New Years Eve

Well, we had a huge party to go to until the small hours but decided just to stay at home and go to bed instead (yeah right!!)

The kids suddenly rushed off to tidy their rooms and polish this afternoon as they have got an idea to have a New Years Day party tomorrow. Unfortunately they didn't think of this until nearly tea time so they didn't have time to invite anyone yet!! It might end up being a party just for us, who knows?! Mind you, the house stank of orange polish so I think everything was liberally dosed which may have been a good thing (?) They were both very industrious, even Ben decided to help out, which is unheard off, typical boy!!

Not much has happened over the last few days.... cleaning cottages, making junk models (or inventions as Eilidh calls them!), doing some more bead pictures, listening to story tapes and today we went for a nice drive up to Pooley Bridge and had some lunch. The weather has been awful, there are ponds in the fields around here and the roads by the lakes are at the same level as the lake itself!

Eilidh has lost another tooth tonight, she has been playing with it all day today..Yuck! Here is the gappy girl!!

This morning Dave was feeling ill so we left him in bed to sleep it off and got on with some crafty bits. Both the kids got a 'Hama' bead kit for christmas (mainly because I liked the look of them!) so we made a start on these. Ben has one with emergency vehicles to make and Eilidh has a pony mobile to make. Ben found it a bit too fiddly, so I ended up making him a helicopter while he handed me the right colour beads and Eilidh did brilliantly and made a lovely pony with very little help so she was really pleased. I will get some pictures when they do some more.

We then went off to see our friends Kate, Dennis and Florence for coffee and playing and spent most of the afternoon there. Ben got really tired and starting bouncing off the walls so we decided to head home for dinner and bed. That's about it for today!

Boxing Day

While we were being lazy sleeping in this morning Ben and Eilidh were busy playing in Eilidh's room. I was just thinking how good they were being when Ben appears by the side of the bed telling me exactly what they have been up to!!? Well, they had decided to play with their new plasticine on the bedroom carpet, on his new wooden garage and then decided to try and clean it up with wet toilet paper. This got me out of bed pretty quickly!! Fortunately it wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined, but there was a trail of wet toilet paper from the bathroom to Eilidh's room and half his new wooden cars had been 'buried' in a horrible looking lump of brown plasticine. Great!!

We decided that we all needed to go out and get some fresh air after breakfast so went off to Windermere Lake for a wander. It seems everyone else had the same idea, we couldn't believe it was so busy, the few cafe's and shops that were open were heaving! It's funny being in a big tourist area, after summer holidays end usually we all feel as if the area becomes ours again but this year it seems to have been pretty busy all year around. Still, we used to be the tourists so I guess we can't complain too much!!! We had a lovely, very windy walk around part of the lake and the kids had a chance to run off some steam and get some fresh air.

When we got back Ben decided he wanted to do some painting of his new dinosaur moulds and Eilidh got on with painting some fairy figures while I made dinner. Then it was just eating and watching Monsters Inc. then off to bed for the kids.

Christmas Day

Ben was awake at 5 o'clock this morning. We had told him last night that he could only get out of bed once it was light outside as Santa may not have finished bringing presents until then. Unfortunately he sat up in bed, saw his nice full stocking and when I said he had to go back to sleep he informed me that it didn't matter now as Santa had already been!! Honestly sometimes he is just too smart for his own good!!

Still he popped in and out of our bed, back to his own bed, played with his toys and lasted out opening his stocking until Eilidh woke up at about 7 o'clock, mind you we were absolutely shattered by that point!

They managed to get down for breakfast and then opened a few presents before going off to the Christmas service at church. They took presents to show at church, Ben proudly took his knitted snowman and Rudolph and Eilidh took some russian dolls and a bead set. Then home for christmas dinner and more presents. The kids had loads of lovely presents and spent all day opening them in stages! They seemed to love everything and we even managed to squeeze in some time doing some of the puzzles and crafty bits they got as well. All in all a really nice quiet(ish!) day and now I just have to find places to put them all.

Here are some piccies of all the fun and one of Eilidh's new pony(!) which thankfully she loves! And of course Dave didn't want to miss out on all the fun!

We hope you all had a good day too!!

Christmas Eve

Well...presents are all wrapped, all put under the tree and kids are asleep...Hurray!!

We went off to a childrens service at church this afternoon where Eilidh became an angel and Ben rebelled at being a shepherd! To be honest I couldn't hear much of it as it was so noisy but the kids seemed to enjoy it. They are both still a bit snuffly but not as bad so hopefully tomorrow it will have gone completely.

Both of the kids have been an absolute nightmare this week, not sure if it's the overdosing on sweet chocolaty things, the snuffles, being stuck indoors a bit more or the excitement of Christmas but they have been driving us up the wall!!! Still, they will have plenty to play with tomorrow, we have stacks of presents under our tree, so much for the small, low key christmas!!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Well, the weather was not only cold but HORRIBLE!! We had freezing rain this afternoon which made all the footpaths slippy and the back roads even worse. After going to the library and re-stocking we did last bits of shopping and then got the snuffly kids back home to veg out in front of the fire. I then had to go off to Morrisons and get the food bits I had forgotton yesterday!

Of course, being my usual dappy self I merrily went off down the back roads...bad idea! They were like a skating rink and after crawling along at snails pace, having to stop to let someone through I managed to skid into a grass verge. Fortunately it was only the front wheels that I bashed but unfortunately the car started juddering over 40 mph after that. Well off I went to Quick Fit where a very nice man looked at my wheel, got a tool and scraped off all the mud jammed in the rim and told me to try it out! It worked... fortunately but I did feel like a complete dizzy blond (sorry all blondes out there!) for not realising that a bit of mud could affect the car so badly. Never mind, at least it didn't cost us any money even if I did feel a tad silly!

Great.....three days to christmas and the kids have come down with sore throats and snuffles...typical!!!

Yesterday we went to see our friends in Kendal to drop off presents and things we had borrowed off them throughout the year so the kids spent all afternoon playing with Dennis and Florence (prospective son and daughter-in-law!) Dennis and Eilidh were busy playing super heroes and running around in the park at the back of their house while Ben and Florence were busy tipping cars all over their living room floor! Me and Kate were extrememly busy drinking proper coffee and yakking..hard work! Eilidh had already been complaining of a sore throat but seemed fine but on the way home Ben started as well and both of them are sniffing for Britain now. They got well dosed with parecetamol before bed last nigh and hopefully we will kill it off before Christmas Day.

