Another Busy Weekend

Lakeside from Fell Foot Park

This weekend was very very busy.

Saturday looked like a nice day so we headed off to Lakeside and got the boat to Bowness.  Tickets are half price to residents at the moment so only £5 return which for a 40 minute journey each way I think is very good.  We were all togged up in thick coats, gloves, hats etc so we sat outside and enjoyed the view.

On arriving in Bowness we had lunch in 'Aunty Val's Tearoom' - spicy tomato soup for me, chorizo and emmenthal panini for Matt and sausage bap for Tom - it is almost as if they knew we were coming.  We left with happy bellies.

On the boat

Twilight cruise

We then went for a walk around Bowness exploring shops, looking for Christmas pressies (not too successful!) before getting the boat back to Lakeside.  On the boat back there was a large Japanese party.  Matt couldn't resist and did his party trick of asking in Japanese if a couple wanted a photo taken of them.  He got the usual reaction of disbelief, but the couple were friendly and they were chatting for the rest of the trip.  It's not often that Matt gets a chance to speak Japanese so he was very happy.

On Sunday we got up early and were in the car before 8am.  We were on a flying visit to Telford. Luckily the motorway were empty and we flew down (until we hit a diversion at Eccleshall which meant we had to go through Stafford!)  Not to worry we got to the ice rink dead on 10.30 - we were the second to arrive.

Hannah, Becca and Tom

Helen and Thomas

Having cuddles and kisses with Sammie

The gang

Sophie and Tom

Jake and Tom

We met up with loads of friends at the soft play area next door to the ice rink.  Luckily it was empty, in fact the whole time we were there I think there were only 5 other families which was great - we basically had the place to ourselves and it was clean and bright - much better than any of the others.

People turned up in dribs and drabs.  We had primed Tom earlier on who he would see.  He said that he didn't remember any of them, but as soon as they arrived he was off shouting their names and playing as if it was only last week that he saw them all.  He spread his love around, spending time with everyone.  It was a joy to see.  In fact I didn't play with














him at all - I just left him to it and chatted with my friends.  It is always so difficult to get round to everyone in such a limited time - almost like a wedding, you leave feeling that you haven't spoken to anyone really.

Leo, Lucy and Mae

Jessica, Olly, Seren and Tom

Time went by too quickly, within a blink of an eye 2 hours had gone by and we had to say goodbye to everyone.  Oh well, not a huge problem as we had a date with more friends in a pub.  We headed to the Two Henrys on the outskirts of Shrewsbury where we met up with our NCT friends.  We hadn't seen many of them since December last year - so there was a new baby to cuddle (Max - Seren's brother who is now 6 or 7 months) and the babies had turned into toddlers.  Oh and there was a bump to admire (Jessica is going to be an older sister next year)

We had two tables - one for the children and one for the adults.  The children are old enough now, that they sat really nicely with each other eating their lunch with very little incident.  This was fantastic as it meant that the adults could chat without much interruption.

The pub had a soft play area, so once we had all finished we all headed over.  Once again we more or less had the place to ourselves and the children went off and played whilst we chatted.  I actually felt at a loss at one point - I'm really not used to Tom amusing himself.  I figure school has had quite an impact on his confidence playing with other people - he just got on with it.

Around 4pm we called it a day and headed back home.  We all had a fantastic day.  Tom was asleep almost immediately and woke up in a good mood.  We had dinner at The Bridge on the way home which is always a favourite.  He ate up half of my lasagna (not surprising considering how much playing he did!)  A good day, we all went to bed tired and happy.

Weekend with Mummy

I've got behind again!  Oops.

Weekend before last was a little quiet.  Matt was up in Edinburgh having a reunion (piss up) whilst Tom and I stayed in Ingleton.

Chocolate cake!

Saturday I asked him what he wanted to do and was told that he wanted a bike ride in Morecambe so that is what we did.  We parked in our usual place and then cycled all the way along the main prom, past the Stone Jetty (cafe there is closed now) down to the nice cafe down the bottom, where I had a lovely (but stinky) bowl of homemade mushroom and garlic soup (I counted 4 whole cloves of garlic!) and Tom had a very naughty chocolate cake (he had cycled so well I gave him carte blanche on what to order)  The weather wasn't great: dull and grey, but we did manage to sit outside.

We then cycled back to the car in no time at all (fuelled by chocolate cake and a back wind) and headed home.  It was dark by the time we got home - hate these short days.

Had mushrooms and pasta for dinner (whilst Matt is away we have mushroom fest: mushrooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner - I got told "Mummy next time Daddy is away can we have this again - mushrooms are yummy!"  That's my boy!)

Sunday we had a very lazy day.  With no alarms on - I slept through to 9.30am!!!!!!  That's the longest in a very very very very long time.  When I realised what the time was I got up immediately to see Tom.  He was quite happy lying in bed reading his books.  Didn't seem to realise it was 2 hours later than usual.  As a result of my lie in the rest of the day was out of sync.  We headed off to Lancaster and Williamson Park.  Tom took his bike and did some cycling and then we went to its rather good cafe for a sort of lunch (it was 2.30pm).   Tom had a sausage roll and I had a child's cheese on toast.  We then went for another play before heading to the station to pick Matt up.

It was a quiet weekend, but Tom couldn't have been better company.  He was so well behaved and fun that I was sad when it was over and he went back to school on Monday, I would happily have kept him out and carried on playing with him.

