Flat Packing

By the exciting nature of todays photo you could be easily fooled into thinking I was housebound again.. but you'd be wrong.

I went out to play today.

Vicky and I are organising, between us, a scrapbooking crop at Samuel Taylors / Embsay Crafts in Embsay and today was our first proper date (we did have a bit of a drop in day in November just to give people an idea of what we were doing).  It was full!  Initially we thought we'd be lucky if we got 6 people but 16 people came and there are more than that on the mailing list now (29 to be exact).

I had a great time and spent too much money, like you do.  And from all the comments we've had, it sounds like everyone else enjoyed themselves too.  The shop must've made plenty of money out of us too, £40 in crops fees then everybodys spending.  If mine was anything to go by, they made a fortune (oops).

I went home via Next to collect some school trousers I had ordered for Theo, then Tina's to pick up Louis party bag and to beg some babysitting favours, thank you Tina <3

Louis had had a party invitation for the afternoon and Adam couldn't take him so Tina offered seeing as Hannah was going too.  She actually had him nearly all day!  I dropped him off about 9, on my way to the crop, so that he could play with Hannah.  He stayed and played, then they went to the party and he fell asleep in the car on the way back to Tina's so he didn't get home until just after 4pm!  Busy day!

When I got home just before 6pm it was to find that Adam and Theo had been re arranging funiture and my bed was buried under a mountain of clothes.  They had moved my drawers out of our room and into the boys room so that we could put the new drawers into our room (they've been sitting in the utility room, flat packed, since before Louis was born!).  The new drawers were still in pieces, layed out in the space where they were going to live.

Adam and I spent a couple of hours putting the frame and drawers together before bed.  Tomorrow I just need to finish up the drawers with the centre support and then they need securing onto the runners and I can start filling them up.

And last but by no means least.  Just as I was loading up the car to leave this morning the lovely postie delivered my new phone, the T-Mobile G1.  So I stuck that in my bag and whilst I was chattering away, meeting new people and setting up my workspace, I dug it out of the box, put in the sim card and battery and put it on charge.

Unfortunately there is no phone signal in the shop so I didn't get to actually play with the phone until I was in the car in the car park at the end of the day but at least it was charged and ready to play with.  It's taking a bit of getting used to, I didn't realise how much I relied on predictive texting, with a full keyboard this thing doesn't have it.  I love the touch screen though.  The camera is 3.2, same as my old phone, but this one doesn't have a flash which is a pain, I hadn't realised that.  Still, I like it so far and I'm stuck with it for 18 months so it's just as well.

Day 11

We didn't get up to much today, Adam was working most of the day so we spent the day inside having a bit of a tidy round.  Nothing drastic, just putting away the Christmas tree and tidying up the junk corners.

When Adam got back from work we went swimming, but there aren't really photo opportunities there.

I was playing with my Canon EOS 300D, trying to get some close up shots of various inanimate objects when this little head appeared in my viewfinder.

Golden Acre Park

More pictures of Golden Acre Park.  Adam and the boys waiting whilst mummy takes yet another photo.  This was just before Louis gave in and succumbed to the call of the pushchair with fleecy cosytoes.

Theo decided to hide from me in a tree, only showing himself after the threat of giving all of his toys to Louis.  (Naturally I could see exactly where he was but it was funny)

We definitely enjoyed this walk.  Next time we'll be taking a bicycle and duck food.  And hopefully fewer layers as the weather will be nicer...  hmmm, I can dream can't I lol

Hoteyal

Todays photo is a picture of our hotel room at Premier Travel Inn Enfield (wohoo).  I took a couple of photos before this one and Adam held a pillow up infront of his face to avoid being in the pictures.  Louis is just copying him, honestly.

Among my many photos of the hotel today there are one or two shots of the door.  For some strange reason Adam thinks I'm insane.  I wonder why that is??

More Non Camping

So Sunday we had a lazy day. We didn't really do much of anything I think.

Monday was a little bit more structured, a trip out to Bolton Abbey Railway Station for 'A Day Out with Thomas'. Here are Adam and the boys on the train journey to Embsay Station.


