Sherwood Pines Forest Park

Today we went to Sherwood Pines Forest Park, part of Sherwood Forest. We took the bikes and the trailer, we also took Beth's bike but it was a little too uneven - she'll have to practice a bit more before attempting anything but concrete paths.

It was a gorgeous day, no clouds at all (you could almost be mistaken for thinking it was CA!) and the sun was pretty hot, thankfully it was quite shady. We started off doing the easy 'family trail' which took about half an hour. It was lovely as we had got there early so it was quiet and very peaceful. To give the kids a break, we then spent an hour in the playground; both of them loved it. There were mushroom houses to climb inside, lots of funny little hidey holes and a big wooden walkway thing.

We then headed off for another ride, this time on the harder 'adventure trail'. It took an hour an was really nice except for when we got stuck behind people who weaved and wandered across the paths and had no clue we were there. Lunch was a picnic in the playground followed by ice cream - I didn't take any pictures but have included ones from last night when Toby had his first ice cream cone.

After lunch we headed back home for an afternoon in the garden with gran and grandad, a bbq, and the water table. Just out of curiosity, can anyone help me identify a condition Beth has . . . No matter what she does or where she goes, she manages to finish the day with a black face, it's like she has dirt magnets around her mouth, nose and cheeks. She can be playing with a whole group of other children doing exactly the same thing yet when they finish they still look somewhat pristine whereas Beth is filthy!

The Boy's Done It!

He's done it; Toby is walking! For the last few weeks he has been attempting it every now and then and wants to hold hands and walk everywhere. Eventually on Saturday he went for it and walked and walked and walked, all by himself. He's still doing rather a lot of crawling but I think that's only because it's a quicker mode of transport and he's got tired legs from Saturday.

Our Bank Holiday weekend was very enjoyable. Saturday we were visiting gran and grandad and we also saw cousin Adam (and William too). Beth was very proud of her new bike and her and Adam went for a spin.

Yesterday we stayed around the house as the weather was beautiful. We were out in the garden before eight and stayed out pretty much until bedtime. Steve put the tent up - we couldn't remember what it was like as the last time we used it was at O'Neill Regional Park in Orange County. Both kids loved playing in it, I think they are both outdoorsy people. We also had the water table out and the house. Beth brought her own sense of fashion to the day!

Today we headed down to see grandma and grandpa. The weather wasn't quite as good as yesterday but it wasn't bad. We started out with a visit to the playground but soon headed back to break out the paddling pool for it's first outing of the year. Toby loved it - a bath outside, what could be better?

After a nap and a play in the sandpit, the water sprinkler came out. Toby wasn't quite so keen on this (a bit chilly I think) but he survived.

To finish the day off, grandma and Beth made a scarecrow for the strawberry patch - she was very proud of herself.

A Shiny Brand-Spanking New Bicycle

It was an exciting day in our household as today Beth got her first bike. It would make perfect planning sense to buy a bike that Toby could inherit but of course the bike manufacturers realise this and produce only very pink or very blue bikes . . . it goes without saying what colour we came away with.

From there we headed straight for the park to try it out. Both kids fell asleep on the way and by the time we arrived, it was raining rather hard. In hope that it would clear up, we drove on to Clumber Park. Thankfully it was sunny and lovely when we got there and Beth jumped straight on and off she went.

The weather didn't hold out for long but we sheltered under a tree and ate our sarnies and sausage rolls until it passed. Toby joined in with lunch and looked longingly at Beth's bike (imagining himself with it, but obviously not in that colour!), for the time being he will just have to make do with the carrier or pushchair.

After a break for ice cream we went to look around the walled garden. It was beautiful, lots of fruit trees, vegetables and masses and masses of rhubarb. Beth was most interested in the scarecrows (actually, she was only interested in those). It was a very enjoyable day. :)

Clumber Park

We tested out our new bike rack yesterday and headed over to Clumber Park for a ride. We hadn't been to that park before but I'm glad we did as it's beautiful! The road into the park is lined with two rows of Lime trees on either side giving it rather a grand feel. There isn't a house there as it was demolished last century but the walled gardens and huge greenhouses survived. We didn't look at these but plan on going back to explore. I didn't have time to take loads of pics so these are courtesy of others . . .

We actually didn't get to see as much of it as we'd have like since we ran into a few problems. Steve's bike had a puncture that he intended fixing with a spare inner-tyre once we arrived. However, it didn't fit and the puncture was right by the valve so couldn't be patched. So, I took the trailer (quite hilarious since I'm a bit unsteady anyway) and Steve was going to catch up once the bike shop opened and he could get fixed up. It was lovely riding, along the lake and through the woods. Unfortunately there are so many paths, Steve and I missed each other and had totally separate rides eventually meeting back at the car. It was Toby's first time out for a bike ride and first time wearing his helmet, he did pretty well.

From there we headed down to grandma and grandpa's house for the rest of the day. The weather was lovely and Beth and Toby spent the majority of the afternoon in grandpa's homemade sandpit making flower pies and Bob the Builder pies.

Today I took the big pushchair and both kids for a walk from the house. We walked along the river for about four miles following part of the Trans Pennine Trail. It was a lovely walk though a bit windy. Beth walked for just over a mile before moaning herself into the pushchair to join Toby. There was hardly anyone about and we had the path to ourselves, passing an unused viaduct, a castle and lots of lovely views. Steve met us at the other end and drove us home.

Just thought I'd bung these two pics on the end. One of Toby enjoying his spaghetti bolognaise - can you tell he's spoon-feeding himself these days? The other is of Beth wearing two of her birthday presents, a Tinkerbell t-shirt (thanks T) and a ballerina style skirt (thanks H), the perfect princess!

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.