Very busy weekend

After a busy half term the pace didn't slow this weekend, in fact it was full steam ahead!

Friday evening found us in our new local foodie pub with some friends and their boys.  It was a good evening out - didn't get back home till quite late (8pm ish)

Saturday was a horrible day in Ingleton so we decided to escape and used our Dales Rail Pass for a cheap ticket to Carlisle (normally £24 return, now only £8 return).  It takes 1hr 45mins to get to Carlisle but it just flew.  Tom really enjoyed himself - he even happily did some school work on the way.  When we got there Tom and Matt hung around the station doing some train spotting (nerds!) whilst I went in search for the re-located cake shop.  I found it - it was huge.  I spent a happy half hour looking round and picking up all the bits and pieces I need in the near future.  Called the boys - they weren't quite ready, so I some more shopping before meeting them for lunch at a rather good cafe: The Old Engine House.  We found this cafe last time we were in Carlisle - it is a great place.  Really good and imaginative food, service with a smile and very reasonable prices.  The only problem is that the cafe is too small so we had to wait, but it was worth it.  We also brought down the average age by about 20 years - seems like all the oldies in Carlisle have found it and haven't told anyone else about it!

So being a proper trainspotter - Matt took plenty of videos.  Here's one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciwkBn3jPug

We left with very happy bellies and then walked down to Bitts Park for Tom to have a run around and a play.  Oh I have to mention that the weather was great.  We were all wrapped up warm, expecting rain, gloom and misery, but when we exited from the Blea Moor tunnel we were welcomed by bright sunshine and it stayed like that for the rest of the day.

We then headed into the city centre for a spot of 'big town shopping' before heading back to the station for more train spotting and then our train back to Settle.  We decided to try out a new pub in Settle on the way back for dinner and found another gem (there are so many good pubs out here!).  And then on to home and bed.

Sunday dawned a beautiful day - clear blue skies and not a breath of wind.

The View from Fleetwood

Michelin Woman and Tom

It was the last day of the Blackpool Illuminations so we decided to go.  We packed the car up with Christmas goodies for Kitridding Farm which we dropped off on the way and then headed down the motorway to Blackpool, stopping at Booths in Garstang for lunch (guaranteed a good lunch there, pretty much guaranteed a bad lunch in Blackpool!)

Searching for the perfect stone

Throwing stones in the sun

Found a free parking space almost on the prom at Blackpool and then purchased some rover tickets for the tram and decided to go all the way North to Fleetwood - just because we could, not because we had heard anything about it.  We travelled through some pretty drab neighbourhoods and were sort of dreading arriving in a miserable yard, but we were greeted by a lovely beach (sandy with some stones that could be thrown into the sea = boy happy), with magnificent views - we could see the Lake District mountains, the dock yard in Barrow, the power station in Heysham and even Ingleborough (although at the time we had our bearings wrong and couldn't quite work out what anything was!)

Like Father, like son

We must have spent the best part of an hour there (and would have spent longer if it wasn't for the fact it was beginning to get dark).  We got the tram back to Blackpool and the Pleasure Beach.  Tom almost fell asleep, so we headed to get tea and a bun somewhere.  We found a tacky family bar on the South Pier and had a drink.  We then explored the fun fair - we had promised Tom a ride.    We then went to the very good 'Tom's Donut Hut' for a bag of doughnuts during which time the illuminations were switched on.  

The Big One

Suitably restored we walked north back up the prom taking in the lights - they weren't as exciting as further north, so we decided to get a tram back up to Gynn Square where the interesting lights start and then walked up taking them in.  We got to Bispham much quicker than last year and managed to get a seat straight away at the big fish and chip restaurant there.  So haddock, chips, mushy peas and a slice of bread and butter for Matt and me and scampi and chips for Tom.  All very Blackpool.

The Sun

Tom and a Spaceman

We then got the tram back to Gynn Square and headed back home.  It was almost 9pm before we got home - a very late night for a school night - ooops!  Oh well, it was our last chance so we had to take it.

Half Term - Part 3

The cake

Wednesday it was dreary but not raining - so can't complain too much.  The morning saw us in Giggleswick delivering the 2 tier anniversary cake.  One of the most detailed cakes I've done in a while: it was a Rocky Horror themed rollercoaster animal print cake.  Believe it or not I had the most trouble with the zebra print on the cake than anything else - you would think it would be easy to do zebra print - but not so - I was painting it on, and it just looked wrong all the time.  I decided in the end that the black zebra stripes are thick and the white thin.  I got there in the end, but it took much longer than it should have done.

Anyway, we delivered it and the recipients were happy with it which is always a relief.  We then went to the tip, I popped into the soft play area with some marketing material - they had contacted me as they often have requests for fancy cakes and there isn't anyone in the area who does them (well that's what they thought until they found me).  We then headed into the town for a quick look around the shops before stopping for lunch at a different tea room, Poppies which was very nice - same prices as The Naked Man, but better quality food.

In the afternoon Matt worked and I took Tom to the library for a special children's session: making witch hats, pumpkin plates, rockets etc etc.  Normally these things are particularly well attended.  Not the case here - it was heaving!  We bumped into Caroline, Fred & Frank, Lynne, Matthew & Tom and others there.   Tom had a good time and to my surprise showed more of his new found confidence and actually went up to a librarian and asked her a question about some red gunk they had made.  We all went outside to see a 'rocket' launch (bicarbonate of soda and vinegar in a bottle) - the librarians made a huge fuss about it saying it was going to explode and to stand back.  After 15 minutes we were sure it wasn't going to do anything!

