Zoo Pictures.....

At last, some pictures from Eilidhs Birthday at the zoo.....












Here's one of the kids....

Eilidhs Birthday

Eilidh is now the grand old age of 7!! I can't quite believe it was seven years ago when we had no idea about babies and kids!! She had decided a while ago that she wanted to spend the day at the South Lakes Animal Park, unfortunately her birthday fell smack bang on the Bank Holiday weekend (bad timing!). The zoo was heaving, they were even parking people in a field down the road by the time we arrived. We still had a great day, Eilidh was in her element telling us what all the animals were and I kept getting the rolled eyes whenever I didn't get the exact name correct!! She desperately wanted to feed the Leemurs and got a chance to hold a banana for one. I will post up a load of pictures later.

We were all shattered when we left the zoo and Eilidh had decided she wanted to go to Pizza Hut for tea. As we were a little bit too early we went for a drive onto Walney Island, an island attached by road to Barrow. It's a really strange place with a windswept, seaside feel and actually quite large. We drove right up to one end, stopping off to watch the waves roll in at a beach and then down to the other end. We drove right along this stoney beach in the truck and stopped when we couldn't go any further (nearly getting grounded in some loose stones but we won't go into that!!). We then spent half an hour in the late afternoon sunshine (yes, we had a bit!) throwing stones and collecting lots of nice smooth pebbles for the kids to paint. As I spent quite a few years of my childhood splashing in and out of the sea and down on the beach it was lovely to just sit and watch the waves rolling in, plus of course I am a closet beachcomber!!

Eilidh was very excited as I had finally persuaded Dave to let her have a pet of her own, well ok it's only fish but it's a start! We got her a little aquarium with all the stuff that goes with it and in a weeks time she will be the proud owner of six little fish. We have to leave the aquarium to stand for a week before putting fish in so she is checking it every morning to make sure the pump is still working and the water is nice and clear!!

The last couple of days it has been raining again, so we have been stuck in the house. Ben is bouncing of the walls and desperately needs to let off steam. One of my friends reckons he could have Aspergers, while his group leader at church was asking if he had any food allergies as he seems to have completely hyper moments. Who knows? Maybe he is just a very active little man, I get worn out just watching him sometimes!!

Yesterday Ben and Eilidhs friends, Zeph and Isaac came over for the day. Their mum and dad had some business to sort out in Kendal so the kids had great fun playing all day. It was actually much easier having more kids as they all played together quite happily and I had none of the 'I'm bored' routine!! Although the noise was driving me nuts at one point so I disappeared upstairs with a strong coffee and a good bookfor a while!! (I don't think they even noticed I was gone!)

Dave has a queue of jobs to be done but the weather has been so rubbish that all the outdoor jobs are on hold. Fortunately he had some lighting and hooks to do indoors yesterday for someone and today he is back down at our church lining out a huge shed so at least he's not in the pouring rain and will probably be fed biscuits and tea throughout the day!!

We are stuck at home again today, I know we have just got back from camping but being stranded at home is already doing my head in! I'm obviously the kind of person who needs to get out and about (probably because I can then ignore all the jobs that need doing around the house!!) Have to go, the kids are nopw squabbling over a toy fire engine.....oh what joy!!??

After all my groaning about going camping we did have a good time. The weather was soggy and horrible but we managed to get the use of their conference centre which is an old converted barn for a few days which was great. The kids didn't care about the rain and still managed to get out and run around, splashing in muddy puddles and streams and playing on the adventure playground. It is a lovely place although I didn't manage to get out and get any pictures!!

There were only three families (all the fair weather campers decided against it...softees!!). One of these came down from the Scottish borders where they had moved to so we hadn't seen them for a while but it was actually quite relaxing not having too many people. The group of kids all seemed to get on with each other and we had none of the usual bits of bickering and sulking. We had a wander into Ambleside on one of the days but the rest of the time was spent chatting, playing and drinking decent coffee.

Still.... very glad to be back home in my own bed, my back can't cope with camping for too long!!

Sorry, I haven't blogged for ages and now we are off camping for five days. Just up to Ambleside but hopefully the weather will improve as it has been raining for about three weeks non- stop (or maybe it just feels like it has!!) Still, the kids don't seem to care and were really upset when I suggested we cancel it so off we go! (Can you tell, I'm not really looking forward to this camp??!!)

I promise to blog when we get back......

Dave is down at the church this week finishing painting and carpeting (amongst other things!)After a week of voluntary work they decided they would pay him for this week as they need to get the rooms finished, so that will come in quite handy (to say the least!!) We are meant to be going camping next week with the Home Ed group and at the moment we're not quite sure how it will happen but as we organise these things we have to be there...mmmmmm??!!

Still.... Saturday was a busy day, I had an extra cottage to do while Dave was busy at our friend Steve's house sorting out his overgrown garden again. We spent months doing this garden last year and it was looking lovely but nature has taken over again and the whole place has gone wild! Dave is just meant to be strimming grassy areas but he was there all day Saturday and hardly touched the worst part! We went up with lunch for him and i ended up being put to work blowing all the cuttings away from the drive and parking areas so my shoulders were killing me that night!! Needless to say the garden is yet to be finished.

Sunday and Monday were both quiet days at home with the kids, Dave was off down the church and Eilidh and Ben have spent most of the time riding their bikes on the front path with the little girl from two doors down. I have been bored stiff!!! There is so much to do around the house but most of the stuff needs a bit of muscle power to do it, which I just don't have. I also have loads of crafty ideas whizzing through my head but just can't seem to get anything done. Ho Hum, I guess I should be gratefull for some peace but I really want to get out and about and can't GRRRRRRRR!!!

Today was art group again, we were doing the first part of Paper Mache mirrors and boxes. Eilidh decided she wanted to do a mirror so sat sticking loads of strips of paper all over our kitchen tray, very messy and sticky. Ben decided he just wanted to play with his car but he pinched some cardboard and proceeded to draw a road for his car which then led on to some houses, trees, bushes and railway line. In the end he had a whole village on a huge cardboard box and happily pushed his cars around for ages. Who needs expensive toys when you have cardboard boxes!!