Biking Beth and Sports Day

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Steve had taken Beth's stabilizers and pedals off her bike so she could practice her balance. Well, she reluctantly did practice until she got pretty good so the pedals went back on. I resisted my urges to race to the shop and buy her full body armour (well knee and elbow pads at least) as she still insists on wearing a dress and refuses to wear trousers.

Over the weekend Beth rode a bit with Steve running behind holding onto her seat but it was looking all a bit unlikely. However, last night we went out to try again and something just clicked - off she went without a problem. She worked out how to turn and stop and can just about get started by herself as long as she isn't on an uphill. She was very pleased with herself and couldn't stop smirking. I would post a video of the event but it's a little large and I haven't quite worked out how to make it smaller. Beth's desperate to get back on the saddle but unfortunately we have torrential rain along with thunder and lightening today. Toby would very much like to be on a proper bike but he's a bit small yet though it won't be long.

Last Friday (July 16th) was sports day at nursery. The kids had all been practicing for weeks and some of them were very competitive. Beth, thankfully, wasn't too fussed at the prospect of winning (wow, aren't we great parents to have raised a child who knows taking part is what matters . . . ;)). I had Toby strapped into the pushchair for most of it as on his once chance out he ran amuck!

All the children had a go at all the races. It was quite amusing - I love watching the younger ones standing looking totally confused while all the others sprint off! Beth did great and seemed to enjoy herself, she even won one of the races (obstacle course) but since they got a sticker for taking part, she didn't really notice as she was headed to collect it. At the end there was a race for any younger brothers and sisters so Toby got to take part too. He and Beth ran holding hands and won that. One of the more competitive children ran with her little sister but when the sister fell over, she just carried on, dragging her to the end, poor thing though quite funny!

Relaxing with Friends and School News

We spent much of Saturday hanging out with our new friends. We were meant to be helping get their garden ready for the preschool fund raising bbq (yes, I've already been roped into being on the committee!) next weekend but we all got rather sidetracked.

Steve did manage to help by mowing their lawn (with the help of Toby, then Beth) but that was because he wanted to test-drive their tractor. :) After a lovely bbq lunch we broke out the slip and slide (sorry, no pictures) and finished the afternoon by feeding their pigs with left over scraps. It was a great day and the kids loved being able to 'run free' chasing the chickens and being chased by the geese. Hopefully the rain will stay away this weekend for the proper bbq.

Today (Tuesday) Beth had lunch and spent the afternoon at the big school in preparation for September. After, all the parents got a tour of the school along with tea and cakes, very civilised. It's quite a relief that she's all sorted out with school - it's taken rather a lot of effort and stress to get here. When we initially applied for a place she got refused as the school was full and we were late applying since we had only just moved into the village. We had to go to an appeal panel for them to decide if she could go. Thankfully they went our way and gave her a place so now she'll be at school with all her friends. :)

Toby also had a morning at preschool today ready for September. He will be going two mornings a week - I think he is definitely ready for it as he ran straight in today and happily got on with playing.

Tricycles and Tractors

After the long drive back from holiday on Friday we decided to have a relaxing local weekend. On Saturday Steve spent hours washing the cars - they looked a lot better after though he's going to be miffed tonight when he comes home and sees what a bird has done to one of them! While out on the drive doing that, Beth and Toby were pottering around the garden and out the front on their bikes. Toby had go on the metal Radio Flyer trike we bought for Beth. For the first time ever he got the hang of pedaling and managed to go both forward and back. He was very pleased with himself and very eager to get back in the pedaling seat.

Beth isn't so happy with her biking situation. We decided it was about time she learnt to ride without her stabilisers. We tried at the park but it's just too hard to ride on the grass - she couldn't get enough speed up. The road and pavements on our street are very rough and there are quite sharp stones and other bits so we don't really want her embedding that in her knees. I think we'll get her some knee and elbow pads but in the mean time Steve has taken both the stabilisers and the pedals off and she is using it like a balance bike. She is actually getting quite good on it but she's not impressed as she can't go as fast as she'd like. Her balance is certainly getting better so it might not be long before we can put the pedals back on and see what happens!

On Sunday we met cousins Adam and William (along with Auntie Janet, Uncle Andy and cousin Lydia) at Clumber Park where there was a steam fair. It wasn't nearly as large as the one we went to last August in Pickering but it was just enough as it was pretty hot and by the time we had done one circuit we were ready for home, the paddling pool and a cold one. Toby, of course, loved all the tractors and steam engines along with a VW Beetle he saw - his favourite film at the moment is Herbie (the old ones not the new one). Beth, unfortunately, has become a little more commercialised and just wanted to go on the fairground rides. They all started off in the huge bounce house which had multiple rooms and obstacles. After lunch Steve took Beth on the bumper cars to challenge Adam and his cousin Lydia. I wasn't sure how much she would enjoy it as it was pretty violent. It seems I needn't have worried, she loved it and went back on with Lydia for another go.

Toby was just a bit small for those but happily went on the car ride (twice) and much to the owners amusement refused to get off. I had to climb in with him and haul him out mid-fit. After an ice cream stop we headed home for a lazy afternoon and evening by the bbq.

Devon Holiday

We got back home on Friday from a weeks holiday in Devon (south west England) with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Jane. We were super lucky that the weather was perfect all week and our only gripe was that the pollen count was really high so we all suffered with hayfever.