Tom in his cinema seat

Wednesday evening I spent making wedding cupcakes which were being picked up on Thursday morning.  They were a disaster!  Same batter went into yellow and orange cupcake cases.  The orange ones were fine, the yellow ones decided to peel off?   I have no idea why.  I then had two batches of buttercream: cinnamon and custard flavour.  Both made from the same batch of buttercream.  The custard buttercream piped fine, the cinnamon buttercream didn't.  Why oh why?!  It wasn't a pleasant experience, the cakes were being collected first thing on Thursday so I couldn't make any more.  It was a horrible experience.  As part of the order I had to make some vegan cupcakes.  These turned out absolutely fine - typical.  So I added more of those into the order than were needed to make up for the duff other ones.  I hate making substandard cakes, and am frustrated because I really don't know why things went wrong.

Thursday the bride and groom turned up to pick up their cakes.  I was completely honest with them and explained what had gone wrong.  They seemed fine and pretty relaxed about it.  Let's hope they tasted ok.  In the afternoon Matt and Tom went with Big Tom and Sam and Co from next door to see Turbo at the cinema in Lancaster.  It was Tom's first time (he's always been nervous about cinema environments in the past) - he did really well.  He's not heavy enough to keep a seat down, but apart from that he had a good time.  Apparently he concentrated and didn't fidget too much which for him is pretty good.  I got back into baking and made up the batter for 5 more gingerbread houses and then did some computer work before they returned home.

Wizard Devil

Isabella and Tom

Thursday was Halloween.  We had been invited by a friend to join them in Austwick for a village wander organised by the local pub.  We bought Tom a better costume in Settle when we visited and dressed him up: Wizard's Hat, Devil's Mask, Witch's Cape and pumpkin holder.  We got to the pub - it was full to bursting with every kind of Halloween character you can think of.  This is a pub with a 'French Kitchen' and the bar was groaning with huge plates of proper French Charcuterie and cheese - all free.  Yummy! We ate as much as we could without looking greedy.  We then headed out for our wander.  At the first house Tom wasn't really sure what to do.  He accepted a sweet and then handed one back to the rather surprised house holder.  Very sweet!  At the next house he happily joined the crowd and collected a sweet and then he was off down the street racing to the next house to get his treats.  He certainly enjoyed himself.  That is, until the heavens opened and the rain poured down on us.  We all got drenched.  Tom wasn't impressed and cried.  Oh dear.  Luckily I had some dry clothes in the car for him, so once he was in those he was happier.  The kids then got free hot dogs and we had a pie, peas and chip supper.  We didn't leave the pub until 8.30ish, we were having a good time and Tom and Isabella were happily playing with each other and a couple of other children they knew in the pub.  It was past 9pm when Tom got to bed!

Tom and a Donkey

Friday we had made arrangements to meet with Adam and Eli at Docker Farm Park.  The boys got on fine again, although it was freezing they had a good time - mainly playing on the pedal tractors and go karts.  We did go for a walk and see the animals, but mainly it was the pedal tractors which were the main attraction.  Before we knew it, it was 3pm.  Eli and I were completely frozen (we should have played on the pedal tractors too) so we went to the cafe to warm up.  We found the cafe was actually quite good serving decent food - unusual in these sorts of places - normally it is greasy cheap food.  The cafe is open to those who don't want to visit the farm too - so will keep that in mind for a lunch one day - especially as it has a nice roaring fire and comfy sofas.  Tom was asleep within 30 seconds of me telling him to do so - phew - he was in dire need of a sleep.

Friday evening for me was spent out with some girls at the local foodie pub.  It would have been a good night, except everyone seemed to be coming down with a cold - so it finished quite early - oh hum, it was nice to get out though.

Octonauts and a Tom in bandage

Saturday was going to be a long busy day.  We had a birthday party and we had planned to meet up with Karen, Leia and Rosa in Blackpool for the illuminations.  However, the weather forecast for Blackpool was horrible, so we knocked that on the head and just went to the birthday party instead.  The morning was spent in Kirkby Lonsdale buying a present for the birthday boy.  We then had lunch in Avanti (bit posh for lunch, but it was a miserable day and we needed cheering up).  The birthday party was an Octonauts one - something Tom is not in to at all.  Oh hum - he decided to dress up as a spaceman instead, and didn't really stand out as not in theme (spaceman / deep sea diver = sort of the same?)  The party (Charlie's party - a boy from his class at school) was fabulous.  I have never been to such an organised, well planned party.  Turns out Alice (his Mum) and Pete (his Dad) are both teachers and it showed.  The children listened to everything they were told and followed instructions impeccably.  The games were very inventive and well planned.  (Pressure, pressure - there is no way I could even begin to do something as good as that!)  As a result the children were very well behaved and completely engaged.  Even the party tea was underwater themed with blue juice, blue jelly with fish in it, fish shaped sandwiches etc etc.  I couldn't believe it and was very very impressed.  Tom came away very very happy and we were all glad Blackpool had got cancelled as we would have had to miss half the party otherwise.

Steam Train

Sunday we thought we would have an easy day.  The weather wasn't supposed to be up to much so we headed off to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway for a play on a steam train.  The line isn't that long (15 mins) and there was only one engine working, but we had a good time.  We did 3 return trips, sat in different seats each time and happily watched the countryside speed past.  Tom fell asleep on the way home which was good.  Then curry and rice for dinner and early to bed for Tom - school tomorrow.

