day mucking out various animal quarters, prepared meat for lunch, fed the maned wolves, primates, raccoons.  Got to see behind the scenes with the big cats, and best of all fed a giraffe and got to stroke the rhinos which were ace - surprisingly soft skin.

Feeding the giraffes

Jaguar feeding

Tuesday: Tom was in the KS2 performance of Super Sal, which was ace.  Tom was in the chorus singing songs, Year 6 all had big roles and were amazing.  I don't know many year 6 children, but I thought the production was brilliant and those parents who had seen other Year 6 productions said this was the best by far.  All down to the new Year 6 teacher: Mr Prince, who seems to have made a big impression.  I found myself welling up as various children shone, and I didn't even know who they were - can you imagine what state I'll be in when Tom is in Year 6?!
Wednesday: Bikeability followed by hair cuts
Thursday: Swimming Gala at Ingleton Pool which was really good fun.  Shame they didn't open the shop though - we were all parched by the end.  Tom actually won a race: the back stroke which was fantastic - I actually had butterflies in my stomach as he tried so hard!  School disco in the evening.  Phew!

Cheese with the Nicolsons

Game on!

This weekend we were staying at home because we were being visited by the Nicolsons - Matt's old friends from University.  They now live near Middlesborough.  Anyhow, they all (apart from Kae) love cheese and were very keen to visit Wensleydale, so we arranged for them to come and stay.

Tom and I went down to the pool in the morning.  It was raining but Tom didn't mind.  Unfortunately we didn't know anyone down there today (it was Gala day) so Tom had to play by himself as I didn't have my swimmers with me - oops.

A helping hand

We met up with the Nicolson's at the Creamery to find that they had been there for over an hour already - they had done the museum and had already tucked into a starter in the tasting room.  We met up with them in the restaurant and we all had a cheesy lunch (except Kae who managed to find the only meal with no cheese in it!)

Unfortunately the weather was terrible, meaning you couldn't see any of the Dales at all.  We were planning to do the walk around Ribblehead, but we decided to call it a day and head straight over to Ingleton.  Now, James - the Nicolson's eldest is train mad.  He's 11 and just got his first job as a volunteer at the North York Moors Railway.  He was delighted to learn that Tom had a model railway, it was definitely toy of the weekend, which was great as Tom has lost interest in it in recent months.  We had to literally drag the two of them away from it.  Amy, luckily, was happy playing with all the farm animals and vehicles on it - so we had peace!

Flying Scotsman

We took them for a lap of the village and then ended up in the Old Post Office for a quick one - I introduced Kae to Rhubarb and Ginger gin and the kids played Connect 4.  We headed back to the house and actually managed to have a BBQ this time - British style though - cooked outside, eaten inside!  They all had good appetites and wiped me out of food!  I had 12x lamb, garlic and herb kofta kebabs from Booths which we had in the Peak District with the Singers and were really yummy.  Turned out the Nicolson's don't like lamb, but they tried them as they looked good and ate the lot!  Guess I converted them!

Sunday morning after much playing on the model railway, we took them swimming in the pool - it was sunny again so we enjoyed sunbathing whilst the kids played.  Believe it or not James and Amy both caught the sun in the pool - who would have thought it - they have predominantly Asian skin, so quite a coup for Ingleton! 

Doing the Ribblehead circular

We then headed to Ribblehead in time to see The Flying Scotsman come across the viaduct.  We then did the 3 mile loop walk, with a huge hiatus by the river, where James and Tom went paddling.  Finally we got ourselves to Hawes and Penny Garth Cafe for a greasy spoon lunch.  

A good weekend, James and Amy are good kids, a pleasure to have them and Malcom and Kae with us.

Peak District Camping with the Singers

Get this, a weekend that dawns bright and sunny and stays that way AND when we are camping - get in!!!!!!!

Setting up camp

This was a weekend we have been planning for ages - a meet up with the Singers - it has been way way too long (about 5 years we think) and silly considering we aren't a huge distance apart!  Helen got the ball rolling by suggesting we go camping somewhere and found us a campsite in the Peak District.

It is a hassle to camp for one night - but it was the only way we would meet up, so we fixed a date.  Saturday morning was spent filling the car with all our equipment including our huge new Eskimo which plugs into the car to stay cold (how posh!).  We went the long way round, via Cheadle Hulme to see Matt's old house (from when he was 1 till he was 6).  We found it - unfortunately it was looking quite unloved.  It was in an area of gentrification, so might not be long before it is looking a bit happier.

