May's End

Thought I'd jam a quick post in before the end of May. It's half term at the moment and nothing much is happening - lounging around in our pj's until midday, makes a change from our daily race to get ready in time for school! I think we're meeting a few friends over the next couple of days and catching up. Hopefully I'll get a few photos for the blog at them and I might get a few photos of the pigs so you can see how they're growing. We don't tend to go in with them much these days as they're a bit hungrier than before - they've eaten most of the vegetation in their patch and try to eat your shoes if you go in!

Last week we went to Thorsby Hall for a walk and bike ride. We did the same route as last August when we went. This time Toby was on his balance bike rather than walking/pushchair. He loves his bike but it won't be long before he's on a pedal bike as he can ride Beth's bike pretty well (though he doesn't realise no one is holding on!). It would be quite an achievement to be on a bike with no stabilizers before he's three and a half! I highly recommend balance bikes to avoid the pain of removing stabilizers. I don't think Toby will be put off with a few falls - the photo of him with bumps and bruises was taken the day after he fell off his skateboard!

As always, Beth still loves all things pink and twirly - yes, another twirling photo. As I mentioned in the last post, we watched the royal wedding. Here's photographic proof - as you can see the kids are playing the parts of princesses perfectly, I didn't get into the mood quite that much though I did manage a flag to flip about (I suspect this pic was taken just as princesses Eugine and Beatrice turned up - their outfits were definitely interesting!).

Beth is getting into the wedding thing as she's going to be a bridesmaid in August for my cousin R's wedding. We got her dress last weekend and she loved it, I think she would happily wear it everyday until the ceremony. I did manage to pin her down and get it off her eventually; it's now hidden to prevent a mock wedding (probably resulting in a trip to the dry cleaners or back to the shop to get a replacement!!).

Think that's about it for now, hopefully I'll be a little more dedicated to the blog in June and try to (a) go places and do things that are interesting to read about, and (b) remember to take the camera and actually use it! :)

Camping and May Day

With it being the Easter holidays, royal wedding and May Day all together we seem to have done quite a bit, leaving no time to actually blog about it! For the wedding, we went to a friends house to watch, leaving Steve at home to potter (as Mr. Bennet would say, "enough about the lace!") - no photos of us but I'm sure you've all seen enough pics of the actual wedding to last a lifetime!

Steve took a few days off to give him all of Easter and last week off - reluctantly just back today. We thought it would be as waste not to go away for a short break somewhere so we booked to go camping. Quite a big adventure as we haven't been since Beth was about a year old and the good CA weather could be guaranteed! Thankfully the weather was pretty good, bone dry but a bit windy. The campsite was on a working farm near to the seaside town of Filey. We didn't do all that much - Toby was obsessed with the actual tent and being in/around it, protesting if we just went for a short walk. Having said that, we're not sure if he had a bug or something as on the first morning he woke up and was promptly sick in his sleeping bag.

Beth loved that there was a playground that she could take herself to and from whenever she chose. She taught herself to swing unaided and wowed the older girls by flinging herself, one-handed, down the fireman's pole, twirling as she went (really hope that's not an indication of future employment!). She also loved going to check if the hens had laid any eggs and to check on the lambs. We didn't get that many photos - I've just included the one of the campsite from a walk we did. Our tent is blue and just above and to the right of the post.

Yesterday the May Day celebrations were in full swing in the village. Thankfully the weather was behaving this year, last year was terrible! Again the pre-school had a float, it had the theme of princesses and princes. Beth went on even though she is no longer at pre-school. Toby cried as soon as I put him on; I blame Karen, one of the mums and a childminder who Toby adores, she was dressed as the queen and looked rather odd! He did eventually get on for about a minute just as it was driving back into the field.

As well as our float, there was also the usual May Day Queen float, one for the church, a village gardeners association one, an emergency planners one (!), and the brownies, rainbows and guides one. I can proudly say that ours, the pre-school float won this year. I think the judges were being a bit biased as I thought some of the others were better. After that we got ice cream, had donkey rides and hot dogs. It was a very friendly, community-spirited day. :)

Oh, thought I'd include this photo of Beth as I liked it and she's wearing a sundress that doesn't 'bother' her (yay!).