Half Term - part 1

Saturday wasn't a particularly nice day - grey and drizzly!  Tom went for his football practise in the morning.  We decided to head to Skipton for lunch and a shop.  Have I mentioned the new farm shop in Skipton - Keelham Farm Shop - it is fantastic, full of wonderful produce at wonderful prices, not your usual Farm Shop prices.  We had lunch first, and then went a bit mad at the meat counter - lets put it this way, we won't need to buy any more protein for a long long time.

Next stop was Aldi - the other end of the scale, mainly for cake ingredients (cheaper than Asda!).  We returned home with a sleepy Tom so he had a rest and then we watched a Thomas the Tank Engine film together. Not an exciting day, but a useful one.

Climbing Pen-y-Ghent.

On Sunday we went swimming in the morning.  Matt had his new prescription goggles and discovered a whole new world under the water, so there was a lot of underwater swimming to be had. Tom's swimming was good too, but he seems to refuse to use his arms at the moment, making swimming really hard work for himself.

We had tea at Hornby Tea Rooms.  We won't again.  Seemed to be a gaggle of old ladies 'playing' at running a tea room.  They were having a great time and gossip, but the service to us customers was very poor.  My soup came first, 5 mins later Matt got his panini, then 5 mins later (after a number of reminders) Tom got his tea cake (by which time my soup was cold!).  His tea cake was burnt as well!  I wouldn't have minded but we were the only customers?!!!!  A lesson on how not to run a business!

Nearly there.

The afternoon was spent at Charlie's party.  A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed affair, and with Alice running it - it was very well done with lots of imaginative games and food all themed around the book.  The guests were the boys from school and 1 girl.  They all got on really well.  In fact us parents just sat down and enjoyed a natter whilst the children played.  There were no raised voices, no disagreements, no silly behaviour.  The boys enjoyed playing and got on with it.  No intervention was needed at all - pure harmony.  Lovely.

Tom and Lottie

Monday we met up with the Ellershaws to walk up Pen-y-Ghent (the third of the three peaks).  They have Caitlin who is in Tom's class and Lottie who has just turned 4.  They all got to the top and down again.  It was a lovely day out - nice and clear, blue skies etc, although a little windy.  The children did really well.  They more or less ran up the top - playing hide and seek, running away from monsters, and scaling up rock walls like goats.  When we got almost to the top, the wind got really fierce.  Tom doesn't like wind and had done really well until this point, but here he sort of lost it (crying that it was too windy) but somehow he managed to pull himself together and carried on up - scaling rock walls in the wind to get to the top.  We were really proud of him for getting through it.  Only 6 months ago he wouldn't have made it  through the wind (having the Ellershaw's there helped I think).  We all got to the top under our own steam - even little Lottie who did very very well.  We had a picnic and then headed back down the longer, gentler track.  Lottie got a little whingy, so Rich carried her on his shoulders where she fell asleep - bless her!  Caitlin got a bit upset after eating a sweet she didn't like and getting an itchy rash, but they all cheered up once we were out of the wind and in the sunshine.  All were smiling when we got back to the cars.

We finished the day off in The Station Inn at Ribblehead to toast our mountain climbing success.

Steve Backshall

Noodles!

We had an exciting day on Thursday.  We collected Tom (and Finn and Kate) straight from school and headed to Harrogate where we were to see Steve Backshall 'in real life'.  First stop though was Wagamamas for noodles.  Matt normally avoids Wagamamas, but given the choice of that or MacDonalds it is Wagamamas all the way!  The food was ok but not proper Japanese (we are snobs after all!)

Afterwards, we headed to the theatre to see Steve Backshall (Naturalist who has shows on Children's telly).  He was very good, he didn't talk down to the children at all, which meant that some of what he said was lost on our little boys, but there were plenty of pictures and videos of him with animals around the world to keep their attention, also the children had the opportunity to ask questions directly to him - ours didn't get chosen, but plenty did.  He came across very well - seemed like a real down to earth bloke, who really wants to pass his passion on to others.  Matt and I learnt lots, it was a good evening out.  Both boys zonked out on the way home, Finn fell asleep on Kate, then Tom fell asleep on Finn - looked very cosy!

Musical Tom

I've forgotten to mention that Tom's class at school have been selected to have special music lessons this year.  Every Wednesday a music teacher, Mr Waugh comes in to teach them.  They all got to choose a musical instrument and last week they got to bring them home.  I was expecting a recorder, but no, this is 2015  they had a choice of a violin, a guitar, a cello or keyboards (how grown up?!).  Tom went for a guitar and was very pleased to bring it home.  First week's homework was to practice taking the cover on and off safely.