Photobomb!

We carried on our way towards and through Leek and met up with the Singers at 'Cottage Delights' tea room which was very nice.  Finn and Tom got on immediately as did Al and Matt and Helen and me.  Funny how friendships work isn't it? I hadn't seen Helen for 5 years but it was more like 5 days. Al and Matt hardly know each other but they have a common love of motorbikes and beer and fatherhood which is more than enough to chat about for a weekend.  Tom and Finn couldn't remember each other, but because their parents are friends, they are almost by default going to get on.  It is almost as if they know they are going to be friends, because they have been pre-approved.  This happens every time we meet up with friends and their children.  It's a new phenomenon, well for me anyway as I can't remember ever staying with friends of Mum and Dad.  I guess the Internet, ability to drive and a bigger disposable income etc has made staying in touch with friends much easier for us.

Climbing trees

Anyhow, after lunch we headed to the campsite and pitched our tents.  Ours was about 3 times the size of the Singers one - but they had bought their small one.  We only have one!  Finn had his own tent - which he was sleeping in for the first time ever.  Once we were set up we sat down, cracked open the beer and lager and sat down, relaxed and enjoyed watching the children play - they found a great den under a tree and were making up games with other children.  We were made to play cricket as well, you'll be glad to hear!

We had a BBQ - the Singers of course had a proper one, whilst I positioned a disposable one on top of a couple of rocks I found in Tom and Finn's den.  The difference between me and Helen - she tends to stress about everything and is therefore prepared for every eventuality whilst I am happy to go with the flow and make things up as I go along e.g. she had 3 pairs of shoes, I had 1!.  The food tasted good.  The sunset was amazing, chatter was easy, it was a good night.

The morning saw us having breakfast - cake for us (don't need to spread it or cook it) whilst the Singers were a little more prepared with cereal, tea and coffee.  We had a lazy(ish) morning, packed up and headed to Dovedale for the afternoon.  We couldn't walk far as Matt's foot is still hurting him, but we managed to get to the stepping stones.  Matt dipped his aching feet in the cold water whilst the children played.  Finn was straight in, Tom a little more nervous, but with Finn to follow he didn't hang around long.  They were playing in the water for ages, it was FREEZING,  I was impressed.

Crossing the stepping stones

Great friends

We walked back to the car park and said our goodbyes, we headed home whilst the Singers went for lunch (our cake was still satisfying us!).  We went home via Buxton and Glossop.  Poor Finn ended up in Buxton Hospital on the way home with a urinary infection - he kept it quiet until we left and then told Helen that he was in a lot of pain - bless him!

Anyway, it was a fab weekend - made brilliant by the fact the sun didn't stop shining.  Thanks Helen, Al and Finn, lets not wait so long before we do it again!

Busy penultimate week at school

It is mega busy during the week at the moment.

This week we had:

Monday: Pat and Bob over for tea, Tom also got his school report today, see below.  Pretty much as expected, still very pleased with it.
Tuesday: Cubs for Tom and parents evening for us.  Mrs Clements told us how Tom's class is the best class she has ever taught or will ever teach as they are all so emotionally mature - reflecting good parenting: think that was a compliment.
Wednesday: Cycling after school followed by swimming badge - only 800m this time!  Tom smashed it, didn't slow down the whole time he did it!
Thursday: Summer Fair and Farmer's Market - ridiculously stressful, especially as I decided to be different again and put in a Pimms Bar which old members of the PTA and teachers weren't particularly happy about - even though I had a letter from the council giving me permission to run it.  The school then put on additional conditions on me at the last minute, but I won the day, people were appreciative of it and it made money.  Altogether, we took over £1,000 which everyone was surprised by - phew!
Friday: All Stars Cricket

Too much for a week, and on top of this, of course, I had cakes to make both for Lily Pad Bakery and for the Summer Fair.

1940's Ingleton with the Watsons

Sentries

So this weekend was 1940's weekend, and the village fills up with people in Home Guard, Resistance, vintage Army, Air Force and Navy uniforms along with some Nazis.  They wonder around the village, dance to 1940s tunes, etc etc.  It's a fun weekend, especially the Sunday when most things happen.  This year they had gone one better with a vintage fair in the Community Centre car park - which included dodgems. and a bar in the square run by the Old Post Office.

