Poorly Boy

King Tom

So Tom enjoyed his last day at school as a Fairytale King, by all accounts, they didn't do any work, just lots of activities and a Grand Ball in the afternoon.  We asked who he danced with, to which the answer was "Lucas OF COURSE".  Silly us for asking the question!

He was pretty happy, but we figured he was tired so asked him what he wanted to do for tea - answer was Fish and Chips - so we headed off to get some.  He ate a monster portion of them.  He may be pale and tired, but his appetite was fine.

Saturday morning we asked if he wanted to play football - he did, so we took him along.  He then had a football party directly afterwards, which once again he was insistent he wanted to do.  When he came home he had a shower and then went for a lie down in bed until Karen, Adam, Leia and Rosa arrived around 2.30 - they were visiting for the night.  He was in good spirits and played happily with them.

Tom and Leia

They went to bed around 9pm, but at 2am he was up with a hurting ear, then again at 4 and again at 6.  In the morning he was inconsolable, crying and crying.  Why do these things always happen at the weekend?!  We discovered that there was an out of hours surgery at Kendal Hospital, so the Komorowskis' visit came to an abrupt end and we took him to the hospital.  We were lucky, there was no-one in the waiting room, so we got seen straight ahead.  The doctor said he had a very ANGRY ear, so gave us some penicillin.  We then went for lunch at the Motor Museum (as requested by Tom) and headed back home.

Not a great start to the half term, but I'm not surprised, he was 'on the edge' all last week!

The Best Narrator

Narrator Tom

Thursday was a big day for Class 3, it was their annual show.  Instead of a nativity this year, their teachers decided to do a Fairytale with a difference.  The show consisted of children from years 1 and 2, each child in year 2 had a speaking part (the first time for all of them as in previous nativities - all they have done is sing and dance).

Tom had the privilege of being a narrator.  I was very pleased as it meant that I didn't have to come up with a costume as he just had to be smart.  A friend had given us a smart shirt, tie and waistcoat outfit which was perfect, Tom was very excited to be wearing a tie.  They had two performances: 9.30 and 6.00.  Matt and I went to both, Bob to the morning one and Pat to the evening one.  

The play had been written by Tom's teacher and was Cinderella with a difference - from the viewpoint of Prince Charming and with a host of fairytale characters in it. 

The cast

As we thought it was just lovely.  Each child was wonderful, they all shone.  Obviously we are biased, but we thought Tom was wonderful, he had quite a few lines, but had learnt them all off by heart, however, he had been given a book to read from - just in case he got lost.  He also had lots of jobs to do: he had to clean up after the ugly sisters, put an extra bit of stage on for Michael Jackson and was the programme seller at the start of the show etc etc.  He had a very loud voice and spoke slowly so every word could be understood.  We were very proud.  In the morning performance he even delivered a line with his back to the audience whilst climbing up some staging as the other narrator had started whilst he was doing a job on the stage.  The line was delivered clearly - so it didn't really matter that he had his back to us all.  (This didn't happen in the 6pm performance as the first narrator waited for him to return to his seat before delivering her lines).

I can't say he was belting out the songs, but he still did us proud.  In the evening performance he had to run off and get some flowers and give them to the teachers, which he did without a hitch.  

Tom was absolutely buzzing on the way home saying he wants to do it every day. I just wish we could have recorded it so we could be reminded of it and show those who weren't there.  A pure gold day - we all went to bed happy.

7

 So it happened, Tom has turned 7.  I've not been looking forward to it as I think 7 is a proper age - I can remember being 7.  He really is growing up!  We celebrated the day by getting up at 6.30, so he had enough time to open all his presents, be excited and play with some of them.

Lots of presents

As usual he got a good haul.  His main present from us was a digital controller and train for his train set.  The digital train is all singing, all dancing, in that it lights up and makes really realistic sounds.  It also starts and stops really smoothly.  It has been an immediate hit, which is good because his interest had been waning.  Matt is really excited about it too.

Bruder - hurray!

He also got some more Bruder, other vehicles, loads of clothes, money, jigsaw and lots of other bits and pieces.  For breakfast he had the last of a packet of smoked salmon which I had been saving  - how spoilt!!!!