Half Term - Part 2

Revolting lunch

Nik was busy caking on Tuesday, so Tom and I decided to head out and do something train related for the day. I wanted to visit the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, which we still haven't been to, but the steam trains do not link up at all with the trains from Ribblehead, and we would've spent much of the day hanging around Keighley station.

So, a trip to the National Railway Museum in York it was, especially as they are currently having the "Great Gathering" of all six surviving A4s. We drove up to Ribblehead and got the 10:15 train to Leeds. It was absolutely revolting out there - freezing cold and pouring with rain, I did wonder whether it would actually start snowing. Fortunately, the train ("William Wilberforce" - his favorite train on this line) was bang on time, but nearly full, so we had to share a set of four seats with a nice elderly couple who were on their way to London. Tom did a very good job of charming them and being generally entertaining, but most of the train emptied out at Skipton, as is usually the case, and we had most of the coach to ourselves for the rest of the journey. After about 15 minutes at Leeds, we caught a "blue train" up to York, which didn't exactly hurry along, but we got to York at around 12:30.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

We headed straight to the museum upon arrival, but my heart sank when we turned a corner and noticed an absolute sea of people outside the museum waiting to get in. One of the crowd marshals reckoned it would be a wait of about an hour, and suggested that we went somewhere for lunch and tried again later. So, we headed back to the station, where I discovered that despite being a large and busy station, the choices for food are limited and extremely disappointing. In the end, it was either Burger King or Pumpkin Café (which served very little other than Ginsters stuff). Anyway, I had a cheese and ham slice and Tom had sausage roll (both microwaved to about 10,000°C), which we at least managed to eat on the platform so that Tom could watch the trains going past. Luckily, the railway activity managed to distract him from the fact that the food was truly revolting. He managed about half his sausage roll, and I didn't have the heart to make him eat any more of it. Still, some Kettle Chips and a banana helped to cleanse our pallettes.

In any case, the marshal was dead right, and we only had to queue for about 15 minutes (under blue skies) to get in. As soon as we were in the Great Hall, Tom remembered exactly what was where, and made a beeline straight for the model railway that had so enchanted him last time we visited. In keeping with the event, all the trains on the model railway were also expresses pulled by A4s. In all, we made five trips into the model railway, but to be fair, he did wander around all the other exhibits too, and queued patiently for another 15 minutes or so to go into the cab of "Bittern", where he listened patiently and intently to an ex-A4 driver who regaled us with tales of driving those engines back in the day.

Model railway

All six of the locomotives looked absolutely immaculate, as if they'd been built yesterday, and there were predictably large crowds gathered around each one, especially men of a certain age (considerably older than me). We had tea and a bun mid afternoon so that we could rest our tired legs, and then had a wander round the rest of the exhibits, before spending a bit of money in the shop and heading back to York station.

Tom insisted that we take a Voyager, not a blue train, back to Leeds, so I obeyed orders and found us a Penzance-bound train that fitted the bill. After getting ourselves some sandwiches, snacks and drinks for dinner on the train back to Ribblehead, we hung around the station for a bit before getting on our train.

Mallard

We actually started dinner before the train left Leeds, mainly in the hope that he would be able to nod off and have at least a little nap before we arrived in Ribblehead. Fat chance. He was still really excited from all the day's activities, and wouldn't entertain the idea of sleep at all. Having said that, his behaviour was exceptionally good all day, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was very proud of him, he's definitely growing up and more able to deal with long days out without getting tired, grumpy and naughty. Roll on the next trip.

Half Term - Part 1

So I completely buggered up half term.  I took a couple of orders at the beginning of the year thinking that in October Tom would be at school and I would be able to do them easily.  I didn't think to look up when half term is?!!!  So, I had a 2 tier 20th anniversary cake to do and 60 wedding cupcakes - both for mid week delivery, meaning they had to be done during the week.  I also had my first Christmas delivery to make to the local bakery: 12 gingerbread houses, 12 walnut whip figures & 30 tiffins in various sizes.  Doesn't sound much - but it took me A LONG time to get them all ready - Huff!!!!!

Tom and Matthew at Greenlands

Monday - we had a family day.  It wasn't very nice, and we had arranged to meet with Lynne and Matthew (one of Tom's school mates) at Greenlands in the afternoon.  I iced and covered the two tiers for the anniversary cake first thing and then we headed out for lunch.  We ended up at Carnforth - had a look around the shops (great second hand bookshop there) and then went to the Brief Encounter tea room for lunch.  Tom as usual went straight to the Thomas room for a play.  However, there was another boy already playing in it.  Normally this would mean he would go silly and shy and refuse to play unless I was with him.  This didn't happen!  He went straight into the room and made friends with the little boy and then played with him.  Neither of us could believe our eyes!  We basically lost him and had to drag him out of the room so he could eat his lunch.

In the afternoon we went to Greenlands, I was half expecting Tom to be silly and shy again with Matthew as I haven't really seen him play with him outside of school, although he has had plenty of opportunity during the Summer swimming season and meeting at the park etc.  However, he happily went off with Matthew and his much older brother Tom (11) who did a sterling job playing with them both.  Matt, Lynne and I just sat and chatted - a whole new experience for me - there is normally some clinging and silly shyness for me to contend with when we go to these places.  We left almost at closing time with a happy and tired boy.

