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!!