We didn't stay very long as there wasn't actually that much to do. A stall where the boys got the 'free' gift that comes with their ticket, a HUGE queue to stand in Thomas and blow his whistle, we passed on that, and a couple of vintage cars and buses to look at. Oh and of course the obligatory toy shops. This time Theo came away with...erm, can't remember, I'll have to ask him in the morning lol and Louis got 'Whiff' who I've never heard of but he seemed happy enough with that. :D

When we got home Theo's friends were playing out in the street so he stayed out and played. I had to drag him in for his dinner and he was straight back out once he'd eaten. That's what I like to see, outdoors fun. There have been occasions when his friends have called round for him and, for whatever reason, he has, usually grumpily, refused to go out to play! He did come home with an invitation to Charlie's birthday party on Saturday so that should be fun.

More resting on Tuesday. I was hoping to get some bits and pieces done, get to the opticians and the Drs but I couldn't get appointments 'til next week so I ended up drawing stuff and sticking bits and pieces to playing cards (see Apshoo). The boys watched telly, played with their toys and drew pictures with me whilst Adam played on the computer upstairs.

Wednesday didn't start too well. Theo didn't want to get dressed then Adam told him we were going shopping. Well he dissolved in a heap of tears. Shopping was boring then suddenly he was crying because he couldn't go to Charlie's birthday party! Where did that come from??

We drove to Drayton Manor so we could spend all day standing in queues! OK it wasn't as bad as all that, but put it this way. I'm glad it wasn't a sunny day otherwise I think we would only have managed a couple of rides.

Here's a picture of the boys queueing for Diesels Mayhem ride.

I know we are not noted for our patience, I think the wait for this ride was about 20 minutes. It didn't help that Theo had had Adam queue for the Bulgy the Bus ride for about 15 minutes before deciding he didn't want to go on after all.

Adam and I took it in turns to queue / ride with the boys. Fortunately for me, this one was Adam's turn. I didn't time it but I'm sure they queued for well over an hour for a 5 minute ride on Terence. At least Louis and I could wander around whilst we were waiting for them. If I had known how long it would take though, I would have wandered to a cafe for a latte :D But, being the loving mum I am, I waitied where I could see the rides so I could get this photo, and a few more.

Theo's favourite ride (although we did only 'do' Thomas Land) was the Jeremy the Jet ride. Despite how it looks in this photo, both Louis and Theo were in the jet with me, honest. It's just that I left Adam in charge of the camera and the control of the jet to Theo (you made it raise / lower using a button in the front) and they never quite got in the same place at the same time. lol

I know I complained about the queues but this was definitely one of the better theme parks I've been to with the boys. Most of the rides were suitable for both of them to go on so there was plenty to do. I had planned on going to the zoo there too but I forgot. By the time Adam reminded me it was 4.45 and I wasn't sure whether the park closed at 5 or 6 so we headed back to the car.

We stayed at the Premier Travel Inn in Burton-on-Trent, straaange lady on reception was very friendly and funny. A very nice dinner was had in the pub next door, diet is out the window this week anyway, just as well.

Today was a really good day too. No photos 'cause we were at Alton Towers Water Park and photos are not allowed. Heaven forbid! After an initial paddy from Louis because he didn't want to wear the floatation vest thingy we had a great time. Theo remembered having been there before and immediately went off to play. Louis had to be coaxed, so we sat in the shallow water and played with the bubbles but he quickly got braver and more adventurous. He liked playing in the water with the bubbles but after the first time I took him for a walk around the park, up the stairs, through puddles, accross bridges etc, he didn't want to sit and play in the water for more than 5 minutes or so before he was up and wanted to wander around again.

Did I mention that my ipod is poorly? A couple of days ago I tried to switch it on but it wouldn't play. I had a look on the Aplle website and followed the instructions for rebooting it. It turned on but there was just a white screen, no menus or anything. Anyway, as we were coming home up the M1 anyway we called into Meadowhall so I could take it to the Apple shop for a nice man to fix it. As it turns out he couldn't. Apparently the LCD screen is dead and they do not replace those. I could trade it in and get 10% off a new one, or they could take the hard drive out of mine and put it in a new case but that would cost almost as much as a new one and I'd loose the engraving on the back of the case.

I discovered today that a new LCD screen to fit my ipod would set me back a whole £15 on ebay, and that includes the tool I'd need to open the case. Adam found a 'how to' video on the internet so I could replace the screen myself for £15. Not too sure I'm going to attempt to do it myself though. You have to disconnect the battery, remove the hard drive and a few other bits and pieces to do it, it looks complicated. I have found a place in Bradford who do Ipod repairs though so I'm going to phone them tomorrow and see if they can fix it and if so how much they charge.