Homework

So, Tom has completed his first half-term at school and it has gone pretty well.  No tears, no refusals to go etc.  We have very little idea of what goes on at school as he seems to forget everything he has done as soon as he leaves the classroom!

He does, however, get lots of homework:

+ Sound book: a flip book with all the letters of the alphabet and some words they appear in to practise sounds.

Tom's homework!

+ Reading book with no words - Tom has to narrate his way through this book describing what he sees in the pictures

+ Reading book with simple keywords such as 'a' and 'the' etc

+ Keywords keyring - 50 or so simple words on a keyring that he needs to learn off by heart

+ KIRFs book - with maths targets to Tom to hit.  (Luckily his target this half-term is to count to 20 and recognise the numerals 1-10.  He's been able to do that for over a year so I have just ignored this one).

+ New on Friday - 'Wow Wednesdays' a book which we have to fill each week with something new he has done at home in the previous week, to be illustrated with drawings / photos etc.  

+ Library book

Although this is his homework, it is of course MY homework.  I have comment books to fill in for his reading and maths and of course I now have to write about something 'wow' each week.  Does a 4 year old really need to have this much homework?  It makes me wonder exactly how much teaching is taking place at school.  I have a feeling teachers are spending so much time on paperwork to prove this, that and the other for Ofstead, that they don't actually have time to sit down with the kids in their class to teach them / find out how they are doing and expect the parents to do this instead.

Anyhow, Tom seems to be taking it in his stride and is beginning to recognise some words.  His maths is much better, today he was playing a maths game on the ipad and learnt how to count in 2's to 20.  We were really impressed with him as he picked it up really quickly.  (I am now making a mental note of everything he does to save up for his Wow Wednesday book - first entry will be the 7 mile bike ride, second entry will be counting to 20 in 2's - I'm hoping there will be more I can use and store up from this half term).

Oh hum, I guess it will only get worse...

Oh and he came home with a certificate last week - for 100% attendance.  Fine, but why did they give it to him a week before the end of half term?  

Family bike ride

Although Tom is tired and got a cold, he doesn't let it get him down (although he does get naughty and bolshy when he is tired which can be annoying).  This morning he requested that he went on a bike ride : "all of us on a bike".  Expecting lots of rain, we got up and set to putting the bike rack on the car - a nasty job which involves lots of grunting and swearing.  It didn't take as long as usual to get it on and the bikes on it.  Luckily we can still get Tom's bike in the car - that will change when he grows into his next one.

On the bridge at Crook O' Lune

We all had a good breakfast and then headed out.  Initially we were going to hit the prom at Morecambe, but we were worried about the weather - supposed to get windy and rainy today and there is no shelter in Morecambe, so we decided to ride along an old railway track: Bull Beck to Crook O' Lune.  We have done this before when Tom was on his orange bike, it took quite a while and Matt and I were wobbling quite a bit as we were having to cycle so slowly.  This time it was quite different.  Matt and I had to cycle properly to keep up with Tom and we got to Crook O' Lune in about 15 minutes - last time it was more like an hour!  We were very surprised and decided to carry on which we did.  We got all the way to the M6 road bridge, past Halton which is a decent distance.  We wondered if we should continue on into Lancaster but Tom requested we headed home, and as he isn't 100% we figured he knew best.

Resting at Crook O' Lune

We stopped off at Crook O' Lune on the way back for tea and a bun and then returned to the car.  In all we cycled just under 6 3/4 miles in 1hr 10mins (Matt of course has a gadget that measures all this!).  Very impressive for a tired, cold ridden 4 year old, we were very impressed with him (I was impressed with me too!)  It was very enjoyable and we found some free car parks on the route nearer to Lancaster, so we made a note to return to these and see if we can cycle into Lancaster next time where they have cycle paths alongside the canal which are supposed to be nice)

We headed to a new farm shop / cafe in Ireby just along from Ingleton.  We were surprised to come across a huge wooden building with loads of seating.  We had a lovely lunch (a little pricey but it was very good quality so can't really complain) and then headed back home.

In the afternoon we did a quick walk around the village, (old Neptis is being done up to become a new cafe....) visited the butchers to buy 2 massive rump steaks for dinner (so big that we ate one between the 3 of us and froze the other - very nice it was too), and headed down to the park for a play.  All was going well until I sat on a wall.  I didn't notice the wasp already sat on the wall - he wasn't happy with me and stung me in anger.  I was angry too - and sore!

I hobbled home, then we had a lazy afternoon before dinner and a very early bath time for a very tired, very grumpy and quite naughty boy.

Tom had a good sleep last night and woke up much happier.  The weather today was forecasted to be atrocious so we decided to have an easy day.  We headed out to Colne via the Forest of Bowland (not sure why it is called 'Forest' as we saw very few trees.  It was a lovely drive through upland moorlands - we didn't see another car for the whole journey.  Very sparsely populated, but very beautiful landscape.  It wasn't a fast route by any means, but very interesting.  We arrived in Colne to visit Boundary Mills - a huge outlet store - which serves free coffee and croissants on a Sunday morning (half of Lancashire was there).  We did a bit of Christmas shopping, I got some cake things and then we headed to Asda for some more shopping and lunch.

We then headed home via the fast, boring route.  Tom fell asleep which was the whole purpose of the trip - he was in dire need of an afternoon nap.  We then had a useful afternoon - cleaning, tidying, sorting etc (always needed in our house!)

