A Busy Few Days

Tuesday was Beth's first day at nursery. She has been looking forward to it all summer - going to big school with Tim. :) Unfortunately things didn't go quite to plan and Murphy's Law stepped in!

When Toby got up on Monday morning he was wheezing and I could see he was working hard to breathe. We popped to the docs and got a prescription and strict instructions to come back in a few hours. When we arrived back we were sent to A&E, great fun since they are doing renovations in our local hospital and there was lots of hammering and drilling. After a lovely wait there we eventually got to see a junior doctor. He wasn't entirely sure what to think so we waited a while longer to see his 'boss'. After a bit more poking and prodding we got sent on to the children's assessment unit to see another doctor and then, finally, got admitted to a ward (phewwww)!

So, Toby and I got to spend Monday night in Pluto Ward. Thankfully he seems to be just fine now and was sent home just before lunch on Tuesday armed with an inhaler which he is very good at taking.

Of course this all meant that I missed the all important first day but Steve stepped in and from all accounts Beth didn't notice I wasn't there and hardly noticed that Steve was. She seems to love it and is happy that she gets to play with Tim every morning. The picture on the left is of her proper first day and the one on the right is her 'second' first day. :)

Belton House (a.k.a. Rosings Park)

Today we added to our visits of National Trust properties and met grandma and grandpa at Belton House in Grantham, about 45 minutes from our house. It's a beautiful house with fantastic gardens and an unbelievable playground.

We started and finished in the playground. It is huge with loads of slides, swings, zip lines and little tree house things to explore. I think that it would be quite easy to spend an entire day just in there. Beth was very brave and went on the big slides; Toby would have tried too given the chance.

After a picnic lunch we had a walk around the gardens. They were lovely, there was an Italian style one with a big fountain, an Orangery and even a maze. It wasn't the most difficult of puzzles but that's probably a good thing as Beth kept running off into it and I'd imagine she would have got a little panicked if she couldn't get out!

After an ice cream and a look at the archery we went back for a quick play before heading home. Amazingly neither fell asleep on the way home and although Toby fell asleep quite quickly tonight, Beth is totally fighting it and is still chasing Mog about upstairs as I type this. Not for long, I think Mog will soon find herself outside and Beth will have stern words . . . ;)

This week is an exciting time in our house as Beth starts nursery on Tuesday morning. She can't wait but I'm not sure if she'll feel the same once she realises that she has to go every morning! It'll be interesting to see how Toby gets on without her, I think he'll miss her but hopefully we'll get to do some cool things so that should take his mind off it.

The Weekend

We did a few things over the weekend, it was all rather pleasant. On Saturday we went to our old stomping ground in Sheffield. We had a lovely walk through Endcliffe Park and spent a while in the playground. After lunch at an American style burger joint (nothing close to the real thing), we went to the Botanical Gardens for a wander and an ice cream. The kids had a great time chasing each other round a tree - easy to please! Someone was getting married, a perfect setting but it was really warm so they were all spilling out of the 'greenhouse' before they were cooked!

On Sunday Steve made Toby a ramp for his cars, it was a great hit with all of us. Again, easy to please. We spent the rest of the day at Sherwood Forest. Steve has always wanted to see Major Oak - I saw it when I was younger but couldn't remember the occasion particularly well. It was pretty impressive, over 1,150 years old (they think) and rather big. Can't say the kids were too bothered by it, even with a mention of Robin Hood, but they did have a fab time clambering on all the tree trunks. Just thought I'd include this last picture as Steve seems to think it's hilarious. I like to think I'm a fairly observant and conscientious mum but it seems this isn't the case!!

The Last Few Weeks

Sorry for the lack of postings for the last few weeks; the summer holidays seem to have eaten into any blog-posting time! Anyway, we've been doing bits and pieces of things - lots of trips to see the grandparents, visits to various parks and afternoons playing on the green.

Last weekend we went to another show with gran, grandad and Adam, this one was an agricultural one in Wensleydale (of cheese fame). It wasn't nearly as good as the traction engine one, I think because it was a bit windy and we couldn't properly enjoy our ice creams and we had little interest in 40 different types of sheep. After, we were treated to pizza lovingly made by Beth and Adam. It actually tasted pretty good.

On Sunday we decided to walk to Cusworth Hall to feed the ducks and have a picnic. It's a while since we walked there as it's a couple of miles and last time poor Steve ended up carrying both Beth and Toby half the way back. This time we were far more successful and had a lovely walk over - the weather was lovely; even though the field in the picture looks rather dull, you can see how blue the sky is and can also just make out Cusworth in the distance. Once there we had our picnic and spent rather a long time chasing each other around a tree! The walk home seemed rather longer than on the way over, but we made it! Once there, Beth and Toby spent a relaxing few seconds reading under Beth's new quilt and cover.

Our 'big' event occurred this week when Beth had her first ever night away from home on her own. I went over to Northern Ireland to visit the family and took Toby along too. It would have been unmanageable with both of them but this worked great. Beth had a wonderful time being absolutely spoiled with attention from grandma and grandpa. She went swimming everyday, painted, took the double-decker bus into town, ate at a cafe, explored the market and dragged poor g+g into every toy shop in the county. Thankfully Beth didn't suffer any anxiety or homesickness and I suspect we may well be shipping her out again soon. ;)

Toby and I also had a good few days; he was a hit with his great grandparents and amazingly he was more than happy for me to leave the room (gasp) without him having a melt down. I think he was won over by the big bucket full of bubbles and being allowed to rule the roost while there. The pic on the right is of Toby playing with my cousin Miriam, he took instantly to her and had great fun. The weather was nice enough for us to get to the beach one morning, g-grandma came too and Toby spent a ages knocking down sandcastles and collecting stones. His interest soon wavered from that once her realised that the sea was wet. Given the chance he would have been in up to his neck, as it was we spent rather longer than my feet were happy with ankle deep in frigid water, splashing and watching the waves wash over. He is definitely a water babe - at his age Beth wouldn't go near the edge of the sea, she hated the sound and movement of the waves. That afternoon we had a walk along the shore and Toby enjoyed looking at all the boats in the harbour.

Although I have no photos, I can report that Toby loved the plane journey - we were sat next to the wheel on the way out and the propeller on the way home and he spent a good portion of the flight with his face glued to the window.