Happy 3rd Birthday, Thomas!

Thomas was a bit like the Queen this year, as he actually had two birthdays!

It was his 'real' birthday on the 2nd of June, but as we were going to be spending most of that day travelling back from Yorkshire to Cardiff, it didn't sound like it would be a great day for him! So, instead we celebrated his birthday on the last full day of our holidays - and he loved it, especially as it meant that Chloe and Anya were at his party!

The hardest part for us was trying to fit in all of his presents in the car with all the rest of our holiday things!

Thomas had an extra-chocolatey birthday cake at his party later on...

...but he was more interested in the chocolate buttons on the top, than in the cake itself!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Waste not, want not...

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

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?