Rock star Tom

He came home with his first musical score this week (Dinosaur Jam), so he has been practising that.  It is only 2 notes, but as I have no experience of the guitar and Matt has very little musical knowledge it might be a little difficult helping him.  I know for sure his guitar isn't properly tuned as the two notes are not a note apart when playing them, I have no idea how to tune a guitar.

Anyway, here he is with his guitar...

Football, fair and inflatables

Saturday, Tom had his second football match - this time at home against Grassington.  Grassington only had 6 players, we had 20+, so it was a quick turn around on our side to make sure everyone had a go.  Tom was on first, they lost 4-0.  In fact we lost all our matches, but that apparently is normal against Grassington - all the Craven Wanderers teams lost.  The poor Grassington players must have been really tired afterwards as they played continuously for 45 minutes so all our players could have a go (Guess that means that the Grassington players get much more experience!)   Tom's team did look better - just unfortunate they didn't manage to score any goals.

Craven Wanderer in action

The afternoon was spent at the school as it was the Autumn School Fair.  It was the first one we've been able to go to, all previous ones having been on days we've had other things on.  It was a interesting affair - part jumble sale, part bric a brac sale, a raffle of average things, tombola and then some games run by the kids.  Amongst all that I had 'Guess the number of smarties on the cake'.  I was also on the door so pretty much demanded that everyone who entered entered the cake competition, it worked, not many were brave enough to snub me!

Ready to jump in...

The teachers and other PTA people were pretty miserable afterwards as footfall was way down on previous years, however, once all the pennies were counted, it was found that the takings were pretty similar to previous years.  I guess parents must be getting more middle class: fewer people, spending more.

Friends

Sunday, Tom had a pool
party at Settle pool, so we headed over early and took a whole load of stuff to the dump, did a Booth's visit and had tea and a bun.  We then went to the pool.  It was a joint party for Lucas and Sam (who used to live next door).  The pool have a big inflatable structure which they put on the water.  It was great fun - the kids were a little nervous at first, but they soon got the hang of it and had a whale of a time.

Most entertaining though was watching the parents - they were all competitive and very funny to watch.  Tom was quite cautious on the inflatable but enjoyed it.  He then decided to swim back to the start every time rather than get out of the pool and walk like everyone else.  We couldn't believe it - but he was very happy practising his swimming.  He did really well too.  We were very proud of him.

After the birthday tea, they all went out for a run about on the huge fields.  We then headed home for a proper Sunday roast dinner.

Blackberries and bike rides

So last weekend was nice, so we finally got to go blackberrying and cycling - which I've been trying to do for 2 weekends now.

Above Feizor

Saturday Tom had football practice, we thought we would have lunch at The Game Cock, but there was a wedding happening in Austwick and the pub was full, so we headed over to Feizor and had lunch there instead.  We then walked down into Austwick along the lanes until we hit blackberry alley.  There weren't as many blackberries as there have been in the past - but that was probably because we were a couple of weeks later than usual.  However, we managed to pick up 2.5lbs, considering we still have some in the freezer from last year, I think we'll be ok.

We got home to realise we didn't have anything handy for dinner, so we all had showers and then headed to Kirkby Lonsdale and Avanti for pizza.  

Sunday was nice too, so we put the bike carrier on the car and headed to Malham Tarn.  We parked up and cycled round it - was quite a nice circuit - tracks, off road and empty country lanes.  The first part was nice and flat, but then it got quite hilly, so it ended up being quite a work out for us all - we got back to the car feeling very virtuous having had some decent exercise.

We then headed down to Stainforth to try out a pub we haven't been to before.  The food and pub it self were fine, but the landlord was super grumpy, it always surprises me when people like him are in the service industry - how do they make that choice in the first place, and HOW does he manage to end up managing a pub?  It doesn't make any sense!  Luckily we had been warned that he was grumpy or I may have been more offended than I was!

We came out of the pub feeling wanting more exercise so we headed back to Austwick and did a bike ride around the lanes -  pretty much retracing our steps from yesterday.  We rode the lanes much quicker than we were expecting so I guess our fitness is getting better.

We then headed home for baths and tea.

Star of the Day

Today Tom came home very excited - he was named 'Star of the Day' at school.  He got it for 3 things:

+ Asking good questions during music
+ Being kind and good with other children
+ Not giving up with writing (which suggests he has in the past - I'm not surprised if that is the case, writing is his weakest discipline)

First football match

So we had a glorious week of sunshine, then on Saturday we were engulfed by fog!!!!!  It was the day of Tom's first proper football match - against Settle.  As we headed over to Settle, the fog got thicker and thicker.