We have woken up this morning to white frosty fields again, so another cold day.

Yesterday we went to Lancaster to meet up with a crowd who also Home Educate to have lunch and then go onto see a play. We met up in the Whaletail, a vegetarian cafe and had a really yummy lunch and then headed off to the Dukes theatre to see The Twits by Roald Dhal. It was fantastic, just a small play with six people but they had us singing, shouting, putting our shoes over our heads (don't ask!) and Ben and Eilidh loved it. We had read the book to them a while ago and Eilidh seemed to be the only one who could remember the story but it was still brilliant. At the interval all the kids were given a tub of ice-cream and Dave managed to get one too!?

Afterwards we headed into Lancaster to do a little bit of shopping but it was getting really cold and very busy so we ran for the car. We haven't been to Lancaster for about a year and although it has good shops, I realised that I can cope with Kendal but going around Lancaster for any length of time would drive me nuts!! Obviously not a city person.

Today we got up late and ran around trying to get the house sorted as Dave's mum, sister and brother in law were coming (Hi Barbara and Alan!) . Well, we didn't get much done as Wendy (our little helper) popped around with some pressies and cards and as soon as she had gone everyone else turned up. Oh well, people just have to take us as they find us (Usually extremely messy!!) Dave's mum brought even more presents, so much for the small, low-key christmas. I wrapped a load of the kids presents last night and realised just how much stuff they have actually got!! I'm not quite sure where it is going to live but hey ho.

Spent the rest of the afternoon watching telly as our Sky dish has now been sorted so we can get all the Freeview channels. I've got to go food shopping tonight so psyching myself up as Asda's will probably be packed out with christmas panic shoppers!

We wrapped ourselves up this morning and headed up to Penrith to go swimming then onto the Home Ed group there. Frosty mornings don't tend to put me in the mood for swimming but Eilidh was so excited as she wanted to show me her underwater swimming so off we went. Eilidh has really come on in confidence since going a bit more regularly again, she went in with no arm bands , put her goggles on and she was off, collecting things from the bottom of the pool and then actually swimming (with no feet on the floor!!!) underwater. Brilliant!!
Some of the older boys came and played with Ben, putting him on their backs and swimming along amidst screams of laughter. This time I actually got to go for a 'proper' swim while Dave kept an eye on them all. Well, I say swim but I only managed four lengths in the big pool and came out again feeling completely deflated! It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been as busy and I could take it at my own pace but they all seemed to be in a hurry charging up and down the pool so I gave up!!

We went on to the Home Ed get together afterwards where we spent the afternoon chatting while the kids killed each other.

It was a long day for the kids and they were both shattered tonight so hopefully we will have a good nights sleep as well.

We got all dolled up yesterday to go to our friends wedding at our church. It was lovely to see them get married but the kids were bored and fidgety. They had a sit down three course meal, lovely food but we were the last table to be served each course which was really slow by which time Ben was having cabin fever! Fortunately they got some toys out and provided bubbles for the kids but we ended up leaving before the speeches and evening do as we were all worn out!! Never mind.

Today we were meant to be getting up for church but ended up all snuggled up in our bed keeping cosy warm and reading and didn't get up in time!! We decided instead to go out for the day up to Ambleside although we never got there. We spotted our friends were having a house clearance on the way through and popped in there to have a look. They are off to Canada in February and are getting rid of practically everything so had the whole house contents up for sale. We picked up a few books, toys and other bits and had a chat then headed off. By this time it was nearly two so we decided to get some lunch at a pub in Ings which was really lovely and then went back home for the promised tree decorating.

After promising the kids the tree would definately be put up today, Dave suddenly remembered that our ladder (to get into the loft) was at the house he is painting!! Oops! So I ended up having to climb up into his hands, onto his shoulders then onto his head to get into the loft. That was bad enough but it wasn't until I was safely up that I wondered how I was meant to get down!! Still we managed to find all the christmas bits and peices and got them down safely, then it was my turn. After trying to balance on Dave's head we decided I would just have to hang on for dear life and he would catch me..........well, he did thankfully but we ended up rolling around in fits of laughter wondering what people going past in their cars thought we were up to!!!

Anyway Dave supervised the kids decorating the christmas tree (I always get too stressed with it!) and it looks great. They all did a brilliant job and now it feels a bit more christmassy in here.

Yesterday was pretty much the same, kids were busy doing computer work on 'Starfall'. I insisted they did something a bit more educational the CBeebies much to Eilidh's disgust! We also found a great site www.woodland-junior.kent.sch.uk which has an online advent calender which tells you all about christmas traditions in other countries each day. This is actually a school site but it has loads of good stuff on. We learnt all about christmas in Sweden (very strange!) We then got on with making chocolate brownies and snowmen cakes.

I was waiting anxiously for Dave to get home so I could rush out to the shops for late night shopping in Kendal to get an outfit for a wedding on Saturday. What a farce!!! Late night shopping consisted of about five shops being open and none of them clothes shops!! So it was back to good old Asda to find something other than jeans to wear!!

Today it was Art Group with a shared lunch. It was a bit unorganised this week as the kids were all excited and ended up spending most of the time running around rather than doing art. However Ben and Eilidh did manage to do a few pictures with copious amounts of glitter and glue. Then we headed back into Kendal to get me some shoes and to find stocking and cracker fillers and a wedding present. Not like us to leave everything until the last minute!?

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, cleaning a cottage in the morning, then off to our friends wedding for the rest of the day.

Yesterday Dave went off to get on with his next job, painting window frames at someones rental property. Ben spent most of the day on the colouring and playing on the computer while Eilidh helped me sort out some of the kitchen and then disappeared off to colour as well.

Pretty much the same today, Dave working, me sorting out more of the house and the kids busy 'doing' things all day. They finished colouring in all the 'Numberjacks' (kids programme to teach numbers) so they could make a number banner out of them. Then I had printed off a load of pictures to make a nativity scene which they got busy with. They coloured them in and I had the job of cutting around them and trying to laminate them. Unfortunately the laminator had other ideas and decided to eat one of the sheets which disappeared completely inside the machine. So then we had a lesson in electronics while I attempted to find it!! Needless to say the laminator is now still in bits waiting for daddy to 'fix' it!!! So the nativity will have to wait, the idea is we will laminate all the peices, put some sandpaper on the back and then make a felt board to put them on so the kids can move them around and 'tell' the story.

