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. :)

Happy Third Birthday Beth

After the party we drove up to gran and grandad's for the night and for party number two on Saturday morning. Beth had a great birthday morning, she was very excited to (eventually after three years of us resisting) get a play kitchen from gran and grandad. I think she could have played with it all day but guests arrived including cousin Adam so she had a fab time opening presents, eating chocolate and generally being a birthday princess.

Of course there was another cake, any guesses? It was a Tinkerbell one of which I forgot to take a picture of so I had to nick a photo of it off the internet. It's amazing the difference a year makes, last year Beth wanted to hide when the cake came out and was rather reluctant to blow out the candles but this year she was most enthusiastic and quite happy being centre of attention. Poor Toby was rather sidelined but not for long as his happy nature always grabs the limelight back!

After the a party lunch we drove to the Lake District to start our holiday. We rented a cottage/house in Keswick very close to the centre. When we arrived it was time for party number three (despite speculation, the number of parties/cakes is not connected to age, just coincidence!) with grandma and grandpa. Cake number three was pretty impressive (Marks and Sparks finest) and Beth again enjoyed a great celebration with all the princess paraphernalia. She also opened the rest of her pressies including a Princess Aurora outfit. In all a very happy birthday.

The Birthday Party

Hello everyone, we're just back from our holiday and we did so much (as well as it being Beth's birthday) so I'm going to do a couple of posts (probably over the next few days) so I don't get in a muddle! Hope you enjoy.

Last Saturday (the 18th) was Beth's third birthday - a much talked about and anticipated event! The day before we had a party for her friends. I'm not sure if it could strictly be classed as a party since it consisted of Beth, Carl and Harriet (and of course Toby was there too). We had picked out a birthday dress a couple of weeks ago and got some new shoes so she was all decked out and ready to celebrate.

I outdid myself and made jam sandwich hearts (a big hit) and cheese star sandwiches (not such a hit). Beth chose her own cake (the first of three), it was Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty for those of you who aren't up-to-date with all things princess).

We only did two games; pass the parcel and musical bumps. Unfortunately there are no pics to illustrate the delights of these as I was trying to prevent Toby from tearing the paper off, etc but they were most amusing and enjoyed by all. The party was finished off with the hokey cokey (yes, I purchased a Black Lace CD especially for the occasion) and I think Beth had a fab time.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you're not all too stuffed full of chocolate and Peeps (did I hear correctly that they brought out chocolate-covered Peeps?). The kids got a good haul from the Easter Bunny (and all the other bunnies - thank you), I think some may have to be put away for later and some may be disposed of by other means. ;)

Today we headed over to a park in Sheffield, close to the halls of residence where Steve and I lived. It was a bit odd as all the shops were closed and it was pretty much student-free but there were lots of other families out enjoying the park. After a play on the swings we wandered on down the road to the botanical gardens. They were really beautiful with lots of flowers in bloom. Beth was impressing elderly ladies with her knowledge of tulips, daffodils, magnolia, grape hyacinth and daisies.

Toby was more interested in the fountain and would happily have jumped in to it for a quick swim. He is pretty obsessed with walking (holding our hands) at the moment and was desperate to join Beth balancing along the walls. It makes me laugh trying to get him back in the pushchair as he suddenly morphs into an ironing board and won't bend at all.

When we got home I brought out a toy box that has been hidden in Beth's wardrobe for a few months - thought a change of toys might be in order. Toby was straight in there to pull out the fire engine jigsaw, Beth was just very excited to see all these forgotten jewels. She eventually pulled out a whoppee cushion and Steve showed her how to blow it up. After that she spent the rest of the afternoon falling about laughing every time anyone sat on it.

White Post Farm

As it's Easter week, there are no classes or clubs or groups on . . . a blank week with nothing to do (ahhh). So, I booked Beth, Toby and I on a trip with the local children's centre to go to White Post Farm.

The first big excitement was the fact that we had to go on a bus. Beth sat next to Carl and poor Toby got stuck with me. They were both really good on the journey and thankfully it was only a shortish ride.