Nice weekend and Tom's first disco

We had a nice stay at home weekend last weekend.  Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos so I'll have to describe it.  Sorry folks!

Saturday Matt and Tom went out in the morning to get their hair cut (both came back with the same hair do) and do some shopping whilst I finished off a birthday cake (for Sam next door - Monsters Inc theme) and made a roast with all the trimmings for Kathy and Paul who eventually came to visit us.

We had a lovely afternoon with Kathy and Paul - they are good company, Tom was on good form - both entertainment wise and good eating wise - he ate a full plate of food.  Time whizzed by - before we knew it it was 5pm - they made their excuses and we gave Tom his dinner before bed.

Babyccino

Sunday we headed into Kendal first thing as Tom grew out of his school shoes last week.  He complained his feet were hurting and on inspection I found the beginnings of blisters - oops.  So he wore is 'out of school' boots for the rest of the week.  The selection process was quite easy - I lined up the available styles he tried them on - if he couldn't get them on by himself they were rejected.  We then looked at the tread and kept the ones with good tread, then he got to choose.  He is now an 11f which I believe is quite big.

We had a quick coffee and a bun after shopping.  The only cafe at the outlet centre is Costa - not a place we would normally go to (prefer to support local businesses).  They do a babyccino - a mini hot chocolate for children which Tom enjoyed.

We then headed back home as we had a date in a pub with one of Tom's friends - Fred and his family.  The pub was walkable so we went on foot, managing to dodge the rain.  We had a proper dinner each and then headed to their yard for a play on bikes and scooters (their yard has a good long slope on it, making it perfect for play)  We also got to have a look around the vehicles they currently have (they are the family with the big gun on the A65 - and deal in heavy vehicles)

We got home just in time for a skype with Grannie and Grandpa and then Tom had tea and went to bed.  A good weekend.

Tom had a very busy week this week:

Rubbish bag wizard Tom

Monday - swimming after school
Tuesday - tea with Finn (another classmate)
Wednesday - home after school
Thursday - Halloween disco in the evening.  I as usual was rubbish with the fancy dress thing - I have always hated fancy dress and try to ignore it if at all possible.  Living where we do, I can't just nip out for something.  After Tom decided he wanted to go to the disco I visited Co-op and managed to find a wizard's hat and orange glow in the dark wand.  I then cut up a black sack for a cloak. He was the only one in a homemade costume at the disco, but he didn't mind at all.  The disco was ridiculously loud: full of kids who just seemed to want to scream!  There was very little music, and even less dancing. Surprisingly it didn't seem to worry Tom, he didn't wander far from us, but he was happy doing his own thing.  He even got two big hugs and kisses from two girls in his class when he left - the little charmer.
Friday - curry in Settle.

He has come down with a cold and is very tired, so it is just as well it is now half-term.  Lots of sleep and snoozy mornings to be had - yippee!

Better Week

This weekend we split up.  I had a 40th birthday to go to down in Warminster and Matt had his friends Michael and Sarah coming up to keep him and Tom company.  So I disappeared off at 9.30 on my 6.5hr odyssey on 4 trains down to Warminster.  I had been slightly dreading this as I have found it hard to sit down with this arm of mine.  However, it was still getting better and I was able to do lots of exercises on the train on the way down.  It was lovely actually to sit back, have responsibility for no-one and nothing and just be me.  I put on my headphones and listened to my music whilst watching the countryside speed past.  It was blissful, except for the niggling pain in my neck.

Believe it or not, all the trains were on time, and I was met by the whole Milburn family.  We slid into our usual banter almost straight away (Lou is one of those friends who I don't see very often, but when I do, it is as if it was only a day or so ago we last met).   I even found myself rolling my 'r's, although that was more to give them a laugh than natural.

Lou and Laura

Anyhow, I spent a pleasant hour catching up with them all.  Laura and Jacob of course have grown quite a bit since I last saw them.  They really are very nice children.  Laura had changed the most - she has really grown in confidence and was very lovely - showed me to my room, and happily spoke to me about anything and everything.

We had a quick shower and then put on our party wear (dress for Lou, jeans for me!) and headed down to the local cricket club to decorate it before everyone arrived.  I was slightly dreading the party as I didn't know anyone (Debbie didn't want to drive down on her own and wasn't willing to go by train!).  However, it was fine.  I, of course knew Lou's rather large family and Tim's immediate family - both of whom came straight over for a chat.  Then others on hearing who I was chatted away to me.  In fact Lou was introducing me as the guest of honour:  "This is my friend Nik, I went to college with her and she's come all the way from the Lake District!"  I didn't put her right - it was a good ice breaker.  Bless her - I think she was pleased I had made the effort.

I got straight onto the cider - hoping it would work as an anaesthetic for my arm.  Not so, so I decided to go easy on the drinking to get a good night's sleep.  I did, however, do some dancing which I think helped loosen the arm even further.   We didn't get back to Lou's until after 1am (wow!).  We wound down a bit and then headed to bed.  I got into bed and then noticed a text from Matt - Tom was awake and crying for me!  Oh dear - I sent through some suggestions on what to do via text and then tried to get to sleep.  It didn't go well - so much for a night off!