Craven Wanderer

It was an interesting experience for us and Tom.  The problem of lack of boys born in 2008/09 rears its head again.  As you know there are only 7 boys in Tom's class.  Only 2 of them: him and Lucas are interested in playing football.  2 boys don't make a football team.  However, there are loads of boys in the class below - so they filled the team with the best of those.  This of course means that Tom's team are weak because most of them are a year younger than they should be, and then the team below him is also weak, because all the best players are playing in Tom's team.  Oh hum - it was a baptism of fire and both teams lost.  Tom's team were absolutely thrashed, but they were playing against boys who all played in the league last year so knew what to expect.  Luckily Lucas played in the league last year (not sure how as you had to be 6 to play last year and Lucas was 5).  Anyhow, it was just as well as Lucas was forward and defence.  He played his heart out and managed 2 good goals.  Tom was like a rabbit caught in the headlights - he didn't know what to do, where to go and looked completely dazed!  I think he kicked the ball about 4 times in total.  He did actually tackle twice which was good, but generally ran around somewhere near the ball but not wanting to get involved in the melée around the ball.  In the end he got pulled off and substituted with someone a year younger than him who got stuck in - less skills but more passion to get the ball.

He spent the rest of the day in a daze - I'm not sure he knew what had happened to him, but I think he may have realised now that if he doesn't go and tackle to get the ball, nothing much happens.  We will see next weekend if anything has clicked.

Kicking off with Lucas

We got back to Ingleton - the fog was as bad!  We had planned to go blackberrying, but it was cold and damp outside, so we headed to Inglesport for lunch and then settled down on the sofa to watch Big Hero 6.  We almost got through it without tears, but not quite!  We then went out to Avanti for a pizza tea to cheer us up after a miserable day (weather-wise).

Sunday it was still foggy.  Tom suggested we go swimming.  Matt and I were nervous as whenever we go with him, he turns into a clingy, whiny thing, so we gave him a good talking to before we went saying we expected him to swim etc etc.  To our surprise he was true to his word.  He was fantastic, swimming lengths, smiling, having fun and diving to the bottom of the deep end to retrieve sinkers.  We couldn't believe our eyes, definitely our best family swimming session to date - we all had fun which was just great.

As a reward, we took Tom to Carnforth for lunch - he still loves watching the trains and playing in the Thomas room.  Then to Aldi to pick up some smoked salmon for him (where we bumped into Miss Swindlehurst - or Mrs Burnett as she is now known).

The Wanderers

Next stop was Hawes where we met up with a young Japanese to English translator who was over from Ireland and passing through on his way back from a conference in York.  Matt had found out he was in the area the day before and wanted to meet up (it's not that often that he has an opportunity to meet someone who does the same as him).  We found him at the YHA and took him for a quick once round the Wensleydale Creamery and Hawes village.  We then headed home, a bit of a long day, but a nice day.

We have a Beaver

Beaver Tom

Monday, Tom was invested at Beavers.  Unknown to us he was given a choice of promises: one of them was to "Love God" and the other "Love our world".  We weren't involved in the choice of promise and he decided to Love God!  We were a bit shocked, and figure that school and his friends have trained him that way - he certainly doesn't get it from us.

Anyway here' a pic of him as a Beaver.

Weekend in Chester

Saturday morning found us up early and back to the school fields for football - the last practise before their first proper competitive match next week.  Tom did ok, but he refuses to tackle which is going to be a problem - if he doesn't tackle, we won't get the ball!  Oh hum, he had fun though which is the point.

Straight after football we headed down to Chester as Matt was heading off to see a gig with Cameron in the evening.  We headed straight down the M6 to a retail park in Preston to get Tom some bigger and better shin pads for football (with ankle protectors as he got kicked in the ankle the other day and there were tears for quite some time!).  We found some and then looked for a cafe for lunch.  We thought we would steer clear of all the fast food joints and tried out a cafe in an outdoors store.  We should have gone to the fast food outlets - I did ok with a jacket potato, but both Tom and Matt ordered a pancake with sausage and got just that - a dry, tough pancake with a sausage in it - no sauce, no extras, just that - both struggled to eat it, with good reason.  Oh hum, so much for trying an independent...

We headed on down to Chester and were welcomed by 3 girls.  The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, Tom racing around with the girls and lots of gin, tonic and wine.  Tom got introduced to Strictly Come Dancing and was dancing around madly with the others.  They didn't go to bed until after 9pm. then there was a lot of messing around until Lisa read them the riot act - when all went quiet.  We didn't hear from them again.  Lisa and I then carried on drinking wine until midnight when we went to bed.  Matt didn't roll in until after 1am (what a dirty stop out).  He was quiet inebriated so fell into bed.  Considering the amount of alcohol we both consumed, we slept quite well, just not for long enough.