They also did some christmas mazes we got off the internet (we love the internet!) and some word searches. Both of them LOVE mazes and will sit for ages merrily mazing away. Ben sat on the computer for a while working his way through his Learning Ladder CDRom which is great as it makes learning fun. They seem to go through phases of wanting to do these so I make the most of it when they do!

Our decorations and tree are still not up as the house is still a mess, I have promised that they will definately go up this weekend as Eilidh is getting impatient!

We got back yesterday complete with huge trailor with a huge shed on! Fortunately it all got back in one piece with no problems. Dave and Andrew (nephew) spent all day Saturday taking his dads old shed down in the snow. Poor Andrew was frozen and was very upset that he was missing an online computer game! Still, they did a good job and got it all done. The kids decided they wanted to play in the snow so got togged up and ran around the garden for a while. Ben had enough when Eilidh threw a snowball down the front of his jacket!

On Friday evening we had a get together with most of Dave's family, the kids were so over excited and running around being painful!! It was a good time, and great to catch up with everyone.

Last night we had howling gales here and our house was freezing! Our fire seems to not be heating up enough to kick start our heating BRRRRRR! Hopefully it's just the coal and not the back boiler which is useless!

Eilidh and Dave went out and about today, while Ben kept himself busy playing games on the computer, printing off pictures and doing colouring. It amazes me how much he has learnt without us actually teaching him much!!

I got on with scrubbing the kitchen, no christmas decorations are going up until this house is tidier!!

Sorry, we have been completely hopeless with the blog recently and I've already had complaints about there being no photos!!! Well, the garden we have been working on is finished...Hurrah! It looks fantastic, of course!!

Well we are off to 'little Grandma's' (Dave's mum) this weekend so we shall write more after that and I promise we shall try to have more photos!!

Saturday was another drizzly working day, we had no cottages to clean so it was getting on with the gardening.

After church on Sunday we went for a drive picking up a few bits we had acquired off Freecycle and had lunch in a lovely cafe in Sedbergh.

Today was back on with gardening at Steve's, more flower beds to be covered with wood chippings, weeds to be pulled and coffee to be drunk (!!!) Eilidh, Ben and Jason, (Steve's son) had great fun paddling about playing boats in the beck in the woods, then went off indoors to watch Ice Age (very educational!!?) It was lovely and sunny this morning and then poured for about and hour and half this afternoon. I got home and got into a lovely warm bath to wallow...lovely!

What a horrible, wet yucky day! We managed to get all the woodland paths finished and the flower beds covered with wood chippings before being completely rained off. Steve's garden is looking really good now, just a few more jobs to do then it will hopefully be finished.

I went off to Argos this afternoon to spend some vouchers we got from surveys and things so nearly all the kids christmas shopping is now done. I know I said we weren't having any plastic or brand new toys this year but we got the vouchers for nothing really so they had to be spent! It's not easy spending argos vouchers on anything but plastic as it all seems to be but I got a huge box of Magnetix which are at least a bit educational as well!!

Got to sort out advent calenders now so they are ready for tomorrow....

Well, after putting in the plants in the dark, the next day was completely fog bound so no photos could be taken of Steve's house anyway....typical!! So spent another day gardening (in the fog) on Tuesday.

Yesterday, Dave had an appointment to get his glasses sorted and the kids were both booked in for eye tests. Eilidh did brilliantly and her eyes were perfect, Ben's were fine but they want to see him again six months as there were a couple of areas which weren't quite perfect but nothing to worry about at the moment. We then went off to the library to load up with more books, had a bit of time reading stories there and then headed for a cup of coffee in a cafe before heading home. We couldn't work because it was pouring with rain all day so spent the afternoon sorting bits in the house out and the kids watched some vidoes. We were all feeling really tired and aching.

Today, Dave went off back to Steve's to work and I had a day off! My hands are quite painful and one of my fingers keeps getting stuck!! Whenever I bend my finger it is really painful to get it straight again, probably not helped by pulling ivy and wearing wet, muddy gloves all day! So me and the kids spent some time packing up a parcel for our friends in Canada (Hi Tina!!) and making christmas cards and paper snowflakes. Lots of glitter and glue everywhere! We took some lunch up for Dave and ended up staying for the afternoon at Steve's drinking lovely coffee, chatting and watching Dave and Wendy (our little helper!) working very hard making paths through the woods. It is really looking good now and Steve has finally got his 'For Sale' sign up so hopefully he won't have to wait too long for it too be sold. I enjoyed not having to work (!) although I think I may regret laughing at Dave and Wendy when they make me do all the rubbish jobs tomorrow!!!

Dave also went back to the opticians today to get some contact lenses fitted as he is going to give them a try so we shall see how he gets on.

Another day doing gardening again. I think I will be dreaming about weeds tonight!! While we got on weeding, making paths and putting in plants, the kids were busy playing computer games, playing hide and seek, eating homemade chips, watching a film and occasionaly helping out filling wheelbarrows. Steve has the photographer coming tomorrow so we were still there in the dark putting in plants to make it look pretty! At least the weather was lovely today, crisp and sunny, perfect for gardening!

We are all tired out and aching so off to bed........

Sorry, it's been ages since I wrote anything. Our Broadband is still not sorted out, the companies involved are useless and blaming each other and then us, mentioning no names....BT and PIPEX (p.s. that was said in a very loud, angry voice!!)

Anyway, we've been busy, busy, working in Steve's garden, going swimming, art group, cookery group, science group, church, cleaning cottages, ironing(!) and generally usual things!

This afternoon we went to a coffee and chat time with out local LETs group (Local Exchange Trading Scheme). This is a group where you can offer and get services with a local currency instead of money. Have a look at http://www.letslinkuk.net/ and it explains it better, apparantly there are groups all over the uk so it sounds quite good. We have put our names down to join our local group so we shall let you know how it goes. In the local area we have people offering anything from accomodation to building to hair dressing and dog sitting so we can't wait to get involved!
Whilst we were there the kids got busy with a bit of arty crafty stuff, Eilidh got her face painted whilst Ben ate cake, then Eilidh decided to have her hand painted then her other hand (she's a real glutton with some things) and Dave experienced an Alexander Technique mini/taster session to help sort his back problems out ( a full course would cost £200 - ouch - but worth it if it sorts him out).