Had a lovely lie-in / chat with Lou, then breakfast, made a packed lunch and headed to Warminster Station for the trip home.  Once again all trains were on time, I had some lovely me time and I arrived in Lancaster to a very warm welcome from both boys.  Tom was very excited - he had bought me some presents - I was instructed to close my eyes and put my hands out.  Last time I did that I ended up engaged!!!!  A packet of Herdy gingerbread biscuits was thrust into my hands.  How lovely.  It was gorgeous to see Tom so excited to see me.

We headed back to Ingleton, had dinner at The Masons Arms / Old Brewery Inn and got home around 8pm.  Tom went straight to bed.  We weren't too far behind him.

Bad Week

I didn't post anything last week - mainly because nothing of note happened.  We didn't really have a happy weekend.  I was tired and grumpy because my neck, shoulder and arm were hurting.  Tom was grumpy because he was tired from school and Matt was grumpy because he was tired.  We went for a walk on Saturday, but it ended in an argument after the pub we were going to have lunch in was closed for a refurbishment. We made up but the atmosphere of the day was ruined.

Sunday we went swimming - me in the hope that being in water would help my arm - it didn't!  We then went into Lancaster for lunch at a lovely pub by the canal.  That's it.  As you see nothing of note.

On Monday I went to see the Dr about my pain (I was almost crying on Saturday the pain was so bad).  He told me to take paracetamol and ibuprofen and sent me for an x-ray.  He referred me for physio, but said it would take over a month for the appointment to come through.  On speaking to some mums at school I was recommended a private physio in Bentham.  I called her and got an appointment on Thursday.  She was lovely and spent more than the hour I booked with her helping me out.  She found the source of the pain and spent quite a while trying to ease it for me.

Today I feel much better.  I'm still in pain, but it isn't half as bad as it was, meaning I can concentrate on other things.  Phew. I have another appointment with her on Tuesday which I am already looking forward to - if she can work her magic again that that will be great.  Basically it was a combination of one night's bad sleep (too much wine = bad sleeping position) general bad posture (she mentioned that I am having to carry a lot out front which doesn't help (they've always been the bain of my life!), getting old, starting at the gym and using muscles that aren't used to exercise, too many pillows in bed etc etc etc.  Anyway, the pain is now manageable so that's good.  Just as well I didn't have too many cakes to do these last two weeks.

I'm off to Warminster tomorrow for Lou's 40th, Matt and Tom are staying here and entertaining Michael and his girlfriend Sarah.

Weekend away

Broad Marston Manor - not bad hey?!

This weekend was our annual Shell weekend away.  This year it was in the little village of Broad Marston on the edge of the Cotswolds in an old Manor House - all very lovely.

We picked Tom up from school with the intention of driving straight away, but after his 'incident' we had to bring him home to sort him out and then set off.  Nevermind - I felt quite sorry for him as he was so glum.  We headed off expecting to hit traffic at the M62, M54 and M5 junctions.  Not so we sailed through all of them, but got stuck in traffic between Stoke and Stafford.  It took 4 hours to get there in the end which is what we thought, but we weren't the last and made good time considering most of the others came from the Chester area.

Tom, Maggie and Jenny

We were in a very lovely manor house - timber frame, big fire places, creaking, uneven floors etc etc.  We had a big double bed and Tom a z bed in the same room.  Tom was a star.  Believe it or not he didn't sleep on the way down (I can't quite believe it either).  He had a play with the other children, some curry for dinner and then happily went to bed - it was after 8pm after all.  The other kids didn't go to bed until much much later (smug Mummy time!!!).

Juggling fish

We sat down for our usual excellent homemade curries around 9pm.  After promising ourselves we wouldn't over eat or drink too much, we both over ate and drank too much so we didn't have a very good night's sleep.  However, it was very good food and the drink just slipped down too easily.

A good attempt at tennis

In the morning we split into 2 groups - Matt went with the 'adults' for a 9 mile walk, whilst I stayed with the Mums and children and headed to Hidcote Manor (National Trust property) for a look round.  Hidcote Manor is basically a load of gardens, lovely gardens with lots of interesting sculptures (ie not too arty so even I liked them) scattered around them.  It would have been lovely to wander around at a slow pace to take it all in, but it wasn't to be (it never is with children).  We still had a lovely time, the kids ran and ran and ran, the older ones were climbing trees etc, it was a proper outdoor day.  There was even a tennis court where anyone could play tennis - Tom gave it a good go and was hitting the odd ball by the end.

Apple from the orchard

We found an orchard and as we were given the National Trust book of '50 things to do before you are 11 3/4' which included eating an apple straight off a tree, that's what the children did.  It is a good year for fruit this year and they were lovely and sweet.

It looked like we it was about to rain, so we decided to return to our Manor House for cake (this weekend is very much about cake and puddings - I took my banoffee pie this year).

Once Jessica (who is only 2) had had a sleep we then headed out to a very good local playground for another run around.  Tom was on good form this weekend.  He is the only boy in the group (the next 'boy' to him is 13 year old Daniel - who to be fair to him is very good with him playing football etc).  Being the only boy doesn't faze him, he just gets on with it.  I hardly saw him all weekend - he was quite happy playing with anyone who would play with him.  He didn't really need us at all!