We got to see loads of animals and reptiles. It was quite a big place and we saw the reptiles first. Toby was very interested and tried to grab anything that came close to the edge of the glass (tortoises, snakes, lizards . . . ). Beth wasn't so fussed and didn't much like the snakes but did of course like the tortoises. In the yard there was a tractor and combine harvester that you could sit in, it took quite a while to extract them both from those!

Beth got to bottle feed a goat and we also fed lots of sheep, lambs, goats and llamas that were in the fields around the farm. We took a picnic lunch and sat in the playground to eat it. As you can imagine, not much was consumed as there was just too much to see and explore. There were a few trampolines built into the ground and both of them loved being on those. Beth bouncing and Toby being bounced.

There were also lots of ride-on pedal tractors sat about so Toby spent much of the time pointing and saying "tractor". His highlight was probably having a tractor drive right by us while we were feeding the animals - in the photo you can only see the back of his head but he had big saucer eyes. :)

Have to say that my proudest moment was glancing up from putting Toby in the pushchair to see a crowd looking (very disapprovingly) at a certain little girl chasing hens and poking them with a stick. I had to make a split-second decision over whether to disown her and walk away or grab her and dash. ;) Would just like to point out that the photo shows her minus the stick.

Trains, Dreams and Sunny Days

Meant to get this written at the weekend but time got away from me. On Saturday the weather was horrid so we chose to visit the National Railway Museum in York since most of it is inside and of course, Toby loves trains. Beth isn't so bothered about trains but does love to climb on things. Unfortunately she soon got a little miffed as most of the trains are priceless pieces of history that the museum do not want jam-covered children clambering on.

We met gran and grandad there and spent a very enjoyable day running around, pointing and playing. As you can probably see from the pic, Toby is really thinking about walking (much to the discomfort of grandad's back!).

One day last week we were walking around the village and there was a big patch of daffodils. Beth said something about picking them to which I said that we couldn't. She corrected me and said that she didn't want to pick them there, she would pick them in bed. It took me a few moments and a bit of questioning to realise that she dreams of picking flowers, what a nice thought! Sunday was a gorgeous day, sun shining, warm and no clouds (almost California . . . ). We made the most of it and spent the day out in the garden, even having a bbq. Beth and Toby both love being outside and they played really nicely together (most of the time) on the trike, dump trucks and radio flyer.

They both were modeling new hats courtesy of the Next sale - 50p each, a right bargain! Don't think Toby actually realised he had a hat on but Beth was rather taken with her pick straw number.

Couldn't resist bunging these pics on the end of the blog. Two of Beth engaging in her favourite pastime - dressing up and one of Toby. Toby just cracks us up at the moment. His speech is getting much better and he seems to be picking up lots of new words every day. In this photo he is waving Beth's wand and saying abracadabra.

Happy First Birthday Toby

Toby has greatly enjoyed his birthday weekend so far. Steve took the day off work yesterday so we had a very relaxed morning opening presents and playing. There's a definite theme to his birthday - wheels! We bought him a car transporter complete with two cars, it was a great hit and I think Beth was rather taken with it too. We also got him some bells; they are lovely and not at all obnoxious.

We spent the afternoon at the playground and in the park watching someone kiteboarding and eating ice cream. I could quite get used to that, sorry for the lack of photos, I forgot the camera. After dinner Toby got a little cake that Beth had iced and decorated with a candle.

Today was his party day. Lots of the family came to celebrate and he got some fantastic presents. My favourites were the clothes but obviously they weren't of any interest to Toby. He was much more impressed by the dump truck from grandma and grandad and all the other vehicles and vehicle related books he received.

Cousin Adam came to celebrate and brought his bouncy castle. Toby absolutely loved it, especially whizzing down the slide at the front. The water table was out and Toby was mesmerised by it and ended up soaked through and very, very cold. He wasn't too bothered and probably would have played all afternoon - he does love his bath so I'm not surprised.

Before naptime came his big birthday cake. He was a little bemused by it and again had no clue what to do with the candle (given the chance I'm sure he'd have had a little nibble). Luckily Beth and Adam were on hand to show him how to blow out the candle. It was a great day, lots (and lots and lots) of food, all the family and non-stop playing. Now we have just under a month to prepare for the next big birthday . . .