Kids are fine, Eilidh is getting to the stage of actually sitting reasonably still in church and joing in more with all the groups we go to. Ben, however is waking up a five most mornings, not going back to sleep, being shattered all day and got into a bad habit of not listening and being horrible all day!! He seems to constantly have tummy aches at the moment and we need to get back onto a more fruit and veg diet which he seems to cope with better than the rubbish (for us anyway!) we have been eating lately. Because we have both been working a lot more and been really tired at the end of each day, the more convenient food has crept back in which is not good. Still, Steve is getting his house put on the market this week so his garden work will ease off a bit now as most of it is done. We also have a friend helping out so the pressure is not so much on me. We shall see....

Sorry, no blogs this week, our telephone and broadband connection have been down and still not right so just a short and sweet note to say we will resume normal service soon!!!

The trip yesterday was brilliant although I think we have only just thawed out, it was FREEZING!! The car behaved itself perfectly on the journey and it feels like absolute luxury after the cars we have had recently!!

We met up with a few other families and had a look around the Bird of Prey centre (www.discoverit.co.uk/falconry/) first, they have owls, eagles, vultures, kites, and loads of other birds as well as a couple of deer, wallabies , red squirrels and a kookaburra (who 'laughs' like a monkey!) Then they let the kids hold some of the smaller owls and have a chance to stroke them and then went onto the flying demonstrations. The man in charge was really good, he showed us a couple of the big owls (almost as big as Ben!), a red kite and a black kite, and a vulture. The kids who wanted a go got a chance at having the birds fly to them and he had some of the birds flying right over our heads, some so close you could feel the wings! One of the owls he flew low right over our heads and I was trying to get a photo of it in flight and just as I clicked the button his wing hit me!! Never did get a decent picture!

Eilidh loved it, she had a go with all the birds, even the big black vulture and wasn't the slightest bit scared. Ben didn't want to hold any of them but loved the red kite called Scarlet as it would catch food in mid air. We got loads of pictures but can't put them all on here. It was a brilliant day even if we were all frozen solid by the end and well worth the drive.

Will put pictures on tomorrow as it seems to be playing up at the moment!!!

Just a quick blog whiel I am waiting for Dave to get back from washing the car.Today we are off to the Bird of Prey centre up in Kielder, Northumberland. It's a bit of a drive but we are meeting up with some other Home Ed families and being given a presentation and some of the older ones may even get to help fly some of the birds. One of our friends works up there with his son so we are getting special treatment for the day!! Our new car is up and runnng so hopefully it will be absolutely fine on the journey.

Yesterday was a quiet day, church in the morning then home and pottering about. Ben watched his Phonics videos... again and Eilidh did some reading. We decided that we would try and find out what her 'reading age 'is as she seems to just whizz through any book she picks up. There is a special test called a Burt test (or something) which calculates what age her reading level is. Well.... She came out at 10.11 years!!! (Not quite sure how they calculate the .11 but still!) What a superstar!!

Yesterday was back to gardening as the weather was lovely again. Taking down more trees, Joel has dubbed us the tree murderers!

Today I went with the kids to do one of our cottages while Dave took our 'new' car down for an MOT. We have had this car sat outside our house for about six months, it belonged to a friend from church who had nowhere to put it and no money to fix it. In the end he decided we could have it as he is now getting married and getting a truck instead! So we got a free car (Renault Laguna) which didn't need too much doing to it...hurrah! Well, it passed after a few technicalities so it will soon be sorted out for the road and I will be mobile again. Thanks Rob!!

Ben decided he wanted to see his Phonics videos again so they both sat and watched them again this afternoon. Ben is very proud of the fact that he can 'read' some words now so I shall have to find some easy books for him to try soon.

The weather today has been horrible, very rainy and windy so no gardening. Eilidh and Ben were busy playing in Eilidh's room for ages this morning so we left them to it until they were hungry! They eventually appeared for some hot porridge and we sat and watched some of the schools programmes on the telly. Ben was very interested in one learning about how concrete was made and tested, probably had something to do with the fact they were making railway sleepers! They also watched an English programme which was a little too old for them, in fact I didn't even understand half of it ...suffixes, short vowels and goodness knows what else??

After lunch they decided to go upstairs and listen to a Winnie The Pooh story tape while I managed to get some washing and vacuuming done (yes, it does happen occasionally!) Then they came down to watch some 'Jolly Phonics' videos we have just been given off Freecycle. These are designed to teach children to learn to read and are what Eilidh had used at school in Reception class. Ben has been showing much more interest in learning his letters and numbers just recently so we shall try this way and see what happens. He was engrossed in the videos and nobody was allowed to make a sound while he watched!! Eilidh began to remember some of the bits from school and was helping Ben learn the actions that they have for each letter sound. Quite an educational day even though most of it was in front of the telly!

While Ben was busy watching, Eilidh helped me to start making some Christmas cards. We are trying to have a low key, environmentally friendly Christmas this year (so be warned everybody!)

We had a really good time yesterday swimming up at Penrith then on to the Home Ed get together there. Both Ben and Eilidh are getting more confident in the water, Eilidh was even putting her whole face in and blowing bubbles.

Today was back at Steve's to attack the garden again. Dave got the part for his chainsaw this morning so we could get on with taking down the rest of the trees to let some more light through. It all went really well, no damage done with falling trees and no casualties until Dave slipped on some stone steps and bashed his back! He's a bit bruised and sore but hopefully will be alright for tomorrow. Here are some pictures of some of Steve's garden, he also had loads of woodland as well, great for building dens!

Eilidh and Ben played Snakes and Ladders with Joel (Ben won) and then they found some Thomas the Tank Engine bits on YouTube. Both of them helped pulling branches out for us and then decided to play Robin Hood in the woods. Steve supplied us all with chips and biscuits and kept me going with coffee again, bless him!! It was a good day, we got loads done today and feel shattered again tonight. Although I feel a bit guilty not doing much with the kids, they love going to Steve's to see the boys and it won't be for too long and as we are both working on the garden, we are both getting paid!! Hurrah!!

Yesterday we went off on one of our Home Ed monthly strolls. This was up near Thirlemere which is actually a man-made reservoir up near Keswick. It was made way back in the 1890's to supply Manchester with lots of water in order to maintain the growth of the Industrial Revolution but is so natural and beautiful now you would just presume it was another natural lake if you didn't know any better. One really amazing fact about the project is that the water travels about 84 miles to Manchester without the need for any pumps, by building the aqueduct with a fall of around 20 inches to the mile it takes the water just over a day to reach the treatment works. We had a lovely walk up through some woods onto the top of Raven Crag, stopped for lunch and then back down again a different way. A few families came with the obligatory dogs and it was great fun as usual. Eilidh just got on and went on talking to everyone else along the way with not one grumble or moan! Fantastic!!!