Ice Cream Tree

Tractor driver Tom

We had breakfast at John Lloyd where the girls were having tennis lessons.  We slowly came too and said our goodbyes before heading over to the ice cream farm to meet with Jude and Craig.  Now we have been to the ice cream farm before when we were living in Telford, but it has changed massively.

Being silly in a wheelbarrow

We couldn't quite believe our eyes.  There was a huge ice cream tree in the middle of a new complex (which blows out snow and ice every half hour), a huge ice cream parlour (which we didn't visit as Tom doesn't really like ice cream), an indoor sandpit and water play area (which we also didn't enter), crazy golf, go karts, and a farm amongst other things.  It is free to enter but then you have to pay for most of the attractions.  It was pretty crowded, so we headed to the farm which was a little less manic and met up with Jude and Craig there.  They were also a little jaded, having been to a wedding the night before.  We decided the best thing for us to do would be to go to the cafe for lunch.  So, 3 coronation baguettes, a children's meal and a chicken sandwich later we were all feeling a little better.  Jude and Craig went home whilst we stayed for a round of crazy golf.  We then headed home.

Trainspotting

The country's least needed station map?

The local paper here printed special vouchers for a £10 ticket for the day to go anywhere on the Northern Rail network.  The boys didn't have to be asked twice, so they went off for the day.  I tried to do some shopping in Lancaster, but quickly gave up (I really do hate it) and returned home in time to go to the Scouts jumble sale - I got Tom some shorts and another Encyclopedia and headed home.  Alice (Charlie's mum) has just gone back to school (she's an English teacher) and phoned up asking if I wanted to pop round for a catch up.  Fantastic, so I popped round and ended up there for about 3 hours finding out all her gossip - by all accounts she's loving it despite all the barriers the government put up - did you know English GCSE isn't graded as A,B,C etc as of this year, but 1, 2, 3 etc, but the government haven't released what the numbered grades will mean, which puts teachers in the difficult position of having to grade work without knowing what the grades are?  How ridiculous?!  I could never work in the public sector, it would drive me mad!

I got home, made tea, ate tea and then went to collect the boys who had had sushi on the way home (lucky things).  They had had a good time.

HST at Doncaster

Yes, Tom and I decided to do a grand tour of Yorkshire on Northern Rail trains. Nik dropped us off at Ribblehead and we got the usual train down to Leeds, pausing only to wave at the Highland cattle at Hellifield. We had about 45 minutes to wait for our next train, so we disappeared into Marks & Spencer to get our lunch. Prawn sandwiches for him (surprise surprise), some healthy sandwiches for me, and we also shared a part of fruit and a packet of beetroot and sweet potato crisps. He wanted to down them straightaway (before 11 o'clock), but I insisted we waited until we got to Doncaster, our next stop. We arrived there around noon, his prawn sandwiches were gone by about five past, and we then spent an hour watching a variety of passenger and freight trains passing through the station. It is a busy line there.

Sushi demolition

Our next voyage was a fast train to Hull, which stopped only at Goole on the way. Tom thought the station was called Google. This was my first visit to Hull, which is another of those northern cities with a very fine Victorian railway station. Not on the same scale as, say, York or Newcastle, but very attractive nonetheless. I noticed that there was a shopping centre next door to the station, so we toddled in, fortified ourselves with doughnuts, and had a look round the shops, where Tom was delighted to find a toy shop full of Top Trumps packs. Two sets were duly purchased (creatures of the deep and Deadly 60), which provided him with ample entertainment on our next to legs, Hull to York and York to Leeds.

Mummy going down

Leeds turned out to be just another food-purchasing interlude, as we headed straight to Wasabi to pick up some sushi for the train back to Ribblehead. Again, someone wanted to get stuck into his on the platform. I again insisted he waited until the train actually left the platform, and I think half his bento had been consumed before we were clear of the station points. The whole lot had gone before Shipley, our first stop. His capacity for sushi is truly extraordinary. Still, I think it's great. Not many British kids his age would even consider trying it.
We arrived back in the Dales bang on time, to find Mummy waiting, and we all headed home to tell her about our little adventure.

Swinging

Tom was really excellent company today. I don't recall saying a single cross word to him (other than "no you can't eat it yet"). Anyway, these cheap days out happen two or three times a year, so will have to think about where to explore next time.

Sunday
In the morning Matt and Tom went across to the Community Field to help put the cricket pitch to bed (i.e. shovel a tonne and a half of loam, sand etc on it).  Tom came back fine, Matt came back shattered.  We went to Inglesport for lunch and then drove over to Sizergh Castle for the afternoon.  We walked around the grounds, did a quick 'spot the object' quiz in the house, had tea and a bun and then walked their wild trail which was really rather good.  Lots of obstacles made from trees etc to tackle, rhymes to read and solve and a trail to follow.  We all had fun.  Then back home for tea.  School tomorrow and at last some cakes for me to make, back to the old routine.

