Holiday Time :)

So, we arrived in Keswick on Saturday afternoon ready for a relaxing week. We were really, really lucky and had fantastic weather for most of the time we were there. The first night we had a bbq and ate out in the garden (picture on the left).

On Sunday a friend and her family came to visit us and we had a great day. We wandered down to the lake (Derwentwater) via the fields and saw some tiny lambs, scoffed ice creams and fed the ducks. Here's a couple of pictures showing Toby and Rafferty with their ice creams. Beth had one too (I'm sure you weren't in any doubt), but I figured I've posted enough pics of Beth covered in food previously!

The rest of the week was made up of a mixture of fishing, paddling, eating and playing in the garden. Monday morning we headed to Grange, a tiny village ten minutes down the road from Keswick. The weather was beautiful and both kids loved playing in the water of the river. Toby splashed his feet about and wasn't bothered in the slightest by the cold water. Beth had her Crocs on and did notice the cold though it didn't stop her playing. She of course managed to fall in on her bum but was very good natured about it! I stuck with wellies and had a great time plodding about trying to catch some tiddlers. I didn't succeed, but I did manage to see and take a photo of a little eel.

Gran and grandad came over to the Lakes and joined the fun on Tuesday so on Wednesday we went to Watendlath for some more fishing. It's a lovely little place with a tiny tea shop and a bridge. Steve and I stayed for a while but then headed off up the hill (you can see the path in the picture) and over to Rosthwaite, another little village where we had a very nice pub lunch (and pint) before wandering down the road to be picked up.

A rather large percentage of time was spent in and around the cottage and garden. It has a big play structure, a playhouse and a seperate slide and swing. Toby loved the blue swing and was more than happy to sit and be pushed in it for hours. He even fell asleep on a couple of occasions. Beth on the other hand loved the playhouse and poor grandma spent rather a lot of time stuck inside. At one point she and grandpa got locked in while the evil princess disappeared off to play on the swing, thankfully they were eventually released! The theme of being locked in seemed to carry over to the house. In one of the bedrooms there was a big walk-in cupboard and Beth made up lots of games centred around it. The main one was hide and seek but again grandma ended up being held hostage in the cupboard, part of some elaborate (repetitive) game concocted by Beth!

On our last full day, some other children arrived and Beth was thrilled to have some little friends. She then spent every waking minute asking them and loved playing all sorts of things with them. In the picture they are being a train going down the slide. We were all a bit sad to leave but not to worry, I can now start taking suggestions for our next holiday. :)