This morning we spent reading books and Eilidh read some to us as well. Her reading is amazing, it's come on so much since last year when we were fighting her to read a simple book. I kept going to help her with words I didn't think she would know but she just rattled her way through them. I guess it makes me feel a bit more confident that Home Schooling is the right way for us!!

This afternnon we were back working over at Steve's this afternoon, desperatly trying to get his garden finished so that he can put his house on the market. Jason decided to give us a hand today and helped Dave with shoveling gravel for the paths. I was doing my usual very exciting job of.........yes, weeding (again!) Steve keeps me going by supplying me with 'proper' coffee every so often! The kids were helping Joel make a bow and arrow , climbing trees and running around the garden. Hopefully Dave will get his chain-saw sorted this week so we can get on and chop some more straggly trees down and also get the woodland walks done.

Tonight of course it was bonfire night. As Ben isn't very keen on loud fireworks Dave surprised us all with a garden firework display and a lovely bonfire. The kids enjoyed it and even Ben coped with a few small bangs and whizzes. We also had sparklers and toasted marshmallows after the display so it was really great. It's so nice having the space and being able to have a bonfire without disturbing the neighbours as it's tucked away around the side of the house. So they have both had a late night again but went to bed happy. Of course, I made the mistake of reading their bedtime story in our room, so Ben is now fast asleep in our bed. He will have to get kicked out later but he looked so peaceful I just left him there!!

Sorry, (correction) pictures!

Just discovered Dave took some pictures on Thursday when he took the kids for a walk down to Cumbria Wildlife Trust which is just down the road from us, they love to look around the wildlife pond & see if there is any conservation work going on then to look around the gardens which are very beautifully planted with mature trees & shrub gardens, as well as flower beds with loads of info plaques.

1.Eilidh & Ben looking for life in the pond 2.Eilidh & Ben find a water snail on a leaf. 3.Ben suggests there is something very big in the woods, Eilidh says there is a lovely water snail on a big water lily leaf in the middle of the pond, can daddy get it for her - daddy says "No" - surprised?

They then went on over to Plumbgarths Farm Shop for some eggs & anything from the reduced range (they are a bit pricey otherwise) & came back with a nice cake & some yummy biscuits which the kids love but almost break their teeth (Ben took 2 days to eat one!!!).

The last two days have been quite uninteresting, stayed at home as Dave's shoulder is still not right. The truck needs some work doing to it as it needs to get through the MOT so Dave has been trying to do this (one handed!) Eilidh and Ben have been busy doing some more of their lanterns, playing, putting on dancing shows (best not to ask!) and playing on the computer. Eilidh also helped Dave measure up some outside lights today and then willingly did some sums to add all the measurements up. I got back from doing a cottage clean and she was very proud of herself!!

They were also busy yesterday making a tin can telephone and then spent an hour decorating them. Small things.........

Yesterday we didn't work as Dave wanted to give his shoulders a rest. So we went off to the library to re-stock with books. Had a lovely peaceful time reading and scouring the bookshelves as there were no other children around (all back at school ha ha!!) In the afternoon we got on with making the framework for our willow lanterns that Eilidh had started at art group. We all have the beginnings of a lantern each now so they can be covered at the next group with lantern paper.

Today it was back over to Steve's to get some more of his garden done. Both Eilidh and Ben helped out a bit today, weeding, digging, pulling branches down to the bonfire and other bits and pieces. That was in between playing on the computer with Jason, playing on the drums with Joel and throwing sticks for Levi (their Staffy dog). We seemed to get quite a bit done today, Dave was laying some old carpet to clear a path through some of the woodland, which will be covered with wood chippings later and I was on with the weeding of the front formal garden again (this seems to be an endless task). We also managed to cut down some overgrown shrubs and cleared away some Elder...so a good days work.

I will try and remember to get some more pictures tomorrow as our blog seems to be severely lacking them at the moment!

We all went off to Steve's house this morning, Dave to get on with the garden, the kids to run around and help daddy and I had to drop them off and go to one of the cottages to sort it out. When I had finished I headed back to Steve's with some lunch. Eilidh and Ben were busy playing computer games with Steve's two boys and had only helped Dave for about five minutes!

After lunch Dave and I decided to bring a few trees down! Actually some quite tall but very spindly Sycamores which needed chopping down to let some light through. Everything was going great until Dave's new chain-saw decided to break....Hurrah! So we had to get on with clearing the area and weeding instead. The kids had disappeared inside to watch Shrek and we didn't see them for most of the afternoon. Joel and Jason (Steve's boys) were learning the art of babysitting!

Hopefully we will be able to get the chain-saw sorted or replaced but unfortunately this will take a few days and there are still quite a few trees to bring down. Dave is trying to take it easy so that his shoulder holds out so we shall wait and see what the plan is tomorrow.

Yesterday was mostly taken up with cleaning cottages and vegetating in front of the telly!

As the clocks went back last night we supposedly were meant to get an extra hour in bed (not likely!). Ben was up as usual at the crack of dawn so in the end we got up as well. I managed to get a bath and then the kids both had one, all before church! Afterwards we went out for a drive rather than going straight home, had some lunch at a pub in Orton and then headed back home, exploring some of the little lanes on the way back. Dave amused the kids while I got a pile of ironing done again, then a lazy tea in front of a nature programme before I headed off to church again tonight.

We are hoping that Dave's shoulder is up to getting back to work tomorrow and I will probably spend a couple of days helping him out to catch up.

This week has been really hectic! On Wednesday we went off to Holiday Club again then our friend Kate came and picked us up for a picnic at Brockhole with her, Dennis and Florence. We sat under a big tree in a patch of sunlight on a huge pile of leaves and had lunch then went off for a walk by the lake on the way to the adventure playground. All the kids went off for the rest of the afternoon playing and we eventually got home at about 4.15pm. Then it was a mad rush to get dinner cooked, eaten and out again, back down to church for an evening 'Garden Party' for the Holiday Club kids and their parents!! Loads of the kids turned up with their mums and dads and they had a taste of what we've all been up to in the mornings! More loud singing, dancing, drama and generally having a laugh!!

We were all shattered on Thursday but went gallantly off to the last day of Holiday Club. Another brilliant morning, although it's been really tiring we will definately consider doing it all again next year. Me and Tim (my team co-leader) even got a box of chocolates each from one of the boys in our team ahhhh!!! All the parents and kids have been invited back on Sunday as they are doing some more drama and songs then so it will be interesting to see who turns up.