Weekend

Grim day in Skipton

So now Tom is in Year 2, we have decided to give him some pocket money.  We have introduced him to the world of football stickers - buying him what we thought was the 2015/16 album and some stickers to start him off in Devon (only to find that it was the 2014/15 season - poo!)  We have decided to give him £2 a week - which gives him a chance to buy 4 sets of stickers, or 2 sets of stickers and some sweets or whatever he wants.   He doesn't get the money for free - he has agreed some rules - so he has a couple of jobs to do (empty cutlery in dishwasher / do recycling etc) and some behavioural points to think about (go to bed nicely, brush teeth nicely, hang wet towels over the banisters etc).  It seems to be working so far.  We gave him his first £2 on Saturday and he immediately said he wanted to put it in the bank.  I was impressed, but thought I should explain fully the concept of pocket money, once I did he didn't want to put it in the bank but save it up for a new Bruder toy.  We will see what happens...

Nervous newsreader

Saturday morning was horrible - rainy and windy.  It was the first session of the Craven Wanderers football season.  At one point I thought it would be cancelled, but as 9.30 neared, the rain and wind eased.  Tom wanted to go, but when he got there, he went all quiet and said he didn't like the wind and didn't want to play.  As I was trying to reason with him, something caught his eye and suddenly he was off????!!!!   Phew!!!!!  It was a bit of a shame that only one other child in his age group turned up (Lexi from his class), none of the boys turned up.  This means that the under 7s team (they have proper matches against local villages and towns) is going to be made up of Tom, Lexi and a whole lot of 5 year olds.  I have been trying to convince other boys to come along, but of the 7 boys in Tom's class, 3 hate sport, 1 is so good he plays in the under 8s team and the others don't really care.  I will try to encourage them, but it is like beating a head against a brick wall!

Reading the news

Anyhow, as I said the rain stopped as soon as we got there and it stayed away for the whole training session.  It started again just as we walked home.  Tom had had a good session, he loves the coaches and the atmosphere is very warm - focusing on having fun, there is no pressure.  Perfect for him to find his feet and grow.

Climbing Pendle Hill

Matt didn't go to the football, feeling rubbish with cold.  When we got back home he suggested a train ride to Bradford and a curry.  We didn't argue.  We drove to Skipton and had tea and a bun at the new farm shop.  We then headed to the train station and got the direct train to Bradford.  First stop was the media museum to look around.  Tom had a go being a newsreader on the BBC News, and did a pretty good job considering the autocue was very fast.  Before too long our tummies were rumbling, so we headed over to the Kashmir for another fantastically cheap quality curry.  We had a freshly cooked plate of onion bhaji, 2 curries, rice, naan, 2 chapatis, poppadums, chutney etc and soft drinks for £14.  How do they make any money?  It all went and it was all delicious.

We headed back home with happy bellies.

Ingleborough in the distance

Sunday was a  lovely sunny day.  We decided to go for a walk and settled on Pendle Hill near Blacko (on the way to Colne / Nelson etc).  We were expecting the hill to be in the middle of no-where but found some very lovely villages on the way, including Barley where there was a car park for the Pendle Hill walkers (full of TV crews and catering vans so they are filming something here - we didn't see anything though), a cafe in the car park which was full.  We had a picnic with us though so we walked past that and 2 very lovely looking pubs to the hill.  The hill was a good climb especially if you are full of cold (all 3 of us) so we huffed and puffed our way up to the top.  We were rewarded with a fantastic view of the area and enjoyed it as we ate our picnic, with about 100 other walkers - it was a busy day - but it was clear and warm, and local to a large population so can't really complain.

Flying Tom

We decided to do a full circle of the hill so left the throngs and finished off the walk by ourselves.  We then had to try out one of the pubs for a drink before heading home (it was a lovely pub too - must go back for food one Friday evening).

Altogether a lovely day.  Tom's walking was ace.

Into Year 2

So, it happened, the school holidays are now offically over!  It did zoom past - which is suprising considering he had 7.5 weeks off!  He happily wore his new uniform this morning and scooted to school.  Everyone was very happy and excited to be back.

Growing up

Tom came home saying he had a good time.  He thinks Ms Middleton is a great teacher - but can't tell me why?!  He drew a selfie and learnt about his new classroom.  After school he had his first swimming lesson of the new year.  We were quite worried about it as he refused to do any 'proper' swimming during the holidays, however, he went in with gusto and did really well.  Last term he was very bottom of his class, today he was middle of the class - and the fastest on his back which is strange as he absoultely refused to do any swimming on his back during the holidays saying he couldn't do it!  I tell you I'm going to get a curly wig next time we go swimming and pretend to be Jill!

