Fountains Abbey (Again)

We had a great day today at Fountains Abbey with cousin Adam and family. It was sunny and lovely and so we took a picnic. It was a lot busier than the last few times we've been (damn these fair weather visitors!) but still not too crowded. We wandered down the hill and had our rather large picnic sat in the ruins of the Abbey. I think we then could all have happily taken long naps but since Beth and Adam were bouncing (literally) off the crumbling walls, we decided to go for a walk.

We wandered to a part that we haven't explored before - up a big hill of course. It was worth the walk as the views were lovely and there were lots of interesting things to mooch around up there. First was Surprise View (where the first photo was taken), next we found the Temple of Fame, after that we came across the Octagon Tower (the building behind Toby) and finally, on the way down the hill, we went through Serpentine Tunnel (a 1730's tunnel cut through the hillside). They all kept the kids occupied and diverted then from realising how far they were walking. They also had a game of trains, half a game of hide-and-seek and a game of peek-a-boo.

During the day we were treated to the Adam Makepeace Spectacular - Adam performing Mama Mia on top of the wall with Beth looking on in something nearing confusion. Beth thought she might have a go but suffered from stage fright on the way up. There of course is the obligatory photo of Toby asleep in the pushchair but now he's got the use of his hind legs, there are more photo opps. William can begin to take his place - here's one to start.

Here And There

Just a quick update to let you know we're all alive and well. :) Since the last post we've done lots of bits of things and visited both sets of grandparents.

When we went to see gran and grandad we spent part of the afternoon at the new RSPB place, Saltholme, close to their house. We went with cousin Adam and family and had a good explore. Unfortunately the playground wasn't open yet - the whole place is newly opened so they are putting the finishing touches to everything. We all, Toby included, walked around the lake disturbing any birds that happened to come close (I'm sure much to the disgust of the serious birdwatchers).

We saw auntie Jane for the first time since Christmas when we visited grandma and grandpa, unfortunately it's rather a long trek to visit her so we'll have to wait till we're more mobile to descend on her! It was a lovely day and so we decided to test out our new English Heritage memberships and go to Kirby Muxloe Castle for an explore. I really enjoyed this as we use to go a lot as children and play hide-and-seek and I haven't been for years.

I think Beth really enjoyed it too. As you may have guessed, she's very into princesses and castles so it was right up her street. She would have spent the entire time running up and down the steps to the top but we have visions of her tumbling all the way down so put a stop to that (well, we did let her go up/down, up/down, up/down a few times but mainly because we were too slow to stop her!).

The rest of the day was spent in the sandpit, watering the plants or trying to catch/poke the tiny frogs in the pond.

Walks In The Woods and Brodsworth Hall & Gardens

Thursdays are rather quiet for us so for the last few weeks we have been going to Melton Woods for a run/splash and picnic with Beth's friends, Carl and Tim. It's a great place to go as we're sheltered from the wind, sun and light rain along with the fact that despite being pretty big, it's very hard to loose the kids (not that we're trying;)).

The last few weeks Toby has been having a little walk too and I know he is desperate to get a pair of wellies and leap into the puddles. This is something I'm not overly keen on since one week Carl jumped in a puddle and the water was higher than his waist and this week both Beth and Carl got stuck tight in the mud and had to be rescued.

I'm not sure what it is about picnics but all the kids eat far more when we're on the move than when we're at home. I'm not sure if it's a competition to see who can eat the most or if they don't realise how much they're scoffing or if they are just using so much energy they need the calories. I suppose I shouldn't complain since Beth is normally so disinterested in food and would happily miss all meals and survive solely on warm milk.

Steve has been on a course all week so has been getting home much later than normal. This afternoon I think I reached my limit of temporary single parenting and just had to get out of the house. We went to Brodsworth Hall and Park, an English Heritage property about five miles away. We've been once before but it was with a big group so we didn't really get to explore very much.

Despite it threatening to rain, we had a lovely couple of hours mooching around. To Toby's great excitement we saw a tractor and the playground was a great hit with Beth. I just enjoyed being outside, looking at the lovely flowers and finding all the different parts of the gardens. I think we'll probably go back there over the weekend to have another explore and play.