On Wednesday we had a message from our friends from Orkney (our best man and family) saying they were travelling back from Kate's parents and wondering if they could stop for the night. Help! Our house (as usual) was a complete pig sty so we spent all afternoon on Thursday tidying, vacuuming, sorting out beds, and getting very stressed!! Then I realised I had piles of ironing (literally!) which needed doing for the cottages on Friday and Saturday. Fortunately for us, (not for them) Mark, Kate, Zachary and Stella had an awful journey up which took much longer than expected so didn't get here until 8pm. The kids got to say a quick hello and goodnight and eventually they all got tucked into their beds and settled so we could sit and chat. It was lovely to see them and to catch up, it's been over a year since we saw them last.

This morning, we all surfaced gradually and Zachary and Ben went upstairs to play trains (both Thomas mad!) while Mark packed up the car and I pinched a few cuddles with Stella (8 mths.) It's always nice to cuddle other babies and then be able to hand them back!! They had to go to carry on with their epic journey north and we had to get a cottage cleaned and go to art group. I dropped Dave and the kids off as Dave was sorting out one of the crafts this month and rushed back over to Windermere to get the cottage done.
At art group they were making spider webs and spiders (Dave's bit!), printing with veg and leaves etc, and making willow lanterns which will then be covered next time with lantern paper. Eilidh made a really big lantern which will look fantastic when it gets finished.

I turned up near the end of the group so missed out on doing any but we managed to come home with a bundle of willow to make some at home for next time so I guess that made up for it! They seem to have had a really good time again, both the kids love going to art group (and us too!!)

This morning we had got a big parcel through the post which was full of lovely presents for the kids from Grandma and Grandpa. We saved this for this evening and they have had great fun building lego cars, playing with dolls and wanting to stay up and do all the other bits as well. However being mean parents, we sent them off to bed early!! They then decided to both sleep in Eilidh's room tonight, Ben is in Eilidhs bed (only because it still had his Bob the Builder duvet cover on as Zachary had slept there the night before!) and Eilidh is on the bed we made up for Mark and Kate out of the old caravan cushions on her bedroom floor!! So far, so good, I think they are both so tired after their hectic week, they would probably sleep anywhere!! We are just hoping for a quiet night!!

Another great morning at Holiday Club. Ben and Eilidh went off happily to sit with their teams. Of course, being a church holiday club it is based on bible stories and they have very loud christian music where all the kids (and leaders) are up singing, shouting, jumping around doing actions and generally wearing themselves out!! A lot of the kids never go into church except for these clubs and it is unbelievably popular every year. Not your normal, run of the mill Church of England!!

Crafts today was making clay pots and at the end of the morning some of the leaders are 'volunteered' to be gunged which is always popular! Fortunately as this is my first year I think I'll get away with it. Eilidh is very proud of the fact that her and Ben's teams are beating mine in the team points (not that she is competitive or anything!)

We went of around town this afternoon, finding bits to make Christmas cards, presents and stuff for the art group on Friday and then headed home. Eilidh and Ben went down to Phoebe's house to play for a little while before tea and came back worn out so they went to bed a little bit earlier tonight.

Not blogged for a few days so here goes....

Friday we went off to the first Science group our friend has organised. It went quite well, we were all looking at plants and different parts. Lots of different flowers for the kids to chop up and examine. Obviously the littlies weren't amused for long but some of the older ones spent quite a while looking at different parts and looking at them under microscopes.

Not a lot happened over the weekend, went for a drive around on Saturday starting off in Bowness which was heaving again due to the school half term so decided to head up to Troutbeck where we had lunch at the Queens Head (http://www.queensheadhotel.com/) famed as the only 4 poster bar they not only have 4 poster beds in the rooms but also have one built into the bar. From there we went on over Kirkstone pass to Ullswater & up toward penrith before turning back via a lovely Jersey Ice Cream Farm where the kids really enjoyed the play area. Then down through Shap on onwards home, quite a day out.

Then went off yesterday to pick up a cover for Dave's pick-up down at Stoke. We then decided to go to Ikea on the way back as we love Ikea!! Eilidh and Ben had a play in the kids area while we rushed around trying to look at everything while they were gone. We got our fix of swedish meatballs and a few bits and pieces and then headed home.

Today was the start of the Holiday Club at our church where I am helping out as a junior leader. Ben and Eilidh went off into their teams and seemed to have enjoyed themselves. I was really worried that Ben wouldn't settle but he apparantly was ok once he had seen me to wave at and then sat on his team leaders lap snuggled up quite happily in between doing crafts and games. Eilidh was great and just went off quite happily to her little team so no problems there! It was a really good morning and loads of kids from the church and from the local area turned up. They actually have a waiting list for this holiday club and they all seem like a really good bunch. This goes on until Thursday so we may be exhausted by then!!

I'm feeling very self righteous tonight as we seem to have got a lot done today and had a good day as well!! This morning Dave went off to sort out the rest of the caravan and take it to be scrapped so we decided to get on with some 'work'. Eilidh and Ben worked on finishing their Swallows and Amazons projects.

We then decided to pack a rucksack with supplies and leaf spotting booklets etc and went out for another walk. We went up our back field, over the top of the crag, past a cairn and headed down towards the footbridge over the main road from Kendal.It was gorgeous today, really sunny but still lovely and fresh...perfect walking weather! The kids spent about half an hour standing on the footbridge waving to all the cars and lorries rushing past underneath them. I think everyone must have been in a good mood as most of them waved, tooted or flashed their lights!! We then headed back down towards the farm shop, through a farmyard and fields of sheep and cows to get something for lunch. On the way we stopped to do some tree bark rubbing (Eilidh's idea!) After having a wander around the Cumbria Wildlife Trust place picking up lots of autumn leaves we went home for lunch.

They had both enjoyed the Swiss plaited Bread yesterday so we decided to have a go at making some more after lunch. They both had their own dough to make into shapes and plaits, they all came out really well! While the dough had been rising they got on with making a autumn tree picture with all the leaves they had collected and the bark rubbings. It is now proudly displayed in our kitchen!! It's been a really good day and I think we are all shattered tonight!!

We went off to see 'Happy Feet' this morning at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal this morning. We had free tickets through the National Film Week which is run each year for schools (and home educators!). It was not as good as we expected and Ben was actually scared through half of it!! There were only two other groups from schools there so it was not very full but it was nice for a change.