Time with Granma and Pop Pop

Saturday

Today we offered Tom to Mum and Dad for the day.  Tom is brilliant now when he is on his own with either me or Matt, we call this 'Golden Time', it is time to treasure having Tom to yourself and we figured this would probably apply to Grandparents as well - so we asked if they wanted him to theirselves.  Mum is pretty beaten up at the moment - sporting a broken arm and a massive limp from a fall about a month ago.  However, they jumped at the chance to have Tom to themselves and took him off to a big park in Plymouth for a play and lunch.  

Matt and I took the chance to go for a walk across the moor to Yelverton and lunch in a pub.  Chilli for me (can't taste anything with this cold - but it gave me goosebumps, so I figure it was quite spicy!)  We then walked back.  Matt did some work and I enjoyed the silence for an hour or so and then got bored, missing my little man.  Mum and Dad finally got home around 4pm - smiles all round, although it was obvious to see that Mum had overdone it!

We had a quiet afternoon / evening, finished off with a salmon dinner - someone was very happy!

Sunday

Working hard together

A close inspection of the engine

Playing boules

Nice pic

We thought we should give Mum and Dad a break and took Tom off for the day.  We decided to explore the Launceston Heritage Railway.  This is a small railway with small engines but very pleasant.  We got there by the skin of our teeth, ran aboard the train (Lilian) and headed to the end of the line and back again (it was only 15 mins from one end to the other).  We then looked around the museum and shop and got the next train out.  Where the line ended there was a farm park - perfect for a 6 year old: lots of outdoor games, go-karts, trampolines, a river and beach, table tennis, olde worlde games, ball pall, swingball etc etc and some animals to stroke.  Also there was a cafe which did very good food at very reasonable prices (just as well as we didn't have much money on us!)   We spent a very pleasant two hours there in the sun before heading home on the next train.

Then a drive through sunny Cornwall and Devon back to Crapstone and an afternoon enjoying the sun in the garden, playing Boules and working Pop Pop's trains on the outside railway.  Tom then had dinner with Granma and Pop Pop, whilst Matt and I went to Peter Tavy for a very lovely 2 course dinner and then a clamber on Dartmoor to a tor before returning back to Crapstone.

Monday

Hanging around

HMS Ocean

Matt was back to work today, so Mum, Dad and I went for a day out.  Mum and Dad suggested Edgcumbe which involves a boat ride.  We headed down to Plymouth to the walk on ferry car park, but it was full so we headed around the bay to the car ferry - not a patch on the Brittany Ferries car ferry, but still exciting.  We drove round to Edgcumbe, Tom had a little play and then we had lunch sat outside in the sun.  Tom, Dad and I then walked down to the beach to watch boats and throw stones in the sea, whilst Mum got the mobility car down.  We saw HMS Ocean go out and a camouflaged 'army boat' as well as lots of tugs, yachts etc etc.  Tom and I skimmed stones.  We continued down through the gardens together, found ourselves another cafe for ice cream and a table tennis table for more practise.

It was a lovely day, lots of sunshine and smiles.  We returned home for more boules, and more playing with Pop Pop's garden railway and then we all headed to The Jack Rabbit for dinner.  Somehow Tom ended up with two courses which he ate up, whilst the rest of us had one - always the smallest person who gets the biggest meals!!!!!!


Tuesday

A boring day - we got up, packed and headed home.  We did well, Matt drove to Gloucester where the Tebay people have set up another services, so we enjoyed hot food and then I drove from Gloucester back home.  I didn't come out of 6th gear for the whole motorway journey - that includes the M5/M6 junction, so it was a very good run home.   We unpacked, had tea and went to bed.

Back to Blighty

The Armorique

So on Friday morning we got up early (boo hoo!), Matt did the breakfast run in hope of finding pain raisin but was dissapointed and then we packed up.  We were out of the campsite before 10am and on our way north to Morlaix to do our final supermarket shop.  It was a nice ride through the countryside - we were stunned by how similar to Dartmoor a lot of it was - we found ourselves in heather moorland complete with tors etc.  At one point we were wondering if we had somehow flown over the channel!

We arrived in Morlaix and found the Géant easily.  It looked a little run down from outside and we were the only GB car in the car park, but we went in and found a decent sized shop, which was empty, meaning we could have a pleasant experience shopping.  We did very very well with alchol, Matt finding some great bargains with whisky etc and also plenty of cidre and wine.  I didn't do so well with cheese with very little to choose from, but on the whole we were pleased with our shop, it was a good trolley full and on getting back to the car and putting it in the boot, we realised we could have bought 4x the amount without running out of space.