He went happily to school for the day - they were doing a dress rehearsal of their show today for the whole school - which he was really looking forward to - because he got to wear his tie!  He came bouncing out of school - but was worryingly pale.  We took him home and fed him some snacks to try to perk him up.

A good haul

Grannie and Grandpa came round about 3.45 with their presents and he received calls from Granma and Pop Pop and Jude before heading out for birthday pizza at Kirkby Lonsdale with Grannie and Grandpa (delicious - he ate a good half of the garlic prawn pizza) before his swimming lesson.  We could tell he was tired as he was much slower than usual at swimming - we were in two minds whether to go or not but he was insistent that he was OK.

We came home and he went straight to bed, happy but very very tired.

Birthday tea in Avanti

Foot Golf Birthday Party

Foot Golf

Today was Tom's birthday party.  We had taken a risk and booked an outdoor activity - Footgolf.  Essentially booting a football around a golf course, where the holes are football sized.  Tom had chosen 8 friends, all the boys from his class and Lily and Lauren.

The party was complete chaos, there were rules, which we tried to follow for the first hole (wait for the ball to stop before kicking it, counting the number of kicks, no dribbling etc etc) but it descended into complete chaos, and in the end it was easier and less stressful to just go with the flow. 

It was very windy, but the rain held off.  Various children whined and whinged (the less sporty ones) but I think on the whole they had a good time.  Certainly a nice walk for the adults with some good views over the Lune.  We whizzed round the course (they were all running and dribbling with the ball by the end) and came back to the club house where they were busy serving up pizza and chips for everyone.  Nice food too!  

Party food!

The kids were very very loud and there were some snooty old ladies out for a genteel Sunday round of golf who weren't too happy to share the course with us and then were probably devastated to have to have lunch in a very noisy room as well.  They didn't get much sympathy from us as they were so snooty to us on the course!

Hamish the Highland Cake

Tom was very pleased with his Highland Cow cake (he requested it ages ago), so much so that he kissed it and shouted "Don't kill the cow" as I cut into it.  No one seemed to have trouble eating it though!

Once it was over, both Matt and I crashed.  We headed to Sizergh Barn for tea and a bun, and then back home where we collapsed.  Matt then treated me to a platter at the Old Post Office as I was not in the mood to cook.  It was a good idea. 

Then back home to bed - Tom has a very busy week this week, what with his birthday and his school play!

First Goal

Goal reward

So Saturday saw us in Skipton at 9am for a very cold and rainy football match against Embsay.  We thought we might be in with a chance for a win as they had been thrashed by Settle and Grassington - by more goals than us.  It wasn't to be though.  They played on AstroTurf, the only place we can play at the moment with this weather.  It was a good game (i.e. a good atmosphere) but Craven were well and truly beaten.  However, Tom scored his first goal for the team.  Matt was so so proud and I don't think Tom could believe it! (Matt: it was a cracking goal - right into the corner, from a long way out)

We celebrated by heading to Keelham afterwards.  I got Tom into some warm dry clothes and we bought him a big mug of hot chocolate to warm him up.  Then a little bit of shopping before heading home via the Highland Cow road.  We mooched around for a while before heading out to Inglesport for a large lunch - chilli for Matt and I and a jacket potato for Tom.

Flying Scotsman

Despite the horrible weather, Tom and I (Matt) headed up to Ribblehead before tea to see Flying Scotsman's delayed first run along the Settle and Carlisle line since refurbishment. The crowds were amazing, around 2 miles of parked cars along the B6255, but we timed it absolutely perfectly, parking the car about 10 seconds before the train started to cross the viaduct. It was a fine sight, and I was more than a little jealous of the people in the Pullman dining cars, who had paid £400 a head for the experience.

Pie and Peas

The evening saw us in Eldroth Village Hall for a musical evening.  The Shults had invited us and the Bickerstaffs.  It was a really good night.  Most of the audience were old ladies but the band played music from our University days so we were belting out the tunes with them and the children were up the front dancing away.  Jack, Seth and Isabella are all natural dancers and were dancing care-free.  Tom was up there through peer pressure, but he had a good time.  Tea was pie and peas, and then a bit more dancing before we headed home - shame I could have stayed all night.  Was some very good people watching to be had, but essentially the wine was good, the company good and therefore the mood good.  Didn't get home until almost 11pm!  What naughty late night stop outs we are!