After having some lunch at Asda's we went off to our new cookery group this afternoon. All the kids (and parents) got on making Swiss Plaited Bread which they all had a go at mixing,kneading and plaiting and of course eating!! It was really yummy and Eilidh and Ben managed to eat both of their plaits before we even got home! So much for enjoying it for our tea with some jam!!! The group was good, quite a few families turned up and while the dough was rising the kids all played together. Ben was off racing around the hall on a bike and playing with a garage while Eilidh was playing wild horses with her little group of noisy girls!!

Quite a long busy day and both were shattered at bedtime. We managed to read another chapter of 'Swallowdale' (sequel to Swallows and Amazons) which is turning out to be a really good story. We are slowly managing to get hold of all the Arthur Ransome books but still missing a few....we will keep searching!

Yesterday we had another cottage to clean so as it was raining and Dave wasn't working we all decided to go over and sort it out. Just as well as it took us a while!

Today has started off with a bad sign, Eilidh lost yet another tooth - at this rate we are heading for bankrupcy & we still have Ben to go.




Ben also got a new pair of swimming goggles & wanted to try them on, we could hardly get him to take them off he now wants to go swimming again.

Dave went off to work on Steve's garden again. Eilidh and Ben had got a letter throught the post this morning from the Woodland Trust as we had got them membership to their Kids club. There were posters, spotting sheets, woodland logs, stickers and loads more so we spent a while putting stickers on posters and then putting them up, making finger puppet birds and sorting through it all. Eilidh then decided to have a go on some of the games on their website http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/ It's a brilliant website about nature in this country.

We had a phone call from our friend Paul who has been working with Dave for a while but he is really too ill to carry on now. He has a lifelong illness which he always in and out of hospital with, he has also just had to undergo some surgery for cancer and is now struggling with his breathing so doesn't feel he can carry on working (not very surprising really!). Of course this means that Dave still has heaps of work to do at Steve's and other jobs coming up and no help, so we decided that when possible I could go over and give him a hand while the kids play. So we all went off this afternoon and Dave got on with the heavier work while I weeded a very overgrown pathway. After 2 hours it still looked like I had hardly touched it!!! Eilidh and Ben went leaf spotting and did some jobs as well like carrying wood down to the fire pile (bit of child labour!) In fact they enjoyed themselves so much they didn't want to go home!

Tomorrow is a busy day, we have a film to go and watch at the cinema and a cookery group to go to.

Not much has happened over the last couple of days, Eilidh, Ben and Dave went for a very wet walk on Saturday while I was doing one of the cottages. Then spent the rest of the day sorting out bits and peices and Dave went to help clear out after a local jumble sale and now has a truck load of stuff to go to the tip.

Before church breakfast was a treat, here are the main offenders heading back from the big M). After church today, we came home and spent most of the day lazing (thats code for Dave & Ben watched the Touring Car Racing) about playing board games, doing puzzles and watching telly. Suddenly realised we have a cottage to do tomorrow and I hadn't done any of the ironing so waded through a pile tonight which fortunately is now finished...Hurrah!!

Yesterday we spent most of the day over at our friends house where Dave was stripping out the caravan of all sellable items! Eilidh and Ben disappeared with their three kids all afternoon, 'hunting', making bows and arrows, playing on rope swings and getting wet again. They love it over there as they live on a very quiet country lane where the kids are perfectly safe and can be really free.

Dave managed to get most of the bits out and they are already drumming up business on ebay very successfully!! We also decided to put my car on ebay rather than scrapping it as it seems such a waste when someone out there could use it or even repair it.

Today Dave was busy taking the camper for an MOT which it failed dismally.... The kids were busy with their Swallows and Amazons projects, playing educational games on the computer, doing puzzles and playing junior scrabble amongst other things! This afternoon we went off for a walk across the fields, up through the woods and out onto the top of Crunswick Scar (the hill behind our house) . We did a circular route round and ended up walking back through the field behind our house which we've not done before. It was a lovely walk and really interesting seeing the countryside from a different direction!!

Our house is the last one on the left.

We all got up early this morning (well...early for us!!) to take Dave down to the train station as he was off on an adventure. Well he was actually going down to pick up an old camper van from Leicester that we have just bought on ebay!!! Yes, I know, we weren't meant to be buying a camper just yet but ho hum!!! I spent an extremely stressful morning trying to get insurance for it before Dave got there, hate sorting out insurance!! Eventually it got sorted, and Dave managed to get home safely tonight.

The camper is a classic (1976) and needs a bit of TLC but hopefully we can get it sorted out over the winter. It's just a small Leyland Sherpa pop top so we can also use it to run around in locally inplace of my little (now deceased) car.

Eilidh and Ben spent this morning reading, playing and doing puzzles and this afternoon they were having a go on a new educational website we found, (http://www.sparkisland.com/) they have a free trial for fourteen days so we will have two weeks worth from it!! They are both doing really well on the computer and they help each other out on the games. Learning while having fun...great!!!

We drove up to Penrith this morning to join the Home Education group there for a swim and their fortnightly get together. We haven't been swimming for over a year and Eilidh and Ben have been desperate to go in the last month or so. We all had a great time, after I had got over the huge hurdle of getting into a swimming costume again (yes, not a pretty sight!!). Eilidh and Ben both had on their float suits and vest so once they got used to the water again they were off 'swimming' on their own. Hopefully we shall try to go more frequently so they will soon be able to swim without the need for these floats which then means I can actually get a proper swim too!!

After swimming we went on to the local hall for lunch, coffee, chatting and playing. The kids were busy running around and we had a go at some origami someone had brought in, Dave managed to play three games of pool with some of the older boys which he really enjoyed (he won all of his games & retired reining undefeated champion) . A really good day and both Ben and Eilidh were shattered tonight..Hooray!!

Unfortunately, the caravan will now not be retiring gracefully to some lovely woods, instead it will be heading to car and caravan heaven ... yes, the scrap yard ... along with my car!!! Our friends, Lex and Vince started to strip out some of the interior and found that the rot was worse than any of us had thought, so we decided the best option was to strip anything worth selling out and send the rest to be weighed in for scrap. It's quite sad that it's worth more in bits than as a whole caravan!! Never mind...

We had a lovely afternoon today up at their house they are just about to move out of, Eilidh and Ben disappeared off with their three kids exploring, splashing in a nearby stream and generally getting very wet and muddy...again! We had a job to get them in the truck to go home, both of them wanting to stay for tea, then a sleepover and goodness knows what else. We had to bribe them with flapjack and the promise that we were back over there on Thursday to start stripping out the caravan and then we would stay for tea.