Chopper Tom

We had lunch in the shopping mall at a very busy local cafe / bar - our last frites of the holiday.  We then pushed on to Roscoff (or Rosko as it is known in Breton).  We filled the car up with Diesel (much much cheaper in France) and drove through the town - it was a lovely looking town - worth an explore, if you didn't have a car full of valuables to worry about!  Certainly worth an overnight stop if getting a late ferry over.

We then went to the ferry port and lined up for the boat - being placed right next door to our cabin neighbours from the campsite!  We got on board early and found ourselves some seats.  Once again the sea was very calm so the crossing was very pleasant.  Unfortunately I was coming down with a cold and wasn't feeling very well, just as well the crossing was calm.  Tom enjoyed himself, exploring the boat, running around outside.  There was a magic show, a family quiz (which Matt and Tom won) balloon making etc - this made the time go quickly and before we knew it we could see the lights of Devon.  We docked half an hour early, but then immigration took ages meaning it was over an hour from getting in our cars to getting onto the road (it took 10 mins in Caen!).  We were tired, so were feeling pretty lucky that we had a short drive to Crapstone.  (Our cabin neighbours were driving straight to Manchester!).

Car deck with a view

We were welcomed by Mum and Dad.  We unpacked minimal luggage and went inside.  Tom had a hyper 30 mins and then went to bed, we weren't far behind - it had been a long day.

Notes to ourselves for next time:
+ Don't need to take any food - we took some beans and Ribena with us and brought them home!
+ Tom didn't like French sausages?!
+ Take a bath mat if staying in a cabin
+ Normandy is now 'done', plenty more to see in Brittany
+ Take duvets - we were supplied with blankets - but they wouldn't have been enough on their own, we used them with duvets as it got pretty cold at night
+ Don't forget 'skinny' trunks
+ Take scooter for Tom in the campsite
+ Be very careful when selecting campsites (how far to the beach, what sort of pool complex etc)
+ Take go pro and waterproof case

Holidays...part 13

Friday

Paddling

Today we are 11 years married – wow!  Where has the time gone?

Today we had another quiet day around the campsite.  In the morning we went up to the pool which we had more or less to ourselves.  Of course it was all water slides.  Until Tom told me he wanted me to throw him in the pool as if he had been really naughty – I did this twice.  The second time he came up spluttering and splattering and said he didn’t want to do it again.  So back to the slides until he was shivering so much he had to call it a day.  It was blue skies but large clouds and when the clouds were in front of the sun it got noticeably cooler.

We went back to the cabin, did some preliminary packing (as usual we have to be out of here by 10am which is hard work when you are getting used to 9am starts). 

Us on the other side

We then had lunch which was everything left in the fridge with a baguette (we did a good job and managed to finish up pretty much everything we had).  We then went down to the beach for the afternoon.  We were pretty lucky in that the sky cleared for the time we were down there so we got some sun.  The tide was on its way out, meaning the spit of land we saw yesterday was almost accessible. 

Down the slide

After a couple of games of velcro tennis we had another look at the channel and found we could traverse.  Tom and I went first, the current was strong, but it was shallow enough (under my knees) so we got across no problems.  Matt seeing we had done it then had a go once Tom and I were back.

A couple more games of velcro tennis and we came back to the cabin, had showers, and got ready to go out to Concarneau.  We had decided to go back there for dinner today – to celebrate the end of the holiday and our anniversary.  Mainly though, we chose to return here as we had found a number of restaurants that do moules frites for children and Tom was desperate to have his own.

Splash!

We got there early, thinking we would have an early dinner and then go for a walk around the ramparts – hoping they would be lit up by then.  We went to one restaurant to be told they didn’t serve until 7pm (it was 5.30)  Poo!  When we looked at the other restaurants, they all looked empty!  So, we thought we would walk round the ramparts first.  It wasn’t to be – the ramparts were closed off for the evening.  It wasn’t going well!  We then decided to go somewhere for a drink to while away the waiting time.  We ended up at a restaurant, when we got served, we asked if they would do food – they said yes – yahoooooo!  And they did the children’s moules. 

So dinner was fantastic:

New favourite food

Tom was mega, mega excited to get his own bowl of moules and frites and did a really good job of eating it all up – it was a decent portion too.  His dessert was apple compote which came in a tube bag which tend to hold baby food – every strange, and although he complained to start with – he tried it and liked it.

I had scallops to start, a wonderful pork and cidre casserole with chips and some salad for my mains and a Breton galette / cakey thing for dessert.  I was in heaven.

Anniversary Cidre

Matt had soupe de poisson for starters, a pork bbq for mains with a baked potato (pomme de terre au fours – for future reference) consisting of sausage, belly pork / rib thing, and a smoked intestine thingy (not sure what it was neither of us had seen anything like it before).  He finished off with a citron cake / biscuit thingy.  He was pleased too.