We had rented a holiday cottage just outside of a little village called Appledore. It looked a little bland from the outside but was really lovely inside as it had been all refitted and was just very family-friendly. The cottage was less than five minutes walk to a little beach. It wasn't particularly sandy but had loads of shells and rocks and enough sand to make lots of pies! You could actually see the cottage from the beach - overlooked by horses, hens and lots of rabbits (and there was a great area for flying kites).

During the week we visited three other beaches. Westward Ho! was the big sandy beach only a short drive (or long walk as grandma found out) from the cottage. We went there on one of the first days. It was massive and when the tide was out it was pretty hard to actually see the sea. Unfortunately with it being so flat, when the tide came in, the beach totally disappeared. We got an hour or so playing before that happened and Beth tried her hand at bodyboarding. I think she liked the idea more than the reality but I think she'll be happy to try it again on our next beach holiday. Toby was happy just paddling around and of course did his trademark fall in fully clothed; something that was repeated at least twice more during the week!

The next day we ventured a little further to Croyde (sorry, no decent pics), a beach well known for the surfing. It was a proper sandy beach with sand dunes behind and a little river perfect for paddling and splashing. The surf did look pretty good but as Jane pointed out, it's horrible to actually surf in as there are so many people. At one point there were seven surf school groups each with about ten people in them then all the individual surfers too - even worse than round Huntington Pier!

On Wednesday we took a break from beaches to visit the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Rosemoor. All of it was beautiful and made me want to race home and plant something. We only explored a fraction of it but did get to see their fruit and vegetable gardens, the orchard, formal gardens and the play area. Beth took time to smell the roses and Toby the opportunity to escape and get himself lost. It was lovely though I suspect it could be appreciated more fully as the designers intended without the delight of chasing the kids. Perhaps when they leave home I'll venture back there to explore on my own.

Our last day was spent at Bucks Mills Beach at the bottom of a rather steep cliff (that we manoeuvred down complete with picnic, blankets and all the other accoutrements needed for a day out at the beach!). It was beautiful and I think our favourite beach of the week. There were plenty of rock pools to fish in (Steve caught a shrimp), sand for pies and lots of opportunity for Toby to fall in, which he did, twice, in spectacular fashion - if I had been holding my camera I would have snapped a pic before extracting him. :)

It was a great week, the kids have tons of fun and got to know Auntie Jane (and her big red van) a bit better, and we all enjoyed a week of overindulgence, sun and good company.

Half Term Summer Fun

Today is the first day back at school for Beth after a week off for half term. It seemed to fly by, probably because the weather was nice and we had lots of plans.

A lot of the time was spent in the garden in the new paddling pool (Beth wearing her new swimming cossie), eating ice creams and playing on the Fifi sprinkler mat.

We got in visits to both sets of grandparents. At grandma and grandpa's a digger turned up, much to Toby's delight, to fill the hole outside their house. The rest of the day was spent in the sandpit and paddling pool. Unfortunately they both burnt their bums since we lotioned them up before they decided to totally strip off and it never occurred to us to reapply! At gran and grandad's the paddling pool was broken out along with the bubbles.

We had a couple of days catching up with friends we hadn't seen for ages. On Wednesday we met up with Carl and his family at Clumber Park and had a lovely picnic in the sun. Even though Beth and Carl haven't seen each other for a long while, it only took a couple of minutes before they were off together with Toby and Mo tagging along joining in the fun.

On Friday we met up with Maisie and her family at Thrybergh County Park and Reservoir. Again it was a beautiful day and the kids had great fun in the two playgrounds chasing each other around. We found a quiet spot to eat our picnic and blow some bubbles before continuing at break-neck speed around the park.

Back at home we are a little late with our planting. Our kind neighbour gave us some of his spare tomato plants, six went into a newly cleared bed in the back garden and Beth planted two tumblers in Toby's old wellie boots. Hopefully we'll get around to planting our sunflowers this week though I'm not quite sure where they will go - our garden is a little wild at the moment!

All Sorts

All sorts of stuff has been going on but none of them eventful enough to warrant an entire post so I thought I'd bung them all together to make this one.

On Friday night Beth (with a little help from daddy) made dinner for us all. Chicken quesadillas from the Annabel Karmel cookbook she got Steve for his birthday. They were pretty good and we enjoyed them even though neither of the kids were overly keen and only picked. I think we'll have to try them again but limit the filling to cheese and ham!

After dinner Steve took them both outside to have a play with the new soakers we got from Costco.** Beth got the hang of them pretty quickly and was more than happy causing havoc watering the windows and Steve; she wasn't so happy being got (must take after her mum), I stayed inside clearing up and watched from a distance.

**The "can't get out of Costco without parting with $100" has made it over here too (but in £s) and Steve sits and wonders how on earth we can spend that much on the 'essentials' . . . ;)

We seem to have had a bit of time to spend with Toby on his own

recently - Beth stayed with grandma and grandpa at the weekend. On Sunday morning

we went to Clumber Park to attempt to fly a kite since

his favourite song (that he sings ALL the time) is "Lets Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins. It was semi successful as the wind was not very steady but Toby enjoyed it.

Toby is also very much into bubble blowing and takes a bottle of bubbles (empty and closed) to bed with him. He must have spent an hour chasing them around the garden last week; I'll have to go out and buy a couple of gallons to keep us in stock!