Stella, Tom and Sam

We had a BBQ for dinner on Saturday night - once again it was really good food.   I did well by not drinking much and as a result we slept better.  Sunday morning the group went off to Chipping Camden to do a treasure hunt, but we already had plans as Sam and Kamila from Telford now live in Bidford On Avon - just next door to Broad Marston, we couldn't not go and say hello.  So off we went.  We haven't seen them for a while (they moved about a year before us).  Stella is now 4 and very grown up and speaking English with an English accent - which is strange because neither of her parents do.  You would think the English accent would come with school, mind you she does go to nursery.  Apparently she is completely English: her favourite food is Sausage and mash and fish & chips, on holiday she was proudly telling everyone she is English.  I think it has taken her parents by surprise.

We had a quick lunch at a pub 'The Frog' on the river and then had to say a quick goodbye as we had a long journey ahead of us and we needed to pop in to Ikea to buy some shelving for the garage.  The roads were nice and empty (apart from a jam just before we left the motorway for Ikea - a truck carrying a caravan had burnt out).  We got our bits and then carried on home.  We got home at 6pm and went straight to a pub for dinner.  We thought we would try the Masons Arms in Ingleton which has recently been taken over and refurbished.  We were very pleasantly surprised.  The decor was lovely, the service very friendly and the food very good in quality and value.  This is now definitely our pub of choice - lets hope it does well and brings the others up to par as well.

Anyway, we had a good weekend and went to bed pretty tired.

Tom's first joke

Tom came out with his first joke on Friday:

Tom: "How do you start a pig race?"

Matt: "I don't know, how do you start a pig race?"

Tom: "Ready, steady, OINK!"

This he got from his friend Finn.  Thanks Finn.

Tom's first full-time week at school

Usual after school activity

So Tom completed his first week of school.  It went well - he came out bouncing and very happy Monday to Thursday.  Once home, he was ravenous so the snacks came out.  Then he demanded a session of cycling on the car park before getting ravenous and tired again.

As a result the routine has changed, we have had to bring dinner time forward to 5.00 and then bath and bedtime forward to 6.00 as he has got so tired.  

He already has reading books (with no words, he just has to turn the pictures into a story) and a sound book which we have to practise (not easy - Tom hasn't worked out the link between sounds and words yet so it can be frustrating). 

Friday didn't go quite as well, unfortunately he did a poo in his pants towards the end of the day (first time in over a year!).  Luckily the staff sorted him out, but he came out quite sad and sorry for himself.  I hope it was just one little accident resulting from the stress of all his new experiences this week.  Fingers crossed...

Blackberries galore

After our walk last weekend, we were itching to get out again to collect all those lovely blackberries.  We were somewhat thwarted by the weather as it rained every morning - very frustrating.  However, on Friday it dawned bleak but not raining so we donned our wellies and headed back out to Austwick.  We are glad we did as managed to harvest 6lbs of fruit in under an hour!

Notes for future blackberrying:
1) Wear wellies
2) Take secateurs
3) Take hardy gloves

There were many berries we couldn't get too because of thorns and nettles!

Bagpuss

Tom did a very good job, wasn't that bothered by the thorns or the nettles and was quite diligent.

We got back home and Tom got changed and went to school for the afternoon.

Saturday wasn't a very nice day (again).  The boys went into Settle in the morning taking a lot of rubbish to the tip (we have finally taken delivery of a new bed - our one has been broken since Telford), and to give me time to finish off a cake - this one in the shape of Bagpuss.  I got quite attached to him - even though he took an age to finish.

Scruffy pirate

In the afternoon we headed off to Eli and Adam's for Adam's 4th birthday party.  We dressed Tom up in his pirate attire - his ragged T-shirt is now really small - so I cut the collar and put it on him.  You could see his belly button - but I think he looks more like an authentic pirate than the shop bought costumes.

Luckily Finn (one of Tom's classmates) was at the party too - Kate and Eli are friends.  This made a huge difference to Tom as he didn't know anyone else there (made a difference to us too!). The two of them played really nicely together and Matt got a chance to question Kate to death about motorbikes and the TT.  We had a good time:  a treasure hunt, pass the parcel and a fantastic slide with a tent on top which all the kids loved.  We had such a good time we actually stayed longer than the official party time - sorry Eli.  Thankfully for the first day in ages it didn't rain - hurray.  Especially as Eli's garden is such a fab garden for little ones.

Sunday finally dawned nice, so we took Bagpuss to Seasons for them to pass on and then headed back to Austwick to do another new walk, this time via Feizor where I had been told there was a lovely cafe.  

Carefully crossing the cattlegrid

Me and Tom

We headed off and enjoyed another wonderful walk around some low dales.  Once again the walk was along old cart tracks which I find quite lovely.  It wasn't too strenuous and we found the cafe without any trouble and it was as lovely as we had been told.  The owner took time out to make sure we were being well looked after and the food was good - it just had a general good atmostphere.  Feizor is at the end of a dead end, so you won't find the cafe by accident, you have to know it is there to go there.  As a result it was full of walkers and cyclists, oh and some horses brought their riders here as well parked up next to the cafe and they ALL tucked into bacon sandwiches and chips (and I thought horses were vegetarian?!)

Lovely scenery

Whilst we were sat outside we were treated to farmer cabaret.  A very angry farmer was shouting manically at his sheepdog who was obviously not doing as he was told as he drove some sheep through his garden and then up past the cafe.  His language was, shall we say, flowery.  Luckily Tom didn't hear / take it in.  Was quite funny though.

We carried on around the walk, taking in the view.  We finally came out on 'blackberry alley' as we now call it and managed to pick another 1lb of fruit (the ones we missed on Friday).  Then back home for a roast dinner and a blackberry and apple crumble (well we had to after all this picking!)