Dave's shoulders are still really bad, (not a good sign). We're just hoping that they will ease off as he has more work coming his way everyday,which is great, but not if he can't do it!!!

Weather was much colder today, back to the autumn after our little summer blip!

Today was another gorgeous day so after I had changed some linen at one of the cottages I went in search of Dave and the kids. They were busy scrambling over rocks on top of a hill just above the cottages. This place has amazing views over Lake Windermere and today it was really clear.

We then decided to take the ferry over the lake and have a picnic by the lakeshore on the other side. Of course at it was Saturday the queue for the ferry was long but Dave took the kids for a wander looking at boats until it was our turn to go on. No matter how many times we go on this ferry (which is quite often) Eilidh and Ben always get excited and love the very short trip over!
We had a nice relaxing picnic and they played on the beach and waved to all the boats going past. After a while we decided to drive up into Hawkeshead to have a wander around. Of course you can't go to a pretty Lakeland village without having a cup of coffee and ice-cream (yes Mum, they have had MORE ice-cream!!!!) Dave was very amused watching all the tourists with their flash cars and GPS units going completely the wrong way (GPS units seem to have a bad habit of telling people to go the wrong direction around here!!)

Unfortunately, next week Dave will probably be busy working most days so we will be stuck at home so we are making the most of this lovely weather and the truck.

As today was so lovely, warm and sunny (you could almost be persuaded it was July) we decided to go over to Coniston Lake for a picnic. We were hoping to go on a boat so the kids could see where some of Swallows and Amazons was based but after looking at the prices Naomi quickly changed our minds!!

So Ben and Eilidh had great fun paddling in the Lake while filling up bottles with water, making castles and moats and eating ice-cream. We sat and watched the boats going in and out and enjoyed the scenery and weather. At this time of year the holiday makers have changed a bit from noisy families (like ours!!) to mainly older folks who seem to love chatting away to the only kids around (ours!) They had a couple of 'chats' with people but, for a change, not one of them asked why they wern't at school which was quite nice!!

Sorry, missed a few days! Wednesday was a trip to the library and then shopping for little bits and peices for our Christmas Shoeboxes. Yesterday I bundled the kids in to the car as I needed to go to the Doctors but only got about halfway there. My poor little car has finally died a death!! Dave had tried to fix it but there's obviously more wrong than we thought. Although I am really fed up because now I have no transport so if Dave's working we are stuck, we have to look at the bright side.... we were given the car in the first place, the MOT was due this month so it conked out just in time! and we have had no problems with it up until now. So I think it will have to go to car heaven (ie..scrap yard!) and we will have to get by until we can afford another one (boo hiss!).

Dave has been off work this week as his shoulder is playing up and he has been told to rest it, hopefully he can carry on with Steve's garden next week and he has some other jobs lined up which is great.

This morning the kids spent about and hour and half busy doing work on their Swallows and Amazons project, cutting out tents, campfires and doing camping wordsearches and other bits and pieces. Dave was busy collecting parts to fix my little car as it has started hiccuping along the road when we go anywhere. We all had lunch and then decided to get some fresh air and take a trip to the local ice-cream farm, Natland Millbeck. They have an outdoor play area so Eilidh and Ben gobbled their ice-cream and then ran around like mad people for about an hour.

Eilidh managed to lose another tooth just as she started to eat her ice cream - with another two loose & her attachment to the tooth fairy this is going to be an expensive year.

They have some lovely laden apple trees there so Dave went and asked if we could take a few apples and we came out of there with loads absolutely free!! We decided to drop some of at our friends on the way home and stopped for a coffee and chat while the kids played and then headed home for dinner.

Dave took the kids off to the hospital this morning so that Ben could be checked over, after two hours he eventually got looked at!! The doctor then decided to try and give him a local anaesthetic to get the head of the tick out, but after poking about with a needle for ages, the anaesthetic obviously not working and Ben screaming and nearly breaking Daves hand, Dave decided enough was enough and told him to leave it alone. So we just have to keep and eye on him and he now has some new medication as well. Honestly my faith in doctors seems to get less every time we have to see one!!

Dave then took both of them out for some lunch and had a wander around town buying slippers for himself (sorely needed) and trainers for Ben (who actually wore out his last new ones) while I went off to clean out one of our cottages and start emptying the caravan.

After Steve had popped around for a coffee and to pay Dave for his work so far, our other friends turned up to take the caravan away to it's new life in the woods. They stopped for coffee and ended up staying for dinner (sounds familiar!) and the kids had great fun playing in the garden and upstairs while we had a chance to gossip. It's been a really nice afternoon. I had to run out for a meeting at the church for the holiday club which I am helping out with soon and came back to find dinner all done and ready to eat...fantastic!! They eventually left at 10pm so another late night tonight for the kids but they have had great fun with their three friends.

Ben ended up at the hospital last night, as Dave was putting him to bed he was complaining of a bumpy bit on his neck which ended up being a tick sticking out... YUCK! After a few unsuccesful attempts at getting it out, Dave took him off to A&E and they didn't appear back until 11 o'clock. Poor Ben was falling asleep before he went and managed to crash out while waiting at the hospital but not much fun for him! The doctor (who had never seen a tick before & who knew nothing about them & yet still did not appear to see the need to seek help or information????!!!????) managed to pull half of the tick out but left the head in (I wonder why it is that I don't trust doctors.......??) . So he has been put on antibiotics as apparantly the tick can still survive being pulled in half! He has an appointment tomorrow just to check it is all ok and he seems to have been fine today.

After church today we decided to use our last free ticket to go to Holker Hall and the Lakeland Motor Museum (http://www.holker-hall.co.uk/). Ben really wanted to see the Bluebird Exhibit (Donald Campbells boat) so we went around the Motor Museum first and then they had a play on the adventure playground.

We never actually got around the house or gardens as Ben was flagging by then so we headed over to see some friends who live on the way home. We only went for a coffee and a chat and ended up staying for dinner and didn't leave until about 10pm!! They have a girl about a year older than Eilidh and they had disappeared upstairs and came down a long while later with lots of glittery eyeshadow, painted toenails and VERY red lipstick!

Amazingly they both also had the same teeth fall out so when they smile they look like duplicates........... very wierd!!!

Ben had sat snuggled up with his older friend watching vidoes quite happily. It eventually all caught up with Ben and he climbed up on Daves lap and immediately fell fast asleep. We managed to get him home and in pyjamas without much of a murmer so hopefully he will sleep well tonight!!