All Hallows’ Even

 

This Halloween weekend we have mostly been spending time at other people’s houses. Scarlett wore her witch costume for two days to get the most out of it and looked very cute.

On Saturday morning we headed to Dean & Rachel’s to meet their new daughter, Isabella. We met Tom, Gemma & Olive there and spent a very nice couple of hours of chat and food.

The following two pictures are the best of a blurred bunch. Trying to get three 1-2 year olds to sit together and smile for the camera proved a task that I imagine even Hercules would have balked at.

Belated Holiday Post

 

Way back in August, we took our Summer holiday in the sunny Midlands. We spent a week with the Davies’ and a week with the Waterfields. It’s so long ago now that I’m not going to go into details but just let the pictures do the talking.

The highlights of the break were our visit to The Monkey Forest with Grandma & Grandad and our garden party with Nanny and Auntie Anna which was further enhanced by the presence of the Smith-Forrests and Deb & Neil, who all happened to be in the Midlands at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long Time, No Speak

 

Hello people! I thought it was about time that I caught up with my blog after a very long silence!  The reason for the almost two month hiatus, was the thought of writing my holiday post. In so delaying this task, I’ve missed out on other events that have taken place so here’s a quick catch up…

Firstly let me congratulate Dean and Rachel on the birth of their new daughter last week. Congratulations also to Nathaniel for your big sister.

Also, Olive turned the big zero one earlier on in the month and we joined friends and family for a fun day out at Polka Dots in Garforth. The fun was only marred by Scarlett receiving a very nasty bite on her back  from a small boy. He was quite upset once he realised how much she’d been hurt and even more upset when I told him off & then told his mother what he’d done.

We then had a lovely evening and stopover (except for Tom, Gemma & Olive, who left at about midnight) at Paul & Sarah’s house. On Sunday we did a few shops and met up with the Smith-Forrests in Leeds for coffee & cake.

I’ve posted this picture because it’s the first ever photograph that Scarlett’s taken.

Artistic Endeavours

 

I thought I’d share Scarlett’s latest artistic offerings with you all. Her preferred medium is the pseudo magna doodle.

A Mouse

Mommy

Another One of Mommy

Superman

Batman

Scarlett & Daddy

Some Bubblewrap

Making a Day of It

 

A couple of Sundays ago, when we had a super hot day, we went to the car boot sale at Sandal Cricket Ground. Dare I say that it was actually too hot for booting? Well, it was. It was massive and had spread to the car park on the opposite side of the road so by the time we’d done one circuit, we’d had enough. We didn’t buy much really save for some plastic animals & a toy truck for Scarlett, oh and a really cool, old orange hole punch for Andrew to take to work. After the hard slog of the car boot we nearly gave in and went home. Common sense prevailed however, and we decided to make a day of it and visit Sandal Castle (the remains of).

I bet most of you didn’t even know we had a castle in Wakefield did you? Well we don’t really anymore; just ruins. Construction of the castle was probably begun in the 12th century and it was first mentioned in text in the 13th century. It was the scene of the Battle of Wakefield (I kid you not) in 1460 which gave rise to the popular nursery rhyme, The Grand Old Duke of York.  During the English Civil War Sandal was a Royalist stronghold but was beseiged several times by Parliamentarian forces who eventually forced its surrender in 1645. After this, the castle was all but ruins and remains so today. Phew, history lesson over (Miss Parkin would be proud, Deb).

After lunch and an explore, we walked the short distance to Pugneys Country Park where we relaxed some more & partook of further refreshments.  A lovely day was had by all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scarborough Fair

 

Well, the weekend before last, we had our annual trip to Scarborough and this time we stayed for two nights in a lovely B & B overlooking the cricket ground. The weather forecast was appalling for the three days that we were there but the forecast is as irrelevant as Les Dennis’ acting career in the Davies household. Plus, it turned out they got it wrong.

We got there on Friday at lunchtime and had some dinner before we went to check in. Once we were unpacked, we headed to the beach to make the most of the afternoon.  To be honest, I went to the beach via the shops and met up with Andrew and the bairn after a short interlude. Scarlett had a great time but mostly stayed out of the sea on this day as she said there was “too much”. She built many a lame sandcastle, making the schoolboy error time and again of using sand that was far too dry to make any kind of decent structure.

After we had worn the beach out, we took the coastal road to the South Bay for a tea of fish and chips from the fantastic Winkin Willy’s and then had a leisurely walk back to the b & b. Scarlett had her own separate room adjoining ours and slept in the “big girl bed”. We were slightly concerned that she might fall out or just get out and run around in the night. She was shattered by the time she went to bed though so there were no problems.

On Saturday we took the train to Bridlington for a wander and visited the old town for the first time. It was nice enough but there wasn’t a lot there. We took the scenic route back to the front & had some dinner before heading off. We stopped off in Filey on the way back so that we could make the most of the day. Here, we spent most of the time on the beach even though the weather had taken a bit of a turn for the worse. It’s quite cosy on the beach under a brolly though.

When we got back to Scarborough we went to one of our favourite places to eat only to be disappointed. It was under new management & they were obviously trying to go a bit more up-market, missing the point that part of its charm was its greasy-spoon-ness. Plus, frozen fish and chips? At the seaside? Ye Gods!