Anyway, this is a mammoth post and it's late now, I need my bed, so I'm off. There are plans for more fun stuff this week so I will be back with more photos soon.

Take care

Batcopter

It was Adam's birthday yesterday. I think it went OK, apart from it being a workday, and Adam not being too well. So actually not that well at all then. Hmph

Last Tuesday Theo and I had a play with Fimo to make Daddy a present. I tried to get Theo to think about what Daddy would like. He was determined that Daddy would like a Batcopter, so that's what we have. We ran out of black so it has purple 'legs'. We had fun making it though.

Daddy also got a Dr Hook album, a Louis Prima album, Scrabble game for the DS and a notebook.

The boys enjoyed making birthday cards, sat at the kitchen table stamping, drawing and sticking things, pitty I didn't take any pictures. Louis even made a birthday card at nursery too.

Saturday was kind of a hodge podge day

We stayed at the Premier Inn in Chippenham on Friday night, close to the concert, so on Saturday had breakfast there and bathed the boys (knowing it's a bit of a battle for hot water at Petes) then set off for Croydon and Petes.

We phoned Pete when we set off to let him know we were on our way. There was no answer so we left a message on his voicemail. As it was going to take us two hours to get there anyway we weren't too bothered that he wasn't home.

When we were almost there and had had no reply from Pete we decided to detour for lunch, called in Tesco's at Caterham and after discovering there was no cafe there, bought lunch and drove to Coulsdon Common for a picnic.

Just as we had finished lunch and were packing up Pete called. He had forgotten we were coming and was helping a friend move house in Bournemouth. It was going to take him at least a couple of hours to get home so he was going to nip to the house and sort some things then set off. Adam and I decided that, as it was 3pm already, by the time Pete got there it would be past the boys bedtime and we had nowhere to go in the meantime so we should just head home. Couldn't really afford another night in a hotel which was basically our only other option.

I left a message on Petes mobile to this effect and we set off round the M25. Just as we reached services at Westerham Pete phoned back saying not to go home, he was on his way and should be back for about 5. We decided to stay as we had plans to see Helen on Tuesday and meet baby Zach and to be honest I was reluctant to drive home, it felt like a waste. So. Heading back to Croydon we were discussing options of where to go to keep the boys entertained for 2 hours until we could go to Petes. We had pretty much decided on Godstone Farm Park when I phone to check opening times. They were open 'til 5 with last admission at 4. It was now 3:40 so, not being entirely sure where it was from where we were and knowing how expensive it was, especially if we were only staying for an hour, we decided against it.

By this time the boys had fallen asleep in the car so we ended up driving to Kenley Aerodrome, which is on the way to Petes. Whilst the boys were asleep we could sit in the car and relax, read, sew or sleep and if they woke up we could go onto the aerodrome and let them have a run around.

Well they woke up after about 10 minutes of being parked so off we went. It was actually the most enjoyable part of the day. The weather was nice, the aerodrome was not busy so there was plenty of room for the boys to run and play. We found a spot on the grass and just camped out, me with camera in hand. Here are a few pictures I took.

Louis

Theo

All pile on Daddy

Wheee

Nooo pictures of Mummy please

Pete phoned at 5 to say he was about 20 minutes away so we headed on to the house via the fish shop.

The boys were in and settled and went to bed just a little late :D

So, lazy day planned for Sunday then hopefully Legoland on Monday. We're hoping schools down here haven't broken up for the holidays yet so it shouldn't be too busy. We'll see

Sweeties

Adam came home from work today with two big bags of sweeties :D

Apparently he'd been to see a client who makes them. They gave him a tour around the factory and goody bags to bring home. You should have seen Theo's eyes light up when I showed him. He wanted to know if he could have some after breakfast tomorrow. Nooooo lol

Busy Sunday (well as Sundays go)

Normally on a Sunday we don't do anything, just stay in the house and veg and the kids get bored. Well this week we decided against that.

We started by going to the local carvery for an absolutely gorgeous Sunday dinner followed by a drive to Yeadon Tarn to walk off the food mountain we'd just eaten.