Spokeswoman

So Monday was the Parish Council meeting, we went along to make our objections in person.  It was a strange experience.  We (or rather Matt) were told that not everyone could talk so a spokesperson was needed.  I decided to do it as I have done so much research on it and had made a crib sheet of the main objections.  How I was supposed to voice all the objections of the other people in the meeting who I had only just met I don't know so I opened it up to everyone else when I had finished - I guess I did an OK job as no-one had any other points to make.  The council agreed with all I had to say and said that they would make their objections known to the District Council as long as I forwarded all my info to them.  That is the best outcome I could expect.

As I left, people came up to say well done and afterwards, Matt got an e-mail from a school Governor who was there saying I did good.

The meeting was very much the reserve of retired men.  There was one woman who didn't say anything, and one guy our age, but everyone else was of retirement age.  When we walked into the meeting the Chair spoke to Matt about arranging a spokesperson and a number of people who turned up to object told Matt what a good letter he had written.  Matt had to explain that it was me who had done it.  Sexism isn't dead here!

The meeting was badly run by the Chair, who seemed unable to wind up any discussion or steer people towards action points. No wonder nothing ever gets done here.  Apparently the Parish Council have been given £110,000 by the District Council to spruce up the village.  No-one knew what was happening or how much of the money had been spent, this coming from people on the steering team?  I don't quite understand how that can happen.  Anyway for sure the needs of young people and middle aged people aren't met by the council.

Anyway we have a week left to gather more evidence and make our objections known to the District Council...

Another grey weekend

It was another grey, miserable weekend.  I had a cold for it so the weather suited me just fine!

Tom spent the morning at the scout hut playing football again as the fields were waterlogged again.  He then spent the afternoon with Matt and Grandpa at a model railway exhibition in Kendal whilst I stayed home and felt sorry for myself.

Trainspotting

The model railway exhibition was very good - some very impressive layouts, but Tom showed little interest in the actual scenery of layouts, and much preferred standing behind the layouts watching the operators do their stuff in the "fiddle yards". Why does this nor surprise me?

Sunday, we had more of the same weather so we decided to get the train to Bradford for curry.  We went back to our old favourite - The Kashmir where the service was a little more enthusiastic than usual.  It was still quite cheap, although Tom had his own curry this time, so it was over £20!  We spent the rest of the day feeling bloated, so much so that neither Matt nor I had tea.  Tom did though - and he ate the same amount of curry as we did!

Miserable rainy weather!

Our Craven Wanderer

We were back to grey, miserable weather again this weekend.  Boo!  First up on Saturday was a trip out to Grassington as Tom had a match there.  His team lost, but it was to be expected, they haven't played on grass for over 8 weeks now due to water
logged fields at the school, so they were out of practise.  That being said, they all did well, everyone got a game and they seemed to enjoy themselves.  Tom's not ultra competitive, so doesn't mind when they lose.

Moo

We decided to take advantage of our location and head to Keelham Farm Shop for lunch and a quick shop (our freezer seems to be full at the moment).  We then went home via the Highland Cow road so we could say hello.

Sunday was horrible again, so we decided to go on a train trip.  We drove to Carnforth and got the train to Grange-Over-Sands.  We had lunch at a rather lovely tea room: Hazelmere Cafe where they bake lots of artisan breads.  We then went for a walk in the drizzle before getting the train home.  Not an exciting weekend I'm afraid.

Snow!

Zooming down the slope

We had snow this weekend!  We didn't get to play in it on Saturday, but we did on Sunday.  We were one of the first to get to The Old Hill Inn and we spent a good 2 hours sledging up and down the slopes.  Half of Tom's class were there too, so there was a really good atmosphere.  Note to self though, we need another sledge as Tom wants to go by himself now, so Matt and I have to wait AGES to have a go.

Happy, rosy cheeks!

After 2 hours we all had freezing cold feet, so we decided to leave everyone to it and head up to Hawes in search of food.  We figured we had been good active boys and girls so we headed to the Penny Garth cafe in search of their fab chips.  It was a great morning, Tom would have stayed all day if he hadn't got cold feet!  As we drove back past the slope, we saw loads and loads of people on it - we definitely did good by doing the morning slot - fresh snow and more space!