All of this of course was polished off with a bottle of cidre and plenty of rustic bread.  My stomach is now moaning (stretched) with it all, but it was definitely worth it. 

We wondered back through the Ville Close, Matt took some photos of the ramparts in the evening sun and then we headed home.  Tom went to bed, we did more packing and are shortly off to bed ourselves, a great day to round off the French bit of our holidays.

Holidays...part 12

Gloomy fish

Wednesday

Tom finally got to sleep and the coughing stopped – phew!  We woke up to another blue sky – yahooooo!  Today we decided to head to Brest to go to Oceanopolis which markets itself as something unique in Europe – the most amazing aquarium you will visit.  After our Cerza visit, we were keen to do another animal based activity.  We got up a little earlier than usual (we have been having long lazy holiday mornings which are ace), had a quick breakfast and were on our way.  The hour long journey didn’t take too long at all and luckily the aquarium was on the edge of the city, nearest us.

Polar Bear 

We paid the €50 to get in and went straight to the polar exhibit where we saw a fantastic panoramic film full of penguins and seals and then had a look around the exhibits.  There was a penguin colony of Macaroni and Emperor penguins.  You could watch them darting around underwater which is always a favourite.

The next exhibit was the seals, including the bearded seal, which was my favourite – a big fat seal with a face full of whiskers.  We watched them for a while before moving on.  The rest of the polar exhibit concentrated on expeditions to polar regions and consisted of videos of scientists doing their thing.  There was a real stuffed polar bear and plenty of footage of polar bears trampling along watching the scientists from afar.

Urchins

Next stop was the Tropical exhibit, all the usual brightly coloured fish and some – including a Napolean which are always fun (big, grumpy and blue).  I can remember coming across lots of these when diving in Egypt.  There were some sharks in this exhibit too: some with nasty looking teeth, a long toothed sawfish (which has what looks like a chain saw sticking out of its nose) and some small classic looking sharks.  Tom liked this tank, although he did cling to me each time he saw a shark – pretending to be scared.

Bright fish

By now we were all starving (the early start making our tummies rumble early).  We headed to the cafeteria where Tom had chicken nuggets and frites, I had roast chicken and frites and Matt had calamari and frites.  All at very reasonable prices.  We have really struggled to get vegetables here – they don’t seem to feature on any menu.  I can understand moules frites having no veggies - where would you put them, but nothing seems to come with veggies in a restaurant.  I have therefore majored on them when cooking in the campsites, in an attempt to have some healthy food.

Once refortified, we headed to the temperate aquarium, ie to see fish from around here.  All very well, but temperate fish are boring – just grey, silver things.  Not much to look at, not playful.  From there we had a look around the very large shop and came out with a birthday present for a friend back home.  We then went to see the otters (we couldn’t find them) and walked around an exhibit for 6-10 year olds, which was ok, but not amazing.  Tom then asked to go back to the polar exhibit to see the seals again.  They were my favourite animal of the day so was quite happy to do so.  After that we called it a day.  It was a nice day out, but not worth €50, there was a definite tired feel to the place, you got the feeling that once it was amazing and the must go to attraction, but now it was down on its luck.  I hope it manages to get itself back on its feet again.

The BBQ King

We got home in good time, played some games of boules (Tom lost and cried – I mean really?!  We told him not to be such a bad sport!)  Then the last bbq of the holiday: sausages, steak hache and ebi brochettes, with taboleh and a big bowl of salad with home made garlic mayonnaise, served with cidre of course.  It was a fabulous meal.  Up until now the day had been quite cold (we wore jumpers all day) because the clouds were hiding the sun.  Now, however, all the clouds disappeared, it got hot.

Playing velcro tennis

We decided to head to the beach for an after dinner stroll.  When we got there, it was high tide, so we decided to walk around the headland away from Benodet, and found a very long spit of sandy beach from the other side of the bay heading across to the beach we were on.  All very lovely – especially when shining in the sunshine.  We stopped to watch some people fishing and to play velcro tennis and then headed back. 

Golden sunlight

We got back to the cabin, washed Tom’s sandy feet in the kitchen sink, he then went to bed.  It was still 9pm before he got to bed – it is going to be a shock to his system when we get home, going back to 7pm bed times (although when you think about it, he hasn’t really adjusted to the hour’s time difference – waking up a good hour later than usual and going to bed an hour / two hours later than usual which is the normal time in the UK.  It is  us who will need to be more organised about it all to get him in bed at the right time when we get home).  I must say, I have really enjoyed our evening strolls this week - will miss the close access to the beach when we get home and lack of urgency to get Tom to bed ready for school in the morning.