Friday, we decided to get in the mood and headed to The Old Post Office before cricket.  We took all our gear and headed out for our 5pm table.  For 1940s weekend, the food goes French, so we had a racilette tart, french onion soup and 'rations' picnic platter.  All very good too.  We also took part in a competition where we had to count the number of artifacts hidden around the bar (we only went and won it - little us who never win anything - although, you never know,  we may have been the only people to enter it)

We then went to cricket for the evening before heading home.

George Formby

Saturday dawned a gorgeous morning.  Tom wanted to go swimming and we had Ali the alligator for him to play with.  I did a quick ask around to see if anyone was free and the Cronshaws came back saying yes.  Fantastic, so Ali got his first outing with Evie and Tom - who were cautious at first, but pulling each other off and on it by the end.  The sun came out, so we sunbathed, taking advantage of it.  We all ended up going to Inglesport for lunch.  Had a really good morning in the end, they are a lovely village.

Around 3pm, the Watsons arrived.  Unfortunately they brought rain with them, but didn't bring jumpers or coats!  Believe it or not, we actually managed to kit them all out - not bad considering they have 3 girls of 13, 10 and 7!  We thought we would do a lap of the village to see what was happening.  Answer: a big fat nothing!  The rain had stopped play and everyone had retired back to their accommodation.  In fact the place was a like a ghost town, we didn't see one other person there. Oh hum...we went for a look at the fair and found that was open, so the children had a go.  Tom wanted to have a go on the dodgems.  They were old, decrepit dodgems, but he jumped in and wouldn't let me join him!  The only people on it were us and The Watsons, and they all had heaps of fun.  Don't think I'm ever going to be allowed to go on the dodgems with Tom ever again - he did a good job driving himself and deliberately bumping into the others.

On the ferris wheel

 We were going to have a BBQ, but by the time we got home, the rain was horizontal.  We gave up, and cooked in the oven.  Oh hum, it all got eaten.

Sunday morning, a lovely day, we were going to go down to the pool, but the Watsons had forgotten their costumes, so we had a lazy morning instead, did a quick walk around Storrs Common and then headed back into the village.  This time it was buzzing, full of people in costume.  We had tea and a bun, whilst reading up on wartime recipes and then headed back to the vintage fair for another go on the dodgems.  This time Tom asked me to go on as well - not in the same car but in a different one so he could bump me.  Oh my, it was so much fun, I was literally crying with laughter the whole time.  The dodgems were completely random, meaning you ended up slamming this way and that.  Put it this way, I discovered my pelvic floor isn't as strong as I thought, however, it didn't really matter as it was so so so so so much fun.

Eyes on the road

We then headed back into the village to see the big parade, but it got delayed (these things always run late!), so much so that we had to call it a day as the Watsons had to head back to Chester.  They are on a mad schedule at the moment as they are heading to Shanghai for 3 years in August - they only had 2 months notice!  We were impressed that they found time to come to visit as they have been frantic with paperwork getting themselves and their house ready in time.

Maggie on a mission

We got back just in time for the end of the parade.  We then grabbed ourselves some burgers and watched the parachute team display.  As there was a bar in the village square, we decided to patronise it and sat there watching the dancing and singing until it was wrapped up at 5pm.

A good weekend.

Manchester

Saturday morning was spent at the pool again - this time with the Bickerstaffs, there weren't as many in the pool this Saturday as last week, but they had a great time.

We got out at 11.30, walked back home and then got straight into the car to Manchester.  It was another rainy, grey weekend so we thought a trip to Manchester for a Chinese, some Asian shopping and maybe pop in to see Adam and Karen would be a good way to enjoy it.

Dim Sum time - fantastic food

Luckily Adam and Karen were home, so we did our usual Manchester routine.  We didn't get to Wing Yip until 1.30 so were starving by the time we got there, and had to wait impatiently for the dim sum trolleys to come round.  They did get to us and we had a wonderful lunch as always.  We then did a quick trip round the supermarket and managed to stock up on the essentials.


Next stop: Go Outdoors of course for a run around the tents.  Tom got himself a much reduced Weird Fish jumper which he was delighted with.  We then headed to the Komorowskis.  Believe it or not the sun actually came out for a while, so we had a BBQ in the garden with one of Leia's friends, Blanche.  Blanche was staying for a sleepover, we were slightly worried that they wouldn't be interested to play with Tom, but that wasn't the case, they were playing piggy in the middle for ages and ages, it was Rosa who got left out - bless her!

