Lego Star Wars

It would be fair to say that Thomas is a big Lego Star Wars fan!

 

(It would also be fair to say that Thomas' dad doesn't mind it one bit, either, as he gets to play too!)

Barbecue time!

The weather was warm enough for a barbecue this evening, so Andy told Ruth to sit down and take it easy while he did the cooking.

 

Well, at least Ebby the cat liked the sausages...!

Thomas took part in some super-fast skipping to try to burn off the fat from the burgers.

 

With all the spare time on her hands, Ruth managed to take a photograph of the children looking cute. It didn't last for long...

 

...Will began to play with a bucket of water...

 

...which quickly became a 'dunking bucket'...

 

 

...and finally a bath bucket!

 

Happy Birthday, Auntie Jan!

It was Auntie Jan's birthday, so we all headed out to the Harvester to celebrate with her.

 

James made sure that his Auntie's table manners were under control...

 

Hannah posed for the camera...

 

Thomas did his best impression of a cheeky, mucky six year-old...

 

While Will tried to come to terms with the fact that his dessert was almost as big as he was!

 

Music festival

Hannah's piano class held it's annual music festival today, this time at St Fagans.

The whole class played very well, and looked great in their 'posh frocks'.

 

 

 

When 900 years old you reach, look as good, you will not!

Tom still has a way to go to reach Master Yoda's 900 years, but he celebrated his 6th birthday in style with a Star Wars themed party.

There was a Star Wars cake...

 

Lego Star Wars presents...

 

Jedi training in the garden...

 

And a game of "use the force to pin a light on R2-D2"!

 

I'm thinking that Will is probably facing the wrong way!

Sports Day

Hannah and Thomas entered the "Field of Dreams" today, and geared up for their school sports day.

Thomas' class went first, with Thomas coming away with a number of first, second and third stickers.

 

 

Hannah also collected lots of stickers, but should have won a bonus prize for the faces that she was pulling while taking part!

 

 

Clonetrooper in the making

They start them young in Clonetrooper Training college!

 

That's a good look that Will has got going there!

Goodbye to Disneyland

...and that was the end of our visit.

 

We had a fantastic time - one of the best holidays we've ever had - which was exactly what we went for! I'm sure that we'll back again before the children are too old to really enjoy it. But, can you really ever be too old to enjoy Disneyland???

The last ride...

The last ride that Andy, Thomas, James and Uncle Mike went on at Walt Disney Studios was Crush's Coaster, based on the film 'Finding Nemo'. You get to whizz around a blacked-out track, in a turtle-shaped rollercoaster car, which twirls and spins as you soar and dip your way through the 'sea'.

Or, at least that's what usually happens...

 

As we flew along the tracks on our final ride, the car came to a sudden and abrupt halt, which left our turtle-shell spinning wildly in the darkness for a few seconds. The lights inside the coaster canopy came on, and an announcement over the tannoy told us that the ride had malfunctioned, and we should remain in our seats. We weren't really planning on going anywhere!

The four of us were stuck in our shell for what must have been about 20 minutes, while the attendants walked their way around the ride helping each of the riders to safely escape from their cars. They got to us last, which gave us plenty of time to look around the ride track and see what it really looked like behind all of the darkness and special effects. It certainly wasn't as impressive with the lights on as it is with the lights off!

Finally, we were rescued from our shell, and took a long walk back to where the rest of the family were waiting patiently for our return.

Quite an exciting end to our holiday, and one that I'm sure we'll remember for a long time to come!

A meal fit for a king (or Disney princess)

We decided to treat ourselves on our last day at Disneyland with a meal at Walt's restaurant. We originally thought that we'd end up feeling sorry for the other guests as the noisy Hurley and Thomas families arrived, but the children behaved beautifully (and so did the grown-ups!).

 

The food was delicious...

 

 

...and the surroundings did make us feel like kings, queens, princes and princesses for a short time, too!

 

Taking it easy

It was our last day at Disneyland Paris, so we were keen to get in some final thrills and spills, but also to just enjoy the day and chill out. Bethan and Will led the way in the 'chilling out'!

 

 

Cloned-mouse trooper

Government scientists are clearly still working on developing the ultimate rodent army...

 

Famous places

You might recognise the two places in these photographs. A trip to Paris wouldn't have been the same without a visit, but it was a shame that the street hawkers didn't know how to take no (or even 'non'!) for an answer. There's only so many times that you can politely say no to an offer of a plastic miniature version of the Eiffel Tower...

 

 

Insane or on Seine?

A very kind person outside the Notre Dame cathedral gave us their family ticket for a Seine river boat-ride, as they weren't going to use it anymore. We're so glad they did, as it was a wonderful way to travel around the city, enjoying the sights while grabbing a bite of lunch and resting our feet.

 

 

 

 

Whoever you were who gave us the ticket, thank-you from The Hurleys! It was much appreciated!

The bells, the bells...

A visit to Notre Dame cathedral allowed us to tick the 'did some culture' box on our holiday itinerary!

The building is magnificent, and the stained-glass windows were really shown off to good effect by the blazing sun outside.

 

 

 

 

It was a struggle, though, to stop the children from blowing out the candles!

 

And perhaps we should have found a hunchback to ring the bells of the cathedral for us, just so that we could wake up Will who missed it all!

 

Paris in the springtime

Maybe 3rd June counts as summertime, but we all enjoyed a wander around the streets of Paris, taking in the sights and sounds. The sun was beaming down on us all day, and put the city in a great light.

 

Still can't quite believe that none of the children jumped into the fountain or river, though!