Sunday was going home day but we’d booked a tea-time train so that we could have another day at the beach. The weather was lovely so after checking out, we headed to the North Bay where we spent the morning. Scarlett spent a lot of the time paddling and the rest of the time making those rubbish sand castles again. It was so hot that I had to buy a hat in the beach shop. All they had were brightly coloured baseball caps or men’s straw trilbies. You can guess which option I went for. No, not the baseball cap.

After a hot morning, we took the coastal road again to the South Bay and got some dinner in our absolutely favorite haunt in Scarborough: The Harbour Bar. This amazing place is famed for its ice cream which is some of the best in the country apparently. Its been owned by the Alonzi family since it opened in 1945 and barely anything has been changed with regards to the decor. You can understand why we love it.

The afternoon was spent on the South Beach where Scarlett’s main concern was collecting sea water in her bucket, bringing back up the beach and depositing it there. She’d seen some older kids making a castle with a moat and was emulating them, albeit in a slightly more basic fashion.

When it was time to go, we took the funicular up to town and had a leisurely walk to the train station. We got home with enough time to wind down and relax a little before real life began again. We finished off with take-away pizza after Scarlett had retired to bed. We had a great time & Scarlett absolutely loved it all. She was as good as gold (she usually is) and just made us look forward to all the seaside holidays yet to come.

Dean’s Birthday Barbecue

 

Last weekend we convened at Vipond Towers for a celebratory barbecue for Dean’s 33rd birthday which was the following Wednesday. Luckily for all involved, the afternoon was one of the few sunny ones we’ve had recently. Dean & Rachel put on a lovely spread and we had a very nice afternoon/evening. We stayed over but the Smith-Forrests had to get off as they were off to The Wirral on the Sunday for Euan’s christening. We got to use the guest room for the last time before it becomes Nathaniel’s new hang-out.

Here are a few pictures of the event for your perusal.

 

Deb’s Pubnic Weekend

 

The weekend of the 4th of July, we all headed to Liverpool for the event that was supposed to be Deb’s birthday picnic. We, the Davies’, went up on Friday afternoon by train and got there in time for plenty of red wine and a tasty pizza/wedge combination for tea. Dan and Camille arrived some time later and a relaxing evening was had by all.

Saturday morning arrived after so little sleep it was laughable. This was mainly down to the outrageous temperature in Deb & Neil’s flat in the Summer & also sharing a room with a two year old. The morning got off to a fairly bad start when Scarlett decided to shut her thumb in the hinge side of the living room door. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked (it swelled up to twice its size) and after an hour or so of applying cold water and ice packs, she was sufficiently recovered to begin enjoying CBeebies again.

The weather forecast was pretty poor with heavy showers promised throughout the day so Deb took the executive decision to knock the picnic on the head & go to the local pub instead. Steve, Helen & Euan popped round for a quick hello as they weren’t into the pub idea & we finally got to meet Master McGuinness.

Going to the pub turned out to be a wise move as there were sporadic showers throughout the day as promised. More than that though, it was a lovely pub (The Railway) that was practically empty and was happy to accept the youngest of our party as clientele. The day seemed to whizz by and was really enjoyable although few photographs were taken due to the intake of much alcohol. When it all ended, we headed back to the flat for more wine, Psychoville and the nicest Chinese takeaway I’ve had in years.

On Sunday, we headed into town and made our way to The Pilgrim for a £3 cooked breakfast. It was an unrushed and sociable affair, with the Viponds joining us for the meal.

After breakfast, the Viponds left for Yorkshire & the rest of us went to have a look in and around Liverpool Cathedral. It’s the fifth largest cathedral in the world and is a fantastic building with an amazing churchyard. It was designed by 22 year old Giles Gilbert Scott in 1903 and although the foundation stone was laid one year later, the building wasn’t fully completed until 1978! Scott went on to design the ubiquitous red telephone box (sadly less ubiquitous these days) along with countless other buildings which all seem to be really cool.

After a look around the shops and some t-shirt buying, we went for coffee & cake and then headed back to the flat to pack up, ready for the off. Thanks to Deb & Neil for a great weekend.

Iggle Piggle Trike

 

We bought Scarlett an Iggle Piggle tricycle last week which she was very pleased with. She had a trial run out the front but we haven’t taken it to the park yet. It should be interesting because although there’s a pole for the parent to push along, the actual steering is done by the rider. Cue lots of crashes and frustrated shouting of  “Turn it, turn it. No, the other way, the other way!”

The instructions for assemblage had a list of tools required but failed to mention that the tightening of the axle bolts would require help from Geoff Capes. I would assert that it would be almost impossible for one person to do alone. Luckily, I had Andrew to assist (not quite Geoff Capes, I know). We still needed two pairs of pliers and a whole lot of upper body strength to finish the job but finish it we did. Andrew only helped with the dodgy axle by the way; I did all the rest. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Here’s the finished product with rider attached.

Watching Me, Watching You

 

I bought these two lovely wristwatches a couple of weeks ago from Huddersfield Market  and they were an absolute bargain. I won’t reveal the price as one has gone to Ms Jarman as a get well present. They are both from the 1960s and are both wind-up watches. Sorry about the somewhat poor photo.