Worried he'll be eaten

Anyway, we had a good time, drank a little too much (as always) but it was good to catch up.  They will probably come to visit us during the summer holidays so they can go swimming in the outdoor pool as they loved doing that last year.

We left them Sunday morning and drove back via Beetham Nurseries where we had lunch.  Then a quiet afternoon at home with a bit of gardening (we bought a new plant to fill our last remaining pot). Tom fell asleep in the car on the way home from Manchester (he hasn't done that for months) and complained that he was tired in the afternoon - so he was in bed for 7!

Goodbye Betty

So we got some sad news at the beginning of June. Matt's Godmother, Betty, on the Isle of Man had passed away peacefully in hospital.  She had had an operation, she came round from it and was happily chatting away, but passed away that night.

Port Erin sunset

We will always look back on our time at the Isle of Man in 2007 with fondness.  I went mainly to appease Matt, not really expecting to enjoy it that much, especially as we were staying with his elderly relatives, but Geoff and Betty couldn't have been any more warm and welcoming if they tried and the races were fab, especially because the weather was very good to us.

Calf Sound

Basically Betty was a very lovely lady, very welcoming and wanted us to be relaxed and feel at home in her house.  Geoff is a grumpy old man, but with a wicked sense of humour.  Both of them like a tipple: Matt and Geoff finished 2 bottles of whisky and Betty and I drank our way through all the gin in the house and then moved on to the Cointreau.  We had trouble keeping up with them and had a hangover pretty much every morning!

It was a good holiday.  Matt was quite upset to hear of Betty's passing and wanted to pay his respects to her, so we quickly put things in place so we could pop across to the island to say goodbye.  Tom spent Sunday with Grannie and Grandpa and took him to school on Monday morning and then he spent Monday afternoon and night with the Holmans on the campsite so he was more than happy.

Big fat seal

We got the lunchtime sailing from Heysham to Douglas on the Sunday and came back on the evening sailing on Monday - so a very quick visit.  We were blessed, once again with amazing weather - bright sunshine, very very hot so once again the island looked amazing.  The crossing was uneventful, we drove straight across the island to Port Erin where we checked straight into our AirBnB room in a house.  This was a slightly weird set up - we literally were renting a room in a house. We had to use the family bathroom across the landing.  All drawers and wardrobe were full of clothes  and items, there were no hot drink making facilities.  However, it was just round the corner from Geoff's house so it was ideal, and it was literally just a place to put our heads down for the night.

After some polite conversation with the owners of the house, we headed to Geoff's house to meet up with Kathy, Paul and some family.  Geoff was exactly the same as we remembered, maybe a bit thinner, but he was in good humour, his hospitality was the same (big measures of whisky for Matt - I wasn't drinking as I was driving!) I finally got to meet Kathy's daughter, Sam and her partner Russ and a number of Aunties and Uncles.  We went down to the pub for a couple of drinks (this family can ALL drink!).  I ended up buying a mini bottle of wine from the bar and took it back to our bedroom and drank it in bed.  Now, the problem with sleeping in someone else's house: you've been drinking in the evening, so need the loo in the middle of the night.  Do you flush or don't you?  At home we don't flush.  Always a problem, it's OK if it is family, but when we got back to the house, there was no-one around to ask.  Just walking to the bathroom was noisy enough, with creaking doors, locks that were stiff etc.   I tried not to go to the loo, but of course the more you think about it the more you need to do it!  We decided to flush in the end, I wonder if we woke them all?

Snaefell Mountain Railway

The next morning we got up and chatted to our hosts - they had breakfast for us - every type of cereal you could imagine - shame neither of us like cereal!  They didn't have any bread, but found us some sandwich rolls in the end.  We then asked for an iron and ironed our funeral outfits.  Then we were hanging around for a while.  As it was such a gorgeous day we decided to cut our losses and went and did a little sight seeing.  We drove down to the Calf of Mann, as it wasn't that far to go and it was somewhere that Betty introduced us to.  It was beautiful, we saw plenty of seals, and it was so clear, that we could see the mountains of Northern Ireland.  We then headed back to Port Erin and took our places at the back of the church.