You Tube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVJOHP8adbM

Planning Update

So we had an interesting and useful phone conversation with the lady at the Planning Office at the council today.  Turns out that the paperwork for the development isn't in order and more importantly they haven't paid the fee, so as far as the council are concerned the matter isn't currently live.

We have lodged our many objections anyway.  The lady we spoke to said that we were very early in objecting as this was the first time she had received objections so early in the process.  However, she has accepted them and told us that if we think of any more, to send them on to her.  We've done as much as we can for the moment, but will keep our ears and eyes open.

Back to school

Tom started school again on Tuesday.  I was going to spend the week tidying, clearing and re-organising the house, but one of my best customers came by and ordered a cake for pick up on Friday, so the house didn't get the huge tidy it was scheduled.  Nevermind - it was an interesting cake to do.

Tom had his first swimming lesson in the next group up on Wednesday and didn't look out of place in it - in fact he was out in front sometimes with his speedy laps.  He was pleased with himself as were we.

Thursday we had a visit from Tom Brown Senior - he is wanting to put 25 houses in the field behind us with the access point being the side of our house.  Hummmmm.  He mentioned that they are having difficulty with the access point as it isn't very wide.  One of the solutions is to demolish this house?!!!!!!  He suggested that maybe we would like to swap this house with one on the development.  Looking at the plots on the development, there aren't any big enough to fit this house and its grounds in, PLUS he didn't have any info on what sort of house it would be?  No-one in their right mind would say yes to this would they?  Not a great evening for us.

Training Trophy Winner

We had a quiet weekend as Matt was in Cambridge and the weather was awful.  Saturday Tom went to football in the scout hut.  He did really well - in fact he won the training trophy for 3 awesome goals so that was great (problem was he got bashed on the nose right at the end of training, meaning he was crying as he got the trophy - didn't quite get to enjoy the moment!).  We came home, had lunch, then I had a wedding cake consultation, so Tom watched telly whilst I talked cake with a bride and groom.  By the time they had left it was getting on for 3pm.  We had a think of what to do - we needed to get some food in for dinner, so decided to head to Booths in Settle and tell Grannie and Grandpa so we could meet up in a cafe for tea and a bun.  We did exactly that - Tom gave them his thank you card and showed them his trophy etc.  A hyper and fun 45 mins.   We said our goodbyes and then did a quick once round the town before shopping at Booths and then heading home.

Sunday was an awful day, weatherwise also Matt called from London stating that he thought we had miscalculated the due date for objections to the housing development.  We thought we had until next Saturday, but actually it was Monday, so we did a mad scramble to write a letter of objection.  Poor Tom ended up watching a bit of telly whilst I got something together.  Within a couple of hours we had a 4 page letter with references to government policy, Conservation Areas along with all the other usual objections - felt quite pleased with ourselves - espeically as we were working independently from each other, the internet and wifi are wonderful things when they work properly.

Tom and I went to Inglesport for lunch between hail storms - just to get out of the house and then headed to Lancaster to pick Matt up.  Then a pub tea on the way home.

Making the most of grey days

Wednesday
Another dreary grey and rainy day.  We decided to head into Lancaster to try out a new Japanese restaurant that had just opened.  We did a spot of shopping first (mainly in Atkinsons - Matt wanted some coffee beans for his new coffee mill).  We then headed to Nami to find they were only doing sushi.  Sushi was the last thing we wanted - it was cold, we were cold, so we headed round the corner to the Sun Hotel and had a rather lovely lunch.  This is the best pub in the city we think - good service, nice ambiance and very good food.  We all ate up well.  We then decided to go looking for a corner unit for the lounge in a furniture warehouse in Morecambe, but got caught up in a lot of traffic and didn't find what we wanted.  Not a great trip, but a nice lunch!

Thursday
Thursday morning, Tom and I went swimming again at Stacksteads, and once again Tom was really good - his swimming really is coming on.  We came home and all went to Inglesport for lunch.  Tom and I then went to the Ellwoods for the afternoon - consisted of me and Alice trying to catch up whilst marshaling Charlie, Harry and Tom.  There were quite a few tears - mainly from Tom as Charlie was 'forcing' him to do things he didn't want to do.  Not a great success!