As is the done thing at the Tarn, we threw food at the ducks. My effort to be environmentally (or is that ecologically?) friendly, we threw waterbird food rather than stale bread, the ducks and swans etc, seemed to prefer. We got a lot more takers than those throwing bread anyway, ner, ner, ner, ner, ner.

I promised my cousin Caroline that I'd post recent photos of everyone and that was a couple of months ago so apologies to you Caroline, here are some pictures from this afternoon. Can't get more recent than that

Adam and I can never decide whether we should walk first then play or play then walk. The result of that decision usually determines what mood Theo is in (and consequently us too) on the journey home. If he's got too much energy left when it's time to go home we usually have a paddy!

We decided on the walk first, give his lunch chance to settle before he sloshes it around on the roundabout . It seemed to work cause everyone was in a good mood on the drive home.

Here's Adam and the boys playing on the swings

Theo and me playing on the roundabout


and Theo 'pushing' Daddy on the swings

Farm Park

I know it's a bit later than promised but here are some pictures from our camping trip to Cayton Bay in July / August this year.

We started with a trip out to the local far park where we could feed the animals..

play on a tractor...

and in the sand

Adam and Louis kept each other entertained whilst Theo was playing :D

There were lots of animals to see and Theo really anjoyed running around and feeding the animals and identifying them

Sports Day

We did have a busy weekend this weekend, nursery sports day, Cleckheaton Folk Festival, Bradford Mela, clearing the garden of the 5 foot weeds and some client work too.

As it turned out the nursery sports day was cancelled. We didn't know that until after we turned up at the rec and found no-one there except a couple of other parents & children looking a bit lost. I texted a neighbour whose children also go to the same nursery to ask if she'd heard anything on Friday (Theo only goes Monday & Tuesday) and it turns out it had been cancelled due to the weather, but she only knew because she'd asked, they hadn't volunteered the information. Grr

Anyway, the weather was actually quite nice and we hadn't told Theo where we were going so he just thought we'd gone to the rec to play, they have swings and a slide and stuff there, so we stayed and had a play.

Louis watched on as Adam and Theo played on the swing

When we got home Theo called for the little boy next door and they played out front for a bit. Charlie came out of his house with what looked like his mums exercise equipment, an exercise ball and a trampoline. Not sure mum would have been too impressed if she'd seen but the boys were happy playing with them.

I think Theo knows me too well. He was playing out and I was stood in the doorway messing around with my camera. I called his name, planning on telling him to stay off the road and he just turned around, grinned at me and said 'cheeese'

Well so much for the busy weekend anyway. Adam cleared the garden but the sports day and the Mela have both been cancelled due to the weather and after looking at the timetable for the Cleckheaton Folk Festival, we should have gone today as there's nothing on that we want to see or do tomorrow. Well at least the client work will get done. And if the weather holds off Adam seems to think we can have a play at putting the tent up inthe now clear garden, although I still don't think it'll fit. I'm going to get him to measure the garden before we even take the tent out of the bag me thinks.

Father's Day

We surprised Adam with his Father's Day presents and a cup of coffee in bed this morning.

I got up with the boys to let him have a lay in and did tidying up and stuff but apart from that it was much the same as any other Sunday.

Adam went back to B&Q for a support for the new kitchen shelves. He also bought a couple of baskets to go on the inside of the food cupboard door. He fixed all of these then went around and fixed the curtain poles in the living room and in theo's bedroom which were coming away from the walls.

Busy day

I stayed at Sheila's last night'cause she had a girly night in for her birthday. I managed to get away with drinking only 1/2 a glass of wine and no-one noticed I was filling up my glass with water so I didn't get told off for being boring either.

I dropped Lisa at home for 9 this morning because Liam had to go to rugby. I was going to go home via Costa and have an hours peace to read my mag but I decided against it because Adam wanted to go to B&Q to get some shelves for the kitchen.

He bought them and put them up today! But they do need an extra support in the middle 'cause the books are making the top shelf bow.

Theo waited 'til he had his overnight nappy on last night before he had a poo. We've had a few more puddles to mop up today but we did manage a wee and a poo in the toilet, more by good luck than anything else, but it did show him that nothing bad is going to happen when he goes to the toilet. And he was so pleased with himself that we gave him a 'Salty' train to go with his Thomas set as a reward. But then he got quite upset that he couldn't go on demand to get another new toy .

My boys

Adam, Theo and Louis enjoy a cuddle