Thursday, May 31, 2007

Day tripping with the in-laws

While everyone else took a much deserved break from exertion, I went out on a 'jolly jaunt' up to the top of Buckden Pike with the in-laws. The views from there were amazing - on a clear day you can apparently see the Lake District. It wasn't a clear day, but the views were still great. Here's a look back at the village where we were staying.

David & Pauline can now rest easy in their beds, because if I'd ever wanted to bump off my in-laws, then Buckden Pike would have been an ideal place to do it - there was hardly another person up there! :-)

Just to prove that we did make it to the top of the Pike, and didn't just pop around the corner to the pub for the morning:

All-in-all, it was a very beautiful, but quite exhausting, walk! Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Pauline losing her footing and sitting down in the marsh! If I had, you can bet it would have been put on here!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Not even Auntie Abby was 'Anti-this-Abbey'

Today saw us doing the cultured thing and heading to Bolton Abbey. It really was a great day out for everyone - beautiful walks, historic buildings, stepping stones across rivers... And there was a big old church there, too!

All the children really enjoyed themselves. Hannah spent most of the time arranging her wedding to the prince at the Abbey! I'm not sure what they're doing in the following photo, but they're definitely having fun!

Thomas enjoyed making a splash at the river.

And we all enjoyed the beautiful views from the woodland walk. The photo below is our computer 'wallpaper' at the moment!

P.S. You've no idea how long it took me to come up with the title of this blog post! Sorry!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Duck racing!

Bank Holiday Monday also saw us racing ducks - big, yellow, plastic ducks!

It appears to be a yearly tradition in one of the local villages near where we were staying. The whole village turns out to cheer on their ducks, and watch them float down the river. Fortunes are made and lost as people bet the shirts off their backs on their own individual moulded piece of plastic. Even the shops shut while the race is on, so that no-one misses the excitement!

The following photo shows one of the ducks that we 'sponsored' - by our reckoning we came about 40th!

We even resorted to dangling Anya in the river to try and push our duck along!

It's a great day for a holiday!

Determined not to let our last holiday experience put us off(!), we headed to the Yorkshire Dales during the half-term holidays for a (hopefully) relaxing cottage holiday with Granny and Grandad, Uncle Tim, Auntie Abby, Chloe and Anya.

The cottage was very comfortable, but we'd only recommend the location if you really want to get away from it all. It was based in the tiny village of Buckden, and surrounded by very picturesque hills and dales - but you do have to drive for some time in order to get places. The journey took about 6 hours from Cardiff, so we listened to a lot of Hi-5 and Mika on the way!

The long journey there took it's toll on Hannah and Thomas, and Chloe and Anya, because it seemed like they spent the rest of the week finding the highest possible hills and rocks, and whizzing up them like rockets!

Bank Holiday Monday also gave us the chance to begin to appreciate the finer points of Morris Dancing!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Reduce, reuse, recycle...

I wonder what they'll convert these two into...

Snap-happy

Since we treated ourselves to a super-duper new camera for Christmas, we've given Hannah our trusty old camera. And she's turning out to have quite a knack for it!

She's filled up the memory card more times in the last few weeks than we did all year, taking photos of anything and everything!

She does scenic photos...

...still life photos...

...even stiller life photos...

...she's also available for parties and weddings!

The embarrassing bit is when we're walking along the road, and she's taking photos of cars that drive past! It's like having a walking speed camera!

See more of her artwork at Hannah's Snaps gallery.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Child Labour 2

Despite what we wrote about not needing to wash up in our house, Thomas is already in training for supplementing his income while he's in college!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Waste not, want not...

There's no need to wash up in our house!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Caught red-handed!

What I want to know is, if they're called 'finger-paints', how come it's hand prints on all of the furniture?

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Flying visit

We just made a flying visit to Norwich for the weekend to see Uncle Tim, Auntie Abby, Chloe and Anya. A dedication service was being held for Anya at their church, so we just had to get there!

As well as being there for the dedication service, it was good to see everyone again - Thomas enjoyed hanging out with Anya!

I thought that the best thing about Tiggers was that there was only one...

But, we're all a bit worried about Uncle Tim becoming a middle-aged hippy!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Spottyman

Just days after Hannah recovers from her 'minimonia', Thomas decided that he wanted some of the attention, so sprouted Chicken Pox!

The amazing thing is, if you join the spots together with a pen, you get a perfect reproduction of the 'Mona Lisa'!