As we didn't have any friends to bring in the New Year with, Tom went to bed at the usual time (with a little sulk) and we sat down wondering what to do.  Matt ended up doing some colouring in with his new Japanese themed colouring books and I googled.  Very Rock and Roll.  Matt did some channel hopping and surprisingly came across an interesting programme on BBC Alba - the ABC of Gaelic cooking.  It was strangely compelling, so we settled down in front of it.  The next programme was a sort of social history of the Highlands, charting the life of a lady who started life on Harris, then moved to Skye, living in crofts all the way.  It turned out that she's an actress in a Gaelic soap opera.  Again, it was strangely compelling. After that was a programme of Gaelic whisky drinking songs.  As we were drinking whisky it seemed sensible to keep it on.  By the end of that it was 11.30 and they had a live Ceilidh going on.  Having had a look at the guest list for Jools Holland, we decided we would remain loyal to BBC Alba and watched that.  Think we were probably the only ones in Ingleton watching the channel, but we enjoyed it.  Think we must have seen nearly all 45,000 Gaelic speakers throughout the night.

Friday

Freezing on the top of the Howgills

It wasn't raining - hurrah, so we decided to make the most of it and head out.  Matt suggested the Howgills (near Sedburgh) the last time we had tried these, Tom was a baby - he objected to the wind and we had to abort.  This time he was much better.  It wasn't a long walk, but it was a steep walk and it was FREEZING at the top - with a biting wind.  It would have been nice to go further for views etc, but there was no way, the wind was cutting.  Tom did very well, he was wrapped up in layers and didn't really feel the cold.  We had a quick picnic on the driest bit of grass we could find and then headed back down.  As we had done so good in horrible weather, Matt suggested we then drive to Dent - the home of great puddings, so we did and scoffed a sticky toffee pudding as a reward for being good girls and boys. We then took the gated road back to Ingleton.  The best use of a 'sort of' OK day.

Saturday

Indian Selfie

The day of the Matt Young Translations Christmas party - we had decided to head to Bradford, to try out a new restaurant we saw on the telly: The Sweet Centre.  We got the train, walked through a dodgy looking neighbourhood, to find it.  The restaurant was good, the service attentive and the food fine, but somehow it just didn't cut it - I think we are in love with The Kashmir - even though the service there is very rough and ready.

After lunch we went in search of a Asian food shop and found two - one full of Indian food stuffs and the other full of oriental food stuffs so we were in our element and found quite a few things we couldn't live without.  We then went to see the new Westfield shopping centre which has just opened up and were pretty underwhelmed by it.  We had a coffee and then got the train home.

Playing Trombone (apparently Tom is a natural!)

Sunday
We headed up North to Dollar to see Neil, Sharon, Rory and Lewis.  It's  a 3 hour journey, but a lot of it is very scenic, so it goes quite quickly.  We stopped off in Moffat and found a rather lovely tea room for lunch, then continued up.  We got to Dollar around 1.30.  Lewis and Rory were out at the pantomime, so Tom had full reign with their toys.  The whirlwinds arrived around 5 - the rest of the evening was a bit of a blur.  The boys got on fine, we had a fantastic roast courtesy of Neil, and were up past midnight drinking wine and eating huge amounts of cheese.  

Monday

Soggy men

Soggy bottom boys

We managed not to be too hungover, both of us managing a decent sleep.  It was a wet and miserable day but we managed to get ourselves to Campbell Castle in Dollar for a run around.  It was cold and wet, but the boys didn't mind, it wasn't until the adults were drenched that we decided enough was enough and we left.  Then lunch at the Blezard's (soup of course - we are in Scotland after all) and then we headed home.  We went home via the Kelpies - huge statues of horses, set by the canal, at 100ft tall they were very impressive - even with grey skies and cold cold wind.

Large horse

What a big snout!

We stopped off at Moffat again on the way home for tea and a bun and some whisky shopping before heading south again.  Got home in good time, had tea, Tom went to bed and I struggled through Boxercise - which surprisingly was cure for my hangover!

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