Our vessel - the Ben-my-Chree

Tell you what it was the most well attended funeral I have ever been too - it was standing room only in the church and it wasn't a small church!  Kathy and Steven spoke very well about Betty and brought her to life in the room.  There was a good atmosphere and a lot of love.  We then went to the graveyard to say our goodbyes and then back to Port Erin for the reception.  We met some more family (including Amy and Patrick - Steven's children who we met 10 years ago when they were 10 and 15 - so they are quite different now).  When the room emptied, we took Kathy back to Geoff's house and then made our excuses so we could get in a quick TT lap of the island in - was a fantastic day to do it - it was still gorgeously sunny and clear and hot!  Can't say I managed to go at the same speed as the TT bikes, but that meant we were able to see the island properly.  We stopped off at Bungalow and were lucky to see the old train trundle down from Snaefell.

Then down to Douglas and past the finishing line.  We parked along the prom and walked down to a cafe to have the biggest ice cream I have ever had in my life - very lovely it was too.  We found one shop that was open, so we bought Tom a T-shirt and then we then checked into the Ferry Terminal.

We had a very pleasant trip back to Heysham, we were in the Premier Lounge and enjoyed free drinks, snacks, a nice quiet atmosphere and the best view on the boat.

We got home around 1am.  It was a very quick trip to the island - we will be back!

Busy Weekend

It was a gloriously sunny day today.  What better thing to do than to go down to the swimming pool for the morning session?  It was bathed in sunshine, and we knew everyone who was down there.  Tom had a ball, hanging out with all his classroom friends and being silly in the pool.  How fab, it was a wonderful morning.

We met up with Matt at Bernies for lunch.  Can't remember what we did in the afternoon, but I'm sure we did something useful.

6pm saw us driving to Settle to The Craven Arms where we met up with Matt's friends, The Leighs.  They had been in Bolton Abbey for the day and wanted to meet up with us as they are coming to Deer Shed with us but won't be able to arrive until late.  They brought their tent with them, so we can pitch it next to ours so we are together.  This is especially important this year as the festival is booked out!

With the Leighs

We hadn't actually met Roz or their younger son, Louis before, but they are that sort of family where you instantly feel at ease with them and feel like old friends.  Andrew and Fabien stayed with us earlier in the year.  Tom and Fabien were friends instantly and Andrew was lovely.  Turns out Roz and Louis are lovely too.  We had forgotten they were veggies, so were quite lucky in that the restaurant had a lot of veggie options - imaginative ones too.  I went for tofu green curry and it was amazing - the tofu had been deep fried in a really good seasoning which made it ultra delicious.  So they were very happy.

We got home quite late in the end, but it didn't matter - it had been a good, friendly evening.

Sunday was Father's Day.  Tom had had an idea of what to get Matt way back in March, he gave me exact instructions, but in the end I took him to Booths so he could do it himself.  He bought him Emmenthal, Jarlsberg, Cashew Nuts and 2 cans of Elvis Juice.  All Matt's favourite things - he was a happy bunny.

We had breakfast together and then Bob came to pick up Tom as he was spending the day with them whilst Matt and I headed off to the Isle of Man.

Rainy Weekend

So this weekend it rained and rained and rained.  With Matt's lack of mobility with his broken foot - we pretty much gave up with trying to do something interesting!

Saturday we decided to break open a board game we got Tom for birthday called 'Ticket to Ride'.  Initially it looked really complicated but as we went along it all made sense and we ended up enjoying it and wanting to play it again.  It's all about building up a train empire across Europe so appeals to both boys well.

After lunch we headed to Bentham Golf Club to deliver 3 very different wedding cakes for Emma and Richard's wedding celebration (they actually got married in Scotland a couple of weeks ago).

Relaxing on the beach.

When we came home, it was still raining, so decided to give up and introduce Tom to Harry Potter and watched The Philospher's Stone.  Not sure he understood it all and a lot of fidgeting went on, but it didn't frighten him so I guess that's a start.  

Sunday was a grey day, after much deliberation and debate we finally decided on going to Hest Bank and the Shore Cafe to play armchair cricket and have lunch and watch trains.

37!!!

Armchair cricket is our new invention, Matt sits in a camping chair and bowls to either me or Tom. Whoever is batting is also wicket keeper and the other the fielder.  It works quite well, and means Matt's not sitting by himself getting bored.

When the level crossing came down, the boys would hobble over to the bridge to look at the trains whilst I sat in the chair